carl@fire

"Dad, I wanna get that one," Bobby called, pointing up at an especially delicious-looking apple.

Carl walked over and raised his hand up, pretending that he couldn't quite reach it. "Uh-oh, I don't think I can get it…"

"I can get it if you lift me up!"

"I don't know, Bobby, you're getting pretty big now…"

"C'mon, Dad, you can do it! Pleeease?"

"Alright, fine," Carl said, shaking his head at the expected outcome. He knelt down on the grass. A moment later, he felt denim on both sides of his neck, and a familiar weight settled onto his shoulders. "Hang on," he called. After a short pause, he tensed his muscles and stood up.

Fortunately, Bobby seemed to take more after her mother in height and was the smallest member of the family, being only five-foot-four. Letting her ride on his shoulders like she had when she was younger wasn't physically too difficult, even if she probably was getting a little too old for it.

"I got it!" she crowed, bringing an apple down in front of his face.

Carl held up his right hand and received a high five.

"Let's go find Sammy," Bobby decided. "I wanna go pick all the apples she can't reach."

"I thought you just wanted to get that one apple," Carl said, setting a course for where he last saw his other daughter.

Bobby put the small basket she'd been carrying on top of his head. "Well…" she said in the voice Carl recognized as her Problem Voice.

"What's wrong, pumpkin?" he asked.

"Am I ever gonna get tall like you and Sammy?" Bobby asked after he'd walked a few more paces.

Carl refrained from answering immediately while he collected his thoughts. "Do you really want to be this tall?"

"Well… Isn't it cool being tall?"

Carl thought about it. "What do you think's cool about it?"

"Um…" she sounded less sure of the idea. "I don't know," she said. "Isn't it though?"

"You should ask your sister sometime," Carl said. "But I hope you don't get any bigger than this."

"Why not?" Bobby asked, sounding upset. She wiggled around slightly on his shoulders.

"Because I think if you got any bigger, you might be a little too big to ride around on my shoulders like this."

"Oh," she said, seeming concerned. She remained silent for a short while. "There she is!" she half-whispered in an excited tone as Carl walked closer to his original destination, pointing at Sammy. "Let's steal all her apples!"

Carl slowed his pace, creeping closer and closer.

Sammy reached up for an apple above her head.

"Mine!" Bobby yelled triumphantly as she snatched the apple.

Sammy spun around, seeming totally confused for a moment. Then she craned her head up and gave her sister an amused look.

Bobby picked another apple off the tree over her sister's head and started to giggle. "Hey, where are you going?" she called down when he started into motion again. "I'm not done yet!"

"You can't only steal Sammy's apples, pumpkin," Carl said. "Look, I think your mom's got a few too many over there."

"What?" Bobby said, sounding confused.

"Sammy, you come too." Carl called. "She really looks like she needs help with all those apples."

"Okay!" said Sammy, always enthusiastic about anything that might relate to mischief, no matter how trivial.

"Ohhhh," Bobby said with recognition in her voice. Then she started to giggle again as her sister, toting her own, larger, basket, fell into step beside him.