~~~
After a short climb further up the cut the boys finally heard the clear burble of the spring and Rob sighed at the chance to slow his little brother down for a moment again. The area truly was peaceful and they were both glad they came. Ricky, for his part, stared around the spring, the trees moving lazily in a gentle mountain breeze and up through the canopy to see the brilliant blue sky.
“Wow, Robbie! Have you ever seen someplace so cool?”
Rob laid his pack down and stood akimbo while he looked around and back to his brother. “Yep, this is a pretty cool little place, alright.”
“There’s like, no one around for miles!” Ricky breathed.
“Well…we probably only hiked a couple miles at most, Ricky.”
“Yeah, but you can’t see or hear anyone.”
“I dunno. I bet if you climbed up one of these bigger boulders you could see through the trees down to the freeway.”
“You know, you don’t have to be right about everything,” Ricky replied angrily.
“Waddya mean?” Rob asked casually as he took a snack out of his pack for the both of them.
Ricky stormed around the spring to sit on a large rock nearby opposite of where Robert had been standing. He folded his arms before him still not quite the preteen Rob was and attempting to make his point with extra flourishes of his hands and head.
“Whenever Dad is on duty you act like you’re the dad. But you’re not. And you don’t know everything either.”
Oh brother, Robert thought as he rolled his eyes. He wondered why nine-year-olds have to be such annoying doofuses. After all, they’re old enough to watch a lot of the older kids’ movies and video games that their mother let Rob see. Ricky even read large chapter books above his grade level too, if he managed to stop lighting fires or building booby traps long enough to get hooked into one. But this was the very reason Robert wanted to climb up the mountain on his own.
“Dude! Just relax. I’m just talking with you,” Rob tried to respond in a grown up manner. “Big brothers teach their little brothers things. That’s what we do, ya know?”
“Sure,” Ricky grumbled. But he still wasn’t interested in looking up at Robert. Little brothers aren’t ever supposed to admit their older siblings might be right. That was their job.
The two shared a couple chocolate-chip granola bars and just enjoyed the bubble of the spring and the cool breeze. Smells from the various trees, particularly the spruce and pine wafted over them from time to time and the boys felt like life probably really couldn’t get any better than living in the mountains. Of course, having Dad home in six months safe and sound would be the one thing all three of the Johansson’s could agree on making their new life in the Rockies perfect, Mom most of all. But Robert understood why his father had to serve. In Spring a year from this trip Robert planned to bring his Dad along with Mom, and even the doofus monkey back up to the spring for a picnic. It was the sort of thing Dad loved.
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