Beyond The River

1

"Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten!" Evelyn shouted into the side of the log house, her hands over her eyes as she finished counting. "Ready or not, here I come!" She turned around and faced the forest that surrounded her childhood home glancing from left, to right, in search of her hiders. Soft giggles could be heard a short distance from the house and Evelyn couldn't help but smile. She loved playing games like this. It got her out and about, running, and also thinking. In her mind, strategy was key if you really wanted to win a game of hide and seek.

As Evelyn looked into the forest, she could feel the early summer wind gently blowing against her. The air ruffled against her oversized white T-shirt with a Harley-Davidson logo. Her jean shorts were just long enough to be seen under the shirt, but much shorter than one would deem modest, which allowed her legs to feel the wind and afternoon sun. She began to walk into the forest to get on with the game.

There was a barrel some ten yards away from where she was, and Evelyn had a hunch. "I wonder where those darn children are at?!" She half shouted out to the forest knowing that the children could hear her. "More giggles could be heard, clearly coming from the barrel this time. Looking down, she purposely stepped on a stick, snapping it in two and making a cracking sound. The giggles stopped instantly.

That's more like it. She thought to herself. Making swift steps over to the barrel and peeking into it. There sat three small children, all covered in mud and dirt, their clothes half sticking to the barrel, half sticking to themselves. "Munchkins!" Evelyn squealed in delight at catching her hiders. They in turn squealed in delight and ran out from the barrel. They ran around her in a circle before scattering in different directions. She sighed to herself as her little warriors were doing well in the training she was giving them today.

Half an hour later, Evelyn sat at the edge of a nearby river with three, now cleaned, small children. Their dirty clothes were hanging on a clothesline tied onto the forest trees, and they now wore cleaner clothes that were dry. The youngest, Nina, was already fast asleep in her sister's lap. "Micah, can you please check the fish net?" she asked the oldest of the three children. Micah nodded before running further down the river to check the fishing trap that Evelyn and her father had set up the previous evening. She watched him run that run most kids under twelve did, legs somewhat unsteady, and arms moving too far apart, making his stance wild and uncontrolled.

Evelyn felt a tug on her sleeve, "Eva, where is Papa?" She turned to face Maurice, nicknamed Gus, her five-year-old brother. Evelyn quickly adjusted Nina, and patted the hard ground under them for him to sit next to her. "Well Gus, where does Papa always go on a sunny day?"

The boy had to think for a minute before he answered, "Hunting."

"Yes." She answered slowly, although her little brother was only half right. "He does go hunting in the morning, but where does Papa always go after that?" "Um." The boy thought hard, and Evelyn couldn't help but smile at his attempt to verbalize what he already knew. She watched his bright blue eyes indicate the wheels turning in his head, looking more like their mother's eyes the more she looked at them, "Talk to Appa?" Gus questioned, bringing Evelyn's thoughts back to the present.

Evelyn nodded in affirmation. "That's right, Gus. Papa talks to the Alpha. Papa has to tell him how you're doing every day," she squeezed his arm slightly in playfulness as she spoke, making the boy giggle. "He has to talk to the Alpha, or else the others might think something is wrong, okay?" Maurice nodded in understanding. The boy was only five, and yet he was able to at least understand that when there was trouble, help would come.

Hopefully that day never comes. Evelyn thought as she spotted Micah running back down the riverside to them from the trap. "We have fish!" he shouted in glee as he ran at full speed. Evelyn smiled and chuckled as the boy ran past her before he could slow himself down. When he stopped himself, he turned around and walked back to his siblings, panting heavily. "We have fish in the trap." He said, a big smile on his face.