Slow No Wake - By Dakota Madison Page 0,43

but he just won’t give up. He’s persistent.”

“And a bit crazy,” Serenity added.

“That, too,” I agreed.

“You’re really going to go away with all three of them for the weekend?” Serenity asked.

“All four of them,” I corrected.

The twins both raised their eyebrows. “There’s another one?” They asked in unison.

I nodded.

“You’re a brave woman,” Trinity said.

“Or maybe I’m the crazy one,” I said.

The twins both laughed at me.

***

After lunch, it was time for the climbing wall. This time, we broke into our groups of three and Eddie gave us instructions that each group had to figure out a way to get all of their members over the wall.

Brad and the twins went first. Brad brought the twins into a huddle, apparently to discuss their strategy. I couldn’t hear what was being said, but I could see the twins nodding their heads in unison. It was nice to see Brad being civil, even cordial, with the twins. I was seeing sides to Brad I never realized existed.

When the huddle broke, Brad bent down and Trinity put her legs around his neck. I cringed as Brad got up holding her on his shoulders. He was a little wobbly at first, then righted himself. I held my breath when Trinity rose to her feet on his shoulders. I had to give Brad credit for being a lot stronger than I would have ever thought. I couldn’t see his face, but I imagined it was probably pretty red.

Trinity was raised high enough that she could lift herself up onto the small platform at the top of the wall. When Brad turned to face us, he looked a bit winded. I could see he was trying to compose himself and catch his breath. Trinity wasn’t a big girl, but Brad wasn’t a big guy either. It took some strength and fortitude on his part to get Trinity high enough to climb up the wall.

Serenity was next. She didn’t appear to be as strong or physically fit as her sister, so I could understand why they placed her second. She would have Trinity at the top to give her a hoist.

Brad and Serenity repeated the same moves that Brad and Trinity had just done. When Serenity was high enough to lift herself, Trinity grabbed hold of her and helped her up the wall.

Brad now stood staring at the wall. I wondered what his next move was going to be. The twins both got on their stomachs at the top of the wall, but they couldn’t quite reach Brad to give him a hoist up. Brad then backed away from the wall and tried to make a running start. He was able to walk up the wall a few feet, but it still wasn’t enough for the twins to reach him.

Brad shook his head and threw up his arms. “We just don’t have enough people to do it,” he said.

Eddie nodded in agreement.

We were all silent for a minute staring at each other.

Then Eddie said, “It’s okay to ask for help.”

Brad looked at Eddie then looked at our team. “From you or from them?”

“Either or both,” Eddie replied.

Brad thought about it for a minute. I could see the wheels spinning in his head. He asked Daniel to remove his belt then he held on to one end then tossed the other end up for Trinity to grab. Using the belt, Trinity was able to pull Brad up enough for Serenity to grab hold of his arm. Then Trinity grabbed the other arm and with Brad half climbing the rest of the way, the twins were able to get him high enough so that he could lift himself over the wall.

Ricky and Daniel didn’t have any trouble hoisting me high enough that I could make it up to the top of the wall. Then Ricky got a push up from Daniel and I was able to pull him a bit until he could hoist himself the rest of the way. Ricky then used the belt to pull Daniel part of the way up and I grabbed his arm and gave him a bit of a pull until he was over the wall with us.

When we were all at the top of the wall, Eddie started a round of applause. We all joined in clapping, then laughing. We were all exhausted, but we’d done it.

We took a short break and Eddie gave us all bottled water from a cooler. I swear we all downed our bottles in one gulp.

Then it was