Chapter 7: Babies Down the River

The next day was lonely without Mike. The cabin was a little more spacious, and there was an extra mug and bowl. That afternoon, the kids sat around the pond, talking. Suddenly, there was a splash behind them. They turned around to see a small cradle. There was a baby inside!

"What the…?" said Tim, confused. He picked the baby up and out of the cradle. "That's weird. I suppose another thing in this forest is that you get a free baby when you move in!" He chuckled.

Snowy didn't think it was funny. "No. We've never had babies in the forest before."

Sarah picked up the cradle from the water. There was a blanket and a cradle-pad in it. "Whoever put the babies in the water wasn't trying to kill them." She picked up the pad. There was a note under it. It said:

Dear Mister or Miss,

We are very poor and cannot afford to keep our babies. The one in pink is Rachel, and the one in purple is Rebecca. Please take good care of them. Thank you so very much. We hope to someday reclaim them.

Sarah read the note aloud. It was not signed.

"Oh no!" said Tim. "It says 'babies'. That can only mean one thing, there's more than one of them!"

"Oh no!" said Lee, who though Ryan was bad enough.

"Well maybe it won't be so bad," said Turtle. "I mean, at least they can't talk!"

"I wish it could talk!" said Tim as the baby in his arms began to cry.

"I wike hew! She's cute!" said Ryan.

"Yeah, when she's not crying!" said Tim.

All of a sudden, another cradle came down the waterfall. A baby cried from within. Cathy picked up the baby and cradled it. "I wish we had some milk," she said.

A huge, black dog walked into the forest. It came up to Tim and began to bark.

"Blackie! Tim shouted. This was their old dog, Blackie, from before they lived in the orphanage. He scratched the dog behind the ears.

Four other dogs followed Blackie into the forest. They were Midnight, a black watchdog, Chestnut, a brown watchdog, Milky Way, a light brown dachshund, and Snickers, a dark brown dachshund. These were all Cathy's dogs.

Then, they heard a bleat, like from a sheep or goat. A small white goat with brown spots walked into the forest.

"There's your milk, Cathy!" said Tim.

"Eww! I don't want to have to milk that thing!" said Cathy.

"You don't have much of a choice," said Snowy.

Cathy went over to the goat muttering something under her breath.

Also newcomers in the forest that night, two horses wandered in. They were Candy and Brown Sugar, Sarah's and Cathy's horses from before they went into the orphanage. Candy was a white horse with brown spots. Brown Sugar was obviously the color of brown sugar.

That night, Tim and Sarah decided to take Rachel, and Cathy and Turtle decided to take Rebecca. They set up the cradles in the cabins and put the babies to bed. They didn't know that the babies did not yet sleep through the night.

At 3:00 am, Rebecca woke with a loud cry, waking Turtle, Lee and Cathy. Cathy got up and put some milk on the stove. She picked Rebecca up and walked around the room with her. By the time the milk was heated, Rebecca was asleep. "She'll be up again," said Cathy.

Sure enough, at 3:30, Rebecca was up again. Cathy fed her some milk and cradled her for a while, but she was tired.

"I'll take over, Cathy," offered Turtle. Lee was asleep. Cathy handed Rebecca over to Turtle and went to bed.

The next morning, Tim, Turtle, Sarah and Cathy were discussing the night before. "Rachel cried at 2:00 am. Then she wouldn't go to sleep for an hour," complained Sarah. "And Tim was no help at all."

"Hey! It isn't my fault, I'm a heavy sleeper!" cried Tim.

"If that's not the understatement of the year! Tim, you could sleep through an earthquake!" said Turtle.

They laughed. Rachel began to cry back in Tim and Sarah's cave. "I'll get her," said Tim. He got up and ran into the cave.

"We have to find a better home for them. I mean, we don't want to be woken up at 2:00 and 3:00 in the morning. And twelve-year-olds are not suitable parents for infants," Cathy said.

"That's true. If no one claims them in two days, we'll take them to town," said Sarah. She got up and went to see how Tim was doing with Rachel.

By the next day, things were getting tense at Cathy, Turtle, and Lee's cabin. Lee still refused to do work, including tending to Rebecca. Usually, Cathy would be patient with him, but now she was getting no sleep and was irritable.

In the morning, Cathy was trying to make breakfast and Rebecca began to cry. Turtle was out getting some firewood.

"Lee can you give her this bottle?" asked Cathy. Lee refused. Cathy lost her cool. "You good-for-nothing prince! You can't even do a simple chore! You are so lazy! And so ungrateful! After all we do for you!"

Coming back from wood gathering, Turtle heard Cathy screaming at the top of her lungs. This was very rare. Cathy usually never screamed. He dropped the wood and ran inside.

"Cathy, calm down!" he exclaimed.

"No! I won't!"

"This isn't any way to treat a prince!" shouted Lee.

"You know what? I'm sick of you! 'This is no way to treat a prince!' I'm sick of your princey attitude. If you don't like it, just leave!" screamed Cathy.

"Fine! I will!" yelled Lee. He walked out the door and slammed it behind him.

"And take these with you!" shouted Cathy, throwing Lee's belongings out the door and slamming it again.

Turtle flinched. "Do you have to slam the door?" he asked.

"Yes!"

"Don't you think you were a little hard on him. I mean, you haven't been getting much sleep around here lately. After all, he doesn't know any better,"

"He should have learned by now!" said Cathy, and picked up the now screaming baby herself.

Outside, Lee was gathering his things. He didn't understand why Cathy was so mad. He didn't know how to cook or clean. He didn't know he was supposed to help around the house. Couldn't they understand he was trying to adapt to the new life as best he could? He sat down on his stool in the open space. Now where was he going to live? He didn't know how to make a house!

He knocked on Sarah and Tim's door. Tim answered it. "What's up?" he asked.

"Cathy threw me out and…" started Lee.

"Well your not living here!" Tim shouted, about to slam the door in Lee's face.

"Wait!" said Lee. "I wasn't going to ask if I could live here. I was going to ask if you could help me build a house!"

"Oh," said Tim a little guiltily. "What kind of house?"

"A tent or lean-to," said Lee.

"Okay, I'll help, but you have to do most of the work."

They worked all afternoon constructing a lean-to for Lee. They put it in the other open space (the only one now). By the time it was dark, they were finished. Lee moved in for the night. It might be lonely, but at least he could actually sleep.

The next morning, Cathy had to borrow something from Sarah because she had lost hers. Turtle was helping Lee fix the drafts in his lean-to. Tim was sitting by the fire. They all heard Rebecca scream from the cabin.

"I'll take care of her," said Tim. He got up and ran across the forest to Cathy's and picked up Rebecca. "You made a poop," he said, pulling off her diaper.

"Poop," Rebecca repeated.

"Oh darn! Now I've got you saying it!"

"Dawn!" said Rebecca. "Poop dawn, poop dawn!" She giggled.

"Oh great!" said Tim.

He brought Rebecca over to play with Rachel. In no time, Rachel was saying it, too. "Poop dawn, poop dawn!"