Family
"A hunter knows he is never alone." She had heard Father say that once.
Aneze looked into the trees. She spoke out loud to the bush. "There's always you, Chickadee," she said to the small birds skittering above. "And if I stare long enough at the sky, I'll see you, Eagle, circling with your wife. You will show me where Rabbit and Vole are hiding. And nearby in the stream, you are swimming, Jackfish. And you, Beaver, you are working on your house."
"You see," Aneze told the woods. "I'm not alone at all."
"What do you know about how things work in my family?"
She stares at me in shocked silence. Until this moment, "my family" has always included her. I know my words cut deep, but she's brought it on herself. She's asking me to pick favorites, and she should know that's a dangerous game to play.