Ah, the ghosts have settled down at last, and you're working on taming the night-birds and keeping them as half-pet/half-guard?
Pet The next morning we left at dawn; the night had been quiet and hot, but we'd not heard anything more fearsome than Ben's snoring. The morning air was cooler, which was pleasant, but still humid, and only let up when we got down to the level of the creek itself. "Swim?" Ben looked at the water, which was fast but not dangerously so. I nodded, and stretched. "Good way to start the day," I said. "And I reckon it's time for your annual bath anyways." Normally I dodge, but somehow he blindsided me and I ended up sitting in the creek in my clothes like Jimmy last night while he started taking his jacket and shirt off as though nothing had just happened. "Where's the pails, Jimmy?" I said, sitting there. "May as well fill them up now and take them back with us when we're done." "Oh shoot," said Jimmy. He stared at his boots for a moment. "I'll run back and get them." "We'll catch you when you get back here," said Ben, stripping down to his undershorts. "Unless you want to hunt for a pet fish like Red here." "I'm after a pet chupacapra! And if there's only me here when you get back," I said, "there's no need to go looking for people who might be drowning out in the middle of the creek. Definitely no need at all." We left the full pails of water on the far bank in the shade of the trees, figuring that it was a small enough town that no-one would be likely to wander off with them, and headed up the tree-dotted slope in search of the caves that I thought I'd seen the previous evening. The changed light of early morning made it hard to be sure about where we were looking, but I figured that it was a little under half-way up and over to the left, so we oriented ourselves slightly northwards and spread out to shouting distance, and started tramping up the hill, poking into anything that might be interesting. "Turkey!" yelled Ben, and there was an eruption of noise and feathers and three large birds flew overhead. "Nice," I called back. "Don't do that with the chupacapra, ok?" Echoing laughter was the only answer I got. We moved more slowly than I'd expected; there was a lot of scrub and the tree-density varied quite a bit. From time to time one or two of us would get a relatively clear patch and then have to wait for the others to catch up so that we could be sure we'd covered everything of importance. So it was almost noon before Jimmy's voice sang out, "Cave!"
2 comments:
Ah, the ghosts have settled down at last, and you're working on taming the night-birds and keeping them as half-pet/half-guard?
Pet
The next morning we left at dawn; the night had been quiet and hot, but we'd not heard anything more fearsome than Ben's snoring. The morning air was cooler, which was pleasant, but still humid, and only let up when we got down to the level of the creek itself.
"Swim?" Ben looked at the water, which was fast but not dangerously so. I nodded, and stretched. "Good way to start the day," I said. "And I reckon it's time for your annual bath anyways."
Normally I dodge, but somehow he blindsided me and I ended up sitting in the creek in my clothes like Jimmy last night while he started taking his jacket and shirt off as though nothing had just happened.
"Where's the pails, Jimmy?" I said, sitting there. "May as well fill them up now and take them back with us when we're done."
"Oh shoot," said Jimmy. He stared at his boots for a moment. "I'll run back and get them."
"We'll catch you when you get back here," said Ben, stripping down to his undershorts. "Unless you want to hunt for a pet fish like Red here."
"I'm after a pet chupacapra! And if there's only me here when you get back," I said, "there's no need to go looking for people who might be drowning out in the middle of the creek. Definitely no need at all."
We left the full pails of water on the far bank in the shade of the trees, figuring that it was a small enough town that no-one would be likely to wander off with them, and headed up the tree-dotted slope in search of the caves that I thought I'd seen the previous evening. The changed light of early morning made it hard to be sure about where we were looking, but I figured that it was a little under half-way up and over to the left, so we oriented ourselves slightly northwards and spread out to shouting distance, and started tramping up the hill, poking into anything that might be interesting.
"Turkey!" yelled Ben, and there was an eruption of noise and feathers and three large birds flew overhead.
"Nice," I called back. "Don't do that with the chupacapra, ok?"
Echoing laughter was the only answer I got. We moved more slowly than I'd expected; there was a lot of scrub and the tree-density varied quite a bit. From time to time one or two of us would get a relatively clear patch and then have to wait for the others to catch up so that we could be sure we'd covered everything of importance. So it was almost noon before Jimmy's voice sang out, "Cave!"
Greg - clearly.
Really enjoyed all the details you included in this one. And their camaraderie continues to shine through brightly :)
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