Free It Was 2052, High Haven by J. Richardson Page A

monsoonal rain
storm swept away. At the rocks, the flood was back to merely a
trickle. She looked for tracks, longed
to see big
paw prints and found only a
few hoof trails of deer. The sandy loam was still damp, a campfire would not be likely. She dug around in
her supplies and took out an old large metal can. The can had a hole
cut near the bottom, a smaller can with a hole was inside. Twigs
could be stuffed in and a small hot fire built, a make do stove. She
managed to find enough dry sticks, leaves and grass to get the stove
going and heat some
water for tea.
    The booted feet emerged
from the woods and approached the small wisp of smoke. Cissy handed
him a cup of warm tea with a dollop of honey.
    “ Thanks.” His
hair had dried all tangled and pushed up in the back and he seemed to
be shaking out the night of sleep on the hard ground, pacing around
and walking out the kinks.
    “ I looked for
footprints,” she said. “Nothing but a few deer tracks.”
    He looked out across
their surroundings, smoothed down the wild hair with one hand and
sipped the tea. “Got any more of those biscuits?”
    Cissy
unfolded a cloth, took out another cold biscuit and a piece of bacon
and handed it to him. Funny, he seems to have resigned
himself to losing the dog. “Do
you think Peaches would head back to the community? He was pretty
frightened, I imagine. We could hang in here for today, do some
searching. Actually, everything in my pack is wet. I wouldn't mind
spreading out some things and letting them dry before we move on.”
    “ That's probably a
good idea, we can do that. You're right though, maybe Peaches will
find us. I'll do some looking today but we'll not backtrack or stay
more than a day. I hope he didn't head back to the community, that
would really concern your parents.”
    “ I
hadn't thought of that.” As
determined as she was to make this journey, she hated the idea of
causing worry to her parents. She began to pull things from her pack and find places to spread them
out in the sun that ascended quick and warm.
    It
seemed that it was short time until she was re-packing the dried out items in her pack and
they once again prepared for
the night. No amount of searching, calling and whistling had brought the gangly
dog back to the travelers
this day.
    The
sun of the day had dried the ground enough t o
allow them to build a small
campfire. Supper was rice and the rest of the cooked bacon. “I'm
sorry we didn't find the dog,” she said as
they ate.
    “ Nothing
to be done about it. We'll be back on our trail tomorrow. Here, give
me your bowl.” The
bowls, two spoons and a small tin pan went into a cloth. He
walked away toward the narrow
and shallow stream that still
flowed, unwrapped and rubbed
a bar of soap from his pocket on the dishes, bent and rinsed them. He wrapped everything
back in
the cloth and returned to the fireside.
    Cissy
was placing a dry piece of wood on the fire when the high pitched
howl of a lone coyote floated across the open spaces . The single cry was soon answered by the shrill keening of a pack. She was well
accustomed to the howling of the coyotes but she had never liked the eerie yips and yelps. Attempting
to not appear bothered, she stoked the blaze, “Sound pretty
close, huh?”
    “ Not very far, I'd
say. You go ahead and get some sleep, I'll take the first watch and
keep the fire alive. Without Peaches to alert us, one of us better
be awake.”
    She
didn't argue with him, curled up on the ground on an old quilt she
had managed to roll up and tie to her pack. H er
eyes closed with the thought that a big dog like Peaches could possibly fight off
a lone coyot e--- even
larger animals w ould
be taken down by a pack. She dozed, she
had never been a heavy sleeper. The unwelcoming ground made her shift her position, seek some comfort. T hrough slitted eyes she saw Taylor standing on the other side of the smoldering
fire. In the triangle of his wide stance she caught the skulking
shadow and then