How Little You Care

Chapter 10.

The sun's rays dissipated into the horizon allowing the air to cool down the compound after a long warm day, preparing for the evening's serene arrival. The stillness of the dusky twilight was contentedly stirred by a child's mirth and laughter from inside the dwellings' gray walls.

"Again!" Isabel demanded when patters of little footsteps stopped abruptly to seize a thick rope and began pulling with all her might.

"Mommy!" She yelled and looked over her shoulder, "You didn't pull hard enough! Keep pulling!"

Rachel didn't even have enough time to fix her disheveled hair after losing the last four or five times, planting both her feet as firmly as she could and tugging as hard as she was able to manage. Their rubber soles squeaked underneath them, working hard to stay in sync to desperately pull the rope and ensure victory. Meanwhile at the other end of the rope, or rather shoelace, Micah sat cross-legged with a triumphant-amused look on his face with his hand resting on his lap, barely holding the lace between his massive thumb and index finger.

It was Isabel's idea to play tug of war after a few games of regular jump rope, and with Micah's input, he modified it to make it "fair". In this game, all the girls needed to do to win was to pull the rope out of his fingertips. The rule was that he was not to firmly hold on to it or wrap it around his fingers but was allowed to sway it around or pull it back slightly if he felt it was slipping.

"Daddy's cheating!" Isabel strained a complaint, pulling harder, shoving into her mother behind her.

At the accusation, Micah chuckled and teasingly began to swing and twirl the rope, forcing the girls to lose their grip on the oncoming force.

"Oh...c'mon...!" Rachel put in, unable to control the momentum, "at least...let her have one win!"

"All you guys need to do is pull harder," He told them, grinning at them, "Give me one good tug and you'll win."

Isabel spared no expense and pulled the rope as hard as she could. Against her mother's better judgment, Rachel followed suit, but suddenly her expression switched to realization the moment she noticed the amusement in his mischievous blue eyes, shifting her gaze to look at his large hand when he released the rope. The tension snapped forcing girlish yelps to fly from their lips as they lost their footing and were sent stumbling backwards. Deep chuckles reverberated around them and a warm wall of flesh quickly scooped them up before they ended up on the floor.

The girls were raised to meet Micah up close, but of course, out of fear, Rachel grabbed Isabel and immediately latched onto his large index finger, holding on for dear life.

Micah's chuckles stopped. He brought his other hand to cup them, gave her a knowing look, and stated, "Rachel, I'm being really careful here. I would never drop you two."

"Accidents happen y'know!" She barked, squishing her eyes shut, refraining from seeing the ground below.

"Did we win?" It was now Isabel's turn to speak up, looking up at both of her parents.

Micah looked over at her and smiled, "I think you did. Good job, girls."

His daughter's face lit up like a bright sunny day, and Micah enjoyed seeing her expression morph into excitement.

"Again?" she asked, eagerly.

"I think we're done for today," Rachel replied, eyeing her massive husband, warningly. "Daddy's tired and he is gonna put us down now, right Hun?"

It didn't take him long to get her message and with both hands, carefully placed them back on the floor. Rachel found her footing and helped Isabel get off safely from her father's palm. With a burst of new energy, the little girl begged to play a new game with them. Earlier, before settling with a game of tug of war, she made plenty of suggestions like playing hide and seek or her favorite, tag. Like a good parent, Micah had to remind her that they had to keep playtime limited and explained that there were certain games he couldn't play with her such as tag. Hide and seek wasn't possible either because it would be difficult for both the hider and seeker. Thus, several rounds of jump rope started and then tug of war afterward seemed safe for the three of them to play.