Free Forager (9781771275606) by Ron Scheer Page B

words fed my desire. I wanted to be out there looking
for that alternator, but what was I going to do about
Chane?
    “ What about the mayor? I don’t think he’s going to let me go
Foraging with his daughter missing.”
    “ Don’t worry about him. He can’t stop you. He knows I have the
authority to commandeer anything or anyone to help me Forage. I
don’t even need to tell him, but I will. I take it you’re
willing?”
    I nodded. I wanted to go, but at the same time I didn’t like
abandoning Chane. I tried to tell myself that there was a whole
town looking for her, and it wouldn’t make any difference who found
her. Naturally, it didn’t work.
    Three sharp raps on my RV brought me back to reality. Opening
the front door, I found Jason looking at me expectantly. “Are you
about done in there? We need to keep searching for my
sister.”
    “ Dillon won’t be joining you. Continue the search without him,”
Sawyer replied.
    “ My father is not gonna like that. In fact, you both should be
out here searching,” Jason said.
    “ We’re headed to the mayor right now.” Sawyer waved his hand
toward the street. “If you want to find your sister, you’d best get
looking. Dillon, if you’d help me to my horse?”
    Jason threw his arms in the air and stomped off.
    It took a while to saddle Sawyer’s horse, which was a lot
harder than I thought. Turns out I’d done things backwards last
night—I should have unwound the long leather strap to undo the
girth and left the buckle alone. With his instructions, I fumbled
about with blankets and buckles and straps until everything was
secured to his liking.
    Actually getting Sawyer in the saddle was a chore of its
own. He grabbed the saddle with both hands to support himself,
balancing carefully on his injured leg and putting his left knee in
my cupped hands. I lifted straight up until
he was high enough that he could roll himself into position. A
painful grunt escaped his lips as he swung his leg over the
saddle. Even
through his jeans. he felt warm. Too warm.
    “ Sawyer, you’re burning up!”
    “ Just a bit of fever.” His voice held firm despite his obvious
pain. “It’s all the more reason for you to take my place. Let’s go.
There’s a lot to do before you can set out tomorrow.”
    “ Tomorrow.” I sighed heavily. “Why not today?” I started
walking and Sawyer, on his horse, followed.
    “ There’s too much to do. We have to gather information and let
people know what’s happening. Seriously, Dillon, do you even know
what an alternator looks like? Do you have any idea where to find
one? What tools you’ll need? And, another thing, have you ever
ridden?”
    “ No.”
    “ It’s not hard to learn the basics, especially if the horse is
held to a walk. Galloping, though, that’s a whole different
ballgame. I can only hope you don’t meet anyone out there,” he
waved his hand to indicate the countryside, “who’s looking for
trouble. I can’t teach you everything you should know about riding
in the daylight we have left, but if you pay attention, you should
be fine.”
    “ What? Sawyer, wait, I’ve never taken care of a horse. I don’t
know what to do.”
    “ Fred’s easy. Just feed and water her, and give her a good
grooming when you’re done riding for the day,” he said.
    “ Fred?”
    “ Fred.”
    “ But…”
    “ Yeah, she’s a mare.”
    “ Okay.” I did my best not to laugh. For
some reason naming a mare Fred struck my funny bone. Thankfully, Sawyer was behind me, on the horse. I couldn’t
stop the tears running down my face, but I bit my bottom lip and
held in the laughter. He might have seen my shoulders shake, but he
didn’t say anything.
    After stopping a few of the searchers, we discovered that the
mayor was at the infirmary. This gave me an idea. When we arrived,
I made Sawyer wait outside. Hurrying in, I was back in less than a
minute with a surprise for Sawyer.
    “ That kind of forward thinking is exactly what makes a