The warm wind whistled down my ears I quickly pulled flat.
I kept my body low to the ground, hovering above the cool dirt and crushed blades of grass.
The grass did nothing to cover me like it was with Stew. If it weren't for her striking white skin and black markings, she might have actually been efficient at this.
"Back down" I pushed her rising spine to the earth "eyes ahead. Don't make a sound."
Stew kept her body pushed down as instructed, her tail brushing along the ground behind me that I smirked at.
There was no stopping that thing, even from the beginning.
Stew really had grown since she first wedged her way into our family.
When no-one came to claim her, or even looked for her, we knew that she really had nowhere else to go.
She would have been walking those tracks forever if I didn't stop her.
At first, it was annoying to have her back to her old antics of disturbing the peace and clinging to Missy like her shadow, but now, I found other ways to make it work for us both.
"Now!"
Stew pounced, gasping and giggling when her hands snapped around her target she lifted up.
"I got it! I actually got it!" she grinned "look!"
Opening her hands, a single cricket leapt out to freefall back into the grass it disappeared within.
Stew's face turned in the direction it had gone, trying to find it pointlessly.
"You'll get it one day" I giggled at her when she whined and sat down in defeat.
Her red eyes glanced up to mine, brimming with disappointment and shame.
Over the rustling grass and shrill song of the hidden crickets, a new sound caught both of our attentions to pull our focus to the front steps of the house that Missy was sliding out of.
Her dark green flowery dress billowed out behind her when she heaved the door closed. With her helmet tucked under one arm and a box of packaged dresses under the other, she struggled for a little with the lock.
I nudged Stew with my hand, tilting my head towards her new target.
"If you're quick, you can catch her."
Stew's grin was back in an instant as she abandoned all stealth to sprint her way for the side of the stairs.
The grass parted as Stew's curving path was crushed into it. With her bounding steps, her head peeked over the green void on her way to the house.
With nothing to hide her as she huddled beside the stairs, she was painfully obvious.
Missy saw this too when she bent down to hide the key under a potplant, but didn't dare to ruin the fun when her smile met mine.
I took my time approaching the house. I didn't want to make it seem like I was ruining Stew's terrible attempt at hunting if I got too close.
"Soup! Stew! I'm off!" Missy chimed her usual farewell, exaggerating the call as she slowly took each step and searched dramatically.
"I see Soup, but where is Stew?"
I saw Stew bite down on her giggles that shuddered through her.
Missy took another step, Stew pressing herself to the dirt instantly.
The box teetered in Missy's arm dangerously.
Another step.
The box looked like it was about to slide out of her grasp.
Stew's tail flicked in the anticipation; her indicator of what was coming.
Maybe I should stop her?
Missy reached the ground safely and sighed in my direction.
She hoisted the box up and got a better grip on it, to my thankful relief.
"Rah!" Stew cried out when she pounced on the fluttering fabric and batted at it with her claws "die, beast!"
She fell onto her back when her claws snagged the hem of the dress that she snapped her teeth along.
"Now, what will I do with you?" Missy placed down the box so she could rub Stew's stomach and prompt her to unhook herself from the dress "you silly thing."
Stew grinned up at Missy and pressed her head into the palm scratching her cheek. She rolled back over when her hand left to come over and press to the side of my head.
"Be good, Soup" she rubbed along my jaw before leaning over to kiss my head.
Stew saw this and rushed over to Missy's side to jump alongside her when she returned for her box.
"Me! Me too, Ma!" Stew pestered as Missy walked to the gate with us following behind.
"Stew...." I grumbled to her enthusiastic jumping alongside Missy.
"Me! You forgot me!" she insisted, ignoring me "Ma! MA!"
Missy secured the box onto the back of he scooter and climbed onto the seat that Stew leaned against with a whimper. Only after sliding and clipping on her helmet did Missy look down at the little beast.
"Me! Me! Me!" Stew wiggled and tilted her forehead to Missy who smiled at it.
"How could I forget yours?" Missy tutted and bent down to plant a kiss on Stew's tilted head "sorry, Stew."
I heard her giggle of happiness and turned my head when her long tail started wagging again, almost clipping my chin.
"I'll be home later. Be good you two!"
Missy heaved up the stand of her scooter that she started up and revved with a smile to me.
"Stew, come on. She's got to go to work."
She never liked it when Missy left. Seeing Missy race for the same train that look her last mother from her always sparked resurfacing feelings and thoughts of abandonment. She used to cry that Missy would never some back; planting herself by the door to watch the tracks for hours, until I started turning it into another game.
I didn't want her running down to the train alone, so we did it together.
Missy took off and Stew started the chase. I pulled up beside the little creature, smirking before streaking ahead to her annoyed calls.
Missy struggled to keep up as well. I teased her by streaking ahead and even flitting across her path to make her gasp out in worry that she might hurt me.
Letting myself fall back, Stew scowled at me when her determined face lifted from her focus on the back of the scooter to me.
Missy kept up the race that I let her win. She crossed the tracks and parked up the scooter beside the platform so she could throw off the ties and heave up the box of dresses.
She still had her helmet on when she rushed up the few steps to take her place behind the yellow line.
Her head swiveled to the left to where the train was peeking around the corner in the distance. Firmly grasping the box, she let a new wave of determination set over her while we sat beside her.
The train barrelled closer, blaring its horn for it's only passenger today.
Missy waddled her way down the platform to meet the slowing train that blew her dress out behind her.
She smothered the front with the box to keep her decency when she turned to meet the door slowly positioning itself near her.
A portly man exited the train to let free the few passengers that speckled out.
His light brown curls and younger freckled face told me he wasn't much older than Missy. With his dark uniform cleanly pressed and stamped with official state branding shining behind a golden whistle, it was confusing to see such a young face in a uniform usually reserved for an older rolemodel.
I moved to the left of Missy as the passengers snaked around us, Stew doing the same when an excited child tried to grab for her tail she quickly tucked.
"Missy" the man grinned, tapping the side of his head.
"Oh!" she exclaimed as she remembered "thanks, Alfie."
Lowering down the box and sliding the helmet off, Missy peered at her scooter the back to the train in worry.
"We'll take it" I told her, grabbing the buckle in my teeth.
Missy's soft smile glowed down on me before it was replaced with the urgency of the task at hand.
"There's food in the bowls if you both get hungry!" Missy worried from inside as she juggled her box that was steadily slipping in her fingers "and it should be warm enough when it gets dark. I've left the door open to my bedroom of you want somewhere comfortable to sleep."
Alfie scanned the platform and blew into the whistle that screamed out it's signal to the conductor who blew his horn in response.
Stew jumped beside me at both sounds and cowered closer. She never did like the harshness of the whistles that had me hunching down on the spot as the noise thundered into my flattened ears.
Alfie leapt aboard and slammed the door shut.
We followed Missy outside the train as she stode along her path inside to shelve her box and find the closest seat she stood up on and heaved the little window open to.
"If it storms tonight, there's a blanket on the chair" she blurted out while checking for the authorities to tell her off for her actions.
I looked up at the blue sky that had a few white clouds smudged within it. As hot as it was, it wasn't a signal for an impending storm; at least not tonight.
"If I sell one of my dresses, I'll bring home something good when I get back" she smiled down to us hopefully.
I returned it, knowing as well as she did that Missy hadn't made a single sale in four months now. Because of the lack of funds, Missy was forced to hunt in new cities in other directions. This one was over the bridge we had almost met a grissly fate on all that time ago.
Still, she kept telling herself that today was the day. Maybe it would be?
The train started to inch along the platform.
We walked alongside it, quickening to a brisk jog.
Missy saw that Alfie was approaching, and grew desperate to make sure her words were heard.
We had to sprint now to keep up.
"I love you both!" she blurted as she was called down "be good! Don't get into any trouble!"
Missy lowered herself to her seat and waved to us from ahead now. With the edge of the platform rolling up quickly, we slowed our sprint and watched her leave.
"Ma" Stew whimpered to the train powering on over the bridge and into the distance.
We stayed there until it could no longer be seen. Stew was already fretting, but at least she wasn't trying to chase the train anymore.
Those days had been riddled with anxiety. Searching for a kid who didn't know when to give up made me feel more hopeless than anything else. And when I did catch up to her little frame dragging herself back towards home from whatever wildland we ended up in, the wave of relief always washed over me right before the concerned scolding that followed.
Thankfully, those days were over. Stew was growing better in judgement and as a person.
I had to keep reminding myself that she wasn't that malnourished, washed-up eight year old we all mistook for something far younger. Stew was eleven now, almost twelve in a few months.
"Come on" I nudged her side with mine "let's head home."
She pulled her gaze from the tracks and silently slunk by my side.
I dropped the helmet into the foothold of the scooter so we could start our long walk back. 145Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfjmHfA5t3c
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