So be it

Lil'Red

I placed the last of my efforts at hook-making on the ground beside me. I looked at them closely. I had lost count of how many I had made, yet I could tell my earlier efforts from their chunkiness. Still I thought most of them would work.

A low laugh made me look up and I could not help but smile a little. Jinx and Gloria were sitting crosslegged on a blanket, talking quietly to themselves. It had taken them almost two weeks to recognise the sparks that flew between them.

They had been taking it easy, clearly neither of them wanting to rush into things. It would be too easy to rush given the circumstances. Waking up on a different world without the comfortable trappings of civilisation made one crave companionship.

I could understand. Even I craved it for some odd reason. I shook my head at myself. I had been a bachelor for a long time, having neither the time nor the heart to get into the game. I had even accepted that of myself. I was better off alone than burdening another with my problems. So be it.

That was back there, in the world we had left behind. Here, where the darkness was illuminated only by the fire's weak light and the still unfamiliar stars, one craved the touch of another human being. We were adrift, all of us even if some did not want to accept it, and any anchor would do.

Jinx and Gloria were trying hard not to fall into that trap. The trap that made night-time an exercise in trying to keep the noises from around the campfire from striking an unquenchable thirst in my belly. I did not begrudge the others their desire or indeed their need. Sometimes I just wished they could keep the volume down.

Absently I brushed the wood-chips from my lap and wiped the knife down. I returned it to its sheath even as I felt the presence of another beside me. I didn't turn to look. If they wanted something, they would try to attract my attention.

Even after almost a month, I was still not comfortable with the people in our small community. It had grown a bit, the community, since the early days with someone coming in every couple of days or so.

"Fishing hooks?" Lil' Red asked me in her usual low tones.

I nodded at her without looking up. It was rest day as had been decided just last evening but I have never been good at keeping still. With my impromptu hook-making finished, I cast around for something else to do.

"I was thinking..."

Lil' Red's voice pulled me from my, as usual, disorganised thoughts. That I had not heard before. She was a hard worker Lil' Red, never complaining. Still I had not once heard her offer an opinion or a plan.

Not that most of the plans, or indeed opinions, offered nightly around the two campfires were much use. Silently I chided myself. Everyone was doing the best they could, even Amanda and that loud-mouthed Venezuelan that had stumbled into our camp a week or so past.

Still I swore I could not hear another stupidity coming out of someone's mouth. Someone had even thrown the amazing idea that we could get a hydro-electric facility going in the river. That still made me crack up every time I thought about it. The saddest thing was that whoever had said it had actually been serious.

Cynicism aside Lil' Red had not come up with something before. I liked the little redhead, or at least she had not managed to get into my stupid list. Not yet at least. I looked up at her and wordlessly patted the patch of ground next to me. I would not get a crick in my neck looking up at her.

Slowly, almost hesitantly, she sat beside me, tucking her knees under her body. I expected her to talk but she didn't. Instead she took something out of her jacket and left it just in front of me.

As soon as I looked at it, I could feel my irritation coming to life. Not that again. That had been a shouting match to remember when some idiot had started cutting a blanket into strips to make rope. Not even Gloria had kept her cool over that. I had been ready to thrash the little idiot to within an inch of her life.

The memory of that event alone kept me from uttering any angry words. Lil' Red had been there and I could remember her shaking her head at the idiot. I could not believe she would have made the same mistake. She was quiet but she had not struck me as a fool.

I took the long piece of string in my hands and immediately stifled a sigh of relief. Even from casual touch it was clear that it did not come from any of our precious blankets. I looked at it closely before testing it gingerly. It held well and I exerted a bit more pressure. It still held as I started truly trying to break it. I was impressed at its strength.

Most importantly I was stumped. I could not tell what it was made of. I turned slowly to look at Lil' Red. She was not looking at me, her eyes having clearly found something terribly interesting on the ground in front of her.

"How did you make it?" I asked, surprised to hear the gentleness in my voice.

She cleared her throat before answering me shyly. "Tendons from last hunt."

Tendons? Fuck! I wanted to hit my head against the wall, only there were no true walls near me and it would make me look even more foolish that I felt. I should have thought of that. Stupido!

"It looks strong. Can you make more?" The words came out, surprising me. For some reason my inner irritation did not come out in my voice, not even a little bit. Instead I sounded interested and encouraging. I wanted to laugh at myself. Trust me to go into teaching mode at the slightest opportunity.

"I can't make much. Not enough material. But... I think... enough for fishing lines?" Lil' Red replied hesitantly, the last coming out more as a question.

I nodded at her. She was right. The string looked strong. It would certainly be worth a go. It was not like we had all that much line left and I had been drawing up blanks trying to find a way to make more. All my experiments with strips of bark and the like having come to absolute naught.

"You should tell Gloria," I said finally.

I felt Lil' Red stiffening next to me and I tensed in instinctive reaction.

"I thought maybe you could..." she said, almost stammering.

I shook my head negatively even before two words had left her lips. My voice was strong, almost cool. "Your idea, you tell her. You did good, Lil' Red."

Lil' Red looked at me questioningly, as if she didn't quite believe me. I nodded as emphatically as I could without looking like one of those nodding dogs. Carefully I put the string in her hand, squeezing it slightly.

She nodded at me finally before standing up and slowly walking to where Gloria and Jinx were still talking in low voices. I watched her with a smile. I knew she was a smart one. 

Chapter end 

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