Calm before the Storm

  Mellisa timidly walks over to the clearing with her escort. There Donna, in an apron, greets her energetically, "Mellisa! I made all this food for you!"

  Vickie raises an eyebrow. "Did you now?"

  Donna nods with a glistening smile. "That's right. I chose all the foods. It's the most important job!" The small girl grabs Mellisa's hand and pulls her over.

  The others joyfully greet Mellisa as she is pulled along. Mellisa looks at everyone's plates, and they are stacked with mountains of grilled meat and vegetables.

  When they reach the table with food, Mellisa picks up a wooden plate. "Wait!" Donna yells before Mellisa can grab food.

  Donna scurries around the table and climbs onto a stool. Her head pops out from behind the table. "Alright, hold out your plate!" Donna orders.

  Mellisa reluctantly holds her plate out. Donna begins to fill the plate with heaps of strips of fried meat. The small girl has to use both hands and strain as she lifts the pile.

  "You're really hungry, so eat lots. It's yummy!" Donna exclaims while continuing to pile food on the precarious mountain. "You need at least twice as much as everyone else!"

  At this point, Wilbur grabs Donna from behind, rescuing Mellisa. "Alright, that's enough, princess."

  "Not enough! She starves," Donna protests while flailing in her dad's arms.

  Wilbur looks over at Mellisa, "Sorry about that."

  Mellisa shakes her head, "No, no. It's fine." She turns around and, with a slumped back, begins to walk to a corner to eat by herself.

  Wilbur frowns, his beard drooping. "Mellisa, come eat with us! It's not good to eat alone right now," he says to the beleaguered woman.

  Mellisa looks at the father and starts to deny the invitation; however, she looks at the small girl in Wilbur's arms and remembers her girl. "Alright."

  Donna stares at Mellisa expectantly as she takes her first bite. In her current state of mind, the food doesn't have much taste. Still, Mellisa forces a smile to appease the young girl.

  Donna responds with excitement, "see, it's good! Better than starving." She nods like a bouncing ball until Wilbur grabs her head.

  "Alright, you eat too," Wilbur tells his daughter. He then looks at Mellisa and says, "You can rely on us a bit more. We may not be family, but we've lived together for these few years. We aren't strangers. No one wants to harm you or your daughter."

  Mellisa glances over at Anna in spite. "I'm not so sure about that," she responds in a low voice.

  Wilbur blows his beard sadly. "I think she's overestimating our strength. But I don't think she has ill will."

  "Even if that's true, it's not right to drag my daughter down with her," Mellisa states dejectedly.

  Donna continues to rave about how good her food is as everyone eats. As Mellisa grinds her food in silence, she hears John in her head, "you are right about Anna. However, do you wish to destroy your relationship with Laurel?" John pauses as if to take a deep breath though he no longer has lungs. "It may not be the same. But my family disowned me due to my being below average. It seems that you are disowning her for being special."

  Mellisa clenches her wooden spoon, and it snaps. She looks down at her hand in shock. She's not used to using her strength. Once Elanor disappeared, Mellisa stopped training and went back to her everyday life. Her hands tremble, but she averts her eyes and continues to eat.

______

  The way back home should have been easy with Joe with them. But the kids were now cursing the bull in their hearts. Joe has been pushing them forward in a forced march. Just the short time away made him remember how great his hill is.

  Franklin puffs as he beseeches Joe, "please, guardian spirit! We can't keep up with your pace."

  "Moo," Joe says, looking at the humans. The humans can't understand the demonic beast probably because none of them were true men. Only true men can understand each other without language. At least that's what John would say.

  The guardian spirit pauses and seems to look at the sky in thought. Laurel takes this chance to persuade the demonic bull, "It's getting late. Why don't we sit up camp and relax?"

  Joe snorts and flops to the ground with a thud. The kids all look at each other and let out a sigh of relief. Isabela shakes her head, "kids, these days are so lazy. It's not time to relax yet! We need to build a camp." She claps her hands, "Come on, get to work, kids!"

  They groan and drag themselves to build the camp. They collect wood, start a fire, and clear brush to place a few tents. At this point, it's already night, and the kids drop into their tents without eating. Isabela cooks a bird she caught from somewhere while cackling to her own jokes.

  "At least we'll be home tomorrow," Laurel says before drifting off to sleep.