Saturday, 23rd May 2009

Mindy was a tough little thing, but there was a problem.

Whereas Mindy would not think twice about hitting Dave, if he annoyed her enough, or if she was just being particularly spiteful; the ten-year old Dave would not lay a finger on her – she was a sister to him and being a young gentleman, would not even consider retaliating towards a girl.

Now, I was getting fed up with this – Mindy was not learning an important part of life, at least the life that I had planned for her. Fights are rarely one sided and the people we were going to be fighting; they would most definitely fight back.

..._...

That day was another example of Mindy pushing Dave to his limit, and Dave would get very angry, but would not do anything to stop the seven and a half year-old Mindy from pounding him.

"Dave – slap her!" I suggested.

Dave stared at me in horror – I might as well have asked him to shoot Mindy in the head. Dave shook his head.

"She needs to learn, Dave – slap her – now!"

Dave hesitated, but I think Mindy's smug look that said 'Dave would never hit me' must have pushed Dave over the edge, because he slapped her – hard!

The smug look slowly vanished from Mindy's face and she just stood there in absolute shock – this was the first time in her life that somebody had actually slapped her. It was almost a full minute before I saw her bottom lip start to quiver and then... That girl has a good set of lungs – she bawled the place down and ran over to me, but I held back.

"No, Mindy – you need to learn that when you attack somebody, they will attack back. You hit Dave, he will hit you back!"

"Daddy!"

It was heart wrenching. My daughter was hurt, but I had to ignore her – it was cruel, but it had to be done. Dave, himself, looked horror struck at what he had done and he was almost in tears himself.

"I'm sorry, Mindy – I..." Dave started.

"Dave – no apologies, she got what was coming to her," I explained and I hoped that Dave would understand.

Finally, after many minutes, I gave in and let Mindy cuddle into me and I hugged her till she calmed down.

..._...

Dave had complained to James about Mindy targeting him between the legs, but James had just laughed.

"Stop winging you pansy! You need to have some balls for her to kick 'em – hit back and she will stop!"

But Mindy was a fast learner and she soon equated kicking Dave in the bollocks, with getting punched in the face – so Dave was learning, too!

All this was part of toughening the pair up for what was to come.

Friday, 26th June 2009

"This sucks!"

"Tell me about it!" I groused.

We had been abandoned – plain and simple. It was after nine at night and it was dark, but not particularly cold – yet! We had a pack each that had the emergency essentials required to survive in a wilderness – which this wasn't quite, but to a ten year-old boy and a seven-year old girl, it might well have been.

Thirty minutes ago, our Dads had stopped the car, said goodbye and driven off – they said they'd be back in the morning – if we survived and they had actually laughed, too! We had trudged into the wood and searched for somewhere dry to sleep for the night.

"I'm hungry – fancy a pizza?" Mindy asked.

"How are you going to call for a damned pizza without a..."

A short distance away

"The little bitch!"

"Is that a fucking phone?" James asked quietly.

I squinted through the night scope for a clearer look. Yes, Mindy was holding a cell phone that she had pulled from her left boot.

"Next time, they get strip searched!" I growled with a chuckle.

"She is resourceful, Damon – I have to give her that!"

"Mindy, you can't – it would defeat the whole point of this little escapade," I insisted.

"So, you'd rather starve?" Mindy demanded.

"Try these?" I said with a smile and passed over some candy bars.

"Where did you stash them?" Mindy demanded, grabbing them and stuffing them in her pockets.

"I've got extra pockets on the inside of this jacket!

A short distance away

"Dave 'aint no slouch when it comes to deception, either!" Damon commented with a chuckle.

"Thick as thieves!" I added.

We were both concealed under ponchos, not too far from where the kids were talking. We had absolutely no intention of letting them out of our sight – not just for their own safety, but because we didn't quite trust them to follow the rules!

It was fun, though, as the two kids thought themselves completely alone...

We enjoyed the chocolate and Dave had built a small fire.

His Dad had taught him a lot about survival in the wild and I was very keen to learn what I could. But I was not keen on being out here, even with Dave. It was scary – I wasn't scared of the dark, but it just felt scary out here. I could hear strange, unknown noises and it just felt creepy.

Dave seemed fine with it all, but I knew that he had been camping with his Dad before – and had been since he was my age. I just had to trust him, as he had the knowledge and I didn't. Don't get me wrong, I trusted Dave completely and I knew that he would do everything that he could, to protect me. I also knew from bitter experience that he could fight and would now fight back, if I attacked him. I had been shocked when Daddy had told Dave to slap me and initially I had felt hatred towards Dave, but once I saw how horrified he was, about hitting me – all the hatred had vanished in an instant.

..._...

Now, though, I had a problem.

"Dave... I need to pee!"

"Go piss up a tree," Dave suggested, as he poked the fire with a long stick.

"Err – newsflash, Dave. You've probably noticed that I'm not equipped for that!" I growled back.

"Good point! Go piss on a bush, then."

"That's disgusting!"

"Well, it's your choice, Mindy – piss yourself or piss on the bush," Dave said, sounding a little exasperated.

"Fine!"

Mindy vanished into the shadows and returned a short while later.

"That's better!" She said happily.

"Did you wash your hands?" I asked facetiously.

"Yeah the hot water was great!" Mindy replied with heavy sarcasm.

"Here, use one of these," I said and passed her a baby wipe.

"You came prepared didn't you?"

"Someone has to look after little Mindy," I said, smiling at Mindy.

"I am not 'little', ass!"

"Suit yourself – I'm going to sleep," I said and dragged a blanket out of my pack and laydown under a large bush – well away from where Mindy had relived herself.

"Okay," Mindy agreed and pulled out her own blanket and cuddled into me for warmth.

Something woke me up – it was still dark.

I opened my eyes and looked around, without moving. Mindy was still fast asleep beside me, so it hadn't been her. I gently eased away from Mindy, leaving her to sleep and moved deeper into the shadows. I listened. I could hear rustling – was it the wind? No, there was no wind, tonight. It must be someone, or something moving through the woods.

I felt fear and a tingling sensation on my back as a chill ran up it. I pulled out my knife, from its sheath and after checking that Mindy was still asleep and safely hidden, I climbed a tree and kept a lookout all around, while keeping myself hidden from view.