Page 22 of Rekindling Little River (Littles of Rawhide Ranch #14)

River

They giggled as the feather in their tricorn hat swayed and they asked their parrot, “Polly want a cracker?”

“Shiver me timbers!” River jumped as Daddy’s voice bellowed, but their smile spread wide taking in their Daddy in full pirate mode. “Where be we sailin’ first, Cap’n?”

“First, my dear Shmee, we must find a port and stuff our holds with a fine breakfast!” River had struggled to keep the laughter from their voice as they made their joke but when Daddy belly laughed, their battle was lost and they joined him.

“Aye, aye, Cap’n,” he replied when his chuckles had died down. Taking River’s hand, Daddy led them to the cafeteria and its bountiful provisions.

After a hearty breakfast of pancakes loaded with fruits and served with eggs and breakfast meats, they made their way to pirate central, aka the Littles’ Wing.

The place was crawling with pirates of all sorts and the organizers had been very busy overnight.

The hallways looked completely different than they had the day before.

Someone had drawn pirate flags and pinned them to all the doors, construction paper ships had been hung in all the halls, along with multiple types of treasure maps that looked like they’d been hand drawn by different people.

A theory that was confirmed when River heard multiple people telling someone, “There’s mine,” while pointing out one map or another.

“Wow, they really went all out for this didn’t they?” Daddy’s awe matched River’s. They’d expected fun, obviously, but it was clear this was well-thought-out and bigger than they’d assumed.

“What ye think, Polly? Do there be adventure in these here… halls?” Their faithful parrot gave no verbal answer, but River could sense their agreement. “Aye, matey, adventure do be waitin’.”

“Well, let’s go find it.” Daddy took their hand, and they wove through the crowd and went into the same room they’d gone to yesterday.

No one would think it was the same room though.

Sure, it still had tables for crafts and bean bags for sitting.

There was a sink for washing up, craft supplies, toys, all the things it had before, but the tables had been covered with cloths the color of sand and paper palm trees were placed all over.

One wall was covered with a big mural poster of a beach and the vast ocean beyond the sand.

Another wall was made to look like the outside of a straw hut and across from that wall was one that depicted the most perfect picture of a pirate port River could have imagined.

It was absolutely amazing. They weren’t surprised when another Little named Megan proudly proclaimed that one of her Daddies, Gavin, had helped paint the scenes.

It made sense when Tay explained that Professor Doyle taught art at the University.

What had truly shocked them was when Tay informed them the other artist was Blake, a fellow Little who often visited the Butterfly Room with his sister Lori.

Both Gavin and Blake were phenomenal artists because, as River got closer, they realized that all of the scenery was hand painted.

Dave

They hadn’t been in the room long when a commotion broke out in the hallway. River immediately turned toward the ruckus but Dave held them back. He wasn’t sure what was happening and he wasn’t letting his Little one out there until he was sure it was safe.

“Wait here a minute. I’ll go see what’s happening.” After seeing their nod, he turned and made his way out to investigate.

“Where are they?” One of the teachers for another room, an older, distinguished looking gentleman, held up a folder that seemed to be empty.

Everyone in the hallway stopped and looked, most looking as confused as Dave felt, but a few of the pirates were trying—and failing—to keep a straight face. Dave had a sinking feeling when he realized those trying their hardest to look innocent were the Littles River had been with yesterday.

“What’s going on?” River’s voice came from directly behind him and Dave turned quickly with his best stern-Daddy face.

“I thought I told you to stay there while I checked things out.” The contrite look that River gave him was adorable as fuck. He was doing his best not to let it sway him.

“I’m sorry, Daddy. I was just so curious.”

“When I tell you something like that, it’s for a reason. What if there was a danger out here? What if your curiosity got you hurt?”

River’s face took on a confused look, as if they didn’t understand his worry. Like they’d never had someone worry about their safety before. He couldn’t fathom that possibility.

Before he could think too much more on it, his attention was drawn back to the teacher. He’d opened the folder and from inside had pulled out a map much like the ones on the walls. “Anyone want to tell me why I’m looking at a treasure map instead of today’s lessons?”

No one seemed to be in a hurry to answer his question, until one pirate finally stepped forward, and said, “Maybe the map leads you to the lessons?”

“Sadie Marie, why am I not surprised to find you know something about this?”

“It’s just a guess, Headmaster. You’re always saying how valuable an education is and that is a treasure map you’re holding up. It seemed like a good guess.”

The man seemed to be a stern headmaster, but Dave caught the hint of a smile he was working to hide. The headmaster was as amused as Dave himself was.

“And I supposed that next you’ll tell me that you’ll be happy to investigate this for me?”

“Well,” the girl replied sweetly, “who better to help ye follow a treasure map than a group of scurvy pirates?”

“AYE, AYE!” The chorus of agreement from the gathered pirate crew was much too loud to be considered “indoor voices”. For a moment, Dave wondered if the stern teacher would play along, but it didn’t take long before the man surprised him.

The headmaster’s eyes sparkled, and something resembling a smile almost took over his face as he said, “All right, skalliwags, hoist the sails! We’ve got a treasure to find!”

Apparently not all of his headmaster ways had been abandoned, though, and his attempt to take on piracy paused as the next five minutes were spent arranging everybody into a group so nobody would get lost during the hunt.

So much commotion and noise filled the halls that it was almost impossible to think as all the different classes joined into one large group.

The treasure map was pulled out and Sadie, to no one’s surprise, was elected captain for this treasure hunt.

The massive group of Littles and the Bigs in charge of them were arranged in such a way that if somebody had looked from the top, it would look like a boat was floating down the halls.

Several Littles were holding hand-made flags that looked like ship masts with sails, and two Little ones were holding pirate flags.

Dave held tight to River’s hand as the group moved in a tight bunch through the halls following the directions of the captain as she hollered out, “Thirteen paces ahead!” River seemed to be so excited about this mission that they were vibrating, literally shaking in anticipation.

Dave had to wonder. Had they ever done anything like this before?

He’d have to ask them later. In the meantime, he’d make sure that they enjoyed this more than anything they’d ever done in their life if it was the last thing he did.