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It was a very uneventful day. A faint breeze ruffled the air. The sun was shining, birds were singing and-
“Angelica Hamilton get down from there!" Eliza’s voice snapped across the clearing like a whip. Above her, her dear daughter clung onto a flimsy branch overlooking a small swamp. Though the branch bowed further every time she moved, she continued onward, eyes locked on the prize in front of her.
“Angie,” her little brother called nervously. “It’s okay. I don’t need the scarf.”
Even through her exhaustion, Angie shot Alexander a glare, making the branch shake. “What’re you talking about? That’s a precious gift!”
“It’s not worth it.”
“I’m the one getting it, not you.”
“It’s too dangerous!”
“Don’t worry! I’m an excellent tree climber!”
Seeing how her son’s efforts were in vain, Eliza tried a different tactic. “No ice cream for a month!”
The thought gave Angie pause. Ice cream was a delicacy to be treasured, and in any normal circumstances the threat it would call for a hasty retreat. But the scarf was right in front of her…
With a single minded determination she threw her hand forward and grabbed it. The shift made the wood underneath her groan, and Eliza gasped. For a handful of suspenseful seconds they hung there, frozen. Then Angie grinned and lifted her prize up victoriously.
“See Alexander? What did I tell-”
The branch snapped. With a large splash and a shriek, Angelica disappeared into the muddy waters below.
Alexander gasped in horror, but Eliza vaulted the fence and sloshed toward her daughter. The water only came up to their ankles, but Angie was struggling in an upturned turtle position, hands clawing for air. With one huge heave, Eliza ripped Angie from the water.
“Mama!” Angie sobbed, clinging on to her mother. She was soaking from top to bottom, hair matted with mud and her pretty dress had been stained. But her hand was still clenched around the scarf.
“Oh, my dear,” Eliza whispered, holding her little bundle close. She slowly made her way back to dry land with her shivering daughter in her arms. Angie held on for dear life.
Alexander tugged on the hem on Eliza’s wet dress and stared up at them with concern. “Is Angie going to be okay?”
Eliza smiled. “Yes. Everything is going to be alright.”
After thirty minutes of rocking her daughter back and forth, Angie’s cries had been reduced to mere whimpers. Eliza set Angie down gently. She wiped the mess off her face with the hem of her dress. Seeing her puffy eyes, Eliza’s heart wrenched and she almost changed her mind. But no, this was the only decision she could make.
“I have to go up to our car and drive it around,” she said, pointing upward. Above them was a woody forest, full of sharp branches and protruding bushes. Seeing it reasonably, it was impossible to carry someone through there. Angelica’s eyes widened.
“Mama,” she begged. “Please don’t go.”
Eliza felt pain pang through her chest as she kissed her daughter’s forehead. “I’m so sorry my dear. I promise I’ll be back as quick as I can.” She turned to her son.
“Alexander, can you protect Angelica for me?”
Alexander nodded. “I promise.”
With one last hug Eliza began her trek towards her car.
As soon as Eliza had left, Angie curled up into a little ball.
“Angie?” Alexander asked worriedly. “Are you alright?”
Instead of answering she thrust a muddy bundle into his hands. At first he didn’t recognize it , but then he caught a flash of red.
“My scarf,” he said in wonder.
“I,” Angie choked, “I got it back.”
Alexander couldn’t stop the smile that broke out over his face. Even though it was dirty, he wrapped it around his neck.
“Hey!” Eaker’s voice rang around the clearing. “Look! It’s a mud monster!”
The neighbourhood children gathered around him, peeking curiously over his shoulder.
Alexander whirled around. “Go away, Eaker,” he snarled.
“It’s the mud monster’s dog!” Eaker laughed. “Look, it’s wearing a leash.”
Some of the children laughed, others squirmed uncomfortably. None of them said a word.
“I’m not a dog!” Alexander exclaimed angrily.
“Yes you are!”
“Leave him alone!” Angelica said sharply. There was no trace of the crying from earlier, only anger. Eaker turned his attention back to her.
“Look, you’re covered with mud!”
“Gross!” Someone piped up. Angelica flushed. Her favourite dress was covered by the swamp bottom, one of her shoes had been swallowed up, and despite Eliza’s efforts, traces of mud lingered on her face.
Eaker turned to Theodosia, standing silently off to the side. With her clean white dress and impeccable cleanliness, she seemed to mock Angie just by standing there. “Isn’t she disgusting?”
Theodosia pursed her lips, clearly disapproving of Eaker’s taunting, but he didn’t take any heed. Tears welled in Angelica’s eyes as she clutched her muddy skirt. Alexander hovered next to her, unsure of what to say.
As soon as Eaker opened his mouth, the sound of branches breaking came from behind them. Everyone turned to see Philip crash out from the forest. As soon as he laid eyes on Angelica, he hesitated, eyes going from the smug Eaker, to the swamp, to the disapproving Theodosia and back again.
“What do you think, Philip?” Eaker asked proudly. “Don’t you think your sister is a muddy monster?”
Philip stared at him silently, not saying a word. Tears spilled down Angelica’s cheeks, cutting new lines across the dirt. Alexander stood protectively in front of Angelica and glared at all of them.
Philip walked forward into the center, between the crowd and his sister. His gaze did not leave Eaker even once. When he spoke, his voice was dangerously low. “What do I think?”
He turned away, took a few steps and leapt into the swamp. A collective gasp rose from the crowd as a large splash shielded Philip from view. Angelica’s eyes widened.
Philip appeared, similarly wet as his sister, and flung a handful of mud into the crowd. It landed smack on Eaker’s face.
“Mud fight!” Philip declared, chucking another handful of mud. This time it landed on Theodosia’s pristine dress.
“My dress!” she gasped, horrified. The matter was only made worse when Eaker staggered into her, smearing mud everywhere. A roar of laughter burst from the children gathered there as they watched Theodosia’s futile attempts to disentangle herself from Eaker. Richard jumped in after his friend, headshotting an innocent bystander. His buddy jumped in and dumped an armful of mud on his head.
Suddenly it was all out war, all the kids leaping into the swamp to get in on the action. Chaos reigned as they slung mud at each other with no regard for the target. Even Theodosia had joined in, spraying Philip with muddy water and leaving a hapless Eaker alone on the riverbank.
Alexander gawked at the children laughing as they were pelted with wet dirt. Angelica watched as her brother smeared mud onto Richard’s face. A funny feeling rose in her chest, and she let it out in a short burst of laughter. Before Alexander could react, she ran towards the swamp, and jumped in. Rising from the water, she flung mud at the defenceless Eaker and turned to him.
“Come on, Andy, what’re you waiting for?”
Alexander’s mouth soundlessly opened and closed several times. With a shrug and a ‘suit yourself’ Angelica joined the fray. Alexander scanned the swampland of laughing, dirty children. It seemed like great fun. He hurried to join them.
---
Eliza returned with a handful of blankets to find her daughter and son embroiled in a mud fight with her eldest son and a ragtag bunch of neighbourhood children. She stood in shock for several moments until someone noticed her and slowly lowered his arm. His primary opponent turned to see what he was looking at and promptly froze. All around the swamp, children stopped what they were doing and lowered their gazes guiltily. She struggled for words before finally getting out,
“I’m calling your parents.”
The clearing filled with protests, but she took out her phone and started speed dialing.
---
Soon the clearing was full of milling parents. Worried parents lead their children away. Some were scolding, some were relieved, and some were furious. Eliza was one such parent.
Determined to keep her tone level, she wrestled down her anger and asked, “Could any of you explain to me
my crying daughter and sons got into a mud fight with the entire neighbourhood?”
“Not the entire neighbourhood,” Angelica muttered. Eliza sent a burning glare her way.
“Don’t think I won’t punish you.”
“Eaker started it!” Philip flung a finger at the boy, who was in such a state of shock he had to be hauled away.
“A likely story,” Eliza replied, unamused.
“Well it’s true!”
“Seconded,” Alexander piped in.
“Thirded.”
“Fourthed.”
All of them turned to stare in shock at Theodosia, who was wiping mud from her hair with a clean towel. She shrugged. “He was being a bit of a jerk.”
Philip snorted. “A bit?” Her eyes narrowed but before she could reply Burr hurried over.
“Theodosia, don’t wander off like that!” he exclaimed, a hint of exasperation evident in his voice. He nodded politely to Eliza and left, Theodosia trailing behind him.
For a second, Eliza looked as if she might believe them.
Richard slung an arm around Philip’s shoulders. His hair was still dripping water. “Nice fun, mate! Brilliant idea. We should do it again sometime, yeah?”
Philip fistbumped his buddy, grinning. “Yeah, definitely. It was brilliant wasn’t it?”
Richard gave him a blinding grin. With a wave, Richard was off, running across the clearing. It only just dawned on Philip how that conversation might look when he felt his mother’s eyes burning holes into his back. He turned slowly to meet her sweet, sweet smile.
“No TV for a month!”
“NO!!!”