Free Finding Home by Ali Spooner Page B

Nat disappeared into the barn for a length
of rope which she used to hoist the buck above the
ground.
     
    “ Would you mind going down
to your smokehouse and starting the fire I have laid there?” Nat
asked.
     
    “ Not at all, Nat,” Marissa
said as she took the rifles inside and then disappeared down the
path to her house with Gyp closely in tow.
     
    Nat quickly removed the buck’s pelt and
draped it across one of the porch railings. She then began
sectioning out the buck in quarters, carving out the ribs and loin
meat. She carefully laid the meat on the stump she had used to chop
firewood as she finished off cutting up the carcass. She laid the
bucks head to the side. He would make a beautiful display that she
would treat and mount for sale in town. Nat hated to waste any part
of an animal and would put as much of it to good use as
possible.
     
    Marissa was returning to the cabin when
Nat turned around next and she asked her to bring her the large box
of salt from the cupboard. When she returned, Nat asked, “Do you
want to watch how I do this?”
     
    “ Yes, I would,” she
answered.
     
    “ Take the rib sections and I
will carry the quarters,” Nat said.
     
    They carried the meat down to the
smokehouse and laid it across a small table. “Would you get us a
bucket of water?” she asked.
     
    Marissa disappeared and came back
moments later with a bucket of water. She watched as Nat rinsed off
a large hind quarter and then sprinkled the meat with a generous
portion of the salt. She then tied the quarter to the rafter above
the fire and reached for the second. Marissa had already rinsed it
and Nat watched as she coated with meat with the preserving salt.
The ribs had to be strung on meat hooks to suspend them over the
fire and soon they had hung all the meat for smoking except the
loin. Nat took her knife and cut five large steaks before treating
the rest of the meat and hanging it.
     
    “ Supper,” she said as she
picked up the steaks and rinsed them in the water.
     
    Marissa returned the bucket to the
porch and followed Nat and Gyp back to her cabin. Nat laid the meat
on a small table and went outside to wash up from the
hunt.
     
    “ Why don’t you make us some
biscuits,” Nat said as she began to season the steaks. “I think I
still have a few potatoes left that I can slice and fry with the
steaks,” she said.
     
    “ Sounds good,” Marissa said
as she located the flour and started making dough.
     
    Marissa placed the tray of biscuits on
the embers as Nat sliced the potatoes and dropped them into the two
skillets where the steaks were already cooking. She placed a lid on
each of the skillets and walked over to Marissa.
     
    “ Nothing to do but wait,”
she said as they walked to the table to sit.
     
    “ You did well today,” Nat
said. “That deer meat will last for several months and will help us
survive if the winter gets too harsh to travel into town,” she
said.
     
    “ You made everything look so
easy,” Marissa said. “I am not sure I will make much of a hunter,”
she admitted.
     
    “ That is no problem,” Nat
said. “Hunting is all I know and I can keep us in meat all winter
long if needed,” she said. “There is no need for you to kill,” she
said.

    Marissa blushed, but she knew Nat was
correct in her assessment. She would go hungry before she would
pull the trigger on an animal and Marissa knew this and accepted it
politely.
     
    “ As long as you keep making
biscuits, we will make a great team,” Nat said with a smile and
reached over to cover Marissa’s hand with hers.
     
    “ You have a deal, my
friend,” Marissa said and returned her smile, relieved that Nat was
not disappointed in her.
     
    Nat pulled off her work shirt and
rinsed it in the bucket she used for washing clothes and hung it by
the fire to dry. Marissa admired Nat’s taut upper body as she moved
about the cabin in her undershirt.
     
    Nat turned away from a task and caught
Marissa watching her.