Been away for a few days and didn't get here to the site. I'll quickly add some of the story as we are out early tomorrow.

From somewhere came an echoing bellow, ‘a moose?’ a shiver ran down his spine, he hurried back down the road.

  

11

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t didn’t take long to reach the small rock cairn.  Taking only the two coke bottles and the vinegar container he went back down to the small creek.  He rinsed all three things as best he could, he found a small sand deposit and finger fed sand into the two bottles and half filled them with water then shook them vigorously.  He poured their contents into the vinegar container and shook it as well then poured out the sandy mixture.  He repeated the process once more then several more times but without any sand.

  Finally satisfied he filled all three items with water, lay down and drank his fill then clambered back to where he had left his pack.  He pulled his shirt out of his pants and cut two small squares of material and forced them into the tops of the two bottles.  He jammed the two coke bottles into the pack, freed up some of the rope and tied the vinegar jug on the back.

  As he took out his compass to take a shot he remembered his jog of the day before.  The road continued eastward, it would be easier than going across country; without hesitation he slung his pack and followed the road.

  He didn’t count this time, deciding to rely on estimating when he should turn once more.  The road continued to deteriorate as it continued to get lower, after a short while it completely disappeared and only a broad creek bed remained.

  He thought ‘far enough, may as well go south, and get some distance in’.  The gravel wash continued for some time then he slowly started to gain elevation, the boulders turned to rock then to pebbles.  Trees and brush had reappeared and once more he found himself walking across a lightly forested alluvial plain.  As he walked he noticed small trails here and there in the grass, some of the trees had been gnawed.  ‘Rabbits, they have to be rabbits’ he thought.  One of them would make a decent meal, he reached up over his shoulder and pulled out the piece of pipe and continued on.  Finally, startling him, a rabbit jumped out practically from under his feet.  He ran after it brandishing the pipe, it darted about, in circles, doubling back and forth finally taking off down one of the small trails. Winded, Nat gave up.  He was no match in speed so would have to revert to using another tactic.

  After a short break, he went on.

  Occasionally he came on shallow depressions where cranberries had flourished and he ate and gathered the few berries he found, those he saved he put in the can he had salvaged.  He found more puffballs and he saved those as well. 

  Late in the afternoon the poplar and redwillow he had been walking through abruptly changed to a dense stand of young white spruce. Knowing this would slow him down and as it was getting late he decided to spend the night right where he was.

  He again made up a bed of spruce branches and his cushion, then looked about for food.  He spotted another specie of mushroom but they were a yellow color, the color of bile.  He found some more of the small stemmed ones he had eaten the night before, he picked a few believing that they would act as a sleeping aid.  He turned over the few rocks that were there but was only rewarded with four centipedes.  He returned to where he had made up his bed, he had noted some rabbit trails coming from under the spruces, he dug out the brass wire and made three snares and set them in three of the trails. 

  Then sitting on his bed he ate the berries and mushrooms stored in the quart can.  He finished his dinner by downing a coke bottle of water.

  Lying back he fell asleep in minutes. 

  Sometime later, troubled by dreams, he awoke.  A breeze was blowing rustling the leaves in the poplars and willows.  Somewhere, in the distance he heard a rumbling, a thunderstorm.  ‘Must be up in the mountains’ he thought. He tossed about, trying to get comfortable and find sleep once more. But the harder he tried the more awake he became.

  He felt about in the semi-darkness, found the quart can and feeling inside drew out a small handful of the small mushrooms, he was feeling ‘peckish’ and thought that these would serve the dual purpose of filling the void in his stomach and return him to sleep. He munched them slowly, dropping a couple but not noticing.  He lay back once more and rolled onto one side.  He felt himself sliding once more back to sleep but suddenly something hit him in the back.  He raised his head and stared at a white moose staring back at him.  He felt no surprise and as he stared he heard a voice in his mind, “Do you remember me?  We flew together one night ago.”

  Nat frowned, “I’m not sure, I remember something but ..” Then, “Yes I remember, you told me I looked pitiful.”

  “Yes I did and you still are pitiful!’

  “How can I be pitiful?” Nat replied, anger in his voice.  “Look what I did today, I found a camp and I found some useful things.”

  “Yes you did, but think you fool, why are you here hiding in the bushes, have you given any thought to changing your course, will you continue just going in one direction and eating food that only fills your belly?”

  “I’m not hiding.” Nat replied indignantly. “I’m trying to follow the easiest ground and what’s wrong with a full belly?”

  “Think about it, how far have you come in the last two days?”

 “At least twenty miles, I’m keeping to my goal.”

 “You’re not only pitiful, you’re a fool! Come with me.”

  Suddenly Nat found himself several hundred feet above the tree tops, the moose’s short tail just in front of his nose; they headed back, back over the route he had been struggling across.

  “There, that’s where you were last night, where we first met.” The voice whispered.  They flew on for a few more minutes, “There is where you were the night before; even you must be able to see that in two days you have only gone ten miles not twenty.”

 Nat looked down, ‘yes there was the small thicket where he had almost lost his pack’, he turned and drifted back to last night’s camp, he shook his head, ‘they are so close’ and in a moment he was looking down to where he was sleeping, ‘and that’s even closer’

 The moose echoed his thoughts, “And tonight is even less. Figure it out, it’s in you, memories are in you.”

  Nat looked around to say something, but he was alone.

  He awoke again, but unlike the night before, he remembered in vivid detail each word and each thing he had just seen.  “Wow that was a weird one.” He muttered then rolled over and fell into a deep sleep.