A walk through town

Adele Bourdhuid'hui took her usual daily stroll after her workout with her mom and her siblings. It was her time to think and sometimes interact with the kids that live or pay around these parts. She flipped her straight blonde hair out of her left eye. She loved her hair but sometimes it got in her way and she wished that she could cut it off. But she cared what people thought way to much to do something like that. She had reached the edge of where all of the houses where built, so she turned around to walk all the way back to her house on the far side. She could see kids playing just off to her right. She remembered when she was that age and everything seemed simpler then it did now. She missed that simplicity dearly, but new that it was a natural part of growing up.

Aurora Wood knew she should be playing with the other kids her age but she didn’t like to play. Leroy and Jonathan loved to play. She found most the kids her age annoying and immature. So while her brothers swung on a tire swing she was up on the branch where the swing was hanging from playing with a pocketknife she had found in the woods while working.

Then the idea came to her. Her mother always said that her hair was too long for her job. Long hair gets stuck while climbing trees, which has happened a few times. She knew what she was going to do with this pocketknife now. She carved a heart into the trunk of the tree to see how sharp it was. Then she slowly cut off six inches off her hair. She had a good hold on the six inches of hair she had cut off and placed it on a higher branch having nothing else to do with it. She crept down over to a small bird path to see how her handy-worked looked like. She was surprised when she saw she had cut it evenly. Her hair now reached the tip of her shoulder on all sides. She quickly cut away her bangs; she hated them with a dying passion. She let the wind carry her hair away. She didn’t care if her parents would be mad, she liked it this way and they can’t change it now.

She climbed back up the tree before Leroy and Jonathan had noticed her absence. Jonathan had looked up to notice the fact his old sister had a new hairdo. “Hey, sis! Finally decide to cut your hair!” he called upwards. “Yeah! I don’t look like a girl as much anymore and plus it won’t get caught when I climb trees!” she called back. “Mom’s going to be mad,” called Leroy. “Well, she told me I should cut my hair so I did,” she called back glaring down at Leroy. Leroy went to call out for their mother when Jonathan tackled him to the ground.

Adele looked over at a girl that had just run up a tree. It seems that she had cut her own hair with a pocket knife. "Not bad for a pocket knife", Adele thought to herself. She walked over to the girl to the tree, keeping her hands in her pockets, with her thumbs sticking outside of the pockets. She introduced herself to the girl in a very cheerful voice, "Wow, you did an amazing job with your hair. I think it looks gorgeous on you. Oh, by the way my name is Adele. Adele Bourdhuid'hui." She loved meeting new people and getting to know them. It was the best joy in the world for her, it made her feel amazing knowing that she might make a brand new friend. Even if this girl looked younger then her.

Aurora noticed another girl approaching them. She looked to be a few years older than herself but it was hard to tell from a tree. “The name’s Aurora Wood. That’s my little brothers Jonathan and Leroy. Nice to meet you,” she said. She remembered about her manners right at the end of her statement. She shrugged it off, since was District 7 known for manners. Being a lumberjack’s father certainly didn’t make you the most polite well-manner girl ever.

“You have a really long name,” said Leroy. He couldn’t even try to sound out Adele’s last name. He was only ten so who could blame him. “Leroy that isn’t something you say out loud,” scolded Aurora. “Well, you shouldn’t swear out loud but you do,” Leroy snapped back. “Oh shut up Leroy. Do you really want to argue with Aurora when she could take you down in less the minute,” sighed Jonathan.

"Well it is such a pleasure to meet all of your acquaintances, Aurora, Jonathan, and Leroy", Adele said even more cheerful then her greeting was. This kids must have been a few years younger then she was, but she did not care. She just liked to be social. "Oh that is no problem. People usually have such a terrible time with my last name. I wish i could change it to make it easier, but you gotta live with what you got."

She smiled very politely and walked closer towards the group of them. "You guys arguing reminds me of me and my siblings. They are always fighting about one thing or the other, and there are just so many of us that i do not know what my parents keep their sanity." She gave a little chuckle just thinking about all of the things that her and her siblings fight about. Like, just the other day her three brother triplets were fighting over who could take Adele down in a fight. And when Blaze finally won that fight, she won verse him no problem.

“What brings you here?” asked Aurora “where do you work?” Aurora was curious, she hadn’t seen her in the woods but that doesn’t mean she isn’t there. She worked in a rather small ground of loggers so who knows who all works in there. Either you’re in the factory or you’re in the woods.

“It’s hard to believe there are two more of us,” Aurora said with a smile. “They don’t count, they don’t live with us anymore,” said Leroy. “But yet they are related and we still fight with them so they count,” said Jonathan. “How old are your siblings?” Aurora asked.

"I was just on a walk through town, I usually take a walk once a day. Or at least i try to everyday", Adele said, "i do not work anywhere, if you don't count just helping my mother look after my siblings. Oh, how they are a handful. I have three brothers that are triplets , they are fourteen years old, and i have a sister that is twelve years old. How old are you guys?"

Aurora nodded. She would love not to work but her family couldn’t afford that. Too many mouths to feed and not enough money to fed them with much two paychecks. Most lumberjack family can afford for their kids not to work so young but most families hadn’t had five kids.

“I’m twelve. Leroy is ten and Jonathan is eleven,” said Aurora swing her legs over the wide branch and leapt down landing inches from Jonathan making him glare at her. She had glad not to be spitting hair out her mouth. She could imagine the look on her parents’ faces when she got home.

"Oh you guys are just youngsters", Adele said even though she knew that they had to be around that age. She knew that not having to work was something that most people around here were not familiar with and that she was one of the lucky ones. She wanted to help this children though, in some way, shape, or form. "You guys should all come over for supper", Adele said with a giant smile on her face. She did not think that her parents would mind at all. They had plenty of food to be able to feed themselves and could spare some for them.

Jonathan and Leroy looked at Aurora with big eyes. It was clear they wanted to go right now if they could. Aurora wasn’t as sure, she was worried her parents would get worried if they didn’t come home right away. She guessed she could just tell them they went down by the river and lost track of time. She knew her parents hated ‘charity’ even if it was a kind gesture like this one.

“I guess we can,” sighed Aurora. She hated lying to her parents but was for a good reason, food. They had the same food every day. They got cereal or even oatmeal if they’re luck, a wild game sandwich or just a sandwich of random meat that you didn’t know what it was and soup. Real food would be nice of a change. Her parents couldn’t really do anything about it especially if they don’t find out.

Adele could sense something was up when Aurora sighed after her answer. She spent a couple of seconds thinking before she came to the conclusion that Aurora was thinking that this meant some sort of charity. Adele had not thought of that before she asked them if they wanted to come over for supper. She had not meant it to be a kind of charity, just enjoyed being in the presence of others and learning all she could about them on a personal level and having supper was a good way to do that. You could tell a lot from a person by what they ate and how they ate it.

"It will be a great way to get to know one another better", she said with a smile on her face, hoping to make her see that this was not just a charity supper, "Your parents can come as well if they want. My parents do not get to socialize all that much and would probably find the company a nice change for once."

“Leroy go run home and as ma and pa, see if they want to or not,” Aurora said, more like an order. Leroy didn’t really question anyone so he ran off down a dirt path that no one ever used but his siblings and himself. He was the fastest runner out of the three of them so was always sent to deliver messengers that went short distance. Aurora would have gone if it had been more the two miles; she was the better long distance runner where she could mix jogging and running at an even good pace.

Aurora ran her hand through her hair, it was so short. It was strange but a good. She kind of liked it but wasn’t really sure why. It was going to take some getting used to. She wondered how her parents would react. She honestly believed they will be shocked but who knows.

Adele was getting extremely excited by this point. It was very hard for her to keep her emotions intact and had a great big smile from ear to ear. The flipped her long, perfect blonde hair around so that it sat on her right shoulder and went down the front of her shirt. "This is going to be so much fun", she said ecstatically while making sure to look at all of kids that were still there. She started to go over in her head about what they were going to talk about and what sort of foods that she and her mom will make for the company.

Aurora had to give Adele credit for her enthusiasm for sure. She was nowhere as girly as Adele but maybe that was for the best. It made for less drama. She knew she was the definition of a tomboy and didn’t mind. She loved being a tomboy though her mother hated it.

“I don’t think it matters what you fed us, we’ll eat anything,” said Aurora thinking of the time she ate tree bark and pinecones. She could literally eat anything long as it wasn’t dog or cat or some sort of weird meat. She was interested in seeing what would be made for dinner though.