I realized that you really have to pay attention to the details of this whole story or you can easily miss some of the points because it's really short. Just an observation.

"Now find your way back."

All three of us stared at our father blankly. What had started as an innocent helicopter ride had quickly gone downhill and turned into something much worse.

"Is he serious?" I mumbled into Ziva's ear.

"I don't know, why don't you ask him." She replied bitterly.

"Have fun!" Eli got back into the chopper, the trees blew around at the edge of the meadow as the engine started back up. I winced when I saw the wildflowers it had massacred.

"He really was serious." Ari remarked as we watched it rise into the air.

"That was entrapment!" I yelled indignantly, swatting at gnats.

Ziva sighed. "Let's get going, we still have five good hours of sunlight."

Just an hour ago I had been tending to the remnants of my mother's garden in the front yard and enjoying my Sunday morning. I was growing cherry tomatoes and strawberries with flocks of asters, heather and honeysuckle.

I had strategically placed clusters of chrysanthemums to protect the assets from intruders and purple butterfly bushes to sustain the troops. (I was being taught tactical concepts and methods. Obviously, the knowledge only applied to some things in my simplistic 9 year old life.) There were the temperamental irises, orchids and the robust desert roses, the stalks of parsley and mint, the marigolds, the primroses, and finally, the forget-me-nots.

I had just finished planting a few impatients near the front door when Ari walked out.

"Want to take a helicopter ride?" He asked. Ziva and Eli are already at the landing pad.

"Sure!" I jumped up enthusiastically. "Where are we going?"

"I'm not sure, nowhere perhaps, but don't get your hopes up." He said forebodingly.

I had certainly not expected to end up in the middle of a forest on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

"Ari, where are you going?"

"This way, I saw smoke a few miles back, perhaps there is a campground with trails we can follow."

"Well I think we should travel west, that is the direction we came from after all."

"But then we could end up traveling aimlessly in one direction and then just reach the edge of nowhere!"

"Or we could reach a path on the way."

"But what are the chances of that?"

"More than you wandering off in a random direction to find some smoke you think you saw."

"Hey, hey! I can't do every man for himself!" I cut in. "But if it comes to that, I'm going with whoever can get me the hell out of here."

"I thought you liked nature." Ari remarked.

"No, I don't! Not when I'm stranded in the middle of the woods."

"Well I'm going west." Ziva insisted.

"Fine by me."

"Who are you going with Tali?"

They both turned to look at me. I started to squirm, I hated being on the spot.

"Sorry, I have to go with Ziva."

"Tali, are you kidding me?" Ari asked, raising his eyebrows, cursing my unexpected betrayal as indifferently as possible. "Hope you get out alive."

I stuck my tongue out and we parted ways.

Ziva and I walked straight into the woods, but I had faith in her, this was her specialty. I let her forge a path as we hiked deeper and deeper into the woods.

"A swamp?" I asked, stopping as Ziva took a breath and stepped into the soupy, smelly bug infested landscape that lay before us. "Can't we just walk around it?"

"Do you see the end anywhere in sight?"

"Well no." I peered around nervously.

"Tali, come on, lets go. I want to get there before Ari does."

"But I don't really want to trudge through this when we could take a much safer way…and I mean you're wearing boots and cargo pants-"

"We can't all be high maintenance like you, Tali."

"What does that mean?" I frowned, putting my hands on my hips.

"It means… oh please, Tali, just follow me!"

"I'm going around. Cargo pants are ugly anyway, no wonder you've never had a boyfriend."

Ziva looked angry for a very short moment. "Please," she began calmly. "You have to come with me or Ari will kill me. Besides, what happens if you get lost?" She negotiated.

"What happens if you get lost? We can't get anymore lost! I would rather play it safe than follow you into that death trap."

"Fine, be that way!" She screamed as I took off in the other direction.

Looks like it was every man for himself after all.

Half an hour after we parted ways I found a road. About 20 minutes after that a nice couple in a camper pulled up and kindly gave me a ride. I was taught that no one is to be trusted, but I was willing to take the risk.

I got lucky, and as a result, I was the first to reach the end of the forest. Later I would say it was my resourcefulness that got me there an hour before Ziva and Ari caught up. (They got there at essentially the same time.)

We finally left at nightfall, none of us could begin to imagine why this was our father's idea of 'fun'.