Chapter 2:

Elias stood in the middle of the highway and thought it strange that anyone would just leave their car behind.  He looked and listened for clues as to where they could be.  He only heard the wind.

 

Lexi marveled at the small statuette under the huge teepee.  They built the teepee, and it was finally finished last year and already tourists were talking about it.  The teepee tower rose above the trees and could be seen miles around.  Route 66 tourists from all over stopped by to say hello, drink water, and watched their children run around the teepee tower.  The tower had Osage symbols and painted with bright colors.  At the bottom children could go to through the tunnel and run to the other side.  The opening was tall enough for an adult to slightly stoop and pass through to the other side.  

 

More than anything in the world, Lexi longed to hold a bundle of joy in her arms, watch the babe learn how to run, and welcomed the shrieks of laughter and even vowed that she would enjoy the sibling fights too.  That would mean they were alive.

 

She wondered how the statuette was here.  It looked real in her talented hands and then flipped it over.  It was a squirrel, and that morning as she began her day, she looked from her kitchen window and first spied it sitting under the huge teepee.  It seemed to be enjoying its day under the sun.  The longer she stared, she realized that it wasn't moving.  No flicker of its fluffy tail, no nibbling of the acorn it held.  Lexi thought it would look great on the porch patio under the wide eaves.