by Jason Letts
Treading under the outskirts of the forest, they expected those they feared would stumble upon them out of nowhere. The paranoia got so intense that each rustling branch in the forest called forth a flurry of jerking heads. But instead of looking at where the noise came from, they always turned to Mary, and she chafed under the attention.
“There’s no one around! I promise I’ll tell you the second I sense anything.”
“What if Fortst is out there? Do you think he’ll try to find us or is he going to Darmen?” Vern asked.
“You know that even he never knows what he’s going to do. We’ll probably catch him taking a nap against a mossy stump, but until then just take a breath and relax,” Mary urged.
“I don’t think so,” Mira countered. “He may not be smart, but he’s definitely not stupid. When he wants to be found, I’m sure we’ll find him.”
When they finally met the river that ran down from the mountains and swept west and then north to Darmen, they dropped their bags at the forest’s edge and started to make camp.
They had fabric for a tent, and food to cook once a fire got going, but Mira noticed how her friends went about their tasks with spiritless submission. The mounting pressure seemed to drain the hope from their eyes. And in truth, Mira felt the same way too.
“We’ll need logs to make another raft,” she ordered, sorry she had nothing more cheerful to say.
“Let’s see if we can avoid riding this one over the edge into that bottomless pit this time,” Vern said.
“You probably would just to show off again,” Aoi teased him, displaying a brief flicker of optimism.
Vern opened his mouth to say something back, but he just smiled and gave a slight chuckle. It seemed to Mira a little life existed in the group after all, and she was grateful for it.
On the grass by the water’s edge, Mary bent over by the riverside. Careful not to get her shoes wet, she shuffled back and forth in concert with the miniscule waves. It seemed like getting in a suitable position to wash her hands would take hours.
Getting an idea, Mira snuck closer to the bank, her arms outstretched and a guilty smile on her face. Mary, oblivious, focused on the water while Mira descended on the sandy bank and broke into a run. Even though Mary didn’t notice, a mother duck in a nearby thicket of reeds did, and it flew out at the aggressor, crashing into Mira and knocking her to the side. Missing Mary entirely, Mira flopped into the warm, shimmering water.
Will laughed as the squawking bird flapped away and Mary recoiled from Mira’s splash. Though Mira had been unsuccessful, Vern chuckled to himself and swooped around for a second attempt.
Hurrying before Mary finished washing her hands, Vern raced through the grass and down the slope. The dip of the bank caught him off-guard, and he struggled to keep his legs underneath him. Just as he was about to collide with Mary, she rose and scooted to the side, leaving Vern to tumble into the water.
“Why is everybody jumping in the river?” she asked, looking over her shoulder. Mira laughed at Vern, who returned to the surface.
“Goober!” he growled. “You can’t do anything with this kid around. He just ruins it!”
The little boy had been poking at a beetle with a stick, and he looked up innocently. Will, chipping at his bones, chuckled even louder. Receiving no answer, Mary shook her head and turned away. It startled her when she almost bumped into Chucky, who stood in front of her on the small beach.
“They were trying to do this,” he grinned, picking her up by her middle. When he took a step into the water, she started screaming and squirming.
“But I don’t have my swimsuit on!” she yelled.
Chucky leapt into the current holding Mary on his shoulder. The splash hit Vern and Mira, forcing Vern to wipe the water from his face.
“What’s wrong, got some water in your eye?” Mira laughed, splashing at him again.
The two started splashing furiously while Mary returned to the surface. Her hair floating around her as she treaded water, she looked with envy at Aoi, who stood over them on the bank in her dry uniform. Aoi glanced down at all of them and laughed.
Leaping off of a rock, she aimed for an open spot in front of them to splash them all. She couldn’t pull her legs up in time though, and everyone heard a harsh slap when she belly-flopped against the water. It sounded painful, and everyone howled.
Aoi’s entrance proved much more dramatic than Roselyn’s. She just walked right into the flowing river water and waded out to where the others were. Mary booed her best friend, complaining that she hadn’t done something unintended or embarrassing. That meant Will was the only one left of their group on land.
“Come on, Will!” Mira shouted, but he just shook his head.
“You know you want to,” Aoi pressed.
“It’s not gonna happen. There’s no way,” he said.
But already it looked like he was getting up from his soft spot on the grass. He leaned forward, starting to tumble toward Vern’s raised hand. Shaking his head and sighing, he floated through the air under Vern’s control. Everyone cheered as Will gravitated toward the water. He dropped in right in front of Vern after doing one last flip, and everyone started splashing him when he returned to the surface. Their laughter proved infectious and a bright smile broke on his face. For Mira, getting them to forget about their worries seemed the most impressive victory of her life.
They spent some time swimming around in the sparkling river water. They’d been under so much stress for so long that it had to break at some point. Talking, laughing, and wading, the water helped them to temporarily wash away their worries.
When they’d finally tired themselves out, they sought the comfort of a warm fire. Even though the sun was still glaring down at them amidst wispy clouds, their fatigued bodies made it seem just like evening. Goober had wandered into the woods somewhere, leaving the seven of them to themselves.
They sat in a huddled circle around the small fire, enjoying their dinner and listening to each other’s silly thoughts. It was the kind of night they wished they’d had more of.
“There. I’m done!” Will said.
Setting the knife to the side, he rolled the stones and the chunks of bone onto a wooden surface. They clattered and bounced until they settled on a few shapes and figures.
“Oh, you’ve been making Makara dice!” Roselyn cheered, picking one of them up and admiring its etchings. On this particular dice, there was a fish, a tree, a sun, a spoon, a wave, and then one that puzzled Roselyn. It looked like a simple face with corkscrews hanging from the sides.
“Wait, is this me?” she laughed, looking over at Will, who smiled freely. Chucky looked over her shoulder to verify as the others snatched the other dice to check them over.
“Oh, this one must be Aoi. The face looks like it has parentheses around it,” Mira smirked, handing it over to Aoi.
“Everybody’s on there,” Will said as they passed the dice around. “Chucky even has his shaggy hair.”
Everyone giggled as they all passed around their little cartoon representations. Will basked in the glow of their admiration. Vern said he’d gotten the swish in his hair just right, and Mary said she liked that her face was on the same dice as the star and the comb.
“Wait, why is this one side blacked out?” Chucky asked, looking at one image that had been scratched away completely.
Mira cleared her throat to distract them from the unpleasant answer to that question.
“I can’t believe you’ve been doing this all along,” Mira said amidst the others’ immediate approval. “It’s really sweet.”
“Thanks,” Will said. “Gotta do something to pass the time, right? But I didn’t just make them to look at. I made them to play. You haven’t forgotten how, have you?”
“I remember,” Mira said. “I also recall I was about to win the last time we played but then everybody quit on me.”
“Oh please! We were letting you win because it was your birthday,” Vern said. “OK, w
ho’s going to go first?”
“Wait, why don’t we change the rules for these special dice?” Aoi suggested. “If your face comes up, that means it’s your turn. Everyone else will decide your challenge, and then you have to do it.”
“Sounds good to me,” Will said. “The first to three points wins. Here we go!”
Shaking the chunky dice in his hands, Will rolled them onto their makeshift tabletop. Once they came to rest, everyone read them with anxious excitement.
“Well, Chucky and Vern are first,” Roselyn declared. The dice also showed a tongue, a hand, an apple, and a boat. “I don’t know. Make them go back in the water?” she continued.
“A swimming race?” Mira suggested, smiling.
“I’ve got it. It’s all in the hand. They need to arm wrestle for that point!”
The others cooed with curiosity at which one was stronger. Both guys were in good shape, and no one could confidently predict the winner. Chucky and Vern, kneeling on the ground, put their right arms up on top of a board supported by logs. Fortunately, the water had washed away Chucky’s oil. Locking hands, they looked into each other’s eyes. Vern had the tiniest hint of a smile on his face, but Chucky appeared determined.
Will clapped to start the match, and the two strained and grunted as they pushed with all their might. The interlocked hands teetered back and forth, giving neither a significant gain. A red flush crept into Chucky’s face, but he still managed to exert enough leverage to put Vern on the defensive. Vern huffed and strained, but he couldn’t prevent his hand from sinking down against the block.
“I can’t believe it!” Vern cried amidst the other’s howls. As Chucky rose victoriously, Vern sat back down with a grumpy face. Mary patted him on the shoulder.
“Just think of all the other things you’re good at,” she said, her eyes drifting over him.
“It was well fought,” Vern settled, shrugging it off.
Reveling in his one-point lead, Chucky grabbed the dice. Tossing them onto the table, the only faces to emerge were Mary’s and Aoi’s. The other dice stopped on the blacked out square, a tree, a wave, and a hand.
“Another arm-wrestling competition, right?” suggested Aoi, who could easily toss Mary into the river from here. Mary rejected that suggestion by sticking out her tongue. The others presented other options like tree climbing or stone throwing, but all of them would be too easy for Aoi to win. It started to get uncomfortable for Mary, who crossed her arms.
“A dance competition!” Mira shouted, and just like that Mary started to cheer and Aoi shriveled up, embarrassed.
“No, please!” she begged. “I don’t deserve this!”
But Chucky grabbed a spoon and an empty tin, and he started to tap a beat. Mary started bobbing and twisting through graceful, rhythmic movements, and Aoi just looked uncomfortable, barely moving at all. Mary raised her arms to the sky and swiveled her hips. Aoi tried to replicate the motion, but her stilted movement and the petrified look on her face caused everyone to burst with laughter. Aoi sat down immediately, covering her face in her hands and laughing at her own embarrassment.
Will had fallen over backward, and the rest collapsed over each other, laughing uncontrollably. Even Mary couldn’t help but chuckle, but she managed to remain polite about it.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” Mira apologized, having trouble looking at Aoi without breaking into more laughter.
“We should probably give her the point though,” Chucky added. Aoi’s dance had provoked such a strong reaction that no one could disagree. As Aoi reached for the dice, Mary gave her a soft clap. Watching the dice skit over the wood, every single one turned up a face. Only one dice had two faces, and everyone looked to the one person who would choose their challenge.
“I promise it’ll be over quick,” Aoi said, smiling evilly.
While she put her hand to her chin, everyone waited to see how she would get revenge on the group. They looked at her with braced cringes, afraid of what her mind would devise. After another moment, she broached a big smile and revealed her wicked plan.
“You have to stand on one foot, and the last person to keep their other foot off the ground gets the point.”
The others chuckled and shrugged their shoulders.
“That’s the best you could come up with? Well, if you insist,” Will said, getting to his feet. They each dangled one foot into the air around the fire, while Aoi sat back and watched them, snickering. Some of them had their knees high in the air or legs raised above a forty-five degree angle, but it only took a few minutes for them to sag and sink. Signs of intense strain set in, and soon they were gritting their teeth and urging the others to drop out.
“This is excruciating!” Roselyn moaned right before cracking. She collapsed onto her seat and released a defeated sigh. Will caved right after. Mary had her eyes squeezed shut and her fists balled up tight.
“Oh, not so easy now, is it?” Aoi taunted her, and she eventually broke down.
Chucky was the next to go, and that left only Mira and Vern. The two stared at each other through concentrated, ferocious eyes. But for all their will, they could only keep one foot raised a few inches from the ground. They struggled and strained, shaking in place. All of the others watched to see who would come out on top.
Finally, Mira felt the knee supporting her give out, and she dropped down to her seat. Vern, gasping, sat back down right away.
“That was cruel. I thought we were your friends!” Vern huffed.
“Think again,” Aoi retorted, showing a smug grin.
It took everyone a minute to recover from Aoi’s torturous challenge, but the pain passed just like she predicted, and they were soon ready to continue. Vern grabbed the dice, blew into them, and spilled them out. Bunching up, Roselyn’s face appeared right next to Vern’s and Will’s face appeared right next to Mary’s. Mira frowned when she saw what had come up.
“Did you put extra weight on my side of the dice here, Will? I’ve only come up once!” she chided him.
“Quit stalling and get to work making another challenge. I’ve got a point to win,” he snapped.
“How about Mary and Will versus Roselyn and Vern at tossing stones back and forth. First team to drop the stone loses,” Chucky concluded, holding his hands behind his head.
Mary started to complain about it being unfair, but Will cut her off to say it might be better if the teams were switched.
“No, no, the dice said it all!” Chucky said, shooing them over to the grassy area. Each team had a small stone that fit in the palm of their hands. Starting toe to toe, they tossed it back and forth, taking a step back every time. The rocks arced through the air on their way to a waiting pair of hands.
Right after catching a stone from a couple of yards away, Will saw Roselyn toss the stone at a weird angle that would’ve been impossible for Vern to catch without his power. But instead the stone curved right into Vern’s hand, leaving Will to sigh and shake his head. He looked at Mary across from him and egged her on. Tossing the stone, Mary put her hands out for it, but it slipped right through them.
Vern gave Roselyn a high five, and they returned to their spots on the log. Will came up to apologize to Mary, but she brushed past him to retake her seat. Graciously, Vern allowed Roselyn to roll though they had both won a point.
“Only one more left,” he gloated. “This could be over quick.”
The rattling dice settled, and this time only Will’s face came up.
“Wait a second. Does that mean he gets an automatic point since there’s no one for him to go against?” Roselyn asked the group.
“I think it does,” Will cut in, scooping up the dice before the others could protest. “There’s no way like the easy way.”
Dropping the dice down again, this time Chucky and Aoi turned up along with a rake, a musical note, a rocket, and a mouth. The two participants for this turn forced wary smiles, anxious to hear what they would need to do to win the next point.
“Make
them sing,” Vern suggested, but everyone agreed that would be too cruel to the listeners.
“You know what I want them to do? They should each tell a joke,” Mira said.
Both Chucky and Aoi cried out against it, but this only stoked everyone’s interest in the idea. Standing up, the two of them racked their brains for a joke to tell. Aoi’s head tilted to the side and Chucky had his hand on his chin. After the others started to complain that they were taking too long, Chucky hit on something, and he roused himself to convey it.
“What do you give a woman if she’s having trouble with guys? A manicure.”
But instead of laughter, disgust swelled in the faces of those sitting below him. They booed and moaned, throwing anything within reach at him for his pun.
“What, you don’t get it?” he asked, shielding his face and slinking back down.
“My ears feel like my mouth would if I washed it with rotten eggs,” Roselyn yelped.
“I guess Chucky doesn’t have the power for joke telling after all,” Will said.
All of the groaning gave Aoi time to think of something though, and she cleared her throat to get their attention. Grinning slightly, she shook the hair away from her eyes and spoke.
“What do you call the most beautiful woman in the world?”
Everyone looked around, trying to guess the punch line, but they came up with nothing.
“I don’t know. What?” Mira asked.
“Yes, you do. Just think about it,” Aoi said.
“No, we really don’t know. Tell us what you call the most beautiful woman in the world,” Mary begged.
“You call her Aoi.”
Striking a pretty pose, Aoi looked just as ridiculous as she did dancing, and everyone burst into just as much laughter as before.
“It wasn’t supposed to be that funny!” she shouted, trying to quiet them down.
“Oh man, that was a good one. We shouldn’t have given her that pity point before. Now she’s just one away from winning.”
