@freewritehouse March Madness Chapter 7 ”Snapshot”

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I'm am taking part in March Madness by the @freewritehouse! This is the first attempt from me and I hope I can see it through! I will try. If you would like to play along please check out more here.

Thanks for reading these free writes and I hope to one day edit them all! I am open to constructive criticism.

Word count: 1,824

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Chapter 7
Snapshot

It was an abnormally February afternoon in Pine Grove, Wisconsin and Rebecca was feeling the effects of Winter. She had been cooped up in her parent's house all winter long with baby Grant and she thought that today would be a perfect day to take a hike out in the Pine Forrest along the banks of the Ningiikaj River.

Grant was already almost three months old and he was a really content baby. Living at home with her parents meant that Rebecca enjoyed the freedom of focusing 100% on Grant. She didn't have to worry about the leave of absence she had taken from work and she was able to finish up the fall semester with a couple of breaks given to her by her professors. She decided, with the support of her parents, to take the spring semester off because it would give her plenty of time with Grant before she would have to start worrying about daycare in the fall.

She was hoping that her mother would offer to cut back on her hours to help take care of Grant when school started, but her mom made it clear to her that she wanted to remain working full time to help support the family financially.

After Grant’s afternoon nap, Rebecca covered him in all of his thick winter clothes that were mostly gifts she had received from the family. All those expensive clothes that she could not afford on her own.

Grant had hardly worn any of them except for a few times to doctor appointments, so Rebbeca was excited to get him all bundled up in his nice clothes before he grew out of them.

She was contemplating whether or not to take the stroller or to put him in the baby carrier. She opted for the more versatile baby carrier because it had been a few years since she had hiked the trails along the river and was no longer sure on their condition.

With baby Grant mounted on her front in the carrier and a backpack on her back (filled with all the necessary baby supplies), she started out towards the woods that is located on the edge of town and hides the Ningiikaj River from sight.

It was only a ten-minute hike from their house in the cities suburbs to the forest and Rebecca made it in record time. She was so excited to be outside in the fresh air soaking up the sun, that she easily scaled the hill where the forest entrance was located.

Even though the warm winter day had melted most of the snow in the town, the pine forest protected the snow within its stand. On the forest floor lay a few inches of a hard compacted snow and ice mixture that had melted, froze, melted, and froze again. She was a little surprised to see that the ground was covered in white.

The mouth of the path was pretty well worn down with plenty of human and dog footprints. Birds were also having fun enjoying the warm winter day, dancing around in the branches and singing out familiar tunes. To Rebecca's delight, she even heard the call of a raven who must have traveled north in the warm weather searching for a fresh kill to feast on. This made her wonder if there were any dead animals in the area. This was Wisconsin after all and it was common to see signs of wolves, bear, or even the occasional traveling mountain lion. She had not heard any stories of attacks in the area before, but as a student of science she was well aware of the capabilities of the local wildlife population.

She began to make her way over the forested hill that gave way to a declining slope where the path curved downward towards the river bank. The river itself was located on the north side of the hill and was sheltered from the warming sun leaving the path slippery with winter ice. Rebecca was a surefooted woman, but with her newborn son onboard she was taking extra care maneuvering her way down the slope.

The physical exertion of the hike was heating Rebecca up to the point that it was causing Grant a little discomfort and he began to squirm and wiggle in the baby carrier. Rebecca looked down and tried to adjust the boy's body to sit better against her breast. She failed to notice a large root directly in the middle of the pathway poking up through the icy floor and caught it on the tip of her boot.

Lurching forward she somehow managed to keep from falling on top of Grant but she went down shoulder first.

Her body was acting like a human toboggan and the frozen over walkway was the track. She was sliding out of control, plummeting towards the tree-covered valley below. Fearing injury to her baby during the slide she worked her body into a semi-fetal position hoping that her back would take any major impacts along the way. As luck would have it she skidded safely to a stop at the bottom the hill and immediately she saw that Grant was ok.

Rebecca was incredibly relieved to see that Grant actually seemed to be enjoying himself almost oblivious to the fear that his mother had. Laying there for a moment, Rebecca laughed and stroked the side of Grant’s flush cheek. ”Oh, you enjoyed yourself did you?” she was still comforting him.

Rebecca gathered her self up, made her way onto her hands and knees and began to lift herself off the ground. Her shoulder was a little sore from the fall but all and all she didn't seem to be hurt.

If it was that hard getting down the hill, I wonder how I'm going back up it she thought. ”Maybe we had enough for one day, what do you think?” Grant cooed. He was probably getting hungry anyway and she decided it was time to head home.

Turning around to assess the hill and make her ascent, she was shocked to see a man standing nearby on the river's edge. Oh no, she thought, how embarrassing he probably saw the whole thing and thinks I'm the worst mother ever.

Once she saw him, she had immediately looked away out of shame, but something about him made her look back a second time.

He was standing about fifty feet away from her and she immediately noticed that he was dressed in gray. Even the winter hat that he was wearing was grey and it made the beard on his face appear to be pure white.

When she looked at him a second time something strange happened he was signaling to her. It was not a hello wave but he was motioning for her to get down. What's up with this guy, she thought, is he messing with me?

That's when a sound so terrifying it made her blood boil and every hair on her body stand straight up. From directly behind her a ferocious growl nearly knocked her over. She grabbed onto Grant as tightly as she could. Without a second thought, she began sprinting straight at the man.

”Get down!” he yelled

His words fell on deaf ears.

”Get down!” he screamed once more.

It was useless she was headed straight for him and was not sure what she was going to do when she got there, Rebecca just knew that she had to run.

Adrenaline lifted Rebecca through the ice and snow and she could see the man reaching into his coat. The Noise of the beast dead on her tracks moved her even faster. She could hear the paws slamming the earth with each step and a short and fierce breath pumping with his stride from the animal's muzzle.

Pppppppeeeewwwwwwwwwwwww.

A single shot rang out in the forest.

The man had fired a revolver into the air above his head. Rebecca heard that the beast had been scared off and she stopped to turn around to make sure her baby was no longer in danger. A large, ravenous looking German Shepard trotted off into the forest. ”Thank God,” Rebecca said as she turned to get a better look at the man.

The old man was smiling ear to ear, nearly laughing and certainly proud of himself.

”You have had quite the day miss.” he said with a chuckle.

With a hesitant laugh, Rebecca jokingly replied; ”And you have only seen the second half of my day.”

The old man didn't get the joke but he was curious ”What are you doing way out here alone with a baby anyway?”

”Ah, you know enjoying the weather,” Rebecca said.

”Well, most people usually try to enjoy the sun when it shines, not go wandering in the woods to avoid it!”

Rebecca laughed again.

”Yeah, I guess it wasn't my best choice so far today. Thanks by the way. You really saved us. I don't know what we would have done without you.”

As the words left her mouth Rebecca realized the actual danger that she had been in. Tears filled her eyes as she looked down at her wonderful boy.

”Now, Now.” the man said ”Its nothing worth crying about. You took a nasty spill back there are you okay?”

”Yeah, I think so....” she said as she took a mental scan of her body. ”Oh no! My camera!”

She had a disposable camera along for the trip, there were only a few pictures left on the role and she wanted to use it up so she could get the camera developed. The camera was full of pictures of Grant and she hoped they weren't ruined.

She dropped her backpack and reached in the bag. ”Thank God, it seems to be fine.”

”I'm not sure God had anything to do with it.” the old man said.
”you've had quite the memorable day. The least you could do is pose for a picture with that handsome boy of yours.” The old man sounded serious.

With no strength left to question him, Rebecca said; ”Sure, why not if it turns out maybe I'll have a laugh one day.”

She handed the old man her camera, wiped the tears from her eyes, and tried the best to fix her hair.

”Okay, now cheese.”

Rebecca put on her best fake smile and held tightly on to Grant.

”That one's a keeper,” he said handing back the camera.

”Thanks again, so much for saving us. My name is Rebecca by the way and this is Grant. What's yours?”

The old man smiled a proud smile.

”Oh, you can call me Grey.” he let out a laugh and turned to walk away.

”You take good care of that boy, now,” he said. Without another glance at her and grant, the old man made his way down along the riverside slowly heading out of sight.

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