Finn clung to a small tree as Manny used his trunk to pull it backward and stood on it to hold it down.
Louis and Lori walked over to Brian, who was double checking his work.
"So, how does this work exactly?" Louis asked standing on his left and Lori on his right.
"Well, when Manfred lets go of the sapling, Finn and Crash will go flying up into the air with Finn landing on the side of the see-saw that is down," Brian pointed toward a log see-saw with an angled piece of wood on the side that was off the ground. "And when Crash lands on the other side Finn will go up into the air, very high I might add, while Crash stands on the angled piece of wood and when Finn lands on the other end of the see-saw, Crash will go flying east all the way over there to The Lake." Brian finished
"Wow, that's really elaborate. How did you come up with that?" Lori asked
"Crash and Eddie want to land in The Lake, I make it happen." Brian said, quite proud of himself, and walked over to everyone else to explain the trick to them.
"Don't these guys ever get hurt?" Lori asked Louis.
"One time Crash was doing a stunt and he was, again, shot from a tree and while he was over me and I sneezed and he got stuck by some quills but other than that one time no." Louis explained.
Lori flinched, feeling bad for him. Quills hurt when you get stuck with them, especially when they are moving fast. Once when Lori was little she and her brother where playing outside and she was chasing him in a game of tag and he sneezed right before she caught up to him. Lori laughed a little bit to herself. Her brother always seemed to be sick. She used to say that he must have been allergic to dirt because he sneezed so much.
Well he's not sick anymore. Lori regretted thinking the cruel joke at the moment it came to her. She had to push it away. It was the only way she wouldn't bust out crying. Lucky for her Brian was done explaining the trick to everyone and joined them along with Peaches and Eddie.
"Ok, we're re-…are you ok Lori?" Brian asked looking at her and everyone else did. She knew her eyes were probably watery.
"Yeah I'm fine." She said trying to hide it. "Just allergies."
"What are you allergic to?" Louis asked.
"Dirt." Lori said without thinking and her throat closed up and she covered her mouth and now she was sure she was gonna cry. She thought fast and fake sneezed to try and make it a little more believable.
"Ok, um, we're ready now, so everyone get out of the way."Brian said.
Lori quickly wiped her eyes while no one was looking and payed attention to the trick.
"Ready?"Manny asked Finn and Crash.
"Oh yeah."Crash responded.
"As I'll ever be." Finn responded quietly.
Suddenly the wind picked up and Brian waited a second for it to pick up more.
"Ten…fifteen…TWENTY! Fire!" Brian yelled to Manny who let go of the tree and Crash and Finn went flying up into the air.
"Oh no, wait, wait!" Brian said.
"What? What's wrong?" Eddie asked as the two possums were flung into the air.
"I forgot to check their positions and now Finn is going to go into The Lake." Brian said worriedly.
Crash landed on the flat side of the see-saw and Finn landed on the other side, launching Crash up into the air. Crash did a summer salt and blew a kiss to Brian who glared at him. Crash had obviously done this on purpose.
"Stand on the wood!" Everyone yelled in unison to Finn who did so.
When Crash hit the flat surface of the see-saw, Finn went flying all 150 yards into the lake where on impact the group saw a small splash.
Crash walked over to the group where he was greeted by a smack on the back of the head from Brian and Eddie.
The possum brothers ran up Peaches' tail and settled on her back, Brian following slowly.
"It worked!" He said excitedly, climbing up Peaches' tail and settling behind Crash.
"H'yah Peaches! To the lake!" Eddie yelled sitting in the front and pointing to the lake.
Peaches raised an eyebrow, reached up with her trunk, and flicked Eddie on the head. Then lowered her trunk to the ground and Louis sat on it, patting the spot next to him, gesturing for Lori to sit down. Lori walked over and cautiously sat down next to him.
Peaches lifted her trunk up to her eye level and she and Manny started on their way to the lake.
Lori had never been so high off the ground before. She looked around. She was about eight feet off the ground, she could see so much more. Lori looked at Louis who was not nearly as excited as she was, but he was used to it. It was just, normal for him.
"And you get to see like this all the time?" Lori asked Peaches excitedly. Peaches smiled.
"If you like this view, check this out."
Peaches stretched her trunk all the way up. Now Lori could see the nearly the whole lake. She might have been able to see a quarter of it at her own height.
Now the sun was setting. The sky was pink and purple with the stars crawling across it behind them. The pine trees were dark green and The Lake was shimmering blue color and was reflecting the sun.
Louis looked at Lori and smiled. Her ears were perked up and her eyes reflected the sunset. At that moment a gust of wind went by and blew her hair out of her face and she closed her eyes and smiled. Twenty feet of the ground and the best view wasn't the sunset.
Lori was looking at the sunset when Louis caught her eye. Their eyes connected. Louis was absolutely sure she could read his thoughts. They both felt themselves blushing so they looked away. Lori looked down at the possums and laughed.
"Hey, Louis, look at this." Lori said.
Louis scooted closer, extremely careful not to get too close; he didn't want to make things awkward after their little moment a couple seconds ago.
Eddie had moved to Peaches head, which didn't seem to bother her, and Brian and Crash were sitting next to each other.
"I don't see anything." Louis said. Lori smirked.
"You're giving up too quickly; just watch… here it comes." She whispered, pointing subtly to Brian and Crash.
Crash looked over at Brian, who was watching the sunset. Crash froze looking away. Then quickly wrapped his arm around Brians shoulders and held him close to himself and blushed.
Brian froze and then started to turn bright red and nearly dropped his pieces of bark and burnt stick.
Lori turned to Louis and they both laughed a little bit.
"I totally didn't see that coming." Louis said "How did you know that was gonna happen?"
"Crash kept reaching over really slowly and then pulling his arm back really fast. It was kind of funny, and Brian didn't even notice!"
They both laughed and the conversation faded.
"Hey, can I ask you something?" Louis asked
"Sure, what is it?"Lori asked
"Earlier your eyes were all watery and you said you were allergic to dirt, is that true?" Louis questioned her.
Lori laughed.
"No, not really."
"So then you were crying?"
"Yeah, a little." She said hesitantly.
"About what? Did I say something? If I did I'm sorry, and I didn't mean it I guess." Louis said apologetically.
"No, no, Louis, don't apologize it wasn't something you did. I was just thinking about sad stuff." Lori said.
"What were you thinking about?"Louis asked.
"My brother…" Lori said and her eyes brimmed with tears and one dripped down toward earth.
"I'm sorry I asked." Louis said
"Are you guys ok?" Peaches spoke up.
They looked down and Lori saw a little wet spot right in between Peaches eyes and laughed. Peaches pulled her trunk down and Eddie looked at them.
"Louis, what did you do?" Eddie asked. Running down Peaches trunk and up to the couple. Eddie eyed Louis who shrank down and looked at the ground. Lori leaned her head on Louis shoulder and sniffled.
"It's ok, Louis." She said quietly and Louis smiled a little bit.
"Ok, now I'm confused. I heard laughter and then I pull you guys down and she's crying." Peaches said.
Brian and Crash appeared on top of Peaches head, both smiling and looking happy as ever. Manny walked up from behind, took one look at Louis and Lori, and went right back behind Peaches.
"It's not worth it Manny, don't ask." He mumbled to himself.
"What happened between you two?" Peaches asked.
"What happened with us is not that important, however…" Lori looked up at Brian and Crash who froze and then slowly disappeared behind Peaches topknot. Eddie turned around and looked at his brother and his 'friend' and then ran up Peaches face and back over her head after his brother.
Once he was gone Peaches pulled Louis and Lori closer to her face.
"Why? What happened?" Peaches asked.
Lori leaned in closer to Peaches who was listening intently.
"Let's just say there is probably going to be two less bachelors in the herd.
"No way!" Peaches exclaimed "My mom is gonna freak!"
"Why?"Lori asked.
"Because they're her brothers, duh!" Peaches said.
"Wait; is your mom a mammoth or a possum?" Lori asked, now really confused.
"She is a mammoth that is half possum." Louis answered. Lori stared at him and opened her mouth to ask another question but Louis interrupted her.
"You'll get it when you meet her. So Peaches is half possum too and they both hang upside down when they sleep." Louis explained
"What about Manny?"Lori asked.
"He is all mammoth, so he sleeps on the ground and everything." Peaches explained.
"Ok."Lori said just as they arrived at The Lake.
The lake was huge up close. It had pine trees surrounding its sand beach. The beach had one part that is covered in big boulders that were good for laying on a cold day because they were always warm from the sun.
They quickly started their search for Finn among the sand and rocks. It was the first time Lori had been with so much sand.
"Can't we dig around and call for him, it will be quicker." Lori suggested.
"Nope, it's not as easy as it seems. The tunnels cave in and you can get buried, and besides the danger factor you get a bunch of sand in your hair and it's a hassle to get out." Louis answered.
"Oh, I won't try it then." Lori joked.
"Guys! Over there!"Eddie yelled, pointing toward one of the boulders. Manny had been holding him up high so he could look for Finn.
They all ran over to the boulder and Eddie walked over to Finn, who was laying down drying out on the sandy boulder, and stood over him.
"How was it?" Eddie asked him.
"It was…awesome." Finn said and they all sighed in relief.
Ah, the first moment of Lori. of coarse she said she was allergic to dirt. Did you like it? but seriously, if I mess up anywhere like in the spelling, please tell me, it is much appreciated.