Once breakfast was over and Dad finished washing the dishes, he led them outside and they took a stroll around their yard. They had a big yard, especially since they were the only house on the earth as far as the eye could see. They lived out on a mountainside next to a bunch of trees, and as far as Ari knew, they were the only living human beings here. Even though they had a nice big woodland to explore, an entire jungle of greenery and mysteriousness, Dad wouldn't let Ari and Sam explore it. He said there were real dangerous creatures in those woods, mean wolves that might try to eat them or kidnap them into their lair.
But Dad was allowed to go into the woods, because he was big and strong, plus he had a long rifle that gave out big bangs. He always made Ari and Sam stay behind in the house when he went into the woods with his rifle, and would always come back with a furry carcass slung over his shoulder. The first time Ari saw him dragging home the dead rabbit was when she was around five years old. She was so stunned and broken-hearted by the sight of the rabbit's limp, bloody body, she had cried the rest of the day. Dad had sat by her bedside that night consoling her for hours. He told her he had shot the rabbit right in the head, so fast it didn't even feel anything before it died, and now it was resting up in bunny heaven with all the grass and sunlight and bunny friends it could imagine.
Still, Ari couldn't get the image of the dead rabbit out of her mind, and after that Dad was careful never to let Ari see any of the dead animals he brought back. Of course, Sam would make fun of her and call her a baby, but she just needed to rat on him to Dad and he would quiet down real quick. Even though Ari knew Dad needed to kill all those animals for their food, it still made her uncomfortable to look at the meat on their dinner plates and think that it had once been a bloody carcass, and before that, a cute, living, scampering creature. Even though Dad said the process was painless, it still made her shudder to think of the bang of the rifle and the bullet piercing straight into their skull, ending their life. She avoided touching the meat because of that, and even though Dad chided her that, he never forced her to take the meat.
Today, Dad led them to the garden in the corner of their yard, which was ringed by a fence and wire netting and had a multiude of vegetables growing. It was summertime, which meant the plants were thriving, and they could have fresh vegetables to eat daily. In particular Dad took real pride in his squashes. He had dozens of them, and they were round and shiny and could grow up to the size of an elephant. Or at least that was what it felt like to Ari. And Dad had so many squashes he had gotten real good at preparing them too, whether it was by soup or roasting or stir-fry. Whichever way he made it though, it was all delicious. What was better, Ari never had any scary images of the squash's dead body, so she could enjoy her meal in peace.
Before Dad went out into the woods with his rifle, he told Ari and Sam to take care of the garden. And by "take care," they had to water the plants and pluck out the weeds and clip the leaves. Of course, Ari called dibs on the water bucket, because that was the easier job. But Sam had to be all bossy about it and said that she should be the one doing the weeding and clipping because she watered the garden last time. They ended up squabbling about it for a while, until Ari had the brilliant idea to shut Sam up by sloshing the water bucket and spilling half of it down his shirt.
"You idiot!" the bear roared, making the distant tree-tops tremble. He looked down at the huge splotch on the front of his shirt and then back at Ari, his face furious. "You just ruined my shirt!"
"Whatever!" she said, rolling her eyes. "It'll dry off later. Don't be such a big baby!"
"Give me that!" he snarled, grabbing the water bucket from her hands. He made a motion as though to toss the water at her, and she let out a huge squeal. But then he changed direction and tossed the rest of the water into the nearby tomato bush before throwing the bucket down with a clang.
"You're not supposed to do that!" Ari said reprovingly. "Dad says you're supposed to sprinkle the water around equally. Not just throw it one place like that!"
"Who cares," Sam said. "It'll rain again soon, anyway."
Just then, a sharp, distant bang in the trees pierced Ari's ears, and she screamed. Next thing she knew, she wrapped Sam in a tight hug, using his lanky body as a shield against the gunshots.
"Get off me!" he roared again, pushing her off.
"But it's loud!"
"It's just Dad!" he said impatiently. He glared at her. "And who was the one saying I was a baby, huh, baby?!"
"But the poor bunny is dying!" she wailed. "Poor rabbit, I hope it's okay! I hope Dad shot it good and it didn't hurt too much!"
He yawned. "Who cares how it died. It all ends up in the same place, anyway. Our stomachs."
"Meanie!" Ari cried, stamping her feet. "You're mean!"
"What's new?"
There were more gunshots, and Ari screamed again. Sam winced and slapped his hands to his ears. "Shut it!" he bellowed.
"You first, big bear!"
"God, you're annoying!" he snapped, kicking the empty bucket. "Stop screaming and do something useful for once. Here, hurry up and pull out the weeds." He pointed to all the hairy green stuff poking out from the dirt.
"Let's just take a break first," Ari protested, plopping her rear down on a particularly fat squash. She wiped her forehead and let out a huge breath. "I'm so tired! I did a lot of work with that heavy water bucket. I need to rest my arms!"
Sam rolled his eyes. "But you didn't even do anything! You just spilled water over me!"
"Yeah, but I still had to lift the bucket, didn't I?"
He threw his arms up. "Ugh, you're impossible!"
"So are you!" she shot back. "That's why I threw the water all over you. 'Cause it's impossible to deal with you any other way!"
They continued to bicker until Dad came over to check on them. He was no longer holding the rifle, but his sleeves were rolled up and there was dirt on his jeans. "Hey, kiddos!" he called as he reached their side. "How's work going?"
"Annoying!" Sam burst out. He held out his still-wet shirt and pointed at it. "Look! She spilled water all over my shirt!"
Dad chuckled and looked at Ari, who was still sitting on the squash. "Aw, did you, Ari?"
"Yep!" she declared proudly. "He was being really impossible, so I did the only thing I could."
"And she just screamed the whole time and didn't do anything else," Sam snapped, glaring accusatorily at her.
"You didn't neither!" Ari retorted.
Dad sighed. "Well, I guess you two have had enough fun for today, huh?" he said wearily. "Here, why don't you all get back home and wash up? I'll be back with some tomatoes, and we can prepare them for our lunch!"
Ari raced Sam to the house and beat him again, as usual. The baby kept grumbling about his wet shirt and stomped upstairs to take a shower. Ari rolled her eyes. So he complained about his shirt getting wet only to go and get wet some more. Made total sense.
Sam was still washing up when Dad came back with a handful of juicy red tomatoes. Ari helped him wash them in the sink and scrubbed them with a big hairy brush. Then Dad took over and chopped them up on the cutting board, but he let Ari add the tomatoes to the pot, along with the chopped up carrots and celery. Then he got out a step stool so she could reach the stove and stir the pot with a big wooden spoon.
"Look, Dad!" Ari said proudly as she stirred the tomato-y concoction. The mixture of vegetables blended together and sizzled and glistened nicely. "I'm cooking! I'm a chef! And you're my judge and you're gonna taste-test my food, aren't you, Dad?"
Dad chuckled. "Indeed I am! And the judge is eagerly awaiting to try out your beautiful creation!"
Ari continued stirring the pot, letting the delicious aroma of cooking tomatoes and seasoning waft through the kitchen. It was so good that even Sam came lumbering out of his den to check it out.
"Look, Sam!" Ari exclaimed as he came in. He was wearing a new shirt, and still tousled and damp-faced from his shower. "I'm cooking! Just like a real chef! Doesn't it just smell so good? I'm so great at this, aren't I?"
"Yeah, yeah," he said dismissively. "When's lunch?"
"Just in a couple of minutes," Dad said. He was stirring the pot beside Ari, to which he had added some dried up pasta was re-cooking it up. "Why don't you start setting up the table, Sam, to speed things up a bit?"
"Yeah!" Ari chimed in. "Me and Dad are the chefs and cook the feast, while Sam can be our servant and set up the table!"
Ari snickered as the bear let out a great roar and stamped his paws. "Yeah, right! Like I'd ever work for someone as annoying as you!"
Dad sighed and looked at Ari. "How about taking it easier there on your brother, kiddo?"
"How can I take it easy when he's the impossible one?" Ari sniffed, stirring her tomato pot even more vigorously.
"No, you're just stupid!" Sam snarled.
"All right, you two, break it up," Dad chided. "I'm almost done with the pasta, so get ready."
And so once Dad ladled up the pasta into a bowl, he let Ari add the tomato sauce into it. She stirred it around with forks to coat every last inch of the pasta with the yummy sauce. It was just like lathering your hair in shampoo to make sure every last inch was covered.
"It's just like covering your hair with shampoo, isn't it?" Ari said excitedly as she stirred the forks around and around in the pasta. "I'm so good at this! I could be one of those professional shampoo people at the hair-cutting place, right, Dad?"
"That's right!" he laughed, tousling her hair. "You'd know just how to massage people's heads and make them feel relaxed."
Over at the table, Sam stopped setting up dishes to give a loud snort. "Relaxed? Yeah, right! She'd be screaming and pressing into people's heads so hard she'd give them a migraine!"
"Nuh-uh!" Ari protested. "I wouldn't do that to everyone! Only you, Sam! It's special VIP treatment, for the one and only!"
"All right, I think the noodles are about mixed up now!" Dad declared, cutting over Sam's incoming retort. "Ready with the dishes, Sam? Let's eat!"
And so Ari dished the pasta on everyone's plates. She gave Dad a big dollop, herself an even bigger dollop, and Sam a chunk of tomato. Immediately the great bear threw his head back and roared again, and Ari laughed. Dad sighed and re-distributed the pasta so that Sam got a sizable mound too, even though Ari wished he didn't. The greedy bear could really do with some weight loss.
For the second time that day Ari enjoyed the fruits of her own creation. The sauce was sweet, tangy, and herby, and the pasta was smooth and chewy. It was the best pasta she had ever tasted. Then again, she thought that for every pasta dish she and Dad made. But this time it really was the best pasta she ever had! It was so good that it even shut Sam up and he sucked up all the pasta like a cyclone. He finished his plate faster than Dad and Ari and even asked for seconds. Ari told him not to eat too much or he might turn into a fat hibernating bear for real. But Dad just laughed and spooned more pasta onto Sam's plate, saying that he was a growing boy and he should eat more. That made Ari roll her eyes, and she vowed that one day she would turn into a growing girl so she could eat even more than Sam and beat him by eating three plates of pasta!
After lunch, Dad went to wash the dishes while Ari and Sam went up to their rooms to relax after a long morning's work. Ari had some fun playing with her stuffed animals. She had around a dozen, but her favorites were her stuffed dog and stuffed bird, which were all battered and worn with her love and care. She had gotten her stuffed animals when she was a baby and still loved them to this day. It was always the most fun coming up with the wildest stories and reenacting her grand adventures with her friends.
"Oh, my little birdie!" Ari said in a deep, booming voice as she placed the little brown dog on top of her bed, while the little blue bird sat on the ground looking up. "I'm stuck here on the bed and I can't get out! I can't fly, not like you. If I jump I'll break all my legs and die, but only you can fly up here and save me. Please help me, birdie!"
"Don't worry puppy, I'll be there to save you!" Ari pitched up her voice in a fluttery titter. "Just hold on, I'm coming up! Wheee!" And then she made the bird soar up and reach the dog on the bed, who jumped with joy and relief.
"Thank you, birdie!" the puppy bent his nose to his paws and wept with joy. "I was so scared! I've been trapped on this horrible mountain for days with no way out! I didn't think I'd ever get out, but you came and rescued me! You're my hero!"
"I guess I am, aren't I?" the bird chirped, fluffing out her feathers excitedly. "I've always wanted to be a hero, saving people and making friends with them! That's right, puppy, you're my friend now! Now come on, friend, jump on my back and we'll get out of here!"
The puppy hopped onto the bird's back and the bird folded out her wings. "Ready?" she said, and the puppy nodded his shaggy head. She took off from the tops of the craggy mountains and away into the heavens beyond. They whooped with joy and excitement.
"Look, puppy!" the bird called as they soared through the never-ending sky. "There are the trees, just up ahead! We can fly over them and find a new home there! We can build a cute little house and live there together for the rest of our lives, what do you think?"
"That's wonderful!" enthused the puppy. "We can be like those three bears in Goldilocks and have a cute little house with three matching beds! But we'll need another friend around if we want to use up all three beds, huh?"
"Don't worry!" the bird chirped. "We'll find lots of new friends once we're in the forest. There's bunnies and mouses and deer and squirrels, we'll have so many new critters to talk to! It'll be so much fun!"
"I've never been in the forest before, though," the puppy confessed. "And I'm scared. What if we get lost? Or what if we get eaten by big wolves? Plus, I've heard a lot of weird banging shots coming from the forest, and I heard bunnies die there!"
"Don't be scared!" the bird exclaimed. "I've never been in the forest before, either. But the big man with the rifle has, that's why you always hear those gunshots. He hunts and kills bunnies with his rifle so he can eat them!"
"He eats them?" the puppy whimpered with fright. "But that's so scary! What if he eats us?"
"I guess you're right, huh?" the bird gasped, stopping mid-flight to consider the matter. "I guess the forest isn't the best place to be, then, 'cause then we might meet the man with the rifle and get shot!"
"Then what do we do?"
"Then we'll just have to leave the forest, go somewhere else without the big man with the rifle!"
"But where will we go?" the puppy asked anxiously, watching the bird with his big brown eyes.
"Hmm…" the bird stalled some more to consider the question. "I'm not sure, actually. I've never been in the forest, but I've never been anywhere outside of the forest, either. I dunno if there's even any more land outside of the forest!"
"You're joking!" the puppy gasped.
"Yeah, I guess there has to be land outside of the forest, right?" the bird said, resuming her flight so they could perch on a nearby overhang. They sat and took a rest to gaze out at the lush forest and the horizon beyond. "Look, I can see it now!" the bird gasped, pointing with her wing. "The land! There're mountains, right over the trees, looking at us. If only we could fly over the trees and reach them, we could start a new home there!"
"Sounds amazing!" the puppy enthused, flopping his ears excitedly. "Let's go, then, birdie! Let's build our Goldilocks home and meet new friends to eat porridge with!"
With that joyous declaration, the puppy hopped back on the bird's back and they took off toward the mountains. Only, they didn't get very far before they encountered a little problem. And that was the window.
"Aw, no, we can't go any farther!" the bird exclaimed in dismay, knocking on the glass pane they had been looking out of. "There's this glass thing blocking us!"
"Oh, no!" the puppy cried. "What do we do, then?"
"I dunno," the birdie said, scratching her feathery head. "Maybe we can open the window and fly out?"
And so Ari put her puppy and birdie down so she could help them open the window. But it was a lot harder than it looked, and all the hinges were all rusty and hard. She put her fingers under the crack and lifted the glass with all her might, but it wouldn't budge.
"Ugh, this is too hard!" Ari cried, stamping her feet. Maybe she could Sam for help… but even then, if the window opened in the end, what could she do with it? It wasn't like she could jump out the window and turn into a bird and fly off into the mountains. She was still a wingless human, stuck here in this tiny house, forever watching the window but unable to get out. Just like the windows in her castle, where the strange people lived and danced and shot out glowing sparks. She would always be staring at the window on one way and wishing she could be on the other side. But until she found a way to break the barrier, she could only feel the tug on the other side of the glass — she would be a forever spectator, only able to watch and dream about the possibilities, so familiar yet just out of reach. Just like now, the trees and mountains were right there in plain sight, waiting for her to explore. But no matter how hard she tried, no matter how hard she dreamed, she would never be able to get any closer to them for real.
Feeling rather glum suddenly, and not in the mood to play anymore, Ari stared out the window for a few more minutes. Her heart felt full and empty all at the same time, and yet she could still feel the stirring in her chest. She wondered if there was anyone else living on those snowy mountain peaks. Maybe there was another family living there with their own little house, and they had a kid just like her who would look out their window and wonder what was on the other side of the trees. Maybe they were like her, feeling trapped and wondering what else could be out there. Or maybe they were like the people in the castle — even though they had been trapped by the window, they still seemed happy in their own little world. Maybe even too much so. Maybe they were too wrapped up in their own affairs they never considered that someone else might be out there too, wishing with her all her heart that she could join them.
And so Ari waved, real wide and big, just in case there was anyone out there watching her, whether in the trees or mountains or the castle or some other mysterious dimension she didn't know about. She didn't know if any of those people could see her, but she hoped that she was thinking about all of them, all those strange people who lived in this great vast earth.
Because surely there had to be other people out there, right? Surely she and Sam and Dad couldn't be the only humans on this earth! Just like the humans in her dream… and if she could dream about them, they had to be real, right? Yeah, that was right… maybe even if Ari couldn't visit the castle again in her dream, one day she would be able to go out on her own and follow the tugging in her heart and find it for herself. Maybe then, she would finally meet and say hello to all those strange little people, and her fantasies would become a reality once their existences collided and she became a part of their world.
