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“Pat-Pat, can we please stop walking soon? Going hiking isn’t fun anymore,” Virgil’s little voice said. Virgil was older than his years most of the time, serious and cautions, but he was still only 8 and so, so little. He was getting tired after the last two days of walking.
“Just a little bit longer Virgil, I promise.” It was going to start getting dark soon, and that fact was making Patton nervous, but he hadn’t found a good place for the two of them to stop for the night.
“We’ve been gone a long time,” Virgil noted cautiously. “Is… is Aunt Bev going to be mad when we come back from camping?” he asked. The shaky fear to his voice was enough to make Patton’s feet feel less tired.
“Doesn’t matter,” Patton said resolutely. “Aunt Bev isn’t going to be able to do anything to you anymore.”
“…This isn’t a camping trip is it?” Virgil asked.
Patton bit his lip. “No. It’s not.”
Patton was old enough to understand that what his aunt had done was bad. Very bad. Adults shouldn’t do that to anyone especially someone as little as Patton’s baby brother. Patton’s mom and dad had been good. They’d made him promise that if anyone ever hurt Patton or Virgil like that Patton would tell them even if that person said not to and that they’d fix it. Of course, now mom and dad were gone and there was no way to tell them. Which meant since Patton was the oldest, it fell on him to do something. So, he had.
The first time she’d hit Patton, he’d started to make a plan. He’d started gathering up stuff, carefully choosing supplies so that they’d be able to carry them all between them. He’d also stolen more than $500 out of Aunt Bev’s stash. He didn’t even feel bad about it. The plan had been to wait until school ended for the summer this Friday, but she’d smacked Virgil on the cheek Tuesday morning before school and Patton had grabbed his hand on the way to the bus, told him they were going hiking like they used to with mom and dad, and guided him to where Patton had been hiding the backpacks full of stuff in the woods outside of Aunt Bev’s house. Then they’d started walking. He hoped people wouldn’t realize they were missing since they’d only be missing 4 days of school. He didn’t want people to come looking. Aunt Bev certainly wouldn’t.
Patton knew where they were going. They were going to a small town about 10 miles away from Aunt Bev’s house. They’d driven through it on the way to her house when they’d arrived. It had looked like a cute little place and she’d turned her nose up at it and talked about how crummy it was; so, it had to be a great place. Plus, he knew he and Virgil couldn’t walk very far and trying to catch a bus ran the risk of them getting caught.
Virgil was young, but smart. “How are we going to do this?” he asked. “You’re 12. You can’t get a job or a house.”
“Remember when dad used to read us The Boxcar Children?” he asked. “It’ll be like that. Well, not exactly, there aren’t many old train tracks around, but we’ll find something. I even found an old copy of the book in the $.10 bin at the bookstore. The ending’s ripped out, but we’ve got the part where they figure out how to live in the woods. It’ll be like a guide.”
“That’s a story Pat.”
“But it has a lot of good ideas,” Patton said, “and we’re smart. We can do it. Maybe we’ll even find a dog like Watch or a kitty-cat!”
“You’re allergic to cats Pat,” Virgil pointed out with a frown. “I don’t know if this is a good idea.”
“We aren’t going back to Aunt Bev,” Patton said firmly. “Trust me V?”
“…Okay,” Virgil agreed quietly, “but we really do need to find a place to rest soon.”
“I know,” Patton said. They’d slept in some other kids’ treehouse the night before on the edge of the woods, but now they were out on a country road and there wasn’t much cover. “We’ll find a good place soon. I’m sure of it!”
Virgil just nodded. “Can… can I have my hoodie?”
Patton nodded even though it was way too hot to be wearing it today. He took the backpack off his back and set it down to root through it for Virgil’s hoodie. Virgil took it with a smile and hugged it to himself. He didn’t put it on though and Patton was glad because it would just make him sweat and need more water. In fact, while he had the backpack off, he offered Virgil one of the bottles of water. There’d been a water filter mom and dad always took while hiking that had been in the boxes of stuff Aunt Bev had shoved into the attic, and there was a river near the town they were going to, but they still had to be careful until they were closer. At the same time, he had to make sure Virgil didn’t get sick from not drinking enough.
“Ready to go?” he asked once Virgil had taken a drink.
Virgil nodded. Patton took his hand and they continued to walk. Patton glanced at his watch every few minutes. He was starting to get worried because it was past 7 when they finally saw something in the distance that wasn’t just a road and fields of corn. It was an old garbage dump, and Patton imagined it would be the best thing he could find tonight so he led Virgil to it and through a hole in the fence at the back.
“Okay, let’s find a good place to sleep before it gets dark and then we can have some of the beef jerky and bread I brought.
“Okay,” Virgil agreed. He looked around. “How about over there?” There was a little space free of debris that had a bit of metal already hanging over it, perilously propped up by a couple of piles of garbage.
“Good idea Virgey,” Patton agreed. “We can set up under there and then try to make some walls before bed. Patton set up the blanket in the indicated space and spread the food out between them. “This is the last of the jerky,” he warned. “Well have to eat peanut butter after this until I can find something else.”
“It’s okay,” Virgil said. “I like peanut butter.”
Patton smiled over at him sadly. They both knew that while Virgil liked peanut butter well enough, he definitely didn’t want to eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day and neither did Patton. “You’re such a good boy Virgil,” Patton said. “How did I ever end up with such a great brother?”
Virgil frowned at the shakiness of Patton’s voice and stuffed the rest of his jerky in his mouth before crawling over into Patton’s lap. Patton swallowed heavily and wrapped his arms around his shoulders. He was so small, Patton thought while pressing his cheek against the top of the boy’s head. He’d always been small since the day mom and dad had brought him home. Patton had been little himself then, but he could still remember them making him sit down to hold his baby brother in his arms for the first time. He’d loved him with his whole heart from that moment on, but Mom and Dad had always been big enough to protect them both. Now they were gone, and Patton was the big one and he was going to protect Virgil the best he could.
“Mm-kay,” Patton said after a few more snuggles. “Let’s go look for stuff around here before it gets too dark. It’ll be like a scavenger hunt!”
“‘Kay,” Virgil agreed, moving to get up.
Patton pulled him back to him before he could get away and smacked a wet kiss on his cheek.
“Ew Pat, no,” he whined, squirming out of Patton’s grip. Patton chuckled as Virgil gave him a sassy chiding look with his hands on his hips. Patton shoved himself to his feet and ruffled Virgil’s hair really quick to his clear annoyance before they started walking along the dump.
They found lots of things in the little time they were looking. There were a couple of old cups that could be used as long as they were very careful not to cut themselves on the sharp edges and a giant tub with a crack down the side that could be useful. Patton eyed some large sheets of metal. For now, they struggled to pull over some of the lighter sheets for the night, but it made Patton consider making this a more permanent place to stop. Some of the giant sheets could be used to make a better shelter with some work and there were some nice concrete blocks to keep them propped up. As long as it still seemed safe tomorrow, they could easily stay. He imagined the town wasn’t too far away. If it was close enough, they could go back and forth to town and run less of a risk of being found out.
They’d gotten the metal sheets leaned up against the stacks leaving a small gap for a doorway. Patton went about making them as comfortable of a bed with the blanket and sleeping bag he’d packed that he could and let Virgil go explore a couple of the closer stacks with the warning to be very, very careful and not wonder off. Patton could hear him walking around and humming a bit every so often as he did his best to turn the backpacks into comfortableish pillows.
“I found a bug!” Virgil yelled at him. “A big bug.”
“Do you know what type it is?” Patton asked.
“Hmmm,” he contemplated, telling Patton that he likely did not. “She looks like a friend type of bug!”
“That’s good, Virge,” Patton said, biting back a smile. They still had most of a bottle of water, but they’d have to go to the river soon. He wondered if he could find the garbage dump on the map that he’d copied at the library last month so he could figure out how to get there easier.
“Wanna see her?” Virgil asked. “I can bring her to see you.”
“Now Virgil, you know we’re in her home. Don’t go picking her up without permission just to show her to me.”
“But Pat…” he whined. “Maybe she wants to come live with us.”
“Virgil,” Patton scolded doing his best impression of their mom.
“What if she crawls onto my hand herself?”
“If you can convince her to crawl onto your hand, then you can bring her to visit, but no grabbing and absolutely no keeping her.”
“…Fine.”
Patton listened to him trying to convince the bug to get on his hand for a few minutes before he gave up. Patton squinted at the map in the fading light. He thought he could figure out where they were, though the dump wasn’t labeled on the map. It was in a good position, he thought. The river shouldn’t be too far away, and town was only about a mile south.
“Pat! Pat!” Virgil’s excited voice called suddenly. “Pat! I found a friend.”
“Is it another bug?” Patton asked.
“No!” he replied, awe in his voice. “I don’t know what it is.”
Well that was a bit concerning. Patton crawled out of the shelter they’d made as quickly as possible while still being safe. He spotted Virgil and rushed over to him but relaxed when he saw that his ‘new friend’ was just a stuffed animal.
“What is it Pat?” Virgil asked shaking the slightly dirty and torn stuffed animal at him.
“I’m not sure, sweetie,” he said. It looked like a cross between a stuffed bear, dog, and cat and one of its arms was gone.
It was ugly, if he was being honest, and dirty, but Virgil had a wide smile on his face and looked so proud of his find that Patton couldn’t say no when he said, “Can we keep him?”
“Sure,” Patton said. “Though we might have to clean his fur tomorrow once we get some more water.”
“Okay!” Virgil agreed easily enough.
Patton smiled at him softly. “Come one kiddo, it’s getting late. We should go to bed.”
“Kay, kay!”
Patton grabbed the hand not holding his ‘new friend’ to lead him back to the shelter. “What are you going to name him?”
“Um… I dunno, but I love him.”
Patton chuckled. “Well I’m sure he loves you too. Just like I love you.”
Virgil smiled at him and oh, that smile could melt Patton’s heart any day. “I love you too!”
Virgil crawled into the shelter without complaint and sat down in the nest while Patton pulled himself in too.
“Have another drink of water before bed,” Patton said handing him the bottle. He took a sip and then held it out to Patton.
“You too,” he said.
“I’m fine, honey.”
He frowned at Patton and shook it. “You too,” he insisted. Patton puffed out a breath and took a small sip of water.
Virgil yawned then as Patton put the water bottle away. “Patt’n,” he said.
“Yeah?”
“What type of animal is he?” he asked pointing at the stuffed animal in his lap. “I’m trying to think of a name, but I don’t know what he is.”
Patton looked at it again though it was getting too dark to see (not that he thought he’d be able to tell anyway). “I don’t know. He’s some sort of critter.”
“Critter,” Virgil repeated, contemplatively. He bopped the stuffed animal on its little button nose. “You’re just a little critter,” he cooed at it.
“But little critters are going to have to sleep outside the bed until they can have a bath.”
He looked up at Patton with little doe eyes and Patton had a hard time staying firm, but he really didn’t want that trash covered thing in his bed.
“I’ll make him his own bed and you can hold his hand all night,” Patton offered.
“Hmm…” Virgil contemplated. “Okay.”
Patton gave him a kiss on the forehead in thanks for his willingness to compromise and started rooting through his bag to find something small to make into a mini bed. “How about this?” he said brandishing the bag the beef jerky had been in.
Virgil scrutinized it and then nodded. He helped Patton spread it out near the side of the bed and settled the stuffed animal on it. “There you go, Critter,” Virgil said to it before leaning back against Patton with another yawn.
“I think it’s bedtime for everyone,” Patton said into his hair.
“Mmhmm,” Virgil agreed as he allowed Patton to lay him down and wrap part of the blanket around them. Virgil snuggled into him and reached a hand out of the blanket pile to grab Critter’s one arm. “Night Patton,” he mumbled. “Night Critter. Love you.”
“I love you too Virgil,” Patton said, curling up around him. “I love you so much.” There was a small smile on Virgil’s face as he quickly drifted off to sleep.