Chapter Ten: Morning Antics

Thursday

The sound of early birdsong and the light of the rising sun woke MacGyver the next morning. For a few minutes he drowsed between sleeping and waking, and then he slowly became aware of an unusual weight on his sleeping bag.

Leaning on one elbow, he squinted sleep-blurred eyes. Cassie lay curled up asleep there, her head pillowed against his stomach and her own sleeping bag pulled crookedly over herself. *

Smiling to himself, MacGyver eased out slowly so as not to wake her, bunching his sleeping bag under her head for a pillow and pulling hers up to cover her completely.

oOo

It was the smell of cooking pancakes that brought the kids out of the fort, yawning and rubbing their eyes.

"Hey, sleepyheads," MacGyver greeted them with a smile. "Ready for some breakfast?"

"Sure!" Cindy agreed, sniffing eagerly.

Cassie let out a startled yelp as Dylan tripped and fell over her. "A bear! Mr Mac, it's a bear!"

"Don't be silly, Cass," Derrick scoffed, pulling Dylan off her. "It's just Dylan."

"Oh," Cassie said in a small voice.

"I'm sorry, Cass; I didn't mean to fall on you," Dylan told her.

Cassie scowled at him suspiciously.

"C'mon, Cass, you were right in front of the door," Cindy pointed out. "We all almost tripped on you."

"No arguments before breakfast," MacGyver warned. "Cassie, put your sleeping bag in the fort with the others. Cindy, you and Dylan roll mine up and put it with my backpack. Derrick, how about some more wood?"

Chores didn't seem like work when they were camping, and there were no protests as they forgot their argument and hurried to do as he asked.

When they finished, MacGyver was flipping the steaming pancakes onto plates made of thin sheets of birch bark. "Syrup, anyone?"

"Yes, please!" they chorused.

"Can you really make syrup from trees?" Cindy asked, looking thoughtfully at a bite of pancake before putting it in her mouth.

"Yup. Not at this time of year, though, an' the right trees don't grow around here."

"It doesn't taste like wood," Cassie said, licking a drop off her hand.

MacGyver chuckled. "That's because it's not made out of wood, it's made out of sap. We can't make syrup, but after breakfast, how about fishing?"

"Sure!" Cindy agreed eagerly. "We've never been fishing."

"Not for real," Derrick added. "We play sometimes with bent pins tied to string."

"Yeah, but we never caught anything," Dylan added.

"Think we will today?" Cindy asked a little doubtfully.

"Maybe, maybe not. All I know is, they're in here; I saw at least one big one while Cassie an' I were getting rocks for the fireplace. If we do catch anything, I'll show you how to clean 'em, an' we'll fry 'em up for lunch."

"Mm!" Cindy exclaimed, smacking her lips. "I love fish, but Ma won't cook it much because it smells up the house."

MacGyver chuckled. "Good thing we'll be cooking it outside, then."

"I don't like worms," Cassie said solemnly.

MacGyver raised an eyebrow at her. "You don't mind ants."

"Ants don't squirm," Cassie explained with a shudder.

"We'll let the boys dig the worms, then," MacGyver said with a wink in their direction.

"I don't mind worms; I'll help!" Cindy declared. "Dylan, where's the firefly house? We can put them in that."

"Toss your 'plates' in the fire when you finish," MacGyver told them.

Cindy grinned. "I like this way of doing dishes!"

MacGyver grimaced. "Yeah, I don't think your mother would be too happy if you tried it at home."

"It smells like candy!" Dylan exclaimed.

MacGyver chuckled. "That'll be the syrup burnin'. Didn't you get enough candy with all those marshmallows last night?"

Dylan shrugged. "There's never enough candy," he said matter-of-factly.

"Until ya get a stomachache," MacGyver said wryly. "You three go start lookin' for worms; Cassie, come help me find some sticks for fishing poles."

Even with her fears of the day before gone in the morning light, Cassie seemed eager for MacGyver's attention, staying close at his side rather than following her siblings as she usually did.

When the older kids returned with the worms, MacGyver had trimmed three straight sticks and was attaching a string to each, with a buoyant piece of bark for a bobber.

"What are you going to use?" Derrick asked.

MacGyver nodded toward his backpack. "I brought my fishin' rod."

"An' he's gonna let me help!" Cassie crowed.

"Aw, that's not fair!" Dylan pouted.

"You can help too, but then you don't get a pole of your own," MacGyver told him, holding out the one he had just finished.

"I'll use my own," Dylan decided quickly, grabbing it eagerly.

MacGyver got up and went to his backpack, squatting to dig out the packet of fishhooks. "Now, I'm gonna trust ya to be careful with these," he warned, handing one to each of the three older kids. "I really don't want to hafta play surgeon with my knife, so no sticking yourselves or each other, accidentally or on purpose."

"We won't," Cindy promised.

"Good. Here, let me show ya how to tie them on."

He gave the older kids a quick lesson in the basics of fishing, and they caught on as swiftly as he had expected. "If you're all set here, Cassie an' I are gonna be just around that bend; too many of us in one spot an' we'll just scare the fish away."

"Yeah, we're good," Derrick agreed, shaking his hair out of his face.

"Just shout if ya need me," MacGyver told them. Turning and taking Cassie's hand, he missed the wink Cindy gave her brother.

Cassie turned away and buried her face in her hands as MacGyver reached for a worm. He deftly put the worm on the hook, then chuckled as he nudged Cassie. "I'm done; you can look now. Wanna help me cast it?" *

She nodded eagerly, and MacGyver positioned her hands on the rod and placed his over them. The cast was a little wobbly compared to his usual finesse, but landed very near where he had meant it to.

"When will we catch a fish?" Cassie asked, bouncing eagerly.

MacGyver grinned at her. "Never, if ya scare them all away. Ya gotta keep quiet when you're fishing, if you want to catch anything."

"I can be quiet," Cassie whispered.

The sound of the other kids' voices drifted from around the bend, and then suddenly there was a tremendous splash.

MacGyver tensed. "Hey, everyone all right over there?"

"Cindy!" came Dylan's shout from around the bed. "Where are you?"

"She disappeared!"

"Aw, man!" MacGyver groaned, visions of sudden drop-offs and underwater snags flashing through his mind as he tossed his pole aside and ran to where the kids were.

Next chapter coming next week!

* Illustration for this scene can be found at

www . deviantart . com [slash] femalechauvinist [slash] art [slash] Cozy-Nest-882137349

www . deviantart . com [slash] femalechauvinist [slash] art [slash] Wiggle-Worms-882137404

I proofread all my stories at least once before posting, but if you see any mistakes I might have missed, please let me know!

Please note that I have only minimal internet access, and may not have time to respond to all reviews/messages. (But they are much appreciated, even if you're reading this story long after I originally post it!) If you have questions regarding my MacGyver alternate history, check my profile first to see if they're answered there. Thanks for your understanding! Barbie