“They ought to be back by now…” Daisy murmured.
"I bet the car gave out and sent ‘em flyin’ straight into a ravine,” Rose teased.
Daisy gasped, clutching her hands to her chest. “Rose, don’t say such things! Auntie says you can speak things into being.”
Aster frowned looking down at Rose who was laying across his lap “That doesn't even make sense. If it broke down, it would’ve stopped moving, how’s it supposed to fly into anything?”
“How do you know?!...You two have no imagination,” Rose huffed. “They’re fine. If anything bad happened, we’d know by now. Can’t you both loosen up? We’ve got the whole house to ourselves. We could do anything!”
“Like get in trouble?” Aster replied.
“We’re supposed to be in bed anyway,” Daisy added.
Rose rolled over onto her belly, “This is why y’all are no fun.”
“That’s why you always end up with switch marks,” Aster shot back.
“Wimp.” Rose teased, grinning.
“I’ll tell Mama you’re bein’ mean!”
A pause settled and for a moment, the teasing seemed to have passed—until Rose slowly turned, caught Daisy’s eye, and silently mouthed the word: "Baby." to Aster.
“STOPP!” Daisy screeched.
“Shut up!” Aster groaned, clapping his hands over his ears. “Will you both quit it? Mama and Auntie Lucile are fine, Rose is just trying to get a reaction out of you.”
Rose flopped dramatically. “Ugh! I’m just so bored! They left us with nothing to do until morning. It's not my fault I can’t sleep.”
“....Well~” Rose sprang to her feet and leapt from the landing down to the ground below. “I’m goin’ swimmin’!”
Aster blinked. “You numbskull, it’s October. The water’s probably freezin’. Go on then, freeze to death.”
Rose spun on her heel, arms crossed. “Who cares? I’m old enough to decide for myself.”
“…Y’all can stay here like babies if you want. But I’m goin’.”
Rose was halfway down the hill when Aster cursed under his breath and started to follow after her, what kind of brother would let his sister march off alone? And Daisy, couldn’t bear to be left behind.
The path to the river was cool and the moon hung low behind the clouds. Aster’s grand plan of staying dry and keeping watch crumbled as soon as Rose started stripping down to her underthings.
“I'm not jumpin’ in.” Aster began looking over to see Daisy was already shimmying out of her gown, folding it neatly over a nearby rock.
“Fine." Rose called out, "Be bored and frozen if you want,” throwing her nightgown on the ground and wading confidently toward the water.
“…Fair point.” he muttered.
The water was cold, so cold it made their teeth chatter, but it was fun. Before long, they forgot they were sneaking out. Without any grown-ups around, their ideas started getting a little... reckless.
Normally, after every swim, they’d jump off the cliffs beside Josephine or Aunt Lucile looking after them. So really, taking turns throwing each other off the edge wasn’t that different.
