In the depth of the Forest District, there was a large cave that sat on a bare patch of ground surrounded by grass. Inside, there were framed pictures lined up along the cave wall of a wolf family. The first 5 only depicted a father, mother, and a silver grey wolf pup with a dark hair tuft of hair on his head. He looked happy with his parents and his parents looked happy with him. The picture following those first 5 showed the wolf pup with a younger sister, the picture still looked like a happy family. As the pictures progressed through the years, 1-3 more pups were in the picture per year. The oldest wolf pup looked more and more resentful of the younger ones, backing away from the family while the parents looked more and more frantic. By the time the last picture was taken, the parents looked like they were about to have a panic attack and the oldest pup wasn’t even in the picture.

The oldest pup, now 14 years old, walked down the cave path not paying any attention to the pictures.

“Mom, I’m going to the mountain!,” he called out.

The mother was struggling with 5 other pups all pulling her in different directions when she looked up at her oldest.

“Huh? Oh good. Take the kids with you,”

“What? Mom I’m meeting Beatrice,”

“Beatrice likes the kids,”

The oldest wolf pup turns to his father for help.

“Dad-,”

The father was struggling to keep 4 other wolf pups under control.

“Go ask your mother Tony. I’m busy,” he snapped.

Tony scowled and sighed heavily.

“Fine! Guys let’s go!,” One by one Tony’s little brothers and sisters out of the cave.

…

 A little while later Tony arrived at a clearing where a brown female wolf pup Tony’s age was waiting.

“Hey Tony,”

“Hi Beatrice,”

A couple of siblings ran between his legs. “You see what I’ve gotta put up with,”

Beatrice giggled. “I’m sure we’ll have fun anyway,”

The younger wolf pups ran off to play.

“Behave yourselves guys!,” Tony called out to them.

…

The two teenagerss talked in the clearing for a couple hours.

“You’re degrading our intelligence by claiming we don’t have doctors for that kind of thing,” Tony stated

“Well you’re over estimating our abilities like we couldn’t be killed by any randomly falling tree,”

“Oh… yeah,”

Suddenly one of Tony’s little sisters pounced on top of him giggling. Tony looked annoyed.

“I thought dad told you to stop sneak attacking me like that. It’s rude. And you’re not even old enough to hunt. What do you need pouncing for?,”

The younger sister just continued to laugh until Tony stood up throwing the younger pup off him and onto the ground.

“Come on Izzie! Why don’t you go dig up some roots or something?,”

Izzie pouted and walked away. Beatrice looked annoyed.

“Nice brotherly love there Mr. Sensitive,”

“When you become the oldest of 16, you can treat your little brothers and sisters however you want,”

A little distance away behind the bushes, a large grizzly bear was looking at the wolf pups play. “Hey Gruff, look,” he whispered.

Another chocolate brown grizzly bear walked over watching the wolf pups. Izzie wandered near the bushes.

“Perfect,” Gruff whispered.

…

Tony and Beatrice were still lying down talking when Beatrice unconsciously looked in Izzie’s direction and her eyes went wide.

“Uh… Tony?,”

Tony perked up. “What?,” Tony looked over where she was looking and noticed where Izzie was.

Tony looked annoyed and rolled his eyes. “Mom and dad said when you guys are with me I’m in charge. No going near bear territory. Bears are dangerous, they’ll do anything for a meal,” Tony called out while Izzie ignored him.

Beatrice stood up nervously. “I’ll um… get the rest of the kids,”

Beatrice walked to where the rest of the pups were. “Kids come here please,” Beatrice looked back where Izzie was and it looked like she had seen a ghost. “Tony!!!,”

Tony jumped from where he was still sitting and glared at her.

“What?!,” he snapped and looked over to where Izzie was and he froze in fear.

Gruff was silently creeping up on where Izzie was still playing, oblivious to what was going on.

Tony looked nervous and hissed through his teeth. “Izzie! Get back here!,” Tony motioned her to come towards him but she still ignored him.

The two teenagers looked worried as Gruff kept getting closer.

“Go get her!,” Beatrice said.

“I can’t,”

“Tony!,”

“Bea, I can’t,”

Tony’s oldest younger brother noticed what was happening and ran over.

“Izzie no!,” he yelled.

He ran straight into Tony and sent him yelling over the hill as Beatrice held him back. Tony tumbled down the hill and crashed into Izzie sending her flying several feet and leaving Tony right in front of the bear. Gruff looked momentarily stunned by what had just happened before smiling.

“Even better. We’re feasting tonight boys!,”

Tony squirmed to get away but Gruff grabbed him by the tail and started dragging him back to bear territory.

“No! No! Nooooooo!!!,” Tony screamed.

The rest of the wolves watched Tony get dragged away in amusement while Beatrice watched in horror.

“Whoa look at Tony go! He’s such a good big brother!,” one of the brothers said.

“If I never get to say this again, I hate you guys!,” Tony screamed.

Tony bit down hard on Gruff’s leg causing Gruff to scream and fling Tony away. Tony was momentarily relieved until he looked down to see he was heading straight for a mud pit.

“No! No! No!,” Tony screamed again, flailing around in protest as he hit the mud pit with a splash.

Gruff reached bear territory defeated. “Darn it! I had him!,”

The other bears looked indifferent.

“Forget it Gruff… He’s too old. He’d put up too much of a fight

Gruff looked back towards the mud pit. “No way I’m losing a fight to a kid,” he said and stormed away.

...

The rest of the wolf pups ran over to the mud pit, Tony had not come up for air yet.

“Tony, you ok?,”Beatrice asked, concerned.

“That was awesome!,”

“Are you taking a nap down there?,”

Beatrice didn’t pay much attention to Tony’s younger siblings. “Tony? Can you hear me?,”

Suddenly Tony shot up from the mud gasping for air and coughing up mud. He climbed out of the pit and wiped the mud off. “That’s it- I’m not watching you guys anymore-,” Tony said interrupted by more coughs. “You guys almost got me killed!,” Tony stormed off wiping off more mud. “Come on we’re going home!,”

Beatrice walked up to him. “I-,” Tony turned to look at her angrily. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,”

Tony looked exhausted. “Yeah… see ya,”

…

Tony shook off the last remaining bit of the mud as his oldest younger brother ran to catch up with him.

“Hey there you are big brother. You’re so far ahead of us we can’t even see you,” he said hugging Tony. Tony pushed him off.

“Not in the mood Rustle,”

Rustle looked upset. “Oh… come on Tony wait,”

Tony rolled his eyes and stopped.

“I’m sorry,”

Tony looked surprised and turned around. “What?,”

“Being the oldest. You’ve gotta put up with a lot from us. I really appreciate it,”

“You do?,”

“Yeah. And I don’t know… I made you something,” Rustle said, reaching for something on his back.

“Really?,” Tony said smiling.

A small piece of fruit hit him in the head.

“Now mom and dad will have to notice you… for like 10 seconds,” Rustle bursted out laughing.

Tony growled and took the broken pieces of the fruit off his head. “You know mom and dad might be running around all day with you guys. But there is one day, when the river is the coolest and the clearest, where they drop you guys and come hang with me. And that’s tomorrow. It’s gonna be great,” Tony boasted as he trotted away looking proud.

… 

The kids made it back to the cave and Tony looked inside to see his father sleeping.

“Dad, I’m not watching the kids anymore. They almost got me eaten by a bear,”

“Uh-huh,” Tony’s dad said half asleep.

“Dad!,”

Tony’s dad perked up and looked at Tony sleepily. “What?,”

“I was almost killed by a bear?,”

Tony’s dad laid back down. “Nice, that’s good buddy,”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Where’s mom?,”

Tony walked further in the cave and saw his mom already being greeted by some of the pups.

“Hi kids. Did you enjoy the mountain?,” she asked.

“They almost got me killed mom. Are you gonna punish them? Yell at them? Any kind of discipline?

“They’re younger than you Tony. They don’t know any better,”

“That’s not true. Rustle and Carmen are absolutely old enough to know better,”

Tony’s mom was no longer paying attention. “Who’s ready for bed?,” She joyfully walked off leading several pups along with her as Tony deflated.

“Mom?,” He gave up. “Fine. I’m going to sleep.