Haven Widows, Orphans, and Strangers

Haven Chapter Six Fearless Five, Band of the Hand

Dedicated to EndlessEmbarrassment because she was one of the first people to follow me.  Thank you!

The point of this chapter is to show more of Cam and Gar's personalities, the relationship between the members of the band and lastly Cam's role as their leader.  I think I accomplish these goals, but the chapter seems awkward towards the end to me.  i'm going to need to rewrite it at some point.  I just havn't figured out what needs to change. 

If you have sugestions, they would be welcome.

Oh and showing some support by following and voting would be a great boost. 

 Chapter Six       

Fearless Five, Band of the Hand

     Garrett and Cameron headed back to the cabin. They were loaded down with a large six point deer tied to a limb between them.  Cam in the lead and Gar following one end of the branch on each person's shoulder.  They would eat well tonight. It was getting dark and they needed to hurry back and finish skinning the deer and butchering the meat.    

     "Hurry up, bonehead.  It’s getting dark."  Garrett said.

     "Oh shut it.  We're fine.  Butchering this deer won't take long."  Cameron retorted.

    They had been hunting only for a few hours when Cameron picked up the trail of the large buck.  Cameron was an excellent tracker, but he preferred to let Garrett take the shot.  Garrett knew it was a big brother thing.  Cam let him shoot saying that Gar had better aim, which was true enough.  Cam was no slouch with a bow and arrow.  Gar felt that part of the reason was because Cam had a need to make people feel good about themselves.  It was part of the reason everyone liked Cam.  He took the time to ask his friends about themselves and listen to what they said.  Gar tried to imitate Cam, but he just was not as good at it.  Cam always knew what to say and how to say it just right.  All the girls in Haven wanted Cam's attention.  They couldn't get enough of him.  Cam was the most popular boy their age or even out of the older boys as well.  He just had something that Gar couldn't put a finger on.  Something that just made him cooler than everyone else.  Gar was happy for his brother; he just wished he had some of it too.  Gar felt that the other boys tolerated him because of Cam.  Maybe it was all in his head, imagined by Gar.  Ehh who knows, nothing he could do about it anyway.

     "There's the cabin." Cameron said.  He was in the lead of course.  Cameron never got lost.  He always knew where he was. 

     "We can hang the deer from that tree and cut the meet."  Pointing to a large redwood of to the side of the cabin.

    "Sure, just hurry up, this thing is getting heavy."  Gar retorted.

    As if on cue, Bull and Laddie came running and barking.  Cam had made Gar leave the dogs at the cabin.  He said it was not fair to use the dogs to hunt.  Gar did not understand the fairness of using dogs or not.  He wasn't even sure how fairness came into hunting at all.  Fairness?  If they were going to be fair then they should not even use bows or any weapons, just their bare hands.  Whatever...  Gar let Cam have his way.  Cam was as good as any hunting dog at finding prey anyway.  

     They finished their work quickly, spitting out jabs at one another the whole time.  This was their way of passing the time quickly when they had to do chores together.  They insulted one another and laughed the whole time.  They cut out the good meat and threw the scraps to the dogs, who were yelping and carrying on excitedly.  Their parents had always been amazed at the amount of work the two could get done while sounding like two people fighting the entire time.  They packed most of the meat in salt, but kept a few choice cuts to cook right away.