July 25th 2020

Chapter 207
Their Autumn For the Festival

"Look under there, Haley," Gracie pointed to a bench. The three-year-old did as her sister told her, crouching and twisting about until she could look under the bench.

"Do you see it?" Nellie asked, standing with her twin. A moment later, the youngest Hunter stood up again, brandishing her treasure.

"Leaf!" she went and handed it over with a proud smile. Nellie took it, reading out the clue for the others to hear before turning to her parents and her older sister and brother-in-law. When she was done reading, she passed the leaf to MJ, keeper of the clues.

"What does it mean?" Gracie asked.

"I can't say," Maya shrugged innocently. "Inside information," she whispered, making her siblings laugh, whether they understood this or not.

"Hey, I think you might know this one," Shawn told his younger daughters. "Remember that time we went and saw that statue, when we picked up your mom's birthday cake last time?" The twins shared a look, while MJ nodded, and Haley imitated him. Soon, they were back on their scavenging, with the twins leading one each of the little ones by the hand to keep them from wandering off, while the rest of the group followed them.

Now in her second year of being involved in the Fall Festival, Maya was really getting to feel more and more like it was a part of her, just as she had the Stage Ready camp for the summer, and how she and Lucas had Halloween at their house... It was getting to be one of those staples where the event returned year after year, but it was always different every time, enough that it never got boring or repetitive.

This year, to be going around and to spot some of the work her students had made, or to meet any of those kids themselves, to see their families here and there... It was wonderful. Her favorite part may have been whenever one of them would call out to her, like 'Hey, Mrs. Friar!' for how the others would react. Her family, her siblings especially, had not quite gotten used to the name change yet. And Lucas, he could not keep from smiling every time, like the big Huckleberry he was.

"Well hello, fellow educator," a voice called, and they turned to find Zay and Nadine were headed their way, or as they were known around Haley Hunter, Zaz and Naynay. The moment her hand would be released, she would dash over, stopping still when she came to stand before Nadine before lifting her head and her arms in a clear request her sister's friend was all too happy to fulfill.

"I don't know what is giving me the most effect, the realization that you're the 'Mr. B.' I've been hearing some of my kids' younger siblings talk about, or that you got them calling you that," Maya responded to Zay's greeting.

"I had nothing to do with that, I'll have you know. Happened all on its own," Zay insisted, then, "So they talk about me?" he asked with a grin, scanning their surroundings for any of his current and former students.

His first ones would be in the fifth grade by now, as he started his second group of fourth graders, and Maya was curious to think of the day when some of his might become some of hers. Zay would take this one further, wanting Dylan to end up as a middle school gym teacher. If that happened, the three of them could follow some of their students' progress from elementary school all the way through high school graduation.

"That is going to take a while," Maya had laughed upon hearing it, though Zay only nodded happily at the thought.

Whether or not this would happen, they would have to wait a couple more years at the least, until Dylan finally finished his degree, late starter as he'd been.

"So, are we scavenging, too?" Nadine asked of the girl perched in her arms.

"Leaf," Haley nodded, pointing to her brother.

"You can't look, that's cheating!" Nellie warned the new arrivals. Zay stared down at her and was given back such a stare as to leave no doubt this girl was Maya's sister.

"You are going to be a hoot in class next year, aren't you?" Zay poked the top of her head. Nellie batted at his arm to make him stop even as she laughed.

"You don't know what class we'll be in," Gracie replied smartly. Zay turned his poking finger toward her head.

"I don't, huh?" he asked as she squeaked and stepped back.

"Well, we'll have to go back to the start of the hunt and catch up with you guys, won't we?" Nadine declared, turning a smile to Haley, who received this as her cue to be set back on the ground and instead clung to Nadine. "You want to stay with me?" she tipped her head to look the toddler in the eye.

"Yeah," Haley whispered.

"Go ahead," Katy told Nadine and Zay. "I'm sure she remembers where the clues were."

So, Zay, Nadine, and Haley took off, leaving the others to continue on. There was a feeling like they might as well slow down, to give the trio a chance to catch up before too long, but the twins and MJ all wanted to keep finding clues, so they had to move along.

"Hey, Mrs. Friar!" Stopping to look for the one who'd called out, Maya spotted Daphne Brett coming along with a younger girl who looked enough like her to be her little sister, Stephanie. She was in the fifth grade and had been one of those in Zay's inaugural class the previous year, as they had quickly discovered in chatting over the first week of school.

"Hey there," Maya smiled as the girls came up to them. Daphne introduced her sister to her teacher, who reciprocated by introducing her husband, parents, and siblings. The twins and Stephanie recognized one another from school, two grades apart as they were. Nellie and Gracie being for the most part identical had a way of making them memorable. "Where are your parents?" Maya asked.

"They're doing the maze, we didn't want to go," Daphne stated, though the likelier answer, in looking at the girls, was that Stephanie had been too scared to go, so her big sister had cooked up an excuse not to go.

Their group had diminished some more as the Brett girls and the twins had gone to check out one of the stands, lined with various flavors of popcorn.

"Look who forgot the scavenger hunt all of a sudden," Shawn waved after them.

"Should we keep going?" Lucas asked.

"You guys go ahead with MJ, we'll catch up," Katy told him and Maya.

"Alright, you in?" Lucas looked down to MJ, who nodded. "Want to get the look of the land?" Another nod later, Lucas had hoisted the boy just a few months shy of six and planted him on his shoulders. MJ locked his arms around Lucas' head, his stack of leaves passed to his sister.

"Like you weren't tall enough as it was," Maya shook her head to her husband, which made her brother laugh.

"If anything, I might be shorter now," Lucas pointed out the fact that he sort of had to bend his head down in order to keep his passenger balanced.

"If you say so," Maya hummed, looking back down to their latest leaf to remind herself where they were headed. "Speaking of tall people, there's one of mine," Maya told Lucas as she waved back to Leon Morales, walking along with who she had to guess was his mother.

"He's a junior?" Lucas blinked. He had easily matched the boy to Maya's tales and notes.

"Yup," Maya laughed.

"He's really tall," MJ decided, from up on his perch.

"He is that," his sister agreed. "And he's really nice, too."

They kept walking until they came upon what they guessed to be the next location of a clue. Well, Lucas had to do the guessing, as Maya already knew, and MJ was five and not quite old enough to work out the instructions himself. He was set back on the ground, the better to go find the leaf as Haley had previously done.

"I found it!" he stood back up, flashing those baby teeth with pride. Even with as many clues as had been made, they would have to be replenished every once in a while, some of the kids from school having volunteered to run them back after they'd been returned at the end of the hunt. Just now, one of those came around, a basket under her arm.

"Oh, hey!" Milena smiled, recognizing her teacher.

"I didn't tell them a thing," Maya promised, shaking her head and pointing to the reunited stack. "That's my brother, MJ, and my husband, Lucas," she introduced them.

"Hi," the senior girl laughed. "I'm Milena," she told them, shaking Lucas' hand when it was offered and stretching to do the same when MJ did the same.

"Lots of people finished already, huh?" Lucas guessed, looking inside the basket.

"There's a lot of families going around right now, yeah," Milena confirmed. "I asked Tony to help, but Dad's got a stand going near the garage and he's got him helping. So, August went instead."

"August Matthews?" Maya asked, surprised. On top of Lucas' shoulders, MJ looked around like he expected to find the boy, though Milena didn't notice.

"Yeah, Tony got him helping at the stand, too."

"That's great!" Maya replied, a little more enthused than she'd intended. "I mean," she cleared her throat, "That's nice of him, both of them."

"I should get back to this," Milena held up her basket, and after waving each other off, the trio continued on.

"I'm thirsty," MJ informed his sister.

"We should pass by the juice place on our way to the next clue... I think," she added, as though she didn't actually know.

They stopped with their juices on a bench, finding a break and a drink to be not such a bad idea after all this walking around. MJ quietly busied himself at looking through his leaves, checking that the numbers were in order. He knew his numbers and would let anyone know if given the chance.

Maya and Lucas shared a look here, no words needed to set them both on the same line of thought. Sitting here, in the midst of the festival, taking a break for some juice with little MJ, the whole thing was just the kind of cosy that left them with that familiar feeling, familiar thought. They supposed it would he as good as the real deal until they got around to having a kid of their own.

By the time they were ready to get up and start walking again, they were rejoined by their fractured group, as well as Zay and Nadine and the now sleeping Haley. The twins wanted juice, too, and Zay went to get some for them and the rest, while the twins extended their small bags of popcorn for their siblings to try and say which flavors they were and which was best.

"They taste good when you take one of each, too," Nellie informed them, like she was letting them in on a very important secret, only because they were family.

"Do they?" Maya played along. When both twins nodded, she reached in to both bags like 'alright, I trust you, let's try it.' "Hey, not bad," Maya smiled, while Lucas gave it a shot, too. MJ was hesitant, though once Lucas had tried it and agreed, he did as he'd done.

"I think you're going to need more popcorn," Maya told the twins, who pointed to their father now. Shawn had two large tins, one under each arm. Maya had to work very hard not to tease him for being an easy mark for his kids' wishes. The festival did that to people all on its own.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners