Little Nomads

Sock

It was a sudden speed bump that woke me up, I open my eyes drowsily, as light penetrated the empty cattle car, Clancy still asleep, his head pressed against my chest and his hands gripping my jacket, it was cold and stuffy, but sheltered from the cold winds that seemed to beat the side of the car every so often.

With me being covered in fur, and generally being much warmer than the average human, I was his only source of warmth aside from the thin baggy clothes that he wore, I didn't want to move and disturb him, as we had only been able to hitch this ride late during the night, so I knew he was exausted, I was too.

Despite being so tired still, I couldn't doze any longer, the bumpy ride wouldn't let me drift, so I stayed up, at least attempting to get some rest untill Clancy would wake up again, I was surprised, the boy was certainly a heavy sleeper, I pulled his body closer to me and rested a paw in his messy hair, he didn't stir, I adjusted my (sock) cap and found a comfortable position without moving too much.

We had been moving for a few months now, at first I worried about the cold, and to an extent I still do, but we're making it by relatively unscathed, Clancy got sick once, but it ended pretty quickly, and someone helped us by giving us much needed suplies, like food and medicines, which we carried in an old duffle bag we found tossed out, the tear in it was an easy fix, duct tape holds well, and it provides pretty useful with holding things, as a bag should.

I began to ponder where we would have to travel next, I had previously set my eyes on a small coastal town, where we could hopefully find some sort of shelter for a few days and spend some time stocking up, though it was a pretty long way there even from the farm we were headed to, we could hitch hike, but that hasn't served us well recently, and Clancy doesn't enjoy getting in other peoples car, clutching onto me for dear life the entire time.

He has good reason to be skeptical however, this place isn't too kind to Humans as a whole, sometimes i attempt to hide him, though he doesn't always like wearing things over his face, but luckily we have found a few who help us regardless, but we seldem find someone who's fond of The boy, which slightly aggravates me, though I can't do anything about it, I'm just glad that I found him, I don't like to imagine where he would be now without me,

My thoughts would be cut short when the car came to a stop, and I gently nudged Clancy to wake him, it took a few tries, but he eventually awoke with a tired groan, gripping onto the fur on the side of my waist as I slowly eased him up, he leaned on me and I put a paw on his shoulder to keep his stable, and to make sure he wouldn't doze off while standing.

The door to the cattle car opened, and we approached,

"how'd you two sleep?"

The fox would ask, adjusting his cap and placing his hands on his hips, waiting for an answer, Clancy Mumbled in response, and I could tell he wasn't up for Conversation.

"Pretty well, thank you for letting us ride up here with you!" I would respond, hiding my exhaustion behind a friendly tone, the fox chuckled and held out a hand-like paw, offering to help us down.

"If you two are hungry I can cook you up a quick breakfast, if you're heading south it'll be quite a while before you reach the closest town, I suspect you're going to leave pretty early in the morning?"

I would take his paw, easing Clancy down to sit on the edge of the car, as I jumped down to the ground, turning and helping the exausted human down, where he would lean up against me again, the early morning sun casting bright rays upon the green landscape.

"Yeah, we could go for something to hold us over, if its not too much trouble"

"Nah, it's no problem!" he would reply, seeming to notice that Clancy was shivering, and was leaning pretty close to me,
"Why don't you two head over to my shed and rest up for a bit, it aught to be warm in there."

I would turn to see a small wooden shed nearby, seeming to be in good condition "thank you very much sir!" I would thank him, not really knowing how I would repay him, but as I thought I felt Clancy shiver, and I tool that as a sign to hurry up, I would turn and head over to the shed, just sort of dragging Clancy along with me and opening the door, it was surprisingly roomy, much more open than I expected, with working equipment and a few leaves of makeshift furniture.

I got settled in, sitting on a nearby bench while Clancy contued to lean against me, I wrapped my jacket around his and placed a paw on his shoulder as he quickly fell back to sleep.