The Beast (2022)

You'd Have My Hide

A pat on my knee woke me from my dreams of a life long ended. "What?" I asked groggily.

The girls stirred on either side of me, Nate waking them, too.

Nate smiled. "Hey, look out the window."

Nora looked out in amazement, "Mare, Kym. Look at them."

Below us a herd of zebra ran from the small plane. I smiled as I remembered all of the fond memories the plains of Africa held. 

We finally touched down and I felt like I could breathe again. I always preferred four wheels over two wings.

"I'm so hot. My god, dad, my eyes are sweating." Nora complained.

I laughed as I grabbed my last bag of luggage. "Your eyes are sweating?"

She sighed dramatically. "Everything is sweating! My spleen is sweating."

"Your spleen?" Nate laughed.

She trudged along with her suitcase, dragging it in the rocks behind her. "The sweat on my spleen is sweating."

Nate and I just laughed as she continued on.

"We're actually back, huh?" I asked quietly, keeping my eye on the pavilion that served as a tiny airport.

Na: "Yeah, I barely believe it myself. But we need this. The girls need this."

"I know they do, I just don't see why you couldn't have left me in New York." I mumbled.

"This trip is all about bonding as a family and you're as family as anyone can get."

"If I wasn't so mad at you, I'd probably cry over that."

He chuckled softly and gave my shoulder a quick pat.

Nora looked around at the virtually empty land around us. "Where are we right now?"

Nate tossed his coat onto a bench and stretched from the long plane ride. "The bush."

"That's code for the middle of nowhere." I plopped down on the bench across from Nate and he handed me a water.

"Dad, are you sure he's coming?" Nora asked.

"Well, I hope so, 'cause an Uber would take a long time to get here." He turned his attention to Mare, who was sulking beside me. "How about it Mare?"

She only glanced up at him before returning to her camera.

"Come on. Africa?" Nate tried to get a reaction out of her. I knew he wouldn't.

"You'll love it, Mare. I promise." I smiled at her.

An SUV pulled up to the station.

"Oh, I think that's him." Nate stepped to the side to get a better view, "It is him."

I took a deep breath as I heard Martin's laugh.

 "Wow, look at this." He exclaimed, walking up.

Nate smiled largely, "Look at you, guy."

Martin stepped under the pavilion. "How are you, bro?"

They embraced and a smile pulled at the edges of my mouth. 

"How was the flight?" he asked, glancing at each of us.

Nate responded, "Good. It was real good. Remember Norah?"

Martin fully turned to the preteen, "Oh, my goodness."

I could tell she'd already turned the sass up to 100 by the grin on her face. "Martin, oh, my gosh."