Terry navigates being a mother to a child that is not her own, learning the struggles of teen moms and victims of assault. (trigger warning, the book talks about rape, sexual assault, abortion, domestic violence, physical abuse, prostitution, and mu...
The twins watched intently as I marked the places where the branches would be with the trowel.
"And here will be the support beams." I marked a single spot in the middle of each side, and one in between both sides of the door.
I looked around and found some rocks I could place where the dents were, to see them better.
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I stood behind the kids, looking at my drawing in the dirt.
"Whaddya guys think? Doable?" I asked. The twins turned to look up at me, smiles on their faces.
I dumped out the bucket and flipped the trowel in my hand.
"Alright. Who'd like to help me put the beams in place for the door?" I asked.
"Me! Me!"
"No I do!"
We laughed for a bit, before we decided Theo would help me with the left branch, and Charlotte would help with the right branch.
I removed the rock I had placed to mark the spot, and started to dig a deeper hole. I kneeled down behind Theo and put my hands over his, and helped him push into the Earth and dump it into the bucket.
"What are we doing with the dirt?" Char asked.
"We're saving it for later." I replied.
After making a deep enough hole, I got up and grabbed one of the thick branches. I again stood behind Teddy and helped him guide the wood into the hole.
I told Tedd to keep it in place, and he hugged it still. I leaned down to grab the wooden mallet the kids had found, and used it to hit the wood into the ground. I was standing up on my tippy toes to do so, realizing quickly I needed more leverage.
I dragged my suitcase out of the shopping cart and tossed it onto the ground, thankful that it hadn't rained recently.
I stood up on top of the case and continued hitting the branch down. After some progress, I got down and took some dirt out of the bucket.
I placed it around the branch, patting the dirt to keep it from moving. I continued this until the branch wouldn't move when I tried pushing it.
"Great job, Teddy!" I exclaimed, giving him a pat on the head. He looked so proud of himself.
"Ready for your turn, Charlotte?" I asked.
I've never seen her so excited before.
And so, we repeated this process on the right side, then again for the corners of the room. We had some dirt left over, so I stuck the makeshift tools into the bucket.
I laughed to myself, thinking how it looked like a weird pencil holder.
The twins looked tired, and so i checked the time.
It was now about dinner time, so we took a break and began eating some of the cereal we had earned earlier.
Today's been a good day.
Soon after, we had finished eating and I took the blankets out of the shopping cart and placed them inside the hut we were making.
I told them a story, gave Teddy his medicine, and we drifted off.
