Write About A Picnic

"Have you ever noticed," Lissa began, "that food tastes so much better when eaten outside?"  She held the last bite of her sandwich in front of her thick glasses and gazed for a moment at the bright yellow mustard that was slowly oozing over the edge of the bread before popping the whole thing into her mouth and chewing, thoughtfully.  She didn't expect Eddie to answer, really.  But she rolled over onto her stomach and gazed over at him anyway.  He was still lying on his back, eyes half opened, gazing somewhere between the clouds and the sky.  A stray blade of grass was stuck to the side of his neck and Lissa wanted to brush it off if only she weren't so lazy and content.  With a sigh, she turned back to the wicker picnic basket and rummaged through it for a few minutes before pulling out a bunch of red grapes.

"Eddie," she began again with no exasperation in her voice, "are you listening?  I asked you about the food."

"What?" Eddie blinked against the sunlight and rolled over and up onto one elbow, the motion dislodging the stray strand of grass and sending it gently twirling onto the picnic blanket which was covered in crumbs and scurrying ants.  "Sorry Liss, my mind was off wandering.  Did you want something?" he smiled at her lazily and reached an open palm toward her.

Lissa plucked a handful of still chilled grapes from the bunch and dropped them into his palm.  A few rained down to join the crumbs and insects but neither child seemed to mind.  With a deep sigh, Eddie flopped onto his back again, tossing grapes into his mouth haphazardly while his sister held a single grape up before the sun.  It glowed.  She smiled before she bit it in half, carefully, savoring the tart juice and dusky skin.

The basket was nearly empty and Nana would be expecting them home soon.  Lissa wished this idyllic afternoon could stretch forever.  Pushing her glasses atop her nose, Lissa dropped the remaining grapes back into their bin and crossed her legs.  There was a reason for this picnic beyond simple relaxation.

"Eddie, we can't procrastinate any longer," she chided him as she tried to rub out the mustard stain that marred her shirt.  "I hereby call to order this meeting of The Defenders of the Secrets of the Silver Chalice and  Golden Box."  She paused, and her glasses slid down her nose a bit.  "That really is a horrid name, Eddie.  Can't we shorten it or something?" she asked her brother.

"To what?" Eddie answered, still tossing grapes. "DSSCGB doesn't exactly roll off the tongue either.  I still still think we should call it The Defenders.  It's short and to the point."

Lissa frowned at him but didn't answer.  This was an old argument that she wanted to avoid right now.  The sun was too low as it was.  There wasn't time to waste going over old territory.  The purpose of this clandestine meeting was to discuss the addition of a new member, in fact the first new member ever, to the DSSCGB.  For the past two months, their cousin Hunter and been hounding them to let him in.  Lissa had her doubts but Eddie had finally convinced her that new blood was exactly what they needed.  Of course, they had to come up with some sort of initiation ceremony and secret vow to be taken on penalty of death.  Unfortunately, they had spend the last two hours lazing in the sunshine and eating Ms. Hale's delicious picnic treats instead of focusing on business.  As it stood, they had less than half and hour to bang out the ceremony and vows.  This would be difficult under the best of circumstances but faced with a full belly, blue skies, and the sound of the wind skimming through the trees, the odds where decidedly stacked against them.  Lissa, however, was determined.