[BamaFan121s]

"Me! Me!" Renesmee jumped up and down with her hand raised. She lept into Jacob’s arms.

"Uh, Jacob," Edward began hesitantly, "Exactly what stories will we be hearing tonight?"

"Don’t worry," Jacob said, answering the underlying question. "Not any of those, not with Charlie around."

We made our way to the beach quickly and joined the others. There was already a fire blazing. Green tinted flames licking at the driftwood kindling. Jacob and Renesmee walked over and took a seat on a very familiar weathered looking piece of exposed tree trunk. Edward and I took a seat to their side on one of several quilts that had been arranged around the fire in a circle.

At the head of the circle, sat Billy Black. I looked at his aged face with respect as he began his tale.

"It has been requested that the tale of the Thunderbird be told." There were excited murmurs from around the circle. Clearly, this was a crowd favorite. I leaned against Edward and relaxed, letting the magic of the story consume me.

"Many years ago, when the prairie met the sea, an elk hunter lived at Beaver Prairie. He went off hunting very early one morning, but soon came back and told his tribe, "I saw the Thunderbird in a tree. Here is a feather that I took from Thunderbird's wing." After he showed the feather to the people, he said, "I also saw a very big whale on the prairie. It had been carried there by thunderbird. Thunderbird had to rest because the tree was so heavy.

"The man sent for all the Quileute people living near the river. ‘Come up! We will cut up Whale. He is so large that thunderbird cannot carry him further.’ And so all the people came and got into whaling canoes. They came to cut up the whale. When they reached that place, Whale was lying there dead in the lower part of the prairie. By evening, the people had cut up Whale into pieces. The people were hungry. They cooked some of the whale meat and ate it. It was good to eat.

"It got dark and the clouds overhead became very black. Thunderbird was coming back. He was very angry because the people had stolen his food. Lightning flashed from his eyes. It began to rain and then changed to. After the storm, the people who cut up Whale were turned to stone and forced to live as stone forever. A reminder of how they had stolen from Thunderbird. All the meat and blubber that they had piled there was turned into stone making the ridge from one end of the valley to the other. The ridge is still there today."

For a few minutes, no one spoke, allowing the lesson behind the story to sink in. Then, slowly, the babble of voices and praise for Billy began to rise up. People turned to stone…and forced to live forever… I glanced at Edward, narrowing my eyes in both suspicion and confusion. He did the same, tilting his head as we exchanged questioning glances. Then we both smiled together and shook our heads, casting off the silly thought we’d both undoubtedly been sharing. We spoke in unison.

"Nah!"

"Couldn’t be."

Everyone stood and began gathering the blankets and chairs that had been carried down to the beach. Charlie trudged through the sand to where we stood. "Wow! That was some story, huh?"

"Yeah, Dad. Billy’s stories are the best!" I agreed.

"Well, I’m going to head home, Bella. You’ll call soon, or come visit, or I’ll come visit you…?" He spoke quickly, a very hopeful look on his face.

"Of course, Dad!" I leaned forward to hug him, fighting the flames and swallowing back the venom.

"Good," he said, enthusiasm coating his words. "Well, I’d better be on my way then."

"And we’d better be on our way too," Jacob said after Charlie was out of earshot. In explanation, he gestured to Renesmee, "This one needs to get to bed."

We said our good-byes to everyone and walked with Jacob, carrying Renesmee back towards the house.

"I know you guys only have two seats in that car, so I’ll run her back to your house. I don’t suppose you guys would like a rematch so soon, would you?" Jacob asked eagerly.

"Nah, you’d better go on without us and we’ll just meet you there," Edward said, exchanging a sly look with Jacob. "Bella’s driving us home."

I groaned loudly in protest as Edward brought my hand up in front of him and handed me the keys.