The next day dawns bright and, fueled with a cup of perhaps too-strong coffee – Stephen winced when he drank it – we are off on the road as soon as we can.The boys’ interest in road life is renewed, luckily, when they discover a set of bingo cards that allows them to win by looking for disgusting t
Still, he meets my eyes and nods, settling it over his shoulders. We don’t have a choice. I walk over to Stephen and Victor with the boys, who are eagerly looking towards the overgrown trail head. Stephen looks at me, though, his face worried.“Good luck, Luna,” he says, offering his hand.I take i
We walk for hours that day, until night starts to creep in on us. We’re lucky, actually, that it’s a mild February and that we’re not racked with cold. Still, despite the nip in the air, I feel the sweat pouring off me beneath my jacket. This worries me for two reasons. One, because I’m almost sure
“Please,” Alvin says, guilt written all over his little face. “Please don’t be frightened – we didn’t want to tell you, because we knew you would be frightened.”“Really, mama,” Ian says, giving my hand a squeeze. “It’s okay.”I’m almost gasping now, I’m so freaked out, my head spinning to look all
“Yeah,” Ian says, a little rueful, still rubbing his injured backside. “We didn’t want you to freak out. Like you’re doing. Right now.”“That’s it.” I say, standing up sharply, somehow managing to balance my plate of food in my hand and not spill it all over the floor. “Family meeting. In the tent.
Alvin folds his hands in his lap, shrugging one shoulder. “Ever since we were very little –““Since we can remember, I guess,” Ian picks up, miming his brother’s action.“We’ve always been able to see the magic. To notice it, when others don’t,” Alvin finishes. Both boys look apologetically Victor a
“But now,” Alvin says, looking at us in disgust. “You guys are like, gross.”“What?” Victor says, baffled and frankly a little offended. “We’re gross?”“Yeah,” Ian says, looking between us with his nose wrinkled. “We didn’t want to tell you, because we didn’t want to hurt your feelings – and because
The next morning, Victor and I make short work of packing up the tent. We send the boys off with a little H20 test kit to see if they can find fresh water, and they come back with a couple of bottles full. We quickly set the water to boil over the rekindled fire and then re-bottle it, slipping it in