Disclaimer: The characters of "The Magnificent Seven" belong to John Watson, MGM, Trilogy, etc. and are used here without permission. No copyright infringement is intended.
W. O. W. challenge: This is in response to the challenge offered 4 October 2005. There had been several weeks without a word so five were included. These were: insomnia, dreadful, artful, Vegan and sang-froid. A challenge was set forth to use all of these words in the same story. I chose that option.
Notes: I may one day expand upon Ezra's story in this, but since we are only given 15 minutes to write, there was only so much I could fit. Universe: ATF
Characters: Buck, Ezra
Rating: Suitable for all ages
Feedback: To MMW

Ezra's Essays
By MMW

Buck knocked on the door of Ezra's condo and waited. He and Standish were supposed to go and check out a potential sight for their upcoming bust. It wasn't an urgent issue, but Buck had a date later that night would wanted to get this task done sooner rather than later. "C'mon, Ez," he called.

The sound of a chain moving against the door was followed by the sound of a deadbolt being undone. Slowly the knob turned and the door opened. "Mr. Wilmington," Ezra greeted. "You have arrived early, I see."

"It's ten thirty, Ez," he admonished, stepping inside. Moving to the living room, he looked around and was surprised to see an open box sitting on the coffee table. His natural curiosity getting the better of him, he walked over, settled on the couch and asked, "What's this?"

Ezra sighed, closed and locked the door and settled into the recliner. "This," he said, "is a box from my Cousin Lewis with whom I spent most of the second grade."

Peeking into the box, Buck spotted folders, books and a few normal little-boy type things. "He kept them all this time?"

A fond smile appeared on Standish's face. "Cousin Lewis was something of a packrat, but the two of us got along quite well. He told me he would hold these things for me until I found myself settled," Ezra explained, picking up one of the folders and flipping it open.

A warm smile appeared on Buck's face at the admission he was sure Ezra didn't even know he had made. Ezra was settled here, with them. "Mind if I take a look?"

"Be my guest," Ezra encouraged, knowing there was nothing embarrassing in the box.

Reaching in, Wilmington pulled out the top folder, labelled "essays" and flipped it open. A smile broke out on his lips as he read outloud, "An Artful Telling Of The Dreadful Tale of the Insomnia Suffering Vegan's Sang-froid."

Standish looked up from his own stack of papers and blinked several times before a smile broke out on his own lips. "Ah, yes," he replied. "Vocabulary lists. Each of those essays contains all the words from one week's spelling list."

Buck just nodded, glancing through the short tale, impressed by its creativity. "Seems old Jeb the Vegan has some problems here."

"That he did," Ezra agreed, nodding knowingly. "After all, it's not every day an insomniac meets the flesh-eating zombie ghost of a three hundred year old mass - murderer and keeps his cool about it."

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