We Fight Dragons (Volume 2, Chapter 14) "Strawberry. Jam."

That evening, as the sun was going down, Dad, Mum, and Jam staggered back home.

Mels had been frantic. It hadn’t taken her long to work out that Jam had snuck off, deliberately leaving her behind.

She had seen the open bathroom window from the outside of the house, and climbed in and turned off the running shower. After that, she had been torn between staying at the house or heading out. She didn’t sense that anything dangerous was happening, except for a brief instant around an hour ago, but it had passed quickly.

When the Woods came home she hugged them each of them in turn, although she finished by punching Jam in the shoulder and telling him off for sneaking out.

‘Sorry.’ Jam sighed, and took hold of her hand. Mels was surprised, but curious and allowed Jam to lead her. They went out the kitchen door to the backyard where there was a small strawberry patch in a raised garden bed. Jam fetched her a glass of goji-juice from the fridge, then carried over a garden chair for her to sit down. ‘You can relax. I owe you.'

It took Jam half-an-hour to harvest a full bucket of berries, while Mels watched and sipped her juice. When he took the berries into the kitchen, Mels followed to see what would happen next.

Jam washed the berries and cut the tops and leaves off. Then he put them in a large cast iron pot, squeezed in the juice from a trio of lemons, added a heaped cup of sugar, and mashed the lot as it cooked on the stove.

While the berries bubbled away, Jam took out some of Mum’s glass gars, gave them another wash and put them into the oven on a low dry heat, with their lids on. When the jam was ready he took the hot glass jars back out of the oven and carefully ladled the jam straight into them, and secured the lids.

‘Here you go,’ said Jam. ‘It’s my apology. Strawberry jam, for a strawberry,’ he joked, nodding at her hair.

‘Thanks, and… apology accepted. I guess that I don’t have to wonder if you mean it or not.’

‘I flipping hope not,’ said Jam, slumping on the kitchen counter and allowing himself to feel exhausted for the first time that day.

A car horn sounded outside, which Mels recognised. ‘That’s my parents.’ She checked her watch. ‘Yep. They are always on time.’

Jam helped Mels to carry the hot jam jars to the car using towels. His parents were there, talking with Mel’s parents about how helpful their daughter had been.

When her parent’s asked Mels how the day went she said, ‘I was surprised how much fun we had. I even learned how to make jam.’

Mels parents made excuses about having to get back home to make dinner, said their farewells, and then got back in their car. Mels took one of the warm jars from the car and gave it back to Jam.

‘What’s this for?’

‘Well, I don’t know when I’ll see you again. This way, at least we can be eat the same thing for breakfast tomorrow.’

Jam nodded. ‘Nice. I get it.’

Mels said goodbye to Dad, and gave Mum a farewell hug and whispered something to her while she looked towards Jam. ‘I know,’ Mum assured her. ‘I just hope we see you again, and sooner than last time.’ Mels looked at Jam. She wanted to hug him too, but she didn’t. It was not like they lived in the same world, and she really had no idea when she would see him again. ‘Call me… no wait, write me,' she joked.

‘Yeah. Yeah.’ Jam had to admit that it was getting old. He really had to find a way to prove that he was mature enough to handle a phone.

As the car pulled away, with arms waving out the window and horns tooting happily, Dad turned to Jam and said, ‘I’m proud of you.’

‘Me too,’ said Mum. ‘By the way, I could have sold those four jam jars for ten dollars each in the city. So, you owe me forty dollars.’

‘No problem, Mum. Except… I don’t have a job!’

‘Oh, I have plenty of work that will keep you busy, don’t worry.’

Jam smiled contentedly as he watched the car lights fade into the distance. ‘Thanks, Mum. Love you.’

Later than night, when the day was over, and the dinner plates were washed and put away, Jam went to his room and immediately fell into bed in his clothes. When his parents came to say goodnight, he was already asleep and there was nothing left for them to do except make sure that he was tucked in.

Back in the kitchen, Freya said in a quiet voice, ‘Do you think we’re safe?’

‘As long as we stay in Blacken Green. It’s going to effect my work. At least your orchard is on town land. The money may be a bit tight until I can sort something out.’

‘What about… you know, what happened?’

‘With the Dragon? What are you asking?’

‘Did our son let it go because it was the best of the bad alternatives? Or because…’ She didn’t want to finish the thought.

David nodded, and hugged her. ‘I have to think he was doing the right thing.’

Freya smiled and hugged him back tightly. ‘I know that we nearly died today, but it was good, hunting together like that again. You, me, and Nathan. I feel so alive right now.’ Then she frowned. ‘What are we going to do about Olivia?’

‘It’s not just her. I think the question is what are we going to do about the Dawsons as a whole?’

‘True. Hmmm… now I see where our son gets his profound wisdom from,’ Freya teased. ‘And you know what else… it still feels like spring to me.’

David raised an eyebrow. ‘It does? In that case…’ he began slowly kissing her neck.

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