Chapter 6 - Runaway

“Run away, run away, run away...run." The words echoed through Crystal’s mind, as she sat down on a rock beside the water, under the bridge. “Run away…run”

Crystal had not gone home, as Penny suggested.

Instead, she decided to go somewhere else to think about what had just happened. She had taken Tanya’s lighter at the bonfire. Penny had recognized it as Tanya’s, as soon as she tried to give it to her as a gift.

“Taking things is something that we always do in our community,” she thought to herself. “To our people it is an accepted practice, a way of life. Penny does not understand. She thinks I stole the gold lighter from Tanya. I guess, to her way of thinking, I did.”

Crystal sat tall and straight like an Indian Princess, as she braided and tied her long, dark hair back.

“I am an Indian princess according to my grandfather, but now I will be shamed by my people for stealing.”

Her notebook on her lap and pen in hand, she wrote, “Run away, run away, run away…run.” No other words came to her.

She paused for a moment, put her notebook down and pulled the gold lighter out of her jeans pocket.

“It is getting cool,” she thought to herself. “I should build a fire on the rocks.”

She quickly gathered a handful of dry grass, dead leaves, small twigs and sticks. The lighter was almost out of fluid, so she knew one attempt was all she had. Moments later, she managed to get a fire going. The smoldering smoke wafted gently in the breeze, rising above the bridge.

“I will have to get more lighter fluid somewhere,” she thought to herself, warming her hands over the small fire. “Do I have to steal that too? Steal, I hate that word.”

“Run away, run away, run away…run.”

Crystal could not seem to get past those words. No other thoughts would come to mind, as she tried to write.

“Maybe I have writer’s block?” she thought to herself. “I have heard others talk about that, but I thought only adults had that problem. Maybe young writers get it too. I may not be able to write anything until I deal with that gold lighter situation and make things right with Penny. I may have to tell her the truth.”

A tall, blonde, young man stood on the riverbank, quietly watching her.

“That young girl is so beautiful!” he thought to himself. “Her long, dark hair and black eyes and the way she sits, reminds me of an Indian princess, but they would use flint or matches to light a fire, not an expensive gold lighter like that. Maybe it is stolen.”

As he watched her, the sun was gradually starting to set. Her silhouette against the dark rocks grew larger and larger, in the firelight.

“Perhaps I should stay here for the night,” thought Crystal to herself. “Maybe I will sit here forever.”

Just then, a gust of wind raised a large wave that splashed against the rocks and put out her fire.

She heard the sound of crackling footsteps behind her. As she turned, she saw a young man approaching.

“Hey, my name is Janus,” he said gently. “I am sorry if I frightened you. Would you like me to help you rebuild your fire?”

“No, that is all right. I have to head home now,” said Crystal, putting on her sandals and getting on her feet. “It is getting dark.”

“What is your name?” asked Janus.

As Crystal saw his face in the light of the setting sun, she was pleasantly surprised. He seemed to be older than she was, but clean cut and well dressed.

“I am Crystal,” she said shyly. She was still not sure whether she should stay or run.

“Run away, run away, run away…run,” the thoughts re-echoed through her mind.

“I have seen you down here by the water before,” said Janus.

“I have been coming here for a while,” replied Crystal. “It is a good place for me to write.”

“I like to write too,” said Janus. “Maybe we could compare our notes, sometime.”

“That might be fun,” said Crystal. As their conversation continued, Crystal began to realize that Janus might prove to be a good friend.

“I am fourteen, almost fifteen,” he said to Crystal. “How old are you?”

“We are just about the same age,” replied Crystal, not about to tell him that she was only twelve, going on thirteen. “I have to head home now.”

“We will meet here again,” said Janus. “I would like to get to know you better. By the way, where did you get your gold lighter? It looks really expensive.”

Crystal grabbed it and put it back in her pocket.

“It is almost out of lighter fluid,” she said, as she headed up the bike path.

“I don’t want to lie to him,” she thought to herself, as she biked home.

“Where were you?” asked her grandfather, sternly, as she walked through the door. “It is late, almost dark. We were beginning to get worried about you. Go help your grandmother. Did you forget that making supper is supposed to be your job, now?”

"I am sorry,” said Crystal apologetically.

“I had better get rid of this gold lighter,” she thought to herself. She took it out of her pocket and placed it on the kitchen table. “Now it feels like it is burning a hole in my pocket.”

“Where did this gold lighter come from?” wondered Crystal’s grandmother, as she and Crystal began to prepare supper. “I think it is Tanya’s. She must have been here earlier. I will take it up to her apartment, after supper.”

“You found my gold lighter, Marie,” said Tanya, with a smile. “Thank you for returning it.”

“It was that native girl that took it then, not the twins after all,” she thought to herself. “I should have known.”

“You wanted to talk to me about something, Tanya?” Crystal’s grandmother asked.

“Yes, I did. The twins are interfering in our private time. Can I send them downstairs to you and Crystal?”

“Anytime,” replied Crystal’s grandmother. “They are like own grandchildren. We love those little girls dearly.”

“I hate them,” thought Tanya to herself. “I have to figure out how to get rid of them. Maybe this is my answer.”

Just then, the twins walked in, giggling about something.

“The gold lighter is on the kitchen table by her cigarettes,” whispered Dana, moments later.

“I saw it,” replied Dani, breathing a sigh of relief. “She cannot accuse us of stealing it now. Crystal must have brought it back.”

“Don’t say anything about it,” said Dana.

“I won’t,” replied Dani.

“Not so fast, you two,” said Tanya, as Crystal’s grandmother left and headed home.

“We have to have a bath and get into our pajamas before our dad gets home,” replied Dana, not wanting to have another encounter with Tanya.

“It will take us a while,” said Dani, locking the bathroom door to prevent Tanya from entering.

“There is our dad,” whispered Dana, as they heard his voice.

“Saved by the bell,” replied Dani.

“Are my girls here?” he asked Tanya.

“They are in the bath tub, my love,” replied Tanya, giving him a quick hug.

“That is super!” replied Terry. “I brought chicken and fries for everyone.”

“If we get them off to bed early, then maybe we can have some private time tonight,” suggested Tanya.

“Not too early,” replied Terry. “I have to spend some quality time with them, too.”

“That figures,” thought Tanya. “They come first in his life, but not for long. I am not going to settle for playing second fiddle to them.”

Chapter 5 - Hunters and Gatherers

“We know how hunters and gatherers live,” said Dana. “Crystal taught us that.”

“We could live forever that way,” replied Dani. “We would still be homeless though and that might not be good.”

The twins had made the decision to run away from home and were not about to change their minds. They did not like Tanya and did not want her to assume the role of their mother, even if it appeared to be what their father wanted.

“I think our dad is love struck,” said Dana. “But maybe it is the beer talking.”

“Maybe,” replied Dani. “You don’t think he is really in love, do you?”

“I don’t know,” replied Dana. “What is love anyhow? It is not an excuse to abuse someone's children.”

“I agree. Threatening to send us to live with our mother is abuse,” said Dani. “Even kids our age know that.”

“She won’t get away with it, as our dad has custody of us,” replied Dana.

“He might lose that if we run away,” said Dani.

Dana and Dani had taken their bikes and back packs which contained snacks and juice, in case they needed something to eat and drink, when they went to the lake. They always carried jackets too.

“What is happening in our home is not good. That is why we are running away,” said Dana. “It may be the only way we can convince our dad what he is doing is not right for us, as a family.”

“Where do you think we should run away to?” asked Dani. She was amazed when Dana had agreed with her suggestion to run away. “Do you have some place in mind?”

“If we hide out at the lake, they will come looking for us there, so that is probably not a good plan,” suggested Dana. “You got any better ideas?”

“They will find us right away, if we go to Penny’s,” replied Dani. “She is a teacher, so I don’t think that she will approve of us running away. She might report us.”

“I don’t think so, but let's take the gravel road that goes up the hill, away from the lake,” suggested Dana. “Crystal said it goes down to the river, a few miles past the lookout point at the top of the hill. We could camp beside the river.”

“There are people who live beside the river in trailers,” replied Dani. “We could get food from them, like the hunters and gatherers.”

“But we are not native, so we might get in trouble, if we get caught,” said Dana. “We would have to pretend to be native and live like natives, in order to qualify for ‘first nation, first portion’ rights.”

“We know enough about natives to pull it off, at least for a while,” said Dani, chuckling at the thought of becoming a native.

The gravel road was dusty, but the twins were determined to run away. They got off their bikes part way up the long, winding hill and pushed them. When they reached the top, it would be downhill the rest of the way to the river.

“It’s too bad we don’t have a tent,” said Dana. “Maybe we can find one somewhere around the trailer park.”

“Maybe we could build a tent from evergreen tree branches, if we hide deep in the woods,” replied Dani.

“I don’t have a pocket knife in my back pack?” asked Dana. "Do you?"

“No.”

“How are we going to cut tree branches, then?”

“We will find a knife in one of the trailers,” replied Dani. “Or maybe we will pick up an axe or a saw somewhere.”

Survival on their own was beginning to turn into a challenge for the twins.

“Crystal taught us how to survive,” said Dana. “We know enough.”

“It is time to see how well we learned what she taught us,” replied Dani.

“This is a really long way,” said Dana. It had taken them almost an hour to reach the top of the hill. “It is beginning to sound like a storm is coming.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” replied Dani, as loud rumbles of thunder echoed in the distance. “Maybe we should head back home?”

As they reached the lookout point at the top of Trembling Ridge, they could hear a truck coming up the hill. It pulled up beside them before they had a chance to get off the road.

“Hey, there's my girls!” thought Terry, breathing a sigh of relief, as soon as he recognized them. “Hey, Tanya, look who’s here!”

She was anything but pleased, as this was supposed to be their outing. They would get most of his attention.

The twins appeared tired, but excited and happy to see him.

“I am going to take all of you ladies out to dinner.”

Terry had come home from work early, with just that in mind. When the girls were not at home, he had decided to take Tanya on a brief, sight seeing tour, with the hope of finding them biking somewhere in the area.

“Tanya, let’s step out of the truck for a minute and take a look at the view.”

“No, it is raining,” replied Tanya, who was upset about having to spend time with the twins again. “I don’t want to ruin my hairdo.”

“A bit of rain won’t hurt you!” replied Terry, as he quickly jumped out of his truck and put the girl’s bikes on the back.

“Have you two ever been here at the lookout before?” Terry asked the twins out of curiosity.

“No,” said the twins, at the same time.

“Crystal told us about it,” said Dana.

“Let’s take a quick hike to the lookout point then.”

From the lookout point, the twins could see that it was still several miles down to the river. A collection of white trailers dotted the river’s edge. The storm clouds made it look eerie, as streak lightning lit up the distant horizon.

“This is beautiful, dad,” said Dana.

“We want to go all the way down to the river someday,” said Dani.

“Go fishing together?” asked Terry.

“Dad, we are so glad you came along just when you did,” said Dana.

“We would have gotten drenched,” said Dani.

"Next time you two want to run away, run to me, not away from me,” Terry said to them sternly. “I am your dad, remember?”

He hugged the girls tight and waited another moment for Tanya, who still refused to get out of the truck. As they headed back to the truck and climbed in, Tanya, dressed in a tee-shirt, blue jeans and runners, did not seem nearly as foreboding, but she remained distant and aloof.

“How did he know?” whispered Dana.

“She told him, of course,” said Dani.

“We have our answer now,” said Dana. “Run away home.”