Daydream

Chapter 5

Heidi was first to move; she crouched up, wiping gravel and vomit off the side of her face before leaving Sammy, still asleep, where she was. Stretching, she noticed many small scrapes covering her arms and legs. Still, sore and hungry gnawing at her insides, Heidi searched for dry wood to start a smokeless fire. As she did that, she extended her sense to find a small animal she might be able to catch; noticing several rabbit warrens nearby, she smiled st the thought of roast rabbit. And there's blackberries behind that eucalyptus, and wattle flowers I can use for tea. That's Sammy's favourite.

Soon she had a small fire burning near Sammy, who was beginning to stir. She collected the berries in her shirt, holding it up with her right hand to create a temporary bucket while picking the sticky berries with her left hand.

She dumped them on the ground next to the fire, on a flat rock with the wattle flowers before unsheathing her knife and making her way toward a rabbit nest. She decided on one where the entrance was just below a small, gnarled tree. Making no sound to disturb the rabbits, she silently climbed to a lower branch and waited, curled in a crouch, knife in hand. Dawn was beginning, pale pink in the east, when they began to come out. First hesitantly, deciding whether the strange smell was danger. When Heidi saw three rabbits touch noses just below her, she took her chances, dropping onto the rabbits and quickly killing two before the others had scampered away. Heidi smiled; it had only taken a half-hour to collect food for their dawn meal. Running back to camp elated, she found Sammy awake and setting up a boiling pot over the fire with the canvas bag she had.

"Rabbits!" she giggled.

"Sure Sammy, and wattle flowers and berries," Heidi replied, dropping to the ground and quickly gutting them, putting the heart, liver and tiny kidneys to one side. She the speared them with the metal prong Sammy had handed to her, and balancing them over the fire, first scorching the fur away before setting them over hot coals. Sammy had the water boiling, crumbing the wattle leaves and some berries into the water. The water turned a pale purple, and continued to brew.

"I'm glad we have meat, but we should find a stream somewhere and wash our clothes- it will take all day for them to dry in this weather," Sammy commented, as she pointed toward the vomit that both she and Heidi had splattered over their shirts, jackets and trackie pants.

"Yeah, I thought I heard one back that way," Heidi jabbed her finger in the direction of the blackberry bush as she pulled the rabbits off the fire, "We can leave our stuff her, we'll only be a half-hour."

Sammy groaned and followed her, rubbing her stomach. It took nearly fifteen minutes to find the icy stream, before stripping off and scrubbing their clothes with their hands. Soon their hands were stiff with cold, but the girls didn't just stop with their clothes; they jumped in, leaving their clothes drying in the sun, and scrubbed each other with clean gravel and strong-smelling flowers; Heidi's hands, caked in dirt and rabbit blood, revealed themselves to be exceptionally scraped and bruised; Sammy had a swollen and bruised shoulder. Both girls had scapes over almost all of their bodies, some going red with minor infections, others itchy and scabby and healing. The girls looked terrible, but felt refreshed, clean and strong.

"Breakfast," they grinned, picking up their still-wet clothes and chasing each other back to their camp.

The fire welcomed them cheerily as they sat down, lying their clothes out again, and began to eat. Dripping rabbit still pink on the insides, steam rising from the meat and making the girls tastebuds water. Soon the rabbit was gone, bones cracked open for marrow and thrown on the fire. The tea was poured back into their canvas water bags, berries devoured as dessert.

"Hunger makes everything taste better," Sammy grinned, licking her fingers and stretching.

"Definitely, the tea was delicious. Really sweet, too, which is great for later in the day," Heidi complimented, copying Sammy's stretch.