Chapter 47
"I warned you," Jake told his brothers as they turned their frogs loose after the races. Sam had won every race with her frog.
"How does she do it?" Nate complained.
Jake shrugged. "Dunno, but she always does."
"I just know how to pick frogs," Sam said with a superior smile.
"And turtles," Jake said.
"Well, just Jake," Sam grinned at him, knowing how much it bugged him to have a turtle named after him.
Jake rolled his eyes.
"Why do you call the turtle Jake, Sammy?" Kit asked as they walked back up to camp.
Jake groaned.
"The turtle looks like him," Sam answered sensibly.
"How so?" Bryan asked.
"I can see why you thought the frog looked like Adam with its bug eyes," Quinn teased, earning a punch from Adam. Quinn punched him back and Kit stepped between them before it got out of hand.
"Jake the turtle is brown with black on his head," Sam told them.
Jake's five brothers looked at him with amusement. He couldn't help the slight twitch of his mouth.
"Where is this turtle?" Quinn asked.
"I'm not telling you," Sam shook her head. "Jake's mine."
Adam's and Kit's eyes met.
"After all that running, I need to swim," Nate said.
"All what running?" Kit yelped. "You didn't do anything. Your frog did all the work."
"And not very well, since it was always in last place," Bryan pointed out.
"Yeah, yeah," Nate mumbled. "Next time I'll have Sammy pick me out a frog."
"After I find Adam," Sam told him.
Adam groaned. His five brothers laughed.
They reached camp.
"You go ahead and change, Sammy," Kit told her. "We'll be in the lake."
"Okay," Sam nodded.
"No grabbin', Brat," Jake warned her.
"I don't grab," Sam put her hands on her hips.
"Maybe she planned it, Jakey," Nate laughed.
"Startin' young," Kit laughed.
"Oh for…," Jake stomped off towards the lake, his brothers laughing as they trailed after him.
Kit pulled Jake's hair as he ran by. Jake ran after Kit.
Sam could hear the Ely brothers as they yelled and teased each other. She turned around to watch. Sam saw someone's bare butt as they jumped in the lake and she quickly turned back around.
She changed into her bathing suit and waited for one of them to call up to tell her they were all in the water.
"Come on, Sammy," she heard Adam's voice.
Sam ran down to the lake, her braid flowing out behind her. The brothers watched her run and then hold her nose as she jumped in. She was smiling broadly when she surfaced and they all smiled at her.
It didn't take long before they were splashing each other and dunking. They took special care this time with Sam so she wouldn't panic.
When all of their skin started to resemble prunes, they decided to get out. The boys waited for Sam to go back to camp before getting out of the lake and getting re-dressed.
"You two go head for the bushes," Kit said to Jake and Sam later.
"What?" Jake yelped.
"To pick berries," Kit burst out laughing. The other Ely boys started to laugh.
"What did you think he meant, Jakey?" Adam wondered.
"I never know with him," Jake admitted with a grumble. "Come on, Brat."
"Take one of the containers," Kit reminded his youngest brother.
"Yeah, yeah," Jake muttered, grabbing a plastic container.
He tugged her shirt sleeve and dragged her along with him towards the bushes where the berries were.
"At least he's not dragging her by her hair," Nate joked as they watched the two youngsters move away.
"She'd slug him if he tried," Kit said.
"Oh, yeah," Adam nodded.