Catch Me if You Can

Chapter 2

That night, my dreams are filled with me hunting. I get almost 5 deer, and then make my usual trade with the butcher, but this time I give him a little extra, too. I wake not to Benji, but to a strange yet familiar sound. The strange sound of rope being cut. I wonder what it is, I think.

My mom doesn’t use rope, because she has no use for it. Ariel isn’t allowed to do snares inside, they have to stay out. Then the thought hits me. I’m being attacked! I let out a small shriek. I sit up with a startle. Then I slowly open my eyes.

 “Chesca!” I exclaim. Francesca was my best friend until she moved in 4th grade. “What are you doing here?!” I ask excitedly. “Well, it’s kind of a long story.” She explains to me what has happened.

 Her mom is dying, and her dad is away on business, but is aware of this. The foster people were coming the next day. She didn’t want to go with them. She wanted to run away, but first she consulted with her mom. She’s the kind of kid who tells adults she’s doing bad before she does it.

 Her mom understood how she felt, and agreed with her. But she would have to run away to someone she knew’s house. The plan was for her to run away that night, run away to my house, and then find a phone to tell her dad. By the time she finished, she had gotten all teary-eyed, so I went to comfort her. Then I asked her what the rope was for.

 “I was going to use it to make a hanging bed so I wouldn’t be in your way.” After we finished the bed, I decided we should tell my mom. Since I didn’t want Chesca to start crying, I told of her predicament. That didn’t keep her from crying, though. My mom understood and agreed to let her stay.

“Now, don’t get too happy about this, because it’s not a permanent thing.” We nod our heads and go to the table for breakfast. Today we’re having crepes, one of the few things my dad won’t eat. After breakfast, we head to my room.

“I have to take Rory fishing, but you can come, too. We’ve got a few extra rods you can use.” I say to her. It’s mandatory for me to take him out because he’ll only go if someone takes him. Dad usually takes him, but since he’s been traveling a lot, I have to take charge in that area. I would take Ariel, too, but someone has to entertain Olivia. So me, Rory, and Chesca head out to the Hole, the only good spot for fishing in our area. While they fish, I spot some good greens and gather them.

 We head home with half a bag of greens, and 8 fish, all of which good size. For dinner that night, we eat 3 of the fish on a bed of half the greens I brought. We go to bed that night in the comfort of full bellies. Figures in my window? No, I don’t see any. But there is something my keen eye misses that is on my wall.

 ******

That night, I fall asleep thinking about how bad Chesca might feel. How her mom is probably dead, her dad not even home, and foster people on the hunt for her. My mind also goes back to our fun memories we had together. As I try to keep my mind off of the bad feelings, my mind goes to what we did today. We fished, get a bed made for Chesca, and had a filling dinner. I try to think of something else, too, but my eyes won’t stay open, and I find myself falling into what seems like an endless sleep.

When I wake, I see Chesca staring down at me. “Good morning.” I say, still groggy from sleep. “Good morning to you, too. How’d you sleep?” she says in reply. “It was okay. Kind of peaceful.” This is true. It was peaceful.

“What’s that?” she asks, pointing at my wall. I see a piece of paper tacked to the wall near my door. I walk over, thinking it’s a note my dad may have left me. “It’s just a story I wrote last year for school. I don’t know why it’s up. Maybe my mom reread it and liked it so she hung it up.” I tell her. Last year we had to write a story about your proudest day.

“Can you read it?” she asks me. I nod, hoping she’ll like it, because I don’t really care for it. “My proudest day,” I began, was the day my dad taught me how to hunt. My dad and I don’t share much in common, but he decided that that should change. On Sunday, he took me out to the woods, telling me he had a surprise for me. I got very excited, and wanted to go right away. After he laid our clothes for me, a brown top and blue-jean shorts, I changed and we headed off.

When we got to the woods, I was kind of scared. The woods were the place everyone said bad things about. ‘Don’t go in the woods, you’ll get eaten alive!’ They all said something similar to this. My dad told me everything was fine and nothing was going to eat me alive. I began to trust he was right.

My dad gave this long, wooden stick, and helped me find a hard piece of ground. He showed me how to make the tip pointy and sharp. After we made the tip, he told me that I had made a spear. I got overwhelmed by what I had done, and dropped the spear. He put it back in my hands, and told me it was okay.

He had made me some practice targets, and told me to throw the spear at them. The very first one I did, I hit right on the bulls eye. He told me I was a natural. I threw the spear at the other targets, and came close to the bulls eye every time. Then we waited, hidden in a tree, for some live targets to shoot.

Then my dad pointed at a rabbit. I threw the spear, and hit it right in the center, where a bulls eye would be. He told me that that was excellent. That night, we went home with 5 rabbits and 2 squirrels, all hit right in the middle with my spear. And that was my proudest day.”

 And it was. Hunting has changed my life. If I didn’t learn how to hunt, my whole family would probably be dead right now. “That was good.” she tells me. “Thanks.”

 I suggest we head for breakfast. She nods and I go to open the door. But something smells weird. “Is that smoke I smell?” Chesca asks.

“Mom!” I scream, opening the door just far enough to see bright, hot flames gathering around the kitchen.