Kami and Nina

Kami and Nina

The Wheelers and the Millers were long time family friends stretching back generations, there was always at least one inseparable Wheeler-Miller pair in each one. This generation was no exception. Nina and Kami were almost always together. But as far as anyone in either of the families could recall having ever heard, none but Nina and Kami ever resembled one another so very much, before. They each had doe-shaped brown eyes that slanted slightly away from their high cheekbones. They each had curly hair that sprung out of their heads in proud display of wildness. They both dimpled when the smiled, and they smiled a lot. They were highly favoured, and slightly prone to mischief. On more than one occassion, each of their mothers has been heard to say something like, "You might expect such and such from man-children, but these two? Ah!"

One day, the mothers announced to the girls that they needed to get out in the world, meet other girls - mix it up a little and learn to be a little less reckless. Their solution was to sign them up in their local girls organization: The Sunflowers. It was kind of like Girl Scouts but instead of emphasizing patriotism, it was more eco-conscious-Mother-Earth oriented. They actually liked it more than they thought they would. Some things were a bit namby-pamby, but for the most part, it was far more exciting and daring than either of their mothers knew about, and that suited the girls just fine. Their tribe -Sunflowers had tribes not troops- had a pair of leaders that took them on some rather fascinating adventures. They did a lot of outdoorsy stuff, and went to cool venues hidden around the nearest city. It gave the two friends an array of exciting activities that weren't yet available to them, living in the country as they did, and far from the age of consent which would allow them to do as they pleased, when they pleased. And it made their Moms happy to think that there was some sort of adult supervision in control of their daughters' needs for stimulating activity. If they only knew.

On one trip, Kami and Nina overheard their tribal leaders discussing among themselves, a remembrance of when they were young Sunflowers and earned a very special patch.

"No one has the guts to go out for that patch anymore." One stated.

"Yeah ... Too bad." The other one sighed.

"How long has it been since we won that?"

"Almost twenty years."

"And no one else has since. Think of it."

Nina whispered excitedly into Kami's ear, and Kami nodded eagerly. They were going to get that patch, too!

When they scurried away to make their plans, their tribal leaders looked at each other and laughed, giving one another a high-five.

It took the two girls a few days longer than they expected, to come up with their scheme. Early one morning, the two friends were sitting on the low stone wall that split through the pasture that lay atop the border of their families' properties. They were watching the crimson gold display of sunrise ascending the horizon, themselves silhouetted to any viewer behind them.

"Mother will be pissed that I left before chores."

"Mine too," Kami replied, "but it can't be helped, this mission is too important, and we can't have everybody seeing what we're doing."

Nina nodded.

"I sure hope we earn the most patches after this. But even if we don't, if we just get this one, that'll be awesome," Kami continued.

"Yeah," Nina mused. "No one has won the 'Highly Unlikely' patch in a very long time."

"We'll be the first," Kami agreed, as Nina flew off of her shoulder and hovered in front of Kami's face so they could look at each other eye-to-eye.

"I always wished I could fly like you," Kami whispered.

"Well you know, that's highly unlikely," Nina replied. "Hufolk just don't fly like wefolk."

Then, ascending to hover a few inches above Kami's head Nina said, "Okay, let's practice this a few more times..." Grabbing her by the curls, Nina flew off across the pasture and up over the trees with Kami squealing in delight and cycling her legs as though she were pedaling her own way across the sky.