Skye bent over the creek, taking a long look down past the bridge. "Batty, can you at least TRY to remember where you dropped him? Or you Ben?" She said desperately. Both the children shook their heads.
Suddenly, she heard a shout. "Guys! I found Funty!" Jeffrey came running towards them, with an absence of elephant in his hand. "I can't quite reach him, he's in the middle of the creek," he said with a pained expression on his face. "But don't worry Batty we'll get him," he continued hastily after realizing he did not want a crying little girl on his hands.
"Alright, I'm the OAP, so I'll get him," Skye said grudgingly. She could tell Jeffrey was about to disagree, but this was her job as Batty's blood sister. Now it was quite obvious where Funty was, but that didn't make it any easier to get him. If you just moved that log over a couple inches, she would be able to reach the tip of Funty's ear. "C'mon Jeffrey, help me move this log over a bit."
"Okay please be careful Skye." He yanked on the log getting it into perfect walking position. Skye began to walk, balancing carefully in order to not fall in.
Left, right, left, right. She went a foot at a time watching for knots and bumps in the wood, as the water rushed past her, swirling and churning mud and sticks past her sneakers. At least the water wasn't that deep, if she fell in it wouldn't go past her ankles. Just as this thought slipped through her mind, she stepped once more, and the log sunk down a few inches into the water, throwing Skye off balance. Slipping on the side of the slick wood, she plonked into the water on her butt, drenching herself in frigid creek water. Standing up quickly, she grabbed that dratted Elephant toy she had done all this for, and walked out of the creek, the old-fashioned-no-log-way.
"Skye! Are you alright?" Jeffrey cried looking worried, running over to pull her out of the creek.
"Ugh. I'm fine. Just great. Perfect." She said storming off in the general direction of the house. Why did something that embarrassing have to happen? Why did stupid old Batty have to drop her stupid old toy in the creek? At the very least could she have landed on her feet? Or knees? Or something? "Gahhh…" She groaned, "gahhhh." Looking down at her hands, she noticed Funty was still there. "Take him Batty. Here!" She cried, tossing the poor little creature over her head. She plonked down on the path, rubbing her arms to warm herself up.
"Skye?" Oh great. Here he was. "Are you cold? If you are we'll start walking back." He scooted over beside her. "Batty says thank you for getting Funty."
Skye sighed. "Tell her she's welcome. And no, I'm fine." She shivered without meaning to. "Okay, maybe a little." Without warning, Jeffrey slipped his arms around her in a sort of awkward sitting down hug, You wouldn't think two arms would help much, but it warmed Skye up from the tips of her toes to her ears, and she felt like as long as she was in his embrace, she would never be cold again.
