That Settles That

"Seven days," the man on the stump said. Resting his elbows on his knees, he clasped his hands together and leaned forward. "We have searched from top to bottom, foot after foot, behind trees, and through leaves . . . and we've got nothing to show for it. Stupid idea in the first place."

"You know the parents will want a search for a while longer," his friend in the grass replied. "Till they are satisfied at least, so you know we still have more time."

"Do you think any of the others have found her yet?" asked the man on the stump. "Do you think she's still alive?"

"Radio em' and ask. You could at least make sure the batteries are still working. Don't want em' searching for us next."

The man sitting on the stump stood up and walked towards the car.

The man lying in the grass began to think about what it was that made him, and his friend, act as they were. "Why did I ask him to do this?" he thought to himself. "What are we achieving by doing this? I mean we haven't even found her yet. Are we really doing –" his thought was interrupted by a shout from the car.

"Batteries are fine!" he friend cried. Walking his way back to his stump he said in a hurried voice, "They said that we were the first to radio in this hour."

Still staring at passing clouds, the man on the grass let out an uncomfortable groan: "Well that settles that."

A little time passed and the sun began to set. With one man on the stump and another staring at the evening sky, they both shared a moment without worries, and a moment without care. It seemed like all that existed at that moment were the two men, the wind, the woods behind them, and the open field before them. Neither had the search in mind. Neither had a past or future. They were completely inexistent for that moment.

The man on the stump let out a sigh. "I think we ought to radio in and head out."

The man lying in the grass did a sit-up. He sat there with his legs crossed, playing with the grass. "We might as well, we've looked high and low, nothing yet, I don't –." There was a sudden rustle of leaves.

It was louder than that of a squirrel or a bird playing in the leaves. As they both looked behind them, over their shoulders, a small girl, collapsed on her hands and knees. She stared at the ground on all fours. They could see the breath blow out of her mouth and disappear before it hit the ground. Her nightgown and bare feet were muddy. Her hair was frizzy and had spots caked with dirt.

The two men both stared for a minute in disbelief.

Once reality hit them, their reaction made up for the lost time of that their daze had created. Standing straight up, as if something had lifted him, the man on the stump began running towards her. The man on the grass rolled over onto all fours, like the girl had been, did a push-up, and began sprinting after her.

The dead leaves their boot heels kicked up rustled, uncovering a frozen fall forest floor. One man's hand brushed by a tree, snapping a piece of bark off of it and sent it flying several feet into the leaves. Foot after foot they ran without thinking, moving faster and faster after her.

One man crouched down, reached his arm out, and in a few small steps, snatched her up into his arms. He shifted her body around in his arms and wrapped one hand around her stomach, like a child would pack a doll.

Not far behind him was his friend. "I've got her! Go start the car up!" he said with an exhausted breath.

His friend began to quickly walk to the car. Taking a look back he saw his friend was packing her out of the woods, whispering into her ear. He began to think to himself, as his friend thought earlier, "Why did he want to do this? Why did he talk me into finding her?"

Upon the girl's arrival at the car, the man standing at the driver's door noticed she was barely conscious. "How is she?"

"She exhausted, but I suppose after all of that running she would be," he replied.

As the man carrying her approached the car, the man standing at the driver's door ran around the car and opened the passenger's side back door. Laying the girl across the back seat, the man in who had been packing her said, "I never thought we would find her. I mean the others could have found her, but I never thought we would."

"It's a strange world we live in. Strange occurrences like this happen every day," replied the other man as he shut the door.

"I suppose."

Opening the driver's side front door, one man looked out into the forest. He stared into the forest for a moment, as if for some closure. He then stepped into the car and looked back at the girl, as if for a sense of achievement.

He turned to his friend seated next to him. "You better radio them.”

His friend grabbed the radio that was mounted on the dashboard.

“Central?” he said.

“Yeah central here,” a muffled voice replied.

“Yeah central, we haven’t found so much as a footprint in the daylight, and the sun is about to set, so we are about finished for tonight.”

“Alright. Have a good one.”

“Yeah you too."