After Roger left the farm, Camila didn't go outside to play much. While she loved spending time with the Mikyiah, Oliver, and Thomas, she feared they might lose their jobs next. The games weren't the same without Roger anyways, since he was the one who usually came up with them.
After a few weeks, Camila went outside and sat on her back porch, which looked out to the golden maize field. The kids often had meetings there, and they would discuss anything and everything. They talked about dreams they had, stories, their parents, or anything they could think of really. They would all sit there, usually with a large bowl of popcorn, and chat as the sun set. She sighed as she reminisced on all the fun they had, like the time they were eating milk and cookies and Thomas made Roger laugh so hard the milk came out his nose, or the time they found the creek way back behind the field and swam in it, or even the time they had a maize eating contest, but later got in trouble for eating so much of it, and got really bad stomach aches afterward...
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One night, while Ollie was hogging the popcorn bowl, Thomas playfully punched him in the shoulder for not sharing. Ollie stumbled a bit and knocked into Mikyiah. He spilled a bit of the popcorn onto the porch.
"Now look what ya did, ya bloomin' idiot!" Thomas shouted. Because he was the oldest, Ollie usually did whatever he said. If Thomas yelled at him, he drew back and apologized frantically, but Ollie wasn't about to be called a bloomin' idiot.
"You made me do it!"
"Clean it up!"
"No, you!"
While the boys squabbled, Roger reached over, grabbed a few kernels that had fallen to the ground, and quickly popped them into his mouth. Camila shrieked.
"Roger, that's disgusting!"
"Five second rule," he reached for a few more.
"You'll get diseases!"
He popped them into his mouth once more and Camila cringed. He laughed and tossed a kernel at her.
Meanwhile, during Thomas and Ollie's argument, Ollie accidentally flung the popcorn bowl, which popped Mikyiah in the head. Mikyiah refused to take the squabbling anymore. She stood up with a pouty lip, a ruffled brow, and her arms crossed. When the fight didn't stop, she tapped her foot loudly on the ground. Once she finally had Thomas and Ollie's attention she said:
"If that happens again, I'm gonna slug the both of you."
"You wouldn't dare," said Thomas, "What kinda match d'ya have against me? You're only nine!"
Mikyiah, outraged now, lunged at Thomas. With one hand she grabbed his shirt collar, and pulled him towards her face. He attempted to fight back, but it was no use when Mikyiah used her other arm to hold him back.
"I may be small, Thomas, but I have worked, and plowed, and planted in these fields ever since I could walk. Just because your a bit taller than me, doesn't mean I couldn't take you down, and don't you forget it."
Thomas' eyes grew wide, and Mikyiah pushed him back down. Roger cackled and rolled on the deck laughing. Thomas glared at him briefly, but Mikyiah held up one of her fists, causing him to cower back and Roger's laughing fit to grow even more.
Once everyone had calmed down, and Mikyiah had lost her fit of rage, they began to come up with game ideas.
"Bug capture is getting boring, what other ideas do you have?" Camila asked the group.
"I like bug capture," Thomas rebuttaled.
"Well that's because you always win."
"Why don't we play hide and seek more? We can all win at that," Ollie said in attempts to please everyone.
