The Weathervane

Chapter IV - Learning

It is the second to last day before Peter gets back.  I acquire the skills needed to find wild plants and what the poisonous ones look like.  I find many plants each day and Enoch tells me the properties of each plant, he also tells me of what can happen if too much is consumed.  Enoch takes the time to explain which vitamins are in each plant, and which we can use sparingly.  After the plants I find fruit, each berry is inspected and split open to show what they look like and what the skin, seeds, and flesh give us towards our health. 

When I pick fruit, I get only what we need, if I pick too much, then the fruit will spoil and be wasted.  Vegetables are harder to find, there are wild onions by the lake.  They are identified by their tender shoots, thicker and darker green the grasses.  There are other vegetables, including radishes, which grow behind the outhouse.  Carrots can be found near the house; these are not wild though, and were planted when the land was once a farm. 

I learn to snare rabbits, at first I puke when shown how to skin it, but my stomach hardens and soon I can skin and tan a rabbit’s hide.  The tanning takes months, but is well worth the trouble.  Some of the hides we leave the fur on and some we carefully remove it so that Enoch can teach me how to make thinks out of them.  First sewing them together and then later making anything from clothing, to bags, to boots. 

“See here, the needle work in boots must be excellent, you don’t want boots that leak or tear where they have been sewn.”  Enoch explains as he shows me the sewing on a boot.  “Try not to poke yourself, and make sure that you don’t skip a stitch or sew loosely, it has to be tight and neat.”  He explains as I finish the sewing on the boot. 

Suddenly Enoch grabs me and shoves me to the floor; he puts his finger to his lips and motions me to follow him.  He crawls until we are next to the fireplace and pushes a board.  A trap door opens and he helps me into it, I get out of the way and he follows.  Enoch closes the trap door and all light is gone, I feel for him and he grabs my hand. 

“Follow me and don’t take this rope off of your arm, someone is coming and I don’t want to be surprised if they aren’t nice people.”  Enoch says and a rope slips around my wrist.  He starts crawling and I try to figure out where we are.  I can smell dirt, rich and moist.  I know we are underground and I hope that it won’t be long before we are above ground again.  Enoch and I crawl for a few minutes, although it feels like hours and suddenly Enoch stops.  I bump into him and he shushes me. 

“Listen carefully, I am going to open a trap door, we will be in the forest, hidden from the cabin.  Cover your eyes, the light will be blinding for a little while.”  A few seconds later light and fresh air reach me, I swallow as much air as I can and then slowly open my eyes and remove my hands from my face.  Once my eyes get used to the light, I take off the rope and Enoch boosts me up into the forest.  I move away from the hole and he jumps up and out.  Closing the passage he stands up and motions for me to follow him.  I follow closely and as quietly as possible.  Once we get to less cover, and less trees; he drops to the ground and army crawls forward.  I follow suit and we make our way to the edge of the forest.  Stopping he lays there for minutes before getting up and pulling me up. 

      “It’s just Peter, he’s back from hunting.”  Enoch says and walks out of the forest as if nothing happened.  I follow him and wonder if we will be doing this every time a person comes around unannounced.  I hope not.  We walk back to the cabin just as Peter appears from the trail that leads to the road.  He smiles when he sees us and Enoch rushes to help him.  I grab what is left of Peter’s load, and help get it into the cabin. 

      “So how was your trip?”  Enoch asks as we remove our shoes and enter the cabin. 

 “It was longer than expected, but I got a young buck, four rabbits, and only five pheasants.  It was a little difficult after I finally bagged the buck, because, drying the meat was a little difficult after the rain.  But, all in all it was a very successful trip, I found a waterfall five miles out, we will have to visit it some time.  Maybe when training slows down a little we can plan a trip up there.  Assuming, this one ever learns how to box properly.”  He says and turns to me, smiling.  “Miss me kid?”  He asks as I unpack all of his stuff, putting his clothing in the laundry baskets and the hides on the table.