The price of anything is the amount of life you
exchange for it. –Henry David Thoreu
When
the deer left we looked at each other and smiled and then we became embarrassed
at our openness and quickly looked away. I crawled out of the tent and went and
sat by the fire pit. I picked up a stick and started to stir the ashes in the
hopes of finding some hot coals left over from the night. I didn’t know how to
deal with the raw emotions I had felt towards Teresa. I didn’t even know her, hell;
I didn’t know anyone in my camp. We had all really only met the day before.
Well, with the exceptions of the Pi’s and Kevin. I was so lost in trying to sort out my
emotions that I did not hear Teresa approach me from behind.
“Hey,
everything ok? You sprinted out of the tent like your hair was on fire.”
I
turned and looked at her, her hair was a mess but looked amazing; the rising
sun seemed to accentuate the brown ringlets as they bounced off her shoulders.
Her face, mostly covered by shadows only showed hints at the sparkle of her
eyes and teeth, my eyes traveled slowly down her body, her Journey concert
t-shirt was clinging tightly to her torso accentuating her curves and making it
uncomfortable for me to sit on the overturned log. “I’m fine.” I lied. “I just
needed to get out of the tent. Besides, everyone will be up soon and I need to
get the fire going and see what sort of rations we have to eat.”
“Is
there anything I can do to help?”
“Sure,
if you could get my backpack and the plastic bag sitting next to it and bring
it here that would be great.”
She
turned and left.
With
my distraction gone, I set out to get the fire going once again. I managed to
find several hot coals and within minutes I had a small fire going. I checked
all the pots and pans to make sure they were clean, only two were a bit dirty
so took them down to the pond and rinsed them out as best as I could. When I
got back to the fire pit Teresa had taken out all the food in the backpack and
bag. I looked over everything and realized I didn’t have any meat. I asked
Teresa to start getting some water to boil, grabbed the .22 rifle and went out
to check my traps I had sent over twenty-four hours earlier.
Thirty
minutes later as I approached camp I saw the campfire was going well and my
camp-mates were all awake and sitting around the campfire nursing sore heads. I walked past them all and hung my catch from
a tree limb while I put the gun away. When I crawled out of the tent I saw
Little Pi standing by the fresh kills.
“How’d
you get those?” he asked.
“I
set some traps the other day. Don’t know when they were sprung but they don’t
look like any other animals have messed with them and there were no flies on
them so they should be good to eat. I just have to skin and clean them. Then we
can eat.”
“Can
I watch?”
I
looked at him and realized I had promised him I would show him some camping
skills yesterday, “Sure. If you think you’re up to it.” I said as I untied the
two squirrels and rabbit from the tree. “I don’t think we should do it by the
campfire though. There is a real nice rock over by the pond we can use and once
we clean them we can wash them off.”
“Ok.”
We
walked quietly to what I had come to call “the slaughter rock” in my head. When
we got there I placed the food down, pulled out my knife and started the
skinning process. I described to Little Pi each cut and slice. I had him hold
each animal’s front legs as I peeled the fur from them and I showed him how to
not cut through the intestines and stomach as I gutted them. He was fascinated
and asked many questions. By the time we got to the last squirrel I handed him
the knife and guided his hand as he inserted it into the soft belly of
breakfast.
We
washed the animals in the pond and I tossed the innards in the water for the
fish to eat. I then took the furs and laid them flat on the rock, fur side down
so they could dry. We then headed back to the fire pit. Little Pi wanted to
carry the animals so I let him, as we approached we could hear moans and groans
from just about everyone sitting around the fire. “Morning guys.” I said. “Hope
you’re hungry. Mother Nature has provided us with a feast.” And that is when
Little Pi started to wave around the skinned carcasses of breakfast.
The
campsite was filled with sounds of gagging and several members headed for the
bushes. I looked at Teresa and she was standing over the fire laughing, Kevin
had fallen off his log and was holding his stomach. Big Pi and Mike were two of
the members making some terrible wrenching noises from the bushes. I let out a
chuckle and grabbed the skillet, filled it with some oil, and then I started to
dismember breakfast and toss the bits and pieces into the skillet.
By
the time the meat had seared, everyone in our party had returned from relieving
their bodily fluids and the scent of fresh food filled our own safe harbor.
When the meat had been cooked enough I gently place each piece into the pot of
boiling water along with a can of corn, peas, beans along with a liberal amount
of salt and pepper. The aroma of the food started everyone’s stomach rumbling
and mouths salivating.
“How
long ‘til it’s done?” Mikey questioned.
I
stirred the pot and looked into it, bits of vegetables floated in a clockwise
manner and every now and then a piece of meat would pop up to the surface. “It
should be about twenty or thirty more minutes.” I replied. “Say, I have some aspirin
in my medical kit, if you all want some you’re welcome to it, also, if you take
a quick swim it might help clear your minds a bit before we eat.”
Everyone
wanted some and I told Teresa where the medical kit was and she went and got it
and passed out the over the counter pain killer to everyone and then all the
guys headed to the pond and stripped down to their underwear and waded in. The
girls all hung out at the campfire staring flames. “Don’t any of you girls want
to take a dip?” I asked.
“We
didn’t bring any bathing suits and we can’t just strip down naked with those
over excited knuckleheads.” Karen answered for all the ladies.
“You
could go in your underwear like the guys.” I suggested. “It’s going to be a
while and there really is nothing to do but sit around and wait for the food to
cook. Unless you want to gather more firewood or get some water so we can boil
it and have it for later.”
The
girls all went about their way, except for Teresa, she hung with me and she
filled me in on the dynamics of the group. It seemed to me that everyone had
pretty much tried to date everyone else. Well, as long as they weren’t related.
And I had come into the fold just as all the bad feelings and resentment had
started to settle.
“Do
you think anyone will make a big deal of you and I crashing together last
night?” I asked her.
“Nah,
from what I understand I was dared to go in there and I’m not really interested
in anyone in the group. Sure, Mikey and I used to fool around a bit but that
was months ago.” Teresa said off-handedly.
One
by one the group returned, the guys soaking wet and the girls with armloads of
dried limbs. I checked the food and all the vegetables and meat was floating on
the surface. “Chow is ready, time to dig in. I don’t have much in the way of
camp silverware but I’m sure we can share.”
“Don’t
worry about that.” Mikey said, “I brought along a bunch of silverware and
bowls. We can just divvy everything up.”
Big
Pi spooned the food out, and handed the bowls to his brother who passed them
around to everyone. We all ate in silence and when we were finished everyone
had a smile on their face.
“Ya
know, we should show Skip the haunted house today.” Karen said.
“What
haunted house?” I asked and I looked into the grinning, mischievous eyes of camaraderie.
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