Finding Home (19 page)

Marissa watched as Maggie grabbed a
lobster behind its massive head, steering clear of the powerful
claws that could inflict a painful blow if they were not careful.
Nat removed her boots and joined the in the harvest of the
creatures, until they had taken all of them from the
pools.

Nat had also brought her spear back
from the cave. “Would you like fresh fish tonight for dinner?” she
asked.

“
I saw two large ones in
that pool that should do quite well,” Maggie said as she pointed to
a larger rock pool.

Nat used her spear to impale the fish
and then carried them back to where Maggie and Marissa were waiting
for her.

“
If you will take the fish
and rifle, I will carry the barrel back to the cave,” Nat said.
“Then we will use a bucket to add water to the barrel.”

Nat lifted the heavy barrel and walked
quickly toward the cave, stopping halfway to catch her
breath.

“
Can I help?” Marissa
asked.

“
You could have had I
thought to fashion some sort of handles on the barrel,” Nat said.
“I am almost there,” Nat said as she lifted the barrel
again.

When they reached the cave, Nat sat on
a nearby rock to catch her wind.

“
I will clean these for
dinner if you will begin carrying water,” Maggie said to
Marissa.

Nat began to stand. “You rest for now,”
Maggie said.

“
You heard the lady,”
Marissa said with a grin as she picked up the bucket and started
toward the water, with Gyp on her heels.

Maggie carried the fish down to the
water’s edge and cleaned them as she prepared them for roasting.
When she returned to the cave she walked past Nat and placed the
fish on the spit above the fire to begin cooking.

Marissa dumped five buckets of water
into the barrel to cover the lobsters and then sat beside Nat. “I
have a surprise for you,” Maggie said. “Bring your bucket and your
rake and follow me.”

Nat picked up the rake as Marissa took
the bucket and they followed Maggie down to the beach. She took the
rake from Nat and began raking when she saw bubbles forming in the
wet sand and Nat and Marissa picked up the clams and dropped them
into the bucket.

“
I brought the cream broth
for some chowder,” Maggie said. “All we need is fresh clams,” she
said. “I will put it on to cook if you will help me shell
these.”

“
Just show me how,” Nat
said.

Maggie took Nat’s knife from her boot
and showed Nat how to pry the shell open and then used the tip to
cut the small morsel of meat from the shell.

“
Just drop them in the pot
as you shell them and they will cook into the broth,” Maggie said
with a grin. She then took containers of seasoning out and shook
them across the fish and shook more into the pot of cooking
chowder. “We shall feast tonight.”

Nat sat with her hand running through
Gyp’s fur as she talked with Maggie and Marissa while they waited
for dinner to cook. “I think we had a good harvest for a first
day,” Nat said.

“
Yes, we did,” Maggie
agreed. “It will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings to see
if the rock pools refill with ocean life.”

“
I may journey past the rock
pools tomorrow to see what else exists,” Nat said. “If you think
you and Marissa can handle the harvest.”

“
I think we will do just
fine,” Marissa said. “I will take the bucket and bring it back here
as we fill it,” she said. “Taking a full barrel is just too much
strain.”

“
I agree,” Maggie said. “You
stretch your legs and we will care for the harvest.”

Gyp’s ears perked as she heard a sound
unheard by human ears and she rose to her feet and ran to the mouth
of the cave.

“
I wonder what she heard,”
Nat said as she stood to follow her companion, closely followed by
Marissa and Maggie.

When she reached the mouth of the cave,
Nat looked out across the water and saw what Gyp had
heard.

“
Whales,” she said as she
pointed out across the water.

They walked down to the edge of the
water and watched as the creatures reached the water’s surface,
expelling air and water from their bodies as they took their next
breaths. They watched until they swam beyond sight as the night
began to bloom.

When they returned to the cave, Maggie
and Marissa took out bowls, plates and spoons from their packs and
prepared to serve dinner. Maggie dipped out chowder and set it out
to cool as she served up portions of the flakey fish. She crumbled
pieces of fish into Gyp’s bowl of chowder as Gyp sat waiting
patiently.

“
It has to cool first, Gyp,”
Maggie said.

Marissa poured coffee for each of them
as they gathered around the fire to share their first
meal.

“
Thank you for this wondrous
bounty,” Maggie said to no one in particular.

They nibbled on the cooling fish as
they waited for the chowder to cool enough to eat. Between the four
of them, they finished the fish and a bowl of chowder each. Gyp had
an extra portion of fish as the women had a slice of Marissa’s
pie.

“
That was a wonderful meal,”
Nat said to Maggie and Marissa, as she placed more wood on the fire
and as the skies darkened outside the shadows danced on the walls
of the cave. “I am going to tend to the animals,” Nat
said.

“
Do you want some help?”
Marissa asked.

“
Sure,” Nat said. “Why don’t
we rinse of these dishes too while we are at it,” she said as she
picked up the dishes.

“
I will get those, you two
care for the animals,” Maggie said as she took the stack of dishes
from Nat and headed to the water.

Nat stood at the mouth of the cave and
whistled. Then she and Marissa filled three feed bags for the two
horses and mule. They watched as the three animals approached
following Hardy up to the mouth of the cave. Nat and Marissa
slipped the bags over their heads and the animals fed on the tender
oats and molasses mixture.

Maggie took the dishes into the cave as
Nat and Marissa stayed with the animals until they finished
feeding, then removed the feed bags and stored them for the
evening. Nat then took Marissa in her arms to watch the moon begin
to rise over the glass-like water.

“
I am very proud to have you
here with me,” Nat whispered in her ear.

“
I am proud to be here with
you, too,” Marissa said. “It gives me a glimpse, however small, of
what your world is like.”

Marissa turned to face Nat. “I watched
your face as we traveled today and you seemed so at peace under the
open sky.”

“
It is the only home I have
ever known, until now,” Nat said. “I have spent more nights under a
blanket of stars than I have with a roof over my head,” she said
calmly.

“
It must be beautiful to
look up into the sky and see all those stars smiling down on you,”
Marissa said.

“
It is beautiful, but it can
become very lonely too,” Nat said. “Sometimes I wish Gyp could
talk, just so I could hear another voice,” Nat said. “The silence
can be very overwhelming.”

“
I can only imagine,”
Marissa said.

“
It’s starting to cool down
are you ready to move inside?” Nat asked.

“
Did our eggs make the
trip?” Nat asked Maggie as they entered the cave.

“
Yes, you packed them well.
Would you like some for breakfast she asked?”

“
Only if it will leave
enough for us to have shrimp for dinner tomorrow night,” Nat said
with a grin.

“
I think you must really
like those,” Marissa said.

“
Oh, I do,” Nat said. “Fried
though, not roasted.”

Gyp let out a small bark of
agreement.

“
Very well, we shall have
fried shrimp tomorrow,” Maggie said as she pulled a blanket around
her shoulders.

Nat placed more wood on the fire and
removed her boots to crawl into her bedroll. “Goodnight my
friends,” she said.

“
Goodnight,” Maggie and
Marissa said.

Nat turned onto her side and snuggled
in to Marissa’s body to share warmth and she watched as Gyp walked
over and curled up next to Maggie. Maggie’s hand reached out and
was buried in Gyp’s soft fur.

Nat woke once with a chill and got up
to add wood to the fire and the next time she woke, Maggie was
awake. Maggie had started the coffee and when she saw Nat was awake
she poured another cup. Nat quietly stood and slipped her boots on
before joining Maggie around the fire.

“
Thanks,” she said as she
took the cup from Maggie. “How did you sleep?”

“
I missed my warm bed,”
Maggie said with a smile. “But, I wouldn’t have missed this trip
for anything.”

Nat looked over at Marissa, still
sleeping peacefully.

“
Let her sleep for a while
yet,” Maggie said. “Yesterday’s travel took its toll on
her.”

“
I noticed it did not take
long for her to fall asleep,” Nat said.

“
She is not as used to all
the fresh air like you are,” Maggie said.

“
I just hope she doesn’t
regret coming along.”

“
That woman would follow you
anywhere,” Maggie said with a warm smile.

“
You think so?” Nat
said.

“
I know so,” Maggie said
with a grin. “For some reason she adores you.”

Nat blushed slightly.

“
You are a good woman, Nat
and you two deserve happiness together,” Maggie said.

“
Thanks, Maggie, I do love
her so.”

“
Have you decided if you
will return to the woods this spring?”

“
I haven’t decided either
way yet,” Nat said. “It is not an easy decision.”

Marissa stirred and sat up. “Why didn’t
you wake me,” she said?

“
Because you were sleeping
so soundly,” Nat said. “We thought we would get a jump on the
coffee before you woke,” she teased.

“
Should I start breakfast?”
Maggie asked.

“
I could eat a bear,”
Marissa said.

“
You are that hungry?” Nat
asked.

“
You worked me hard
yesterday,” Marissa teased. “I have a feeling today will be busy
too.”

“
Do we still have biscuits
left?” Maggie asked.

“
About a dozen with a little
bacon,” Marissa said.

“
Scrambled or fried eggs
then?”

“
Why don’t you just scramble
them all with some of that bacon,” Nat suggested.

“
You are so clever,” Marissa
said. “I will get our plates and the biscuits.”

Marissa handed Maggie the bacon and
watched as Maggie scrambled the eggs and crumbled the bacon in
them.

“
That smells good,” Nat said
as Maggie started serving up the eggs.

They ate the meal and cleaned the
dishes as the sun continued to rise. Nat picked up the bucket and
the rifle. “Are we ready?” she asked.

They walked to the rock pools and were
pleased that more ocean life had been trapped overnight. Nat left
them to begin the harvest as she and Gyp walked further down the
beach. They passed several more rock pools gorged with creatures.
They would harvest these lobsters as well before heading back to
the river tomorrow.

As they walked, Nat began seeing
strange tracks in the wet sand, like non she had ever seen. She
followed the tracks and when she passed a large boulder she saw
what was creating the trail. Gyp saw the creature too and circled
it with great curiosity. Nat had seen a turtle before, albeit, none
as big as this one. It was easily four feet long and she guessed it
weighed at least three hundred pounds. She moved closer to touch
the hard shell and the creature turned its large head to look at
her.

“
You are a beauty,” she said
to the large animal.