“Aye, where are we, dost ye think?”
I grinned again. “I saw a newspaper! We’re in Virginia, colonial times, the year is 1775.” I stood up and looked around. “Looks pretty peaceful, but the colonies are at war with England…”
He joked, “I bet the colonial deer taste delicious.”
I said, “Could you get us a deer? Just like that? Okay, then, after a venison feast we will talk about what to do next.”
“Aye, right now I canna hear ye over m’stomach growling.”
We stood up and went to hunt and forage for food.
“Where are we going to look?”
He joked, “Tis America, not Scotland, I thought ye were leadin’. Ye are the one from here.”
I said, “Uh oh. I don’t know anything about colonial America. I’m a Florida girl. I wonder if there’s a drive-thru nearby.” Then I groaned and held my stomach. “I’m too hungry to think?—”
He put his hand out, stopping me mid-step. My heart caught, fearing we had been seen. I followed Magnus’s eyes — he was looking at something in the foliage ahead of us. He raised the gun and aimed.
I stopped breathing. A long minute passed, then he fired.
Flocks of birds flapped up from the trees, tiny beasts scurried away through the brambles. Magnus rushed forward, yelling, “Follow me!”
A moment later he plucked up a dead squirrel, I rejoiced, but he kept running, carrying his kill, racing through the woods. Wescrambled for about ten minutes east, up another hill. At long last we stopped at a good viewpoint.
We both doubled over, then collapsed onto our backs, our faces grimaced, to catch our breaths yet again.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been this exhausted, or hungry.”
“Aye.” He lumbered up. “Stay there, I need tae make certain we werna followed.” He walked away for a moment, while I stared at the sky thinking,we are all alone in the world. Where are my babies? Are they worried without me?
Finally, he returned. “Nae one is followin’ us, and it daena seem like anyone heard the gunshots.”
I asked, “If I um… help with the fire, will you deal with the um... dinner?”
He nodded. “Aye, ye are squeamish, I ken it.”
I picked up branches for a fire.
Then he used the blade from the cellar to skin the squirrel while I built the fire using the flint he kept in his pocket all the time.
After he skinned it, he jammed a stick through it and put it over the fire with some sticks to hold it up. It took a bit of balancing and a couple of tries, but then it was up, the fire licking at its meat.
I licked my lips, nothing about it wasnormallytantalizing, but I was so very hungry. I stared at that little beast cooking the whole time as Magnus slowly turned it and we talked of nothing else except what it would taste like, how much we wanted spices, the want for salt, and that we missed Chef Zach.
Finally Magnus said, “Tis ready.”
I put some leaves out on the flattest rock I could find and he placed the cooked squirrel on it. We both crouched beside the meal. He was in a hurry to pick some meat. “Ouch! Och nae, tis hot!” He shook his hand, but immediately tried again, pulling off a hunk and shoving it in his mouth. Chewing, he said, “Thewhole time I was goin’ tae give ye the first piece but then I put it in m’own mouth, I couldna help it.”
“It’s okay, you’ve barely complained. I’ve complained so much I don’t deserve first bite.” I plucked off my own piece and chewed it. “Man, that is good, don’t know if I’ve ever eaten squirrel before.”
“Daena think Chef Zach considers it a proper meat.”
“He would be wrong, it’s the most delicious thing I ever tasted.” I chewed. “But I was really hungry, I might be exaggerating.” I swallowed. “Gamey.” I took another hunk. “Want more.”
We finished the squirrel and drank from the stream and then sat side by side. I said, “What do you think the kids are doing? I miss them so much.”
He said, “They are terribly worried on us, I hate that they witnessed us be taken away.”
