Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 75650 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75650 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
I am easily distracted this day, it seems.
Perhaps my memory is messed up again. I decide to follow the tracks for a bit, checking for spoor. It is entirely possible that a creature wandered near our cave and the snow melted just enough for the tracks to look human-sized. I follow the trail for a time, but when they eventually disappear, I have seen nothing to alarm me, and I am getting far from the cave and my mate. I am just uneasy, it seems. Time to go back before the fire dies down.
Stay-see sleeps late, and when Pacy begins to stir, I take him out of his basket and let him play in the main chamber while she dozes. She gives me a grateful smile when she wakes up, stretching with a sensual motion that makes me itch to touch her again.
I set up the meat to smoke for a second day, and she sews by the fire, and we spend the day talking. I ask her to tell me as many memories as she can, and she does. She tells me of the hawl-ee-deh with gifts and games. She tells me of the time that I played a joke on her, replacing all of her sweet hraku seeds with the peppery seeds my people love so much, and how mad she was. She tells me how she sewed all the cuffs in my leggings shut in revenge, and how I ripped two pairs before I figured it out. She tells me of lazy days spent by the fire, and of the sleepless nights after the kit was born. She tells me of Pacy’s birth and how he came out squalling at the top of his lungs and I dashed around the cave and shoved him under the noses of everyone in the tribe, so very proud of my son. They are all good memories, and I soak them up, eager for more.
The day passes quickly, and all too soon, the meat is dried and ready to be put away. The leggings Stay-see works on are completed, and Pacy finishes nursing for the last time before sleep and begins to yawn against his mother’s teats. Stay-see looks content but not overly tired, and I hope she will continue to talk after Pacy is put in his bed. I am hungry for her company, and even a day of idle chatter and shared memories is not enough. It will never be enough. With Stay-see, I am always thirsty for more of her time, her sweetness, her smiles.
She gets up to put Pacy to sleep, and I watch her eagerly, the sway of her hips, the swing of her brown braid as she leans over, the curve of her tailless bottom. She straightens and returns to my side at the fire, and I feel a surge of joy that she will choose to spend more time with me. I cast about, trying to think of something new to speak of, something that will make her bright smile light up her face. Perhaps food. “Are you still hungry?”
Stay-see raises a hand in the air and shakes her head. “I’ve had all the smoked meat I can stomach for now, thank you.”
I know how she feels. While smoked meat is not my favorite, fresh meat is harder to come by in the brutal season. We will be eating smoked meat for many, many days on end while the snows whip through the land. “I wish I had something else to offer you.”
She sits down next to me and pats my knee. “It’s fine. I’m just glad we have plenty of food to eat. We don’t have the luxury of being picky.”
Even so, I am already mentally planning to dig up a few more of the not-potato for her tomorrow. “What did you eat back in your human land?”
Her eyes widen. “Oh, wow. Gosh, a little bit of everything, I suppose. Noodles, rice, burgers, pizza. All kinds of stuff. So many different types of food.” She gives me a little smile. “You know what I miss the most, though? Breakfast.”
“Break-fast?” This sounds familiar, and then I realize what she speaks of. “Ah, the morning meal?”
“Yes! I would kill right now for a big batch of scrambled eggs.” She clasps her hands in front of her heart. “Maybe some pancakes and toast with butter, but definitely eggs.”
“Eggs?” The thought makes me queasy. “You eat eggs?”
“God, yes.” Stay-see closes her eyes in bliss at the thought. “A big, steaming pile of scrambled eggs was my favorite.”
And humans think we are strange. “Did you eat the shell?”
“What? No.” She opens her eyes and laughs, giving me a puzzled look. “With all the weird stuff you guys eat, don’t tell me you don’t eat eggs?” Her brows go down. “Though, come to think of it, I haven’t seen you eat many eggs. What’s up with that?”