The men and boys sat around the fire and were thinking about their loved ones. A wind had picked up and were blowing some flowers off the trees around them. Damian was wishing he had someone to think about, to the point where everything was romantic.
“The river is so beautiful. It’s almost like it’s singing,” said Damian wistfully.
“I often see the twilight of the night in my dear’s eyes,” Neil replied, not really listening but agreeing at the same time. “Her hair glows in the moonlight and seems to just become the part of the night.”
“Mine has almost pulled my heart along with her,” Paul added softly. “I’m almost completely lovesick. I am not free to be my own person without her.”
“It’s like you have no life without her now that she’s come and entered your life,” George said sadly. He started thinking about the best moments he had with his late wife.
“Just like the river, she is my love,” Paul said simply.
“Some nights come around when everyone is asleep and the creatures of the night hum lullabies when I can’t sleep and I just think of her and the best times we had together,” George stated, smiling with nostalgia.
“There was one night where I couldn’t stop thinking about her,” Neil explained. “So when night had fallen, I went to see her. She was doing the simplest of things and yet it was so beautiful.”
“I did that one night as well. Crickets were chirping that night. She was tending to the fire and humming a tune. I could hear the undertones in her melodies. It was any old tune but it could easily have been the song of heart’s desire,” Paul replied with a smile.
Damian thought about this and thought to himself, “The song of heart’s desire?”
It was getting to be late afternoon and the ladies came out to sit around the fire but the men had chores to get to. They got up sharing smiles with the girls before getting on with their duties.
Damian moved over to the chief’s trunk to see if he could make up for his mistake which almost cost George his most prized possession. Keith saw him and laughed in his face for thinking that a boy could handle something of this nature. He gently shoved Damian away but it was forceful enough for Damian to fall on his side.
Damian had had enough of Keith’s jokes, despite George’s sympathy and talks. He decided it would be best to stand up for himself in front of the most egotistical man in town.
He stood up and dusted himself off of the dirt he had accidently collected.
“Look at me!” he yelled, pointing at Keith with a determined manner. “I’m fine to handle things by myself! I’ve been able to do things for many years now. You can’t keep calling me a kid!”
Keith went back to the trunk, thinking that his childish remarks weren’t worth listening to. He could vaguely hear Damian saying something about being charming.
“Ahh, yes, look at you,” Keith thought as Damian kept on yelling.
“If I was a beginner in the world, I could understand it, but I’ve been at this for a while which means I could be a winner if you’d let me!”
By this point, Keith was getting angry with him. Even though Damian was a boy in his eyes, he could work up a pretty good argument, and this highwayman was not backing down. He got up and was walking quickly over to him when he saw Joyce and Nicole walking by them.
“I’m a hell of a fella, thank you!” Damian continued. The ladies heard him and laughed loudly. They tried to muffle it but it was too late. Damian heard them laughing but was confused as to what they were laughing at. It didn’t occur to him that their laughter might be at him.
“Oh, please!” Keith scoffed. “You know nothing at all about ladies! At the rate you’re going, you’re going to end up in a lot of trouble, and it won’t be from me.” This got to Damian and Keith saw that. He used it to his advantage and kept going. “You think the ladies fall at your feet or something?” he laughed loudly and started walking away as though he knew he had won this round.
Damian started running at Keith but was seen at the last second. He was pushed back but not as harshly as before, only a poke in the chest.
“You know, your resistance to my traits will fall through eventually,” Damian smiled at him, a little cheekily. “You wanna rumble? Huh? Huh?” He gently nudged Keith and the smallest of smiles crept on his face while Damian’s stretched from ear to ear.
“I am a little fitter than you, just in case that helps my point,” Damian winked. “Might want to work on that little bit, yeah?” He grinned while poking Keith in the side.
“Hey! That’s muscle, you little twerp!” Keith was now back to slightly ticked off. He went to kick Damian out of the way but Damian dodged his foot and skipped off a few metres away.
“I wouldn’t be so cocky if I were you,” Keith advised him warningly. “It’s your reputation that’s out on the line. You don’t want to rush into it.”
“Yeah, because you know so much about the ladies,” Damian said, rolling his eyes. Keith angrily sighed and physically turned Damian around the face said ladies.
“You should tell them what they want to hear and you have to be patient with them,” Keith told him, trying to keep his own patience in line. “Don’t rush into it. If that’s your target, then focus.”
Damian thought about this and went over to sit next to Ruth with a huge smile. She scoffed to herself and skipped away. Damian laughed nervously and ran to catch up to her. He gave her a huge wink with his arms crossed and his body tall; he was confident. Again, she skipped away from him, leaving him very confused.
Keith sighed as Damian ran back over to where he was beside a little creek. Keith smiled a little to himself, rather bemused, before putting an arm around Damian.
“Oh, for goodness sake. Take a good look at yourself,” Keith told him. They both leaned over the water a little and Keith removed his arm from Damian’s shoulders. Keith playfully splashed him with water as though humiliating him further.
“You do know the ladies are laughing at you, right?” Keith asked him, a grin creeping up on his face. He put one arm back around Damian’s shoulders. “Just ask yourself, why that is. And then you might realise, you know who you truly are.”
“Really?” Damian asked, getting slightly hopeful. “And what is that?”
“A loser,” Keith said simply before slapping Damian on the back. Damian jumped suddenly at what he said and shoved Keith back. That was not at all what he was expecting.
Over in the distance, he could see the ladies still laughing. It dawned on him that it was him that Joyce and Nicole were laughing at earlier. His cheeks blushed brightly but he wasn’t about to give up, not just yet.
“Okay, there are some things I am still a beginner about, but that does not mean you can treat me badly when it comes to anything I do!”
Keith thought this was joke. He signalled to the girls as though to say, “Really? Can you believe this?”
“Can you just really look at me sometimes?” Damian asked. “Just . . . look.”
“Take a good look at yourself. Those girls are still laughing! You’re a loser, Damian! And a natural one at that,” Keith retaliated before stepping to walk away.
“I’m a natural winner!” Damian yelled at Keith’s retreating back.
“Take it from me,” Keith turned around with a smile, and Damian realised that Keith was joking with him as a brother might, and the smallest of smiles crept up on Damian’s face. “You’re still a loser.”
Keith gave Damian his signature wink before walking into the woods.
