Playing With Fire (EDITING)

Wild...Turkey Chase?

The morning was chilly in comparison to the sweltering heat of the day before. Dew glittered on the grass, and fresh white snow capped the distant mountains that rimmed the valley. The only annoyance that could possibly exist (besides Kurt) was a persistent wump thud wump-thud on the adjoining wall of the tent.

Hesitant, I sat up. Opposite the center pole, Loki's eyes were wide and staring, but I knew he was listening for other sounds that would tell us what the disturbance was. With my knife in hand, I slid out of my sleeping bag and crept to the tent flap.

Wump. Thud. Wump. Thud.

Without a sound, I pushed the flap aside. Abruptly, the noise stopped. Counting my breaths, I reached seven before it returned, faster and louder. Before I could round the tent to see our attacker- by now, I was sure it was an attacker of some sort, but apparently not that bright- a hand landed on my shoulder.

"Kurt!" I hissed after muttering a couple unrepeatable words. "Don't do that to me!"

"How else do I get your attention when you've gone all ninja-assassin-mode?"

"You don't."

He stuck his tongue at me and I was tempted to cut it off with the knife in hand. Kurt must've had a similar idea because he snapped his lips together and crouched beside me. "You heard it too?" I nodded and held a finger to my lips.

Wump wump wump...

As we approached the sound, I heard something that I recognized; in fact, it was something I'd never forget. "Hold this," I told Kurt, sheathing my knife and passing it to him. Confused, he held it tightly in his palm. With two fingers, I gestured for him to follow me.

Our feet crunched in the frosty grass and Kurt's breath was a barely visible fog in the air. "What's going on?" he whispered.

Behind me, I held up a finger. Kurt froze. "Okay," I began. "On the count of three, we're going to sprint around the corner." He nodded. "Open your arms out like this and flap them like a bird's, and just look kinda scary alright?" He nodded again. "Oh, and I'll take that back." I held out my palm for my knife, and his cold-stiffened fingers released it.

"One....two...." I counted. "Three."

Kurt and I shot up and around the corner, flapping our arms and shouting at the attacker. With a glance at Kurt's face as the source of disturbance came into view, I almost tripped for laughing so hard. His dark blue eyes widened and his mouth gaped. In front of us was the largest male turkey I'd ever seen, and probably the first living turkey that Kurt had ever seen.

The male's brown feathers fluffed out enormously and he spread his wings to their maximum length. With a loud gobble, I expected him to turn and run the other direction; but he surprised me and lowered his head, snaked his neck along the ground, and charged Kurt.

Kurt yelped and shot off in the opposite direction, away from the turkey. The bird followed, but I stopped to watch and laugh. Running figure eights and zigzags, jumping around, cursing, and threatening- nothing helped Kurt outrun the turkey. His legs tired and the turkey stretched its long neck to nip Kurt hard in the rear.

"Youch!!" I heard him shout. Another couple nips in the calf caused him to swear and lash out at the bird with his bad foot. "Filthy little..." The turkey took its chance to clamp its beak on his ankle and shake for all it was worth. "Holy-" Kurt broke off and I knew he was holding back from sullying the whole camp. And still, I could only laugh.

The clashing and clanging of a metal ladle on a large stainless steel pot got the turkey's attention and he shot Kurt a look of vowed return before running off. Ma Leah stuffed the cooking utensils into my arms before going to help Kurt hobble back to the tent.