The search teams received the news of Alison’s return with relief. They hadn’t found signs of her path and were worried. Knowing she was home safe eased the minds of both her parents and siblings. Each team headed back to the homestead, meeting just before leaving the woods.
Alexa was skipping with impatience and finally broke into a run when her father said, “Go.” Her headlong entry into the house was stopped in its tracks by Sam.
“She’s sleeping. Let her be for now.”
“But—”
“No buts. She needs her rest.”
Alexa was about to protest but the look Sam gave her quickly shut her down. She shuffled into the living room, trying to be as quiet as she could. When she saw for herself that Alison was indeed home and sleeping, she relaxed.
“Don’t wake her,” Sam said severely before he stepped out to the porch to greet the rest of the family.
He quickly updated his parents, who told Caleb to go upstairs and get cleaned up and put away his gear.
“Try to be quiet,” Sarah cautioned him.
Caleb nodded as he entered the house.
Sam and his parents sat in the porch chairs. He gave them a more detailed description of how he’d found Alison and her current condition.
“The ankle is still taped?” Sarah asked.
“Yes. I thought it best to leave it until you got back. I elevated it, though.”
She nodded. “I’ll look at it when she wakes up. She must have had quite the adventure.” She looked at Samuel. “I think this whole games-in-the-woods thing needs to take a back seat for a while.”
He smiled and nodded, not saying anything. He and Sam would put their heads together and come up with the next physical training event, but considering Alison’s ankle, that might be a few weeks off. However, they could use the time to focus on other skills that had been somewhat neglected lately. Namely, language training. Each child was required to become fluent in a minimum of two languages in addition to English. They were encouraged to become conversational in more. Alison and Caleb had shown exceptional abilities in this area. Ben was no slouch, either. Sam and Alexa, while sufficient in everyday conversation, were lacking stronger skills when under stress. In any event, all could use additional work.
The thought of Ben made Samuel ask Sam if any word had come from his brother.
“Not yet,” Sam answered.
“What’s your assessment of the situation?”
“He was safe when we separated. I have no reason to believe that’s changed. He knew he was not to engage. Only observe. But I must admit, I’m getting worried. It’s his first mission, and he’s only seventeen. A lot could go wrong. And with no word from him, well, you know.”
Samuel nodded. His son’s assessment was almost the same as his. It might be time to run his own mission and check up on the boy. But he hesitated. If all was okay, his sudden appearance would undermine Ben’s confidence. On the other hand, if Ben was in trouble, Samuel would be able to assist. If we don’t hear anything by this afternoon, I’ll talk to Sarah. With his decision made, he glanced at his wife and smiled.
“Ready to wake the sleeping beauty and assess her condition?”
She nodded. The three stood and entered the house. They found Alexa in a chair staring intently at her twin. Sam gestured with his head towards the stairs.
“Off you go. We need to examine her.”
“Let her stay,” Sarah interrupted. “Alison might need the support.”
Alexa stuck her tongue out at Sam. He grinned and made a face back at her. The parents smiled at their children’s antics. Sarah reached out and gently touched Alison on the shoulder.
“Alison, dear. Wake up. It’s Mom.” Her touch turned into a gentle shake. Alison sucked in a quick breath, then slowly opened her eyes. She looked first at her mom, then her dad. She tried to sit up further, but Sarah pushed her back.
“Stay still. We want to take a look at that ankle.”
Alison relaxed back into the pillows. “I think it’s only a sprain. I could walk on it. Sort of. I couldn’t remember whether to leave my shoe on or take it off. I taped everything up.”
“Shush, hon. You did fine.” Sarah was already assessing the swelling with gentle probes. She looked at Alexa and asked for her to get the scissors out of the kitchen drawer. When Alexa returned, Sarah began cutting the tape. It took a few minutes, with Alison wincing several times, but the tape and shoe were finally removed. Pulling off the sock to reveal the bare ankle, everyone sucked in their breath at the same time. Because of how Sarah was positioned, Alison couldn’t see what the others were looking at.
“What?! What’s it look like? Let me see!”
Alison’s tape job had controlled the swelling relatively well, but the bruising was prominent. And without the tape’s constriction, it wouldn’t be long before the ankle ballooned into a puffy mess.
“Sam, get some ice packs,” Sarah instructed. “Alison, I’m going to gently move your ankle around. Be prepared.”
Alison grunted a few times but managed not to cry out in actual pain. Samuel and Alexa both patted her shoulders.
Sarah looked at Samuel. “I think she’s right. I think it’s only a bad sprain, but we should probably get an x-ray to be sure.”
Samuel nodded. He’d already anticipated what Sarah would say and was calculating the time involved in driving into town, visiting the local emergency room, and fielding the various questions. For as long as the family had owned the property, which was four generations, they had avoided extensive interaction in the nearby town. Nearby being a relative term. Their property ran close to four hundred-fifty acres. The townspeople long ago accepted their slightly odd neighbors, not really understanding the activities in which the family was involved. They just knew the family was nearly self-sufficient and the occasional sightings were dismissed as random events. That, of course, suited the family just fine.
“Maybe we can call Gary?”
Gary was the local vet and a long-time friend. He’d provided care for minor cuts and scrapes in the past. They weren’t sure, though, if he would be willing to handle this injury.
“Go ahead. But if he says no, don’t harass him.”
Samuel retrieved his cell phone from a kitchen drawer. Turning it on, he noted it needed charging. He also noted there were messages from Ben.
Damn, he swore silently to himself. I should have thought of this. I’m getting stale. He quickly read the messages and sighed in relief to know that Ben had only been checking in. The last message was just over an hour ago and indicated he was fine and heading back to base. If all went well, he should be home by late afternoon. That situation resolved in Samuel’s mind he dialed his friend’s number.
When Samuel reached Gary and explained the situation, the vet agreed to x-ray Alison’s foot, but if the film showed anything beyond soft-tissue swelling, he would refuse to render further care. Samuel agreed to that approach and said they would arrive at his office shortly.
“Gary says he’ll do the x-ray, but reserves the right to stop there,” he updated Sarah. “Let’s get her bundled up and get going.”
After studying the x-ray, they all felt relatively assured that Alison’s injury was a bad sprain and rest, elevation, and icing would take care of the issue. Gary complimented Alison on her quick action to tape the injury but scolded her on continuing to use the limb despite feeling pain.
“No pain, no gain,” Alison grinned.
“That’s a myth,” Gary responded.
“Yeah, whatever,” Alison’s flippant answer was met with a stern stare from her parents.
“Sorry,” she added.
“We haven’t gotten together in some time,” Gary looked at Samuel and Sarah. “Want to stay for dinner?”
Sarah answered before Samuel could respond. “That would be lovely, but I’d rather get Alison back home and settled. Maybe next week?”
Gary nodded. “It’s a date then. Just tell me when.”
“We’ll give you a call tomorrow. Thank you for today.”
Samuel reached into his pocket and pulled out some cash. As Gary started to protest, he cut him off. “Think of Alison as an injured animal. You’d charge for your time and materials to treat.”
“Hey!” Alison interrupted.
Gary looked at Alison.
“Hmmmmm, perhaps a small sheep? Maybe a young filly?”
The adults laughed. Alison didn’t. Samuel placed three hundred dollars on the table.
“That’s way too much!”
“Think of it as an investment in next week’s grocery bill,” Samuel smiled. He leaned over and scooped Alison into his arms.
“C’mon, ninja. Let’s get you home.”
Sarah gave Gary a quick hug and quiet thanks, then the family began their trek home. Alison, feeling refreshed from her enforced rest started to retell her adventure in the woods.
“As much as I’d like to hear this, we’ll discuss it in detail as a family. Like we always do. Besides, then you need only tell your story once,” Samuel interrupted his daughter’s chatter.
Feeling chastised, Alison sank into silence for the rest of the journey.
Plans for a family debriefing were quickly put aside when the three arrived home to find Ben in residence.
Samuel carried Alison back into the house and asked if she wanted to be on the couch or in her room.
“On the couch, please. I want to be part of the welcome home party.”
Once he’d deposited Alison on the couch, he turned to his second son and gave him a quick hug.
“I’m glad you’re back. We’ll talk later, in private.”
Ben nodded, then looked at his sister.
“What happened to you?”
“It’s an exciting story! I was—”
“An exciting story which will be told later,” Samuel interrupted. Alison grimaced but didn’t protest. “Short version, she sprained her ankle.”
“Ah, Dad. You take the fun out of everything!”
Samuel ignored her as he checked his phone. Reading the text, he deleted it then pushed his phone in his back pocket.
Sarah quickly took control of the family dynamics. “Samuel, why don’t you and Ben catch up while I start dinner.” She looked at the rest of the children. “You all have chores to do. I suggest you get to them. Since Alison can’t do hers, you’ll have to split them amongst you. Figure it out. Now go. Dinner is in an hour.”
The kids took off in a rush. There was a lot to do, and if their mother said dinner was in an hour, it would be ready in an hour. They knew they’d best be at the table on time. As the door slammed behind them, Sarah turned to Alison.
“Don’t get comfortable. I noticed you are getting behind in your Russian language studies. I’ll bring you your books. You can spend this next hour on that.”
Sarah hid her smile at Alison’s groan.