It was the last Friday of April and Timber was in her wolf form running around the living room barking joyfully. Grace was having no success trying to get her to settle down and Emily's laughter was only encouraging her. It was Field Day at school to celebrate Earth Day. There were no lessons and it was a half-day for Timber and Emily before spring break so Chad and Grace had purchased tickets for their first ride on the Skunk Train.
"Timber, if you don't stop right now, you're goin' to be late for school," said Grace. "Now come here and eat breakfast." Timber didn't listen and kept running around the living room. "Timber, stop right now or I'm keepin' you home from school."
Timber stopped running and stared at her aunt. Grace was standing in the kitchen in her pink floral dress and pristine white apron with her hands on her hips and her eyes narrowed. Timber did not want to miss anything at school so she ran over to the table with her tail between her legs and started tearing into her bacon.
"Timber, would you resume your human form, please?"
Timber looked up and scowled but the look on Grace's face erased all desire to protest and she Turned. Seeing Timber in human form made Emily sit at the table and eat her breakfast too. Timber was quiet and obedient for the rest of the morning before she left for school. She knew better than to push Grace.
When it was time to leave, she hugged her aunt and cousin goodbye and took off running. She didn't have her backpack, just her lunchbox with a snack and her digital camera so she wasn't weighed down. Timber ran to school and immediately went to the monkey bars on the playground.
"Wow, you're really out of breath!" said Kendra.
"Did you run all the way here?" asked Ashley, and Timber nodded as she sat down on the tanbark.
"I don't think even Xianna could do that," said Kendra. "She's fast in short distances but she only knows one speed."
"Come to think of it, the last time we did the mile, Timber was the only one able to run the whole thing without stopping or slowing down," said Ashley.
"Is that - a bad - thing?" huffed Timber.
"No," said Kendra. "It's just very impressive."
"Good morning," called Xianna, walking toward them. "What's wrong, Timber?"
"She ran all the way here," said Ashley.
"Wow!" said Xianna with wide eyes. "So I've got some great news! My brother just got accepted to Seattle University!"
"That's wonderful!" said Timber.
"When is he leaving?" asked Ashley.
"Well, he has to finish the semester at the College of the Redwoods," said Xianna. "He said he would stay and take me on a camping trip when school ended. Then he's leaving. He said he wants to get familiar with the area before school starts."
"That makes sense," said Kendra. "Are you better now, Timber?"
"Yeah," Timber replied as she got to her feet. "I was just excited about today, I wanted to get here as fast as I could."
"I was up early this morning," said Kendra. "Scared my mom because I hate mornings."
"I didn't want to sleep last night, I was so excited," said Ashley. "So my dad sent my brothers and I out back to run out my energy before dinner."
"Did it work?" asked Xianna.
"Well, I fell asleep at the dinner table so you tell me," laughed Ashley. "The only thing I object to is the request to wear a white t-shirt. This is my brother's old shirt. I'm not too thrilled."
"I think you look like you're swimming in it," said Xianna. "Orion said the white makes the race more fun."
"I don't understand, but whatever," said Ashley. "Oh my goodness! Gina!"
Gina was coming over to them with her hair in fluffy pigtails instead of the cornrows that Timber and the rest of them were used to seeing her with.
"Wow, Gina!" cried Timber. "You look fantastic!"
"Can we touch your hair?" asked Xianna and Gina laughed and nodded.
"They're so cute!" said Ashley. "Your pigtails look like giant pom-poms!"
"I love it!" said Kendra.
"Thanks, guys!" said Gina.
"Why did you get rid of the braids?" asked Timber.
"Do you remember when Dad and I had dinner with you and your family?" Gina asked Timber.
"Yeah."
"Your aunt showed me the oldest picture she had of one of my ancestors," said Gina. "She was my age and she looked so much like me. She wore her hair like this. It took me a while to get brave enough to try it."
"Well we love it!" said Kendra. "Oh, I brought my jump ropes. My extra-long ones."
"Double Dutch anyone?" challenged Xianna.
"Show me how and I'll play," said Timber.
"It's just like regular jump rope but harder because there are two ropes," said Kendra.
"Alright, I'll jump with Xianna," said Timber. "Are we doing it to Cinderella?"
"Absolutely," said Gina.
So Gina and Ashley each grabbed an end of the ropes and began. Timber watched the ropes and waited. She found the rhythm and jumped in at the same time as Xianna. They skipped, clapped their hands together, and chanted.
"Cinderella, dressed in yella, went to the ball to kiss a fella. Made a mistake and kissed a snake. How many doctors did it take?"
Xianna and Timber skipped and twirled between the two ropes. They had gained a small audience. The pair made it up to thirty before Timber tripped over a rope. The crowd cheered and laughed. Timber grinned and Xianna laughed.
The bell rang loudly and everyone on the playground made their way to where they needed to be. When Timber walked into the classroom, she was surprised to see it decorated as though they were having a party. Colorful streamers were stretched and twisted from every corner of the room, and Timber's nose picked up chocolate chip cookies from Mrs. Gibney's desk. The student desks had even been moved to form a circle encompassing the entire room. She could not hide her smile even if she wanted to.
"Good morning," said Mrs. Gibney. "I hope everyone is looking forward to Field Day. Now, you're not going out to the field until 9:30 so we have some time to spend here before then."
She grabbed a stack of white paper and set it on her desk. Then she pulled out a boom box.
"I'm going to give each of you a sheet of paper. Your job is to start drawing anything you want. When I change the song, give your paper to the person on your right. They will continue working on what you started how they want. In the end, we'll see how every creation turns out."
Timber got out her box of crayons and waited for her sheet of paper. After everyone had crayons and paper in front of them, Mrs. Gibney turned on the music. Timber started to draw the first thing that came to mind; a portrait of a happy five-year-old with bouncy blonde pigtails. Timber had just finished Emily's face and hair when the song changed and she passed the bodiless portrait to her classmate Whitney and received a drawing of a car from her classmate José.
Timber had no idea what to do with a car so she added trees in the background. For fifteen minutes, Timber added things to several pieces of art. Sometimes, she was able to let her imagination run wild. Other times, she didn't know what to do so she drew flowers or birds. One of the drawings was of a girl with pink hair so she added wings and made her look like Queen Aiyanna. When the CD ended, they were instructed to leave the drawings on the table and move around the room to see how everything turned out. Timber found the one she started. Her classmates had turned Emily into a mermaid from outer space with a flying alien unicorn. Emily would have a long laugh if she saw it.
Afterward, they were each given a cookie and they got comfortable on the floor listening to Mrs. Gibney read a book to them for a half-hour so they could relax before they went out to the field. Xianna had rested her head on Timber's lap and Timber felt her fall asleep. Timber looked around the room. Xianna wasn't the only one to take a nap. Lilly and four others had fallen asleep rather quickly. Several others were close by the time Mrs. Gibney closed the book.
She seemed to think it best to let the nappers sleep for the remaining twenty minutes. She turned off the lights, closed the blinds, and put on a CD with ocean wave sounds. Almost the whole class succumbed to sleep within minutes. Timber knew better than to sleep because she would slip into her wolf form. Instead, she closed her eyes and mentally went over their last history lesson in a deliberately uncomfortable and slightly painful position.
At 9:15, everyone was awakened by the sunlight pouring into the classroom and a change of music. Timber stretched and pretended to yawn as she got to her feet. It took a minute for the sleepy atmosphere to wear off. Timber and her classmates began to feel the excitement again, and everyone began chattering like birds. Ten minutes went by quickly and Mrs. Gibney opened the door outside, and Timber had to resist the urge to Turn and run around excitedly. She followed the rest of the class in a line as they joined the other fourth-grade classrooms and made their way to the field.
Several people squealed in delight, including Timber. There was a giant inflated globe ball that was as tall as Chad, a rainbow parachute with colorful balls, small orange cones everywhere, over a dozen hula hoops, a balancing beam, a giant rope, and a table with a bright blue tablecloth and several dozen egg cartons. At the far end of the field, there was even a start and finish banner with buckets filled with an unknown substance. Timber wanted to do everything at once. She was suddenly very glad she brought her disposable camera. She got her friends together and stood in front of the field and asked Mrs. Gibney to take a picture.
It took several minutes to get everyone situated. They were instructed to organize themselves into teams of six to seven. Timber and her friends made a team of five. They were looking for more when Sean walked over.
"Got room for me?" he asked.
"Sure," said Timber.
"Are we going to stay like this or get one more?" asked Kendra.
"I think we're fine," said Ashley. "I don't want to give us an unfair advantage over everyone else."
"Unfair advantage?" asked Gina. "We're a team of six."
"Yeah, but we have Xianna and Timber," said Ashley proudly.
"How is that an unfair advantage?" asked Sean.
"Xianna is the fastest runner in our grade, and Timber can run a full mile without stopping," said Ashley.
"And what about the tug of war?" asked Sean.
"That's what you're for," said Ashley.
"Oh, ha, ha," said Sean sarcastically but he was grinning proudly.
"We also have you," said Timber to Ashley. "You're the strongest girl in the grade. That has to be an advantage in the tug of war, too."
Ashley blushed under her freckles and smiled.
A whistle blew and everyone stopped talking. Timber and her team were labeled as team nine and instructed to go to the earth ball first. Xianna led the way and they were given their instructions. Their team and team three were given the task of getting the huge ball around the little cones without going outside of the large ones. One member from each team could guide them but if they knocked over any cones, they would have to start over. Gina was chosen to navigate as she had the best leadership skills. On the other team, a boy named Rick was selected to navigate the outside of the circular track.
At the word "GO", Timber pushed. She hadn't expected air to be so heavy. Several times, they came close to knocking over a cone and that was just going straight. Gina and Rick were guiding them the best they could. Remembering one of the combat training exercises her mother had her do, Timber had the idea to stop the ball and put Ashley and Laura in front of the ball for more stability and it worked. They were able to add resistance to keep the ball from rolling in a direction it wasn't supposed to go. The teams spread out at the curve at Timber's instruction. Gina and Rick guided them around the first corner and then they tightened themselves up again. They got the ball back to the starting line without knocking over a single cone. They were all immensely proud of themselves and they celebrated loudly, jumping up and down and shouting praise to each other and congratulating the other team.
Next, they were sent to the parachutes. Team nine and team twelve had the same parachute. They had to get all of the balls into a bucket without letting the parachute touch the ground. Everyone got the colorful parachute going and a teacher dumped all the balls on the thick fabric. The balls were bouncing everywhere. One flew over Timber's shoulder as she raised and lowered her arms as fast as she could but she paid it no mind. She was too busy having fun and laughing with her classmates. By the time they were ready for the next game, eight balls were in the bucket. The rest were on the grass around their feet, or under the parachute. Next, it was the tug of war. Timber wasn't thrilled with the team they were up against. Diana was on it.
"I'm going to make you eat dirt," she said as she passed Timber.
"Oh, I'm so very scared," said Timber in reply.
They were given a chance to arrange themselves how they wanted. Timber placed herself in the back. Sean was in front. Then they gripped the rope. Knowing that no one could see her hands, she let her fingernails curve into claws and she dug them in as deep as she could. She began the process of Turning but she held her human form and her sunglasses hid her blue eyes. A partial shift gave her just enough of her wolf strength to pull hard at the end and make Diana's face hit the ground.
The signal was given and Timber leaned back, digging her heels into the ground. She didn't pull. Instead, she acted as the anchor to keep the others up. She shouted instructions to Sean and he followed them. They didn't just pull. They moved left and right as fast as they could as a group. Timber saw Diana slip and she told the others to pull hard. She threw her weight back, pulled her arms in, and Diana's face hit the dirt with her mouth open. Timber retracted her claws and went back to her usual full human state. She and her friends burst out laughing as Diana got to her feet. She was red-faced, spitting out dirt and listening furiously as everyone on her team was laughing at her too. She stormed off to the edge of the blacktop and sat down with her arms folded, glaring furiously at Timber.
After the egg relay and the balance beam race, followed by the hula hoop obstacle course, it was time for a break before the big race. Timber sat on the grass and pulled out her raw meat burrito first so the others didn't see what she was eating. She ate quickly and downed the whole thing in three bites before moving on to her ham and cheese sandwich, grapes, and carrots.
"Hey, Timber," said Sean sitting next to her on the grass.
"Hey. Nice job during the tug of war," said Timber.
"You were giving out instructions," Sean pointed out.
"I'm glad she did," said Xianna, coming over with Kendra, Gina, and Ashley.
"I loved seeing Diana eat dirt," said Ashley.
"It's funny because she said I was going to be the one eating dirt," grinned Timber.
"When did she say that?" asked Gina.
"In passing at the rope," said Timber.
"Does anyone like pickles?" asked Sean, holding up a small zippy bag. "My mom keeps forgetting I don't like them."
"I'll take it," said Kendra. "I love pickles. Thank you."
"You guys remembered sunglasses, right?" asked Xianna.
"It was on the list of things we needed today," said Ashley.
"I've got mine," said Gina.
"I didn't have a pair," said Timber. "I'm borrowing Emily's." She pointed to the Pink heart-shaped pair on her head and the girls giggled.
"They have some at the drugstore," said Sean.
"I didn't want my aunt to spend money on something I'm going to use for ten minutes," said Timber. "Besides, I don't like anything on my face."
"How come your mom didn't buy you any?" asked Sean.
Timber fell silent and looked at her knees. She knew Sean didn't know but she couldn't help but feel angry at him. Xianna saw her face turning red and she grabbed her hand. Timber calmed down almost immediately and took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry," Sean said apologetically. "Did I say something wrong?"
"Both of Timber's parents died last year," said Xianna.
"I'm so sorry, Timber," said Sean. "I shouldn't have said anything."
"It's alright, you didn't know," said Timber.
"My mom packed a chocolate cookie," he said. "Do you want it?"
Timber looked up at him and nodded. He handed her the cookie and she took a bite. It was a little dry but it wasn't bad.
"Thank you," said Timber.
"My mom likes to say that chocolate makes all girls feel better," said Sean.
"Well, I would say she's right," said Xianna.
A whistle blew, letting them know it was time to start the race. Timber closed her lunch box, put on her sunglasses again, and joined her classmates as they lined up at the starting line. She found herself in the middle of the crowd without Xianna or the girls. She could see Ashley in front of her. She was the only one with bright red hair but she got separated from the group too. Behind her, Gina and Kendra managed to stay together, but she couldn't find Xianna. She figured Xianna was in the very front and eagerly waiting for the signal to start running. From the middle of the field, loud, upbeat music began thumping from huge speakers.
The whistle blew and the crowd of a hundred fourth graders began to move. Timber finally got room to move easily and she found her pace. She was pulling ahead of some of her classmates but she never swayed from her speed. At the quarter-mile mark, Timber got a surprise. Bright pink powder filled the air and when she went through it, she had some thrown on her. She sniffed and realized it was just colored baking soda and she laughed. She saw Xianna up ahead and she was slowing down. She was bright pink and grinning from ear to ear when she saw Timber.
"Keep going!" she shouted over the music. "Smoke this whole class, Timber!"
Timber grinned and sped up to a pace she knew she could keep without overexerting herself. It took another quarter-mile and a splash of blue powder before she pulled to the front with everyone else behind her. She smiled as the light spring breeze blew through her hair. For a moment she forgot she was running. She felt like she was flying. She closed her eyes for a second and lost herself in the feeling. She opened them and ran with her arms up through the yellow powder. She heard a click somewhere but she ignored it. She kept running to the finish line. She determined she had enough energy so she sped up during the last quarter mile. She pushed her legs faster and crossed the finish line with a jump into the purple powder. She heard another click.
She moved out of the way and looked around. She saw her aunt standing proudly at the baseball diamond. She was holding Timber's camera. Timber took a step toward her but stopped and turned around at the sound of her name.
"Timber! You won! You won!" screamed Xianna. "I knew you would!"
Xianna threw herself at Timber so hard, Timber almost fell over.
"Oh my goodness, Timber!" Kendra said, huffing heavily. "Seriously! How do you do that?"
"I pace myself," replied Timber.
"Maybe she's a machine," joked Xianna.
"Xianna! We lost sight of you!" called Gina, coming out of the colorful crowd.
"I wanted to be at the front of the line," said Xianna.
"So you could take off as fast as you could without a problem," said Ashley, coming over to them.
"Exactly," laughed Xianna.
"Hi, girls," said Grace. "How was Field Day?"
"So much fun!" said Timber.
The five girls told Grace everything that happened that day, including Diana's face full of dirt. By the time they finished talking the finish line was cleared. Grace had them stand under it so she could get a picture of all of them together while they were covered in different colors. The girls threw their arms up in triumph and Grace snapped a photo.
"It sounds like this is goin' to be an unforgettable day," said Grace. "It also sounds like you girls need to get to the front of the school for the buses."
"See you next Monday, Timber!" said Xianna.
"Bye!"
"See you later!"
"Bye!"
"Bye, guys," called Timber, waving to all of them as they walked away.
"Well, let's get you home so you can shower before the train ride."
"It's baking soda," said Timber. "You could just hose me off when we get home. I'll just change my clothes."
"Novel idea," said Grace laughing, "but you're gettin' a shower."
Once home and fresh out of the shower, Timber was handed a plain white box with a purple bow on it. She looked up at Chad with eager eyes and at his nod, she opened the lid. Inside was a large pair of earphones. She pulled them out, looking confused.
Grace turned on the radio and began to raise the volume until it got too loud for Timber's ears and she covered them. Chad pulled her hands away and put the headphones on. The volume suddenly became tolerable. She could still hear but the sound wasn't so loud. The music shut off and she took the headphones off.
"These are fantastic!" Timber exclaimed.
"They're noise-canceling headphones," explained Chad. "This is so you can ride the train without the whistle hurting your ears. We also got you a purse for you to carry them in. That way, if something is too loud, you can put these on. Do you like them?"
"I love them! Thank you so much!" Timber hugged her uncle as tight as she could and did the same to her aunt.
Grace handed Timber a black purse and Timber put the headphones in immediately. She then followed her family out the door.
Neither Timber nor Emily had ever been on the train but they had seen it many times before. Timber and Emily both waited eagerly in line to buy the tickets and to board. When it came time, Timber froze.
"Is there something wrong?" asked Chad immediately.
"Does it go really fast?" asked Timber.
"No faster than the car," said Grace. "You're goin' to be just fine."
Timber smiled and climbed aboard. She sat beside Chad. He helped her get her headphones on and adjusted them to fit her in a comfortable fashion. Ten minutes later, the bell began to ding and the train jerked as the locomotive began moving. Timber and Emily were both so excited they sat up on their knees and looked out the window. They tried counting the trees but gave up after they reached fifteen. After twenty minutes of being on the move, Emily and Timber were getting antsy so Grace and Chad took them to the observation car and set them loose. They held each other by the hand and pulled the other back and forth.
Then Timber's covered ears were greeted by the sound of a strumming guitar. The girls spun around and saw a gentleman in an old-fashioned suit. He played a couple of songs and Timber and Emily danced happily together to the music as the train car rattled under their feet. Chad and Grace looked on with loving smiles. When the gentleman stopped playing, the car burst into applause. Emily walked up to him and asked him very politely if she could strum one string. The man was so overwhelmed by Emily's good manners and small size that he granted her request. He even explained to her how the instrument worked. Emily looked up at Timber with shining eyes and thanked the man before he walked away.
Timber and Emily were both so excited about the turnaround, they lost themselves and started jumping and squeaking. Grace had to tell them both to settle down. They were trying their best to obey but it was proving difficult. Chad went to the snack car and came back with warm milk and a chocolate chip cookie for both girls. They took them and stopped moving so they could eat and drink. Warm milk made them both feel sleepy. By the time they had pulled into the Skunk Train Depot, Emily was in a deep, comfortable sleep and Timber had settled down and was watching the people guide the drivers.
Once home, Timber Turned and succumbed to sleep halfway up the stairs. Grace chuckled and tucked her lovingly into her bed. She covered her with a blanket and tip-toed out of the room.