Instead of flipping my shit and chasing after them like I knew they were expecting me to, I tried to play it cool and continued walking back toward the house at the same leisurely pace I was already using. I can remember how after my giggling cousins had sprinted off, the forest seemed almost too quiet.
But then, gradually, my surroundings began to thrum with the melody of the local wildlife. A nest of birds in a nearby tree seemed to chirp in time with the chittering of several chipmunks as they scurried across the vast bed of dried leaves carpeting the forest floor, startling a rabbit resting in the shade of a nearby bush.
The rabbit took two quick hops across the crinkling leaves and then paused for a beat before taking two more. Another bird chirped overhead. The bunny hopped once more. The chipmunks chittered again, which prompted yet another set of hops from the rabbit.
I began to drum a hand against my leg in time with the rhythm of the rabbit’s hop-hop-pause- hop-pause-hop-hop, eventually losing myself in the song that began to form in my head and allowing my conscious mind to wander as I continued down the path leading back to the Covington house.