Tacoma Falls: Wild Horses

Foundation

Grayson

Papaw once said if you want a sturdy home, you need a strong foundation. If there are cracks, your house will crumble. I was working with a broken foundation with a billion cracks.

I gave Amber space when she needed it. When she became claustrophobic, I opened the door. If it wasn't raining, Amber bolted constantly from the cabin.

I sat on the back porch while Amber took deep breaths and calmed herself. She would walk around, taking in her surroundings. I would watch her in case she needed me. But I stayed rooted in my spot.

When Amber worried about a sink full of dirty dishes, I washed them. She offered to help. I reassured her I had it.

I would catch Amber cleaning obsessively and help her. I never complained once, but let her get on with it. The book explains perfection becomes ingrained in an abuse survivor.

Finally, I tried something. I grabbed Amber's hand and led her outside to a mud puddle. Then I jumped in it and kicked the muddy water around. Amber yelled at me to stop. I grabbed her and pulled her into the mud puddle. She struggled until we landed smack in the puddle.

We got on our hands and knees, covered in mud.

"Gray! Why did you do that?" Amber yelled.

"Wild Filly, you look adorable covered in mud." I snorted, trying not to laugh.

"Oh, you think this is funny?" Amber pointed at her mud-covered self.

I plastered a serious expression on my face. "Nope." It didn't work. I started laughing.

"Oh, that's it." Amber grabbed a handful of mud and threw it at me.

The mud hit me in the face with a splat. Amber giggled.

I grabbed mud from my eyes, flung it away, and looked at Amber. "Oh, that's it. It's on." I grabbed handfuls of mud and threw it at her.

We got into a mud fight while Amber squealed.

"Here, you don't have enough mud. Here's some more." I pushed a handful of mud on her head.

Amber smeared my face with mud while squealing. We spent time in that mud puddle, covering each other in mud. But it was worth it to hear Amber laugh.

*****
Amber

Grayson and slung mud at each other while laughing. I couldn't believe he pulled me into a mud puddle. But I had a ball.

Eventually, Grayson stood up and hauled me to my feet. We looked at each other, pointed, and laughed. We looked utterly ridiculous.

Grayson led me to an outdoor shower. We stripped off our muddy clothes and climbed into the shower. We rinsed the mud from our bodies before going inside. I stood in my bra and panties as Grayson stood in his boxers.

Muddy water flowed into the drain. Grayson handed me a bar of soap. I took it and lathered my body. He poured shampoo into his palm and washed my hair.

"How come your family has an outdoor shower?" I asked.

Grayson massaged my scalp with his fingertips. "Meemaw didn't want us to hike mud through the cabin when we played outside. So Papaw built an outdoor shower. You should have heard Mary holler when Hank and I showered naked. She didn't think it was right."

"Well, it's a little weird to see your brothers naked." Amber shrugged.

"Hank and I didn't care. We would get changed in the living room, too."

"You Fuller boys have no shame, do you?"

"Not really. Ma had to yell at us to change in our rooms. Pa didn't care as long as we didn't run around naked."