Boondocks

Chapter 5: Teddy Bear Army

WILLOW

Two weeks passed, and the camp wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Everything changed after the fight. Reggie kept his distance, and the men kept their damn comments to themselves. I should have gotten a Croc much sooner.

The kids had a blast exploring everything the camp had to offer them. I often followed them at a distance, observing what they did when they thought no one was watching. It warmed me to see them happy, but the thought of disaster turned me iced cold. I tried to focus on the moment and not dwell on what ifs. Right now, they'd each stolen a pair of boots and an extremely oversized leather jacket and were clip clopping around a small group of bears like shrunken Free Soldiers.

"Ready men!" Eve called like a general. "Let me hear you roar!"

The bears let out a chorus so loud, I was surprised it didn't knock the kids backward. A jolt of fear shot through me as I stared at their massive teeth, and I was just about to intervene when they stopped.

Eve threw her hands on her hips. "You call that a roar?" She turned to Eric. "Private, teach these bears what a real roar sounds like."

Eric heaved a breath so large his back bowed with the effort, then he roared the cutest little roar I'd ever heard in my life. I threw a hand over my mouth.

The bears let him finish, then looked between themselves. Were they biting back laughter too? It was hard to tell if they were or if I was imagining things. After all, their mere existence felt imaginary.

They all straightened, and in perfect sync, they roared again, mimicking the sound Eric had made.

I doubled over, physically weakened by the fight not to laugh. I would have failed and been caught, had Merle not chosen that moment to swoop into the fray. "What on Earth kind of sound was that?"

"A real roar, sergeant!" the bears boomed in sync, then they dropped the act, roaring laughter.

Merle's grin was wide. He focused on the children. "Oh no! Tex, Cecil, is that you? You shrunk!"

The kids giggled, and Eve said, "No, Papa Merle! It's us!"

Merle squinted his eyes. "Hey! It is! Say, how about we go give back the things you stole, and I'll reward you with some pudding."

"Pudding! I love pudding!" Eve yanked off the jacket and sprinted to return it to whoever she'd snatched it from.

Merle laughed and heaved Eric onto his hip. "That was some roar," he said as they walked away.

I stepped backward and ran into a hard body. I turned. Croc looked even more excited than the children.

"I found something!" He took my hand and rushed to whatever it was.

I laughed. "What is it?"

"I don't know." He stopped by Cecil's campsite. It was one of the few overlooking the water, just a one man tent, a stool, and various items strewn about.

Croc stopped and motioned to the ground by Cecil's chair.

A boombox.

Croc released me, dropped to his knees beside it, and pressed play. Music rang up, some bluesy sound I'd expect to hear in a long-ago bar. He closed his eyes and listened a moment, then he looked at me. "How does it do that?"

To this day, it still amazed me how much he didn't know. I closed the space between us and took a seat on the stool. "The sound is recorded on a disc, and the stereo replays it. It's called a CD." I highly doubted that was accurate, but it was the best explanation I had.