Calypso's Mast

Chapter 7 - Tropical Storm

They didn't eat until mid-afternoon.

By the time Banning had slung the carcass up in the tree, close to where the Toyota was parked, and he had dressed it, fabricated a rough frame from some branches to skewer it for cooking and got a good fire going on the other side of the cavern so that they wouldn't get smoked out, it was a few hours.

Then it took another couple of hours to cook over the heart warming fire in the cave. All the while, the smell filled the whole cavern with a mouth-watering barbeque odour. It made them even hungrier.

"You know what?" said O'Grady, "Do you think Percy knew that his mission in life was to provide nourishment for some humans? I think I could handle some of that, right now. It smells delicious."

Banning grinned knowingly as he repositioned the cooking beast on the rotisserie.

"You know, when I was in Thailand, I was travelling in the north of the country and I saw a man selling fried flies at a roadside stand."

Pitcher blanched and O'Grady screwed up her face.

"Oh, Yuck! How could you eat that?" said Pitcher.

"They're actually quite high in protein, apparently. They're cooked, so the germs are dead. The man was very poor and there were a lot of other very poor people there. They eat flies. They have to. They can't afford anything else."

"Oh God! I could never do it. You didn't eat them did you?" said O'Grady.

"I'm always up for something new," he paused with a smirk. Their eyes went really wide and he continued, "But no. I think I would have to be really stuck for food, before I considered it. Maybe in a survival situation, I would."

"You had me worried," said Pitcher.

"Bear Grills eats live spiders and caterpillars and bugs and things," said O'Grady.

"The survivor commando guy? Sure he eats them on TV. It's the perfect recipe for selling shows worldwide. People love being revolted by it. I'll bet my right arm that he eats fillet steak when he's not on the set," said Banning.

"Would you eat spiders and flying foxes and bugs if you had to?" asked Pitcher.

"If I had to, I would," said Banning. "That said, if I have a choice, I'll eat the best that's available. Today, it's roast pig."

"I guess it's better than cooked cave-bat or something," said Pitcher.

"I can't think of anything worse," shivered O'Grady looking around the roof of the cavern.

When they finally ate, it was very satisfying. They sat around the fire and sliced off large chunks of meat with Banning's big bush-knife and ended up eating most of the piglet. Even Suzi got a whole fore-quarter to herself.

"Thank you, Percy, for your contribution to our well-being. You have successfully achieved your mission on this earth," said Banning as he addressed the remains of the decimated carcass still hanging from the timber rotisserie.

"I can't help thinking he was just a baby," said O'Grady between mouthfuls. "I have to admit though, he tastes sweet."

"Don't think about it or you will end up starving yourself," said Banning.

"I feel sorry for potatoes when I boil them. I wonder what they are feeling," said Pitcher.

"Oh my God, you've got to be kidding," said Banning in mock horror. He didn't have the heart to tell them the piglet was a female.

It seemed that the rain had started. It was light rain and a stream of water dribbled into the cave from the two light apertures in the roof but it soaked into the floor or ran away somewhere. There was hardly any air movement in the cave, just enough to keep it fresh.