A few days went by and then John packed a small suitcase and headed out again, he took me to one side before he left and told me that he had to go look for work but would be home soon.

  And that is actually the way it was. He was gone for only two days and he was back. Senior arrived home about the same time; he was wearing a big grin and said to John, “I heard on the radio, you’ve been assigned to Pender Harbour.”

  My ears perked up, Pender Harbour? I know Pender Harbour! A flash of memory shot through, I liked it here, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Pender Harbour again.

  The thought had barely zipped through my head when John said, “Yep, Pocahontas Lookout. I think I’ll take Jerry along for company.”

  The next morning everyone was up and about quite early and soon we piled into Senior’s truck and headed down the road. We stopped at a grocery store and John bought ‘supplies’, then we headed out again. It wasn’t really a long trip and I was enjoying riding in the back with the wind blowing my ears so I was a bit disappointed when it ended sooner than I would have liked. We arrived at some place they called Madiera Park, more confusion again as some how we were also at Pender Harbour.  We met some new people although Senior seemed to know them, then John’s suitcase and our several boxes of supplies and other things were loaded onto a small boat and after saying goodbye to Senior we got on board as well. As the boat chugged along I stood out on the deck, I can’t say that I saw anything familiar but there were a few smells in the air that prodded at my memory.  The trip lasted only a few hours and then we arrived at a small wharf where a human by the name of Bob met us. Everything was loaded into another truck and we drove by a small cluster of houses and in minutes were driving up a gravel road that climbed up through trees and open places that had been logged then more trees. Some of the places were very steep and I had trouble staying in one place. It was kinda fun though.

  Eventually we slowed and came to a halt, we were at the end of the road. Everything was unloaded and John and Bob loaded some of our stuff onto some funny looking things they put on their backs. Then we started walking up a narrow path that soon turned into a steep trail. In some places I had to detour around and find an easier way. We walked, climbed rested and climbed some more for almost two hours. I was finding myself a bit winded; it had been a long time since I had last gone on real runs in the bush. Finally we came to a clearing and up above us was a small building perched on a big round rocky knob.  “Well there’s your home for a while.” Bob said.

  We climbed the last few feet; there was another human waiting for us. He appeared to about John’s age but he acted kind of weird. From what I could gather we were there to replace him, he kept repeating, “I’ve had enough, I got to go.”

  The three humans gathered inside the building, there was a lot of pointing at things in the distance and looking at paper and stuff. It didn’t mean anything to me so I wandered about exploring what I now understood was to be home.

  A short while later, they all came out side, the guy we were replacing was loaded down with a bunch of stuff. We headed back down the trail.

  I got back to the truck first so had a chance for a short rest before they arrived. But sooner than I would have liked. John had another load on his back and he and I started back up the trail while the other two left in the truck.

  By the time we got back to the top once more we were both pretty tired and although I had had a good drink out of a small spring where the trail started I had a real thirst when we finally arrived. John thankfully gave me some water then when I emptied the bowl he gave me some more. Neither of us knew it then but water was going to be the one blemish in our lives in the weeks to come.