Page 97 of Boston
“You tell your momma when we get back, and you help out with anyone who needs anything, okay?”
“Yes, sir.”
When Tex and Carver returned to the red umbrella, Blaze and Faith had arrived. Harmony babbled with Mattie in the playpen, and Cash took a huge aluminum pan from Sterling and slid it onto the end of the table.
Gabe and Hilde had arrived with their crew, including Lynnie, who sat in the camp chair with a personal fan blowing on her. And Morris and his zoo of children had shown up too, and Leigh, in all her wisdom, and brought a big bag of punching balloons.
She sat on the edge of the blanket with a mob of children in front of her, and she spoke in a kind, calm voice as she said, “If you hit someone with your balloon, I will take it away. If you pop it because you’re going crazy with it, too bad. If you’re bothering anyone at all, older or younger than you, then Uncle Morris will pop your balloon, and then, too bad for you.”
Morris stood a few feet away, and he flicked open his pocketknife. “Ask Skip if she’s serious.”
“She’s serious,” Skip said. “Daddy popped my balloon when I hit it toward Ridge, even though it was a total accident.”
“Try not to get your feelings hurt,” Aunt Leigh said. “Sometimes accidents do happen, and it’s a balloon. It’s probably not going to hurt you.” She pinned Skip with a look. “And Skippy, you did punch your balloon right at Ridge, while he was sleeping. You hit him in the face and woke him up. I’m sorry, my friend, but that wasn’t an accident.”
Skip said nothing, and he glanced over to his father, who still had the knife out. Tex grinned to himself and nodded with his cowboy hat over to Aunt Leigh. “Go on. You can have a balloon.”
“I can help,” Carver said, and he set up the chair he’d been carrying. “OJ’s still helping, and I can wait until the little-littles have balloons.”
“How very mature of you,” Abby said, and she crouched down after Carver had set up his chair. “I’m sorry I got a little snappy with you. I just hate it when you ask me more than three times to do something, and I’ve given you logical reasons why we can’t do that thing right that second. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Momma.” Carver grabbed onto her and hugged her. “I’m sorry too.”
“If you can get someone who’s fifteen or older to take you, you can go over to the candy market whenever they can take you.” She smiled at him and swept a kiss along his cheek.
Carver nodded, then looked over to Aunt Leigh.
She’d been blowing up the first balloon, and now she had a big, blue orb ready to go. She finished tying it off and got to her feet. “Okay, let me show you the right way to have fun with your balloon.”
She moved away from the group, every eye on her. She gripped the thick elastic and started to bop her balloon awayfrom her body. “See how I’m not punching it toward another person?”
“Yes, ma’am,” some of the children chorused back to her.
The balloon bobbled as she stopped. “See how it sort of gets a little crazy, but it’s not that big of a deal?” She held the balloon still.
“Yes,” they said.
She started hitting it really hard, the movement and noise increasing exponentially. “See how I’m going nutso with it? Can you hear how loud it is?” She had to yell over the bopping, echoing sound of the balloon. She stopped. “That’s too hard. It’s too loud. There are a lot of you.”
She stepped forward and handed the balloon to Canyon, Gabe’s oldest. “You try.”
Canyon gripped the elastic and started trying to bop the balloon away from him. It took him a few tries to find the rhythm, and he beamed up at her. “I did it!”
“Good job,” Morris said. He held up a green balloon he’d blown up while the kids had been watching Leigh. “Okay, this one goes to…Ryder.”
The little boy cheered and stepped out of the crowd to get the balloon.
“They’re smart,” Trace said. “I brought an extra phone so my kids could watch cartoons.”
Tex chuckled. “Momma will feed us soon.”
“Did you see the pulled pork she got?” Trace focused on the two tables laden with food. Momma stood there with Dani and Sterling, the three of them cutting buns in half.
“Tex.”
He turned at the sound of his name, and he took off at a jog toward Cheryl when he saw her trying to push Wade toward them in his wheelchair. “Hey, brother,” he said, taking Cheryl’s spot so she could gather their kids closer to her.
“You can’t wander off like that, Ben,” she chastised once she got her oldest back with her.
