The picnic had lasted all day long, and now Deborah was bored. All of the adults sat around the remains of the barbecue pit toasting marshmallows and talking about sex and politics in the sort of veiled, cryptic code adults always thought the younger generation couldn't understand. She'd tried to join in at the beginning, but that caused everyone to give her funny looks, except for Deirdre who laughed and tousled her hair. The marshmallows were too sweet for her anyway, and the wind just blew smoke and soot in her eyes.
It was Deirdre who suggested she go fly a kite, to stop her fidgeting. Everyone laughed at her again, until Deirdre actually got up and fetched a kite from her share of the camping supplies. Deirdre helped Deborah put the kite together, and gave her tips on how to launch it so it would make the best of the rising wind.
Everything went okay for a while, and Deirdre stood and watched while Deborah learned to make the kite dip and soar. Deborah thought that, maybe, this trip would turn out to be bearable after all. Then, just as the sun drew near the horizon, the string that had been stored in Deirdre's pack for who knew how long snapped and the kite flew up and away out of sight.
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