EUREKA

Life and Death

Everything hurt. From my sunburned skin to my throbbing wounds, to the small pebbles that served as my eyes...it was the most miserable I'd ever been. I'd not started off too promising anyhow, and it slid plum downhill from there. Following along the tracks in the dust, I'd stayed on them like a bloodhound, but a few hours of intense heat, sparse shade, no rest, no food or water, I was more like a flimsy rag doll. Mouth like cotton, unable to swallow, so hungry I wanted to cry, my body finally rebelled. Knees buckling, I collapsed in a limp heap to the ground, only vaguely aware of the sharp rock pressed against my cheek.

"Pa..." it rasped from between cracked lips. "I sure am sorry, Pa..."

I died then. Leastwise, I fully expected to, so imagine my surprise when I opened up my eyes again, and found myself, not at the pearly gates but flat on the cold ground, eye to eye with a curious desert fox. When I groaned, that little sandhound jumped and took off, leaving me to sit up alone, tremors rocking my body from hunger and fever.

"Gotta...gotta eat," I muttered to no one. "Need water,"

Legs shaking too much for me to stand, I crawled. Headed to- well that I couldn't say, but it had to be better than sitting pat, waiting to starve to death. Dust sifted through my fingers, floating up to clog my nose, coating my lips and skin in filmy dust. It grew hurt to think, to move, getting harder to breathe, then suddenly my hand made a splop as it sank into cool water. Startled, blinking in disbelief, I found myself staring at a glimmering pond. Relief made me freeze for a long minute.

Then crouching, I eagerly sucked in a large gulp, holding it in my mouth for a moment before swallowing. I did it again, then again before finally lifting my head to look around. A few, scraggly, sun-scorched trees grew in bent, weird angles along the far edge of the pond. Cragged, windswept rocks formed jagged teeth that reached skyward. Something shifted in the sands, a soft, grating sound, followed by a faint rattle.

My breath hitched as fear grew into a palpable thing as my gaze frantically swept the dark shadows. A rattler...that was the last thing I needed. Aggressive, large, venomous, I did not want to face one in the dark, less so being unarmed. 'Don't bother with them,' Pa had told me once. 'Just make a bit of noise so they know where you are, an' move slow. You let them be, they'll let you be.'

"There's a grasshopper sittin' on a railroad track," I croaked roughly, trying not to startle the viper. "Polly Wolly Doodle all the day."

A soft rattle told me the snake's location, and my gaze swung that way, searching, hammering heart making it awful hard to breathe.

"Pickin' his teeth with a carpet tack," I sang quietly. "Polly Wolly Doodle all the day...mister snake, don't you fret, I ain't gonna do you no harm. Just wanna drink, rest up a bit, then be on my way. Just stay calm, I ain't gonna hurt you Polly Wolly Doodle all the day,"

The sound didn't change, but it didn't get closer neither, so I took courage from that. Humming gently, I bent scooping up another swallow of water, then one more. It was a fool's game to play with a rattler, and I'd as soon leave the water hole to him then get snake bit. At the present moment, I had me enough problems. Backing away, still humming, I let his warning fade into the night before gingerly pushing to my feet. Beyond hungry, I was ready and needing to eat the first thing I could get my hands on. The water had helped take the edge off, for now.

Utterly lost at this point, with no idea which way the rider had taken Gray, or what direction home lay, I decided to search for a likely place to hole up. Some sort of shelter, with steady water nearby, and hopefully not far from a kind of food source. All I had was what lay to hand, a few rocks, my crude flint knife, and some bits of broken-off branches. There'd be no hunting for me a few more days at least, being as done in as I was. I'd have to make do living skinny. All in all, it was less than encouraging. My mood soured a bit, then I looked up.