Keep On Keeping On
When they were deep enough in the woods to feel safe, Nine’s mother built a fire and heaped brush around it so the flames would not be visible through the trees. Then she sat by it and watched while nine curled up beside her and went back to sleep.
When she woke the next morning, Nine was cooking a rabbit over the fire.
“Look what I caught for us, mommy!” Her mother noticed traces of blood under the girl’s fingernails, but she was too hungry to care.
“Are we going to live in the woods now?” Nine asked, between bites.
“Winter’s coming, honey. We’d freeze. We’ll go back to the house in a bit, and see if it’s safe.”
“What if it’s not?”
“Then I’ll take what supplies I can grab and we’ll make for the next town.”
When the sun was high enough to peer beneath the trees they doused the fire and walked back the way they had come, both listening carefully. A quarter-mile from the house, the woman told her daughter to wait in the woods and went on alone. Watching for any movement in the bushes, she circled the clearing around the house twice before she crept up and peeped in each window before trying the door.
Their home was in disarray -- she couldn’t tell if he’d pulled the shelves down in a search, or simply in anger -- but Jake was gone. Stepping outdoors, she found Nine playing in front of the house.
“Nine!” she scolded. “I told you to wait where it was safe. If someone had come upon you juggling that -- that --” She broke off. The child had been tossing and catching a frail, whitish object. She rolled it across the grass, and it stopped against her mother’s feet, facing upwards in a grin that lacked a lower jaw.
“Where did you get this? Nine, tell me?”
“Found it in the woods. It’s the lady in the green dress, isn’t it? It smells like her.”
Nine’s mother picked up the skull, very gently, and wondered, not for the first time, how to explain things to her strange daughter.
“You must never make toys of these.” Nine frowned.
“But she wasn’t using it anymore,” she protested.
When she woke the next morning, Nine was cooking a rabbit over the fire.
“Look what I caught for us, mommy!” Her mother noticed traces of blood under the girl’s fingernails, but she was too hungry to care.
“Are we going to live in the woods now?” Nine asked, between bites.
“Winter’s coming, honey. We’d freeze. We’ll go back to the house in a bit, and see if it’s safe.”
“What if it’s not?”
“Then I’ll take what supplies I can grab and we’ll make for the next town.”
When the sun was high enough to peer beneath the trees they doused the fire and walked back the way they had come, both listening carefully. A quarter-mile from the house, the woman told her daughter to wait in the woods and went on alone. Watching for any movement in the bushes, she circled the clearing around the house twice before she crept up and peeped in each window before trying the door.
Their home was in disarray -- she couldn’t tell if he’d pulled the shelves down in a search, or simply in anger -- but Jake was gone. Stepping outdoors, she found Nine playing in front of the house.
“Nine!” she scolded. “I told you to wait where it was safe. If someone had come upon you juggling that -- that --” She broke off. The child had been tossing and catching a frail, whitish object. She rolled it across the grass, and it stopped against her mother’s feet, facing upwards in a grin that lacked a lower jaw.
“Where did you get this? Nine, tell me?”
“Found it in the woods. It’s the lady in the green dress, isn’t it? It smells like her.”
Nine’s mother picked up the skull, very gently, and wondered, not for the first time, how to explain things to her strange daughter.
“You must never make toys of these.” Nine frowned.
“But she wasn’t using it anymore,” she protested.