Tracks of Life

Chapter 5

Stephen, Bacon and I came across small town two weeks later. We had been together for about a month, and Stephen still hadn't figured out I was a girl. I just figured he was stupid. But, he had learned a lot of things quickly. He could now hunt, kill, skin and cook an animal without my help. He still came to me to make sure the berries and mushrooms he found weren't poisonous. We had a problem with some berries about a week and a half ago, when he picked some poisonous ones and almost ate them. I had luckily been there and had tackled him, then had thoroughly berated him on his carelessness.

I was surprised by the town and stopped suddenly. Stephen wasn't paying attention and ran into me, knocking me over. I landed on my stomach and Stephen landed on top of me. All of my breath left my lungs and I struggled to breathe. Stephen's hands were on my waist, his body pressed against mine. I pressed my forehead into the ground and gritted my teeth, struggling not to yell at him to get his body off of mine. Stephen rolled off of me, and turned me over, concern filled in his eyes.

"Are you all right?" he asked, making me sit up. I coughed and inhaled a shaky breath. I gave a thumbs up as I continued to cough air back into my lungs. I fell back onto the ground, staring at the sky. "You're heavy."

Stephen chuckled, "I guess, much heavier than you. You're tiny, like a girl!"

I gasped, the gasp turned into a semi-cough choke. Stephen pounded on my back, which didn't help.  I pushed him away while I worked on breathing normally, but was then knocked over by a sheep. "What the . . . " I started, looking around. A young man leaned over me, since I was still on the ground. He held out his hand and pulled me up off the ground.

"Sorry about that, Miss. . .?" he asked expectantly, trying to gain control of his sheep while still looking at me. Now that I looked at them from a better angle, they looked a bit more like goats. My eyes widened when I realized what he had said.

Stephen came up and started laughing. "Miss? This is a boy!"

The young man looked uncertainly at him, then looked back at me, his gaze traveling up and down my body. I pleaded with my eyes to him to be quiet. Apparently he got the message since he said, "Well, okay. Sorry about the mistake."

I sighed in relief, picking up Bacon's rope and my bag. The young man studied me, "So, where you guys from?"

"Nowhere in particular," I answered, staring up at him and raising an eyebrow.

He chuckled and held up his hands in a sign of surrender, "Okay, no personal questions. I have another, if you don't mind me asking. Are you guys hungry?"

Stephen looked over at me, realizing I was in charge in this situation. But, I could tell he was hungry. I was hungry also, but I couldn't just trust this new person. I kind of trusted Stephen now, but not enough to tell him where I was from or that I was a girl. He didn't trust me enough to tell me his past, either, so, the feeling was mutual. But, Stephen was stupid. This guy had automatically seen that I was a girl, which was dangerous.

I pursed my lips and kept gazing at the young man. "What state are we in?"

"New Mexico," he stated proudly, looking down at his sheep-goats to make sure they were behaving.

"Ah, I've been here before. Nice state," Stephen said.

"Thanks," the young man said, but he kept looking at me. 

I glanced at Stephen, who just looked at the guy in confusion. I guess he wasn't used to being ignored.

"Where would we be eating?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest. 

"At my house. I live with my mother, five sisters and uncle," he said, putting an emphasis that he lived with so many girls. I guess that's how he knew I was one. "They won't mind you guys joining us, we have visitors all the time. This depression is pretty bad, so we share with people who pass by and are hungry. And by the looks of it, you guys are hungry."