Chapter Seven – Breakfast

He carried her back to the glider and built up the fire so she could dry herself. She offered to cook breakfast. However, before she could, she would need a knife. He picked up the flint nodule he'd found and bashed it against the steel rim of the glider. It shattered and then he selected a good piece and chipped away at it with another part of the stone. Within ten minutes he'd made a passable knife blade from the dark glass-like stone. While he worked, she picked up one of his mushrooms and sniffed, peeled a little piece off and nibbled it.

"Are they alright?"
"Yes, fine, ordinary woodland fungi, very good. You'd want to avoid the ones with the dark brown caps and pale spots though."
"Do you know about things like that then?"
"Oh, yes, a lot of our food at home is picked wild, we respect the produce of the soil and try to use as much of it as we can. I don't eat meat."
"Really? Ah. Oh, I never knew. Uh, sorry, this fish is no good then."
"Don't worry, I'll eat fish, if it's caught from natural streams and lakes. I won't eat meat from cattle or game that's bred for the purpose though, that's not natural. I used to eat wild animal meat but not any more. I just don't like it now."
"I've never heard of anyone not eating meat before. I mean, do you get all the nourishment you need?"
"Oh, yes, there's lots of goodness and so on in vegetables and fish. When I'm really, really, really hungry I'll eat wild fowl but nothing else other than fish. I don't even like eating fish that's farmed, in carp pools and such like."
"Well, you never cease to surprise me."

Was that why she was so slim and weighed so little? Because she didn't eat properly?

"Here."

He passed her the flint knife. She set to work cleaning the two fish and breaking up the mushrooms. Pazu, using another flint blade, got to work on the thing he'd found earlier in the long grass. Before long the mouth watering smell of a fish broth with mushrooms and fennel filled the air. Sheeta brewed tea in his water can and put the blackberries on the side on a piece of cloth.

"Breakfast."
"Wow, this looks delicious."

There were no plates, no spoons, nothing. Shrugging they lay the tool locker lid that was their cooking pan on the ground and ate with their fingers, jokingly complaining when the scalding food burned them, laughing as they licked the delicious juices off. When they'd finished not a scrap remained. They ate the berries and drank tea, passing the tin bottle between them again.

"What are our plans now?"
"First, go and speak to the farmer, apologize for nearly flattening his sheep. He may even have some work I can do to get some money. Then, get to that town and buy some bits and pieces, find out where we are and how far it is."
"To where?"
"Gondoa of course. I agreed to take you home."

She was pleased, he would stay with her. She hoped she could talk more with him and work out why he was acting so coolly.

"And then?"
"Oh, one thing at a time I think."

He smiled at her, but she didn't see the smile touch his eyes.

"Present for you. I don't think it's your birthday but I thought it was something you needed."

He held up a wooden stick, it had a Y fork at one end around which he had wrapped, with twine, some scrap cloth and padding from the glider. It was a crutch.

"Stand up."

She did so. He placed the crutch to her left side and she tucked the fork into her armpit, it was a good fit.

"It's perfect Pazu. Thank you so much."
"Uh, it's nothing."

Embarrassed he took off his cap and fiddled with it.

"This is the first gift you've ever given me. I hope there will be more."
"Really, it's just an apology."

She became worried.

"What on earth for?"
"That rubbish landing. I'm still cross about it."
"Oh, Pazu, forget about it. Come on, let's go and meet our neighbours."

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4 March 2007

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