Mountain River Girl

Chapter 10: Connect The Dots

“They’re usually not like this,” Anna apologized.

Lewis came running around the corner again, squealing this time. “I’m a superhero!”

Anna inhaled deeply, trying to calm herself. Lewis disappeared again. It seemed like he was running circles around the house because only a moment later, I saw him turn the same corner again, still running with his arms stretched out like only cartoon superheroes would do. However, this time Anna grabbed him by the shoulders as he aimed to shoot right between Anna and me.

“Lewis, you have to calm down. Now, say hello to Seda!”

The boy looked up, beaming at me. “Hi!”

“Hello Lewis,” I replied, smiling back. “It is very nice to meet you.”

“How about breakfast?” Anna suggested before he could run off again. Lewis responded with a fist in the air and a loud cry of victory. Anna stifled back a laugh, but I couldn’t. The chuckle that escaped my body only motivated Lewis to do it again.

“Lewis, why don’t you go wake your brother? And Braydon, you can help me set the table.”

“Yeah!” Lewis shouted and sprinted to the stairs.

“Seda, do you mind going with him? I don’t like him running up and down the stairs by himself. Especially not when he’s as wild as he is this morning.” Anna whispered quickly so Lewis wouldn’t hear.

“Of course not,” I replied. By the time I turned around to the stairs, Lewis was already halfway up them.

“Hey Lewis,” I whispered not so quietly when he reached the top. “Do you want to do something funny?”

He nodded eagerly.

“You want to scare Kieran? If you do, you should just go running into the room, shouting as loud as you can.”

Lewis didn’t say anything in reply, he just turned on his heel and ran straight to a closed door. I motioned for him to wait for me and then when I opened the door, I whispered, “Go ahead!”

The little boy ran into the room, singing some cartoon theme song at the top of his lungs. Watching the scene in front of me made me grateful for not having any siblings, younger or older.

“Dammit!” Kieran growled, lifting his pillow over his head.

“Lewis! Duck!” Without questioning me first, Lewis did as told and only barely managed to escape the pillow that Kieran hurled in his direction. It had effectively shut him up though.

“Should have known,” Kieran muttered, shaking his head when he looked up at me. “I should have know you had something to do with this.”

I laughed out loud from the doorway and a second later, Lewis joined in. Together we held our bellies while we laughed at Kieran who overreacted by pulling his sheets over his head.

“Come on,” I motioned for Lewis to leave Kieran be once my laughter quieted down a little. “Let’s return downstairs.”

Lewis took the hint and grabbed hold of my hand.

“Kieran, are you coming too? You’re mom’s waiting for breakfast.”

He didn’t lift the sheets off of his face but mumbled loud enough for me to hear, “I’ll be there in a minute.”

With that, I closed the door behind us and we made our way back downstairs. Not yet knowing where everything was, I followed Lewis to the kitchen.

“What was all that about?” Anna asked with raised eyebrows as soon as we appeared in view.