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Annie Bosum

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and smiled at Melanie, who was sitting on her sleeping bag wiping
her eyes.

“Get dressed, wash, and eat breakfast, my daughter”.

Melanie got dressed and went to the outhouse, located further
to the left side of the tent. As she came back in she asked; “Mama,
where are papa and Mee-quinn?”

“They went to check the fishnet”.

Sarah got some lukewarm water ready in a basin for Melanie to
wash her face and hands in.

After breakfast, while Sarah busied herselftidying up the make-
shift beds, Melanie went out to play on the swing which her father
had made a thick rope with a small piece of plywood for the seat.
Both ends were tied securely to two trees that stood side by side
about two feet from each other. All around the swing the ground
had been cleared of any rocks, tree stumps, trunks, branches and
sticks for her safety.

The sun was higher in the blue skies, and it was much warmer
now than it had been that morning. Every now and then a bluebird
flew to peck on bits of fish left on the poles Sarah used to hang the
fish to dry. Underneath the poles, which hung in a horizontal line,
black embers lay from a fire now long burnt out.

Suddenly, Mee-quinn came bouncing up the path which led to
the dock where Philip kept his canoe. Witha yelp, Mee-quinn tried
to jump on to Melanie as she swung back and forth on her swing.
Melanie cried with glee as she struggled to break free from the
pup’s playful leaps. She jumped off the swing and together they
ran off toward the lakeshore to meet her father. Philip was busy
unloading the large basin filled with the damp net and wiggling
fish.

“How is my little girl this moming?”

“Okay, Papa, did you catch lots of fish?”

“Yes, I did, Melanie”.

She squealed as she waved her hands to keep the playful pup
from pouncing up on her. They walked back to the campsite with
Philip carrying the heavy load of fish on his shoulder. For those
few happy moments, Melanie had forgotten about the sadness she
had felt that morning. The happy moments spent with Mee-quinn
was all she lived for in her innocent mind. These simple pleasures
shared by her pup had erased the fear of the unknown which she
had experienced in the wee hours of the morning.

While Melanie ran off to play with Mee-quinn not far behind,

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