"You shouldn't be taking that, Kensi!" Darcy Ingram exclaimed, stopping Kensi from stuffing a pack of lollies in her backpack. "Don't you know that bears'll eat you if you bring food!"
"You lie!" 5-year-old Kensi insisted, swatting her hand away.
"It's true!" Darcy persisted. "Madaddy nearly got eated last time, 'coz he brang some cupcakes mummy 'n' me maked the day before."
"You've only been camping twice!" Kensi spat. "You're nothing more than a know-it-all!"
"Am not!" Darcy defended herself.
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am-"
"What's going on in here, girls?" Corporal Damon Kirke appeared in the doorway. "What are you arguing about?"
"Darcy says I can't take food or else bears'll eat me!" Kensi ratted her friend out.
"It's true!" Darcy defended herself. "Madaddy nearly got eated last time, 'coz he brang some cupcakes mummy 'n' me maked the day before."
"You already said that!" Kensi pointed out as harshly as she could.
"Girls!" Kirke cut in. "No more arguing. Just pack your bags. Darcy, that is not true. Kensi, don't listen to her."
Kirke made sure they had stopped fighting before going to pack his bags. The girls were going with their fathers and their marine buddies on an overnight camping trip, and Kensi was excited. Of course, Darcy had been twice before, and, thus claimed to know everything there was to know about camping. Which is what had started the argument in the first place.
"Told ya so," Kensi whispered loudly after Kirke had left.
"Nyah!" Darcy replied, poking her tongue out. "But 's your own fault when you get eated by bears."
Kensi just scowled at Darcy, and dumped the lollies on the bed. She didn't really want the lollies anyway. She was more interested in cookies. So, she pottered off and stuffed a week's worth of cookies in her backpack. When she was satisfied, she focused all her energy on zipping up the bag, which was not easy with the amount of cookies stuffed inside.
"Kensi!" her father called. "Come on, sweetie, we need to make tracks!"
Kensi successfully managed to zip up her bag. She slung it over her shoulder and ran down the stairs.
"Coming, daddy!" Kensi called and appeared shortly thereafter.
"Ready, babygirl?"
Kensi nodded excitedly. "Let's go!"
As Kensi walked out with the gang, Darcy leaned over and whispered,
"You gonna get eated by bears!"
"It's 'eaten'," Kensi hissed. "And no, I'm not!"
The car ride was pretty uneventful, except for when Kensi asked her dad about the whole eaten-by-bears thing. He told her that it was a load of bull (but in different, more kid friendly words) and not to worry.
They arrived at the campsite, and Kensi insisted on helping set up the tent, which Donald let her. Of course, a five-year-old can't do much in the way of tents, so Donald did most of the work. They then spent the rest of the day playing wrestling and chasing each other around. Well, Darcy, Kensi and their fathers did. The rest of the men went on a hike.
Kensi and Darcy had both wanted to go, but their fathers said that they were too little and wouldn't be able to do it. So they had suggested the alternative, which both children loved.
That night, after the campfire and getting tucked in as best was possible by her father, Kensi quickly fell asleep. She awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of trees rustling and the wind blowing quite hard. Kensi liked the sound very much, and she rolled over to try to get back to sleep.
But, then, Darcy's words from earlier that day replayed in her mind. It made Kensi scared. She didn't want to be eaten by a bear. She was only five. Way too young to die. Kensi bolted upright and grabbed her large torch for defence, just in case. She also pulled Little Charlie Bear, her favourite stuffed bear, up to her chest for comfort.
"I need a cookie," she decided, talking out loud quietly. She reached into her bag and opened a box of cookies, before nervously chomping one down. Before she knew it, Kensi had finished the whole box. She was full, and still scared. Kensi got no sleep for the rest of the night, until the sun began to peek over the horizon. Then she was out like a light.
A few hours later, she was up again, the marines were packed up and they were all bundling into the car.
"Daddy!" Kensi cried joyfully when she saw her father tossing bags into the back. "We didn't get eaten by bears!"
Donald chuckled at his little girl's enthusiasm.
"I promise, babygirl," he said, snatching a cookie and biting into it. "I will never let you get eaten by a bear. And Darcy and her father are just blowhards. Don't pay any attention to them."
Kensi nodded and bounded into the car. She slept most of the way, as she had not slept much the night before.
A few weeks later, her father, mother and Kensi attended the memorial day faire. Kensi spent the day with Darcy (whom she had long since forgiven about the bear thing) and asked Mr Ingram to blow up her balloon.
"'Coz daddy says you're a blowhard," Kensi explained. Donald, who was standing right behind his daughter, threw back his head and roared with laughter.
Julia, on the other hand, scolded Kensi and apologised to Mr Ingram. She then turned around to scold her husband, who told her to lighten up.
All this brought Kensi to ask what a blowhard was, and Mr Ingram, being a good sport, ran with Donald's idea and said it was when there was a lot of air inside of someone and they needed to blow hard every day to get the extra air out, otherwise too much air would make them get bigger and bigger until they exploded.
And that's the lie Kensi Blye believed until she was ten years old.
This chapter is not posted on Tumblr, so you got an exclusive look. :)