A Life Of 'Shine - Lem Fike

30

"You find anything, Jackie?" Nora asked, holding onto the boys hand as they walked through the near forest. The others were still at the hot springs, back with the food that Nora didn't want anymore of what she had eaten.

"Nothing interesting. Some flowers to make a flower necklace with though." Nora crouched down so she was the same hight as the boy, looking at the smushed petals in his hand.

"Those are some pretty flowers. Why don't we find some more flowers to use?" Jack looked at her with bright eyes, nodding with a small smile on his face. Nora took the boys hand and walked a little further into the forest to find some more flowers, careful to not go too far from the group.

It took quite a walk before Nora found a small patch of flowers that she was happy was close enough to the group to take Jack.

"How's here?" She asked the boy who only nodded in turn, sitting down a little bit away to not squish any flowers.

Nora sat by on a nearby rock, using her knife to carve a few sticks which was an activity she quickly took up to pass the time. Jack was taking a little longer than usual to make the necklace, this was because Nora had failed to see him finish one necklace and move on to the other.

"Miss Morgan?" She looked up from her carving, offering a small smile at the boy who now stood in front of her.

"I-I made you this." He held up on of his flower chains, a small piece of jewellery that wasn't big enough to fit over Nora's head but was enough to sit ontop of her head, which she discovered when she tried to put it on without breaking it.

"It's beautiful, makes me look prettier." She smiled, admiring the crown sitting on her head. Jack smiled when he realised she liked it, holding up one more flower chain he had made.

"For mama." Was all he said before he began to walk off back in the direction of the others, she wondered how he could tell but when she stood to follow him and heard the groups chatter in the distance she figured he had just been following the sound of their voices.

"Mama! I made you another flower chain." Jack called once he walked out of the tree line, able to see Abigail in the distance. She looked over and gave the boy a smile, walking closer to him so he didn't have to run as far.

"Thank you." She said, taking the object off of her son before holding it in her hand. "And thank you for taking him out, it's awfully sweet of you."

"It's no problem, really. We had fun didn't we Jackie?" The young boy gave an enthusiastic nod towards Nora before running back towards the group, directly towards where John and Arthur stood.

"Was he any trouble?"

"Nope, just wanted to make these." Nora gave her answer while also pointing towards the flower crown on her head, showing Abigail her son's creation.

"That's good." Having finished their conversation, Abigail returned to the others, Nora following shortly behind.

The female had sat back on the worn blanket, picking up an open can of strawberries she asked to be kept aside for her. With a small smile she ate the delicious tasting food, savouring each fruit as she ate them.

"I ever tell y'all.. how much I love these?" Nora said, through mouthfuls of the fruit. The others could only chuckle at the girls foolishness, amused by the ordeal.

They all sat and ate the cold food in silence, even if it wasn't as filling as regular stew the event they all partook on boosted their happiness and made their day a lot more positive than what had or could have been.

"We should do this more often, it was a rather enjoyable evening." Mary-Beth commented, the others all nodded their agreements with a small smile.

"Well, maybe we could do something again soon?" Nora suggested, her eyes carefully looking over the faces of her companions. Both Tilly, Karen and Mary-Beth looked at eachother with clear excitement at the idea, all nodding enthusiastically.