Song of the South

Long walk

Kellie had finally let Kinsey go so she could get the children ready for their trip. There was packing to do and then getting to where they were going. With the baby, who was only about six months old, there was even more stuff to have to take with her. The stroller, small play pen, bottles, diapers, formula, clothes, spit rags, blankets. Daisy had done what her injured big sister had asked. Everything was sitting on Kinsey’s bed when she entered her room. Jesse was in his room digging through his toys. Kinsey pulled out her big suitcase and began throwing clothes into it.

Not knowing if they would even be returning to their home, she threw in her two big photo albums and her DVD case as well. Her laptop case held her laptop, charger, wireless mouse, mouse pad, blank DVD & CD’s, extra USB’s, and an external hard drive. She put her few toiletries in her suitcase before heading to pack a bag for Lane. She was trying to have just one bag for each child. She realized there was no way she would be able to carry the play pen with her.

She began to get upset and tried not to cry as she dug through stuff to decide what to take and what to leave behind. She hated leaving her childhood home but she didn’t know what else to do. Staying here could be worse than leaving into the unknown. Having as many clothes as she could, she headed downstairs to gather up bottles, clean spit rags, formula, sippy cups for the middle children, the bottle cleaner, and a few of the clean baby blankets. She was going to try and fit all the baby stuff in the bottom of the stroller if she could.

Bella and Hayden were the last two who needed a bag packed. They were three and four years old. Toys are all that mattered to them. She tried to get a variety of clothes and their absolute favorite toys and a few books & coloring books. They needed to leave as quickly as possible and she was trying to hurry up but not forget anything at the same time. She was so scared and in pain that she was starting to shake. The toiletries were packed. With a sigh, she went to check on Daisy. The oldest of her siblings had packed her bag pretty well. Mostly clothes with a few toys and books.

Kinsey went over everything to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything. Once the bags were packed, she hauled everything downstairs. There was no use in taking a truck. The bags were all sitting out on the on porch. Her father had fallen asleep on the couch. With a heavy heart, and heavy sigh, she wrote him a note explaining what she was doing. She promised she would do everything she could to help him when she got the children to safety.

Daisy led Bella and Hayden outside while Kinsey grabbed Lane and the stroller. Her suitcase had a handle and had rollers like all the children’s bags. Her laptop case was the exception to that. She draped the handle to it over the handle to her suitcase. The two smallest children drug their bags behind them while Daisy tried to drag hers and Kinsey’s bags. It was quite a struggle for the nine year old while Kinsey pushed the packed stroller.

It was about a two hour walk, having to stop quite a bit with the children, for the group to make it into town. There was a small motel that was fairly cheap and sort of out of the way. Kinsey was bloody, bruised, exhausted, and scared. She led the children inside to rent a room. She requested a room with two Queen sized bed on the second floor. After a few nerve-wracking minutes, the man behind the counter slid her their room key. He took her card, ran it, and then handed it back. It had apparently went through with no trouble.

It took another half an hour to get the children and luggage up to their room. She left he bags on the ground so she could get the children into the room first. Daisy was very helpful by helping her get the bags up the stairs and into the room as well. As soon as everything and everyone were safely in the room, Kinsey shut the door and locked all locks. She shut the curtain so no one could peek in.

“Sissy? You ok?” Bella quietly asked

“I’m fine, Bella. Just tired. Why don’t we change for bed? I’m sure everyone is tired after that long walk.” Kinsey replied with a smile

“Can we watch a movie?” Daisy asked

“Sure. Let’s get changed then into bed. I’ll get a movie going then.” Kinsey stated

Daisy quickly changed for bed. Kinsey got the next two changed. Daisy, Jesse and Bella were sharing one bed while Kinsey, Hayden and Lane were in the other. She tucked the three big ones into bed and flipped through TV channels to find something suitable. Once she did, she put Lane in the middle of the bed so she could change. Kinsey was tired. Very tired. She wanted to wash the blood off her before she crawled into bed with two of her siblings. She didn’t have anything to bandage herself with, unfortunately.

It didn’t take Kinsey long to drift to sleep. Kinsey was woken up by Lane crying. He needed to be changed and wanted a bottle. He had a gas bubble and took a while to burp. She held him to her chest as she cautiously rocked back and forth to get him back to sleep. It took over an hour of rocking before he started to fall asleep. She finally laid the infant down and crawled back into bed. She fell asleep pretty quickly too.

The next time she was awoken, it was by Jesse. He smiled brightly as his tummy rumbled.

“Sissy? I’m hungry.” He stated

She smiled at her brother, “Ok. Let’s wake everyone up so we can get dressed and find some food.”

She wasn’t sure where she was going to take the children. She certainly didn’t want to go out in town looking the way she did. She had a thought. One of her neighbors could bring them some food! She texted her neighbor asking her to swing by a local café to pick up breakfast for her and her siblings. She promised she’d have the money for her when she arrived. Naturally her neighbor was quite curious as to what was going on but Kinsey said she’d explain everything when she arrived with the food.

She told Daisy she was heading downstairs to take out some money from the ATM. Daisy was to keep all the kids in the room and the door locked until she returned. Kinsey took her wallet out of the laptop and left their room. She stood outside until she heard the click of the lock. She headed downstairs to the ATM. Before taking out money, she checked her balance. She nearly had a heart attack when she saw the deposit that had been made.

She took out over a hundred dollars to make sure she had enough for her neighbor. It was about an hour before Mary arrived. Kinsey thanked her profusely as she took the breakfast. Mary helped her set out the food for the little ones. Kinsey cut up the pancakes and sausages for Bella and Hayden while Daisy got her breakfast and sat on the bed. Mary wanted to know what was going, especially after getting a good look at Kinsey.

Kinsey told her everything and asked Mary to check on her dad as much as possible. She said the friends that were coming to pick them up were going to help her with her dad. Mary said she would do whatever she could for her dad. It made Kinsey feel better to know there would be someone check on her dad while she was away. Before she forgot, she handed Mary the money for their breakfast.