Free Strange Creatures of Dr. Korbo by Gilbert L. Morris

I’d like to try something.”
    â€œWe don’t have time for any more breaks.”
    Ignoring Dave, Reb said, “What’s on your mind, Gus?”
    â€œThat grain out there is pretty sorry stuff, but we could harvest it. See—the heads on it are fully grown.”
    Josh walked over to the grain and plucked a handful. “You’re right. It’s ready. But what could we do with it?”
    â€œWe could pick enough of it to make some kind of meal. We could crunch it up.”
    â€œWe don’t have time for that, Gus!” Dave growled. “Let’s go!”
    â€œWe could use a little something besides milk and dried meat,” Gus suggested. “We could crush it maybe and make something like flour or cornmeal. And then we could cook some mush.”
    â€œOh, that would be wonderful!” Meta said with a broad smile. “The babies need something besides milk, too. What a smart man you are!”
    Gus glanced at Meta. She was beaming at him. “Well, I suppose you’re right about that. Anyway, I don’t know much about babies, but I could use a little mush myself.”
    Dave still argued against stopping, but everyone was tired. Meta and Abbey cared for the babies while the rest went to gather a harvest of the wild grain.
    Jake found a large flat rock with a hollow in it. Then he went looking for one that would just about fit into the hollow place. He came back wearing a big smile. “Let’s try this out,” he said.
    He poured some grain into the hollow place, then began pushing down on it with the smaller stone. He turned the small stone around and around. After doing this awhile, he took it away and grinned. “See. Cornmeal.”
    â€œHey, that’s great!” Wash said. “I’ll get a fire started, and we can have mush and milk.”
    They took turns grinding grain until they had ground enough to make mush for everyone.
    While this was going on, Gus wandered off and came back with some roots. “These are almost like sweet potatoes,” he said. “I eat them all the time.”
    It was a cheerful time for all when they sat down to hot mush and sweet potatoes.
    â€œWe’ll try to bring down a deer or something when we can,” Reb said, “but this goes down mighty well.”
    Josh had become very attached to the baby he carried, although he would not have admitted it. Her name, Meta told him, was Susan. He chuckled as he fed her spoonfuls of mush, for she would swallow some and the rest would just come leaking out. He became expert at catching it with a spoon and shoveling it back in again.
    Sarah was watching him with a smile. Her own infant, a boy named Bobby, had already gone to sleep. “Susan is a slow eater,” she said.
    â€œSusie just enjoys her food.” Josh continued to spoon in the mush, saying, “She’s a good baby. Probably the best of all of them.”
    â€œYou’re just proud of her because she’s yours.”
    â€œI guess so. Funny how we tend to think things like that.” He studied the baby’s face and saw that she was getting sleepy. He fed her the rest of her mush and then put her on his shoulder. He patted her back until eventually he was rewarded with a thunderous burp.
    â€œYou do that so well. You’ll be a wonderful father.” Sarah smiled shyly at him. “A wonderful husband too.”
    Josh stared at her blankly, wondering where that idea came from. Then he automatically looked up into the trees again. “I’m glad we haven’t been attacked by any of those giant squirrels or any bats. But I have to say I’m worried about tonight—sleeping out in the open. Those bats could come down on us at any time. Miss Viona said they fly even in the daylight sometimes.”
    â€œYou ought to see to it that we stop early and findsome kind of shelter. Maybe another cave,” Sarah told him.
    â€œDave wouldn’t like that.