The Struggle Of Our Lives

Chapter 10: Grocery run

Things are starting to look better for us.

As we ate, Charlotte stopped to ask me something.

"Sissy? Where'd you find these berries?"

"I found them about three minutes from where you found the door. Why?" I responded.

"I saw some berries just like this behind that old building. They were black though." She responded, starting to eat more berries. I could feel my eyes light up and asked, "Could you bring us to those berries?"

She nodded, mouth still full of wild raspberries and stood up. I brought the bucket with me, and hoped there'd be enough to fill it halfway.

We followed our footsteps back to the old garage, and Char led us to the back of the building. Sure enough, there were three massive wild blackberry bushes, loaded with plump fruits.

I carefully examined the berries, making sure they were what they looked to be, and quickly realized they were thick, juicy, blackberries. I picked one to eat, just in case, and enjoyed it's tart, almost spicy, juice.

I told the kids to help themselves, and they too ate off the bush. I picked several berries from each chunk of the bush, then moved on to the second and third bushes. After the kids had filled up on the smaller berries towards the bottom halves of the bushes, and I had collected a bunch of berries I turned to look at the kiddos.

"Who wants to help me look for more?" I asked. They looked excited to help, but not as hungrily as they did before. I laughed at their appetites and we wandered around the forest once again, looking for more berry bushes.

Teddy was the first to spot another berry bush, and I followed. The vines were bright red, and had berries the same color and size as blueberries.

From my science class, I had learned these were Elderberries. Poisonous, but edible once cooked or fermented. I explained what they were to the kids, and we agreed on making it into a jam.

To keep the berries separate, Teddy once again forfeited his shirt, and we found a stick he could carry it on, like they do in movies.

We continued walking around when I found another bush. This time, the branches were all a dark brown, covered in tiny thorns. The berries were bright red, large, and unmistakable.

"Stawberries!" The twins yelled in toddler-accents. As five year olds, they still couldn't pronounce certain words the right way, including but not limited to "strawberries."

I picked a bunch and placed them in my bucket while Teddy and Lotte once again ate from the bush. After my bucket was a little more than half full, we meandered back to our home.

I dropped the bucket inside the house, in the corner furthest from our bed, not far from the doorway. I reclaimed Teddy's shirt and dumped it's contents into the three tins I had filed down.

"It's about time I go out for groceries." I said.