How Green Becomes Wood

"Can you help guide us?" Daizi asked Alec. She knew this area fairly well, but there were many more people here than usual and folding chairs had been set up and moved around all day, so she didn't trust herself to navigate it by herself, especially not when holding Ivy's hand and a snail.

Ivy spotted her father quickly, and feeling very focused on getting to Baba, she just started walking that way, holding tightly to her Mama's hand.
 
"Yep. Ivy's going in the right direction, oh, wait, turn here. Go around the chairs, Ivy, not through them," Alec chuckled, guiding Ivy in the right direction. She was doing a good job except for her desire to go through groups of things instead of around them.

Xander took a second to wash off the snail slime in the lake and shook his hands to dry them as he walked.
 
Seeing his family walk up, Dark turned to them, and smiling at him in his little muted way said, "You all seem very focused."

"Ivy has something she wants to show you," Daizi said, "and she did a very good job at guiding me. Ivy, what do you want to show Baba?"

"Snail!" Ivy said, by now grinning again.

Gasping, Dark replied, "You found a snail?"

Cooger grinned, flipping one of the burgers, "Is it a very cool snail?"
 
"Yep," Xander confirmed, keeping back a bit so the others could see.

"She found it all by herself and came to show Xander," Alec grinned.

Toby dutifully checked the burgers near him before looking at the snail. "Oh, wow, that's a cool snail," he agreed, staying back. He didn't love snails.
 
Ivy nodded, and then in her excitement let go of Daizi's hand and practically threw herself into Dark's chest, giving him the biggest hug her little arms could manage.

"She might have scared it a little bit," Cooger chuckled, imagining what it must have been like for the snail.

"She was very gentle," Daizi said, still holding the snail, "Ivy, are you ready to put the snail back? He probably misses his Mama and Baba."
 
"Bye-bye, snail!" Alec called cheerfully.

Xander watched them, quietly happy. Ivy had come to him to show him the snail! Him. Not Alec or even her mother or father, him. Why? Was it because he'd showed her the bugs under the rocks? He wasn't sure, but he felt so very, very proud in that moment. He never would have thought in a million years that his little sister would actually demand to share something with him and only him.
 
Dark helped Daizi and Ivy find a good place to release the snail, and then ask three of them went inside to thoroughly wash their hands. When they came back outside, Dark looked over his pale children and said, "Yalla, you need more sunscreen."
 
Xander pulled out his phone and checked it. "Five minutes left on the timer, but now's as good a time as any."

"Sunscreen time!" Alec said and marched toward where it was kept.
 
Cooger laughed to himself as he watched his brother line up all three of his children in preparation for protecting them from the sun. He stopped laughing when Dark turned and said, "You too, you burn like the rest of them."
 
The twins snickered and headed off once they'd gotten their sunscreen applied. They quickly disappeared back down by the lake, up to their own shenanigans.

Toby took a break from burgers to quickly apply more sunscreen since everyone else was doing it. He wasn't as fair as the twins, but still white, and he did try to remember to take care of his skin.
 
Dark also reapplied sunscreen to himself and to Daizi. Neither of them burned easily, and just from the outdoor party they had already tanned somewhat, but UV rays were still harmful.

Not too long after, all the food was ready. Obviously there wasn't one big table for them all to eat at, so everyone found their own spot. Of course, the food was absolutely delicious and was true, Americana fare.

Soon enough the sun was beginning to set, and the cake was brought out along with ice cream. It was a sheet cake, due to the number of guests, and was decorated to fit the theme. Frosting was applied to look like a lasso, a plastic horse had been set atop it along with candles shaped like the number 40, and the text on it read, "Yee Haw, Pardner!"
 
The twins demolished the American fare, coming back for thirds. They had grown to enjoy Daizi and Dark's native foods, and they truly did not mind it, but with burgers and chips ans soda available? They were going to take every advantage!

Just before the cake came out, they retrieved their stock of hidden water guns that most of the guests had forgotten about and began distributing them with great care and secrecy. Daizi got the biggest gun. Dark was kept in the dark. Toby and Lex each got one. Anyone dressed like a proper outlaw got one, but anyone who looked like a proper citizen did not, which meant that Alec did not get one but Xander did. When they finished, about a third of the guests had guns and the others (unless they remembered to keep an eye on their gun) did not.

After the cake, they would give the signal.
 
Daizi did her absolute best to hide her gun, but it being the largest one, it was hard to conceal strapped to her thigh. Luckily, Dark was too distracted by the overall effect to think about why she decided to start carrying it again. Meanwhile, they were all too busy singing Happy Birthday and eating cake to worry about anything else. The only exception to this was Dark contemplating if he could stay to help clean up. The party was winding down, and he didn't want to leave Cooger to fix up this mess all alone... but at the same time, he had a toddler who needed to get home to bed. He and Xander should've driven separately. Of course, the moment he suggested to Cooger that he stay over to help clean up, Cooger told him flat out (thinking of his plans with Lex that night), "Thanks, but you're going home." It was well worth having to do more work to clean up the next day.

Soon enough, though, cake was finished.
 
Alec and Xander had made certain that everything that shouldn't get wet (i.e. gifts and food) was all safely tucked away out of harm's way. Alec finished up the job, pretending he was "just" cleaning up while Xander wandered out and found himself a nice, tall stump. He would have used Dark's soap box, but that had gotten put away already, and he didn't want to get it out again. Once he found his stump, he waited for Alec to give him The Nod to say everything was set.

"Alright, everybody!" Xander called out loud enough to be heard over idle chatter, but not so loud as to scare people, like Ivy. "This here's a stick-up! Collect all your valuable trashes and put them in the sack!" He glanced around and realized he didn't have a sack. "Once the sack gets to you." He held up his two water guns. "Anyone seen resisting gets shot!"

Lex cackled and held up a giant trash sack she'd had in her car. She'd taken a moment to retrieve it once she realized what Xander and Alec were up to. She held the sack in one hand, her gun in the other while Toby held a pair of water pistols at the ready.
 
"Oh no, Goose!" Daizi cried, pretending like she wasn't in on it as she threw her arms around him, "You have to protect me!"

"What in tarnation is going on here!?" Cooger laughed, although he tried to make himself sound serious, "There ain't gonna be no dad-gumned stick up on my watch! Not in my town!"
 
"This ain't your town no more, Sheriff Cooger," Xander proclaimed and shot at him three times in quick succession. "Anyone else have anything to say? Or are you going to be good boys and girls? Round them up, gang!" He indicated to the others with weapons to start circulating.

Alec happily hid behind the photo wall Cooger had set up and was watching from around the edge.
 
"Hey!" Cooger yelled, trying to dodge the water. As he made himself stumble, he saw Lex and yelled out, "I deputized you! I trusted you!"

None of the guests who were really sure exactly what they were expected to put into the bag, although a few awkwardly dropped in their trash, wondering if that was the correct action. They doubted they were actually supposed to put their real valuables in there.

Daizi brushed her hand against her husbands, and for a second he believed she was being very bold and he glanced down to see her hand move towards her thigh. Then he felt the water gun against his back. Dropping his head back, he couldn't help but chuckle in his low, rumbling way, as she leaned in and whispered, "Hands up, Babe. Didn't you hear? This is a stick up."
 
"What can I say? The kids pay better!" Lex called back cheerfully.

Toby happily shot at Cooger since Lex was manning the bag and trying to shake it in a menacing way.

"That's right, everyone, nice and easy now!" Xander called. "Let's see that sack bulging!"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top