Free Bonesetter 2 -Winter- by Laurence E Dahners Page B

as well as a deer and two goats.” He shifted his basket to his other arm, “If they keep working hard at trapping and stay lucky, I think they’ll be okay.”
    “Good…” Donte trailed off. Then she asked, as if dreading the answer, “But, if they do go hungry, will you give them some of our spirit meat?”
    “I don’t think it’s up to me. It’s up to us .” Pell looked a little mulish, “ If they worked hard and still don’t have enough food and we’ve got plenty, my vote would be to share some. If they don’t work hard and just count on us to take care of them, I think it should be their problem.”
    “You’d let the children go hungry?”
    Pell sighed and his shoulders drooped a little, “No.”
    Donte sympathetically patted Pell on the shoulder, “Yeah, that’s the problem… Well,” she said, trying for a brighter tone of voice, “did anything else interesting happen while you were there visiting?”
    “Um…” then Pell continued uncertainly, almost in a whisper, “Gia said she wanted to be mated to me.”
    Donte gasped, almost dropping her basket of grapes. Then she set the basket down so hard it bounced. She turned to clasp her arms around her son. He held his basket off to the side to give her room, “Oh! Pell! Why didn’t you tell me as soon as you saw me?!” She pushed him back out to arm’s length and narrowed her eyes, “I assume you said yes?”
    Pell nodded, unable to speak around a sudden frog in his throat. A flush rose in his face. He wasn’t sure why he felt so emotional.
    Donte hugged him hard again, overcome with reaction to the recent changes in her son’s status. It seemed hard to believe that, less than a year ago, he’d been the clumsy, bullied son of a club-footed flint worker who’d died while Pell was young. A boy who’d been cast out of his tribe because his poor judgment and inaccurate spear throwing had resulted in an injury to their best hunter. A boy who no one had thought could possibly feed himself and who everyone had expected to die soon after being cast out. Her son, who against all odds, had not only survived, but thrived . Who’d learned a new way to hunt, and hunted so successfully that he actually had too much meat.
    Extra meat that he’d found a way to preserve!
    Her son who’d eaten so well during the summer of his growth spurt that he was now taller than anyone she’d ever known. Tall, muscular… dare she say handsome? Even though she was his mother, Donte felt sure that Pell’s looks were striking. In everyone’s eyes, not just his mother’s. A feeling now confirmed by the fact that Gia wanted to mate with him. Gia was the most beautiful young woman Donte’d ever seen.
    Though, Donte had to admit, with Pell’s recent accomplishments, he could look like a mangy, half-dead, three-legged boar and girls would still be looking favorably on him.
    Donte leaned away again to look up at her son through tear rimmed eyes. “When will you have the mating ceremony?”
    “Gia wants to have it next summer,” Pell said, worried that it might indicate some reluctance on Gia’s part.
    “Oh Pell,” Donte said, a rasp in her voice. “I’m so glad!”
    Donte picked up her basket and they continued on their way back to the Cold Springs cave.
     
    When they arrived back at the cave, Pell saw Gia talking to Manute, Deltin, and Boro just outside of it. Pell felt surprised to see that Boro already looked healthier, though it’d only been a few days since Pell had last seen him. He wondered if it was only the fact that Boro had been eating better or whether it had as much to do with the death of Boro’s tormentor, Denit. Pell remembered feeling sick after Denit had bullied him.
    Donte abruptly put down her basket and ran to hug Gia. Pell bent and stacked his basket on top of hers and then picked up both to continue on to the cave.
    He didn’t feel at all comfortable dealing with all these emotions.
     
    A little later, Pell sat with Donte and Gia