15C sunny
Served as a marker at the singles bowls yesterday. Two of our friends from our club did well.

.  “Wow that was a weird one.” He muttered then rolled over and fell into a deep sleep.

12

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at awoke to a thrashing noise.  It startled him and he rolled quickly off his bed, the thought in his mind that a moose was charging through the brush.  Coming fully awake he shook his head sheepishly at his fear and looked around. In one of his snares a rabbit gave one last spasm and lay still. “Gotcha!” He yelled. “By god I got one!”

  Making sure the rabbit was dead, he took it out of the snare, then gathering all three snares put them away.  He skinned out the rabbit and gutted it; he noticed as he worked that there was no sun this morning and some dark clouds were overhead.  He ate the raw liver and the still quivering heart but stopped short of chewing on the rabbit itself.  ‘I have to see if those matches are any good’ he thought.

  He gathered up some dry grass and small twigs and made a small pile; he pulled out the oil bottle with the kerosene and poured a small amount on one corner of the pile.  Then taking out the matches he examined them, they all looked good so choose one and struck it on the box. It sparked, started to light then fizzled.  “God damn it, almost, I’ll try another.”  He took out another one, but this time rubbed it on his pant leg until it felt warm, holding it close to where he had dribbled the kerosene he scratched it on the box, it sparked, flared and a tiny flame leapt from the match to the kerosene soaked fuel and he had a fire!

  He fed more twigs then breaking off dry branches from the larger of the poplar trees he added them to the fire. Hurrying he took the hatchet and cut a long willow stem, sharpened it and ran it through the body of the rabbit.  He jammed one end of the stick in the ground and using a rock as support suspended the rabbit over the flames.  He then hurried about gathering more wood. He found a poplar almost four inches through that had died but was still standing. He wrenched it out of the ground, breaking off the roots and snapped and chopped it into short lengths.  He added more fuel whenever the fire began to get low.  He salivated as the aroma of the cooking meat pervaded the air. 

  He tried to rotate the stick but the rabbit kept slipping back to a position where only one side was exposed to the fire.  He took a stick and cleared the embers into two parallel rows and laid the rabbit between them then pulled the coals over the rabbit and added more wood.

  He was having trouble waiting for it to cook, so busied himself with repacking and preparing for the day ahead.  Finally unable to wait any longer, he pulled the coals aside and taking the meat sat down, tore off a leg and ate greedily.

  ‘Got to save some’ he thought, ‘I’ll eat this leg and some of the meat over the ribs and save the rest.’

  As he chewed he stared into the dying fire, he started to recall the “dream” of the night before.  Then it flooded back in vivid reality, every word every action, the flight over his sleeping spots all flashed through his mind, so real. ‘Was it only a dream? So real, so real.’

  With that recall he went on and saw again the boy that was he and Terri, oh Terri a sob rose in his throat. The words, “pitiful” and “you’re a fool” echoed through his mind.  Aloud he said, “Ten miles, only ten miles in two days?”  It never occurred to him to doubt the distance to refute the visions.  With the recall came acceptance.  ‘I must look at it all again, maybe straight south isn’t the answer or maybe it is, I must be flexible, I must open my mind.’

  He gnawed the bones, he licked his fingers then packed up the rest of the meat. He raked the embers and ash together and with his hands scooped up dirt and buried the last of the fire.

  He thought of looking at the map again then decided, not here, not now.  He took a south bearing once more and plunged into the spruce trees before him.