Bonesetter by Laurence Dahners

Author:Laurence Dahners [Dahners, Laurence]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fiction, General
ISBN: 9781479109104
Google: EnilMQEACAAJ
Amazon: B003ODI7Z0
Barnesnoble: B003ODI7Z0
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2012-08-16T00:00:00+00:00

As the day passed peacefully, the tension slowly drained out of the three of them. Walking through mottled sunshine under the broken canopy of the forest amidst wispy swirls of breeze cheered them up. A few idle comments built up slowly into animated chatter about their dealings at the market. They excitedly discussed the items they had traded for and their desire to try them out.

Tando and Donte laughed at Pell when he described his trading venture with the old medicine hag. Tando immediately guessed the source of the distraction that had kept him from bargaining more successfully. He ventured that he found the beautiful young woman somewhat distracting himself, though “not enough to completely lose my head.” He chuckled some more.

Donte felt a little shiver on finding out that her son was excited about a girl at all. She wondered how much longer it might be before he found a mate. Overall, the three were quite pleased with the value they had gotten for their smoked meat and salt, especially in view of the rush they had been in to trade and get away from River Fork. They were sure they could have done better with more time to dicker and yet felt that they had achieved quite a high a rate of exchange. Certainly as high as they could have hoped for under the circumstances. Unless other tribes rapidly discovered the secret of smoked meat, this trip bade well for future trading trips.

They did more planning for their future. Further modifications of the cave were discussed as they walked, almost jauntily now, despite their burdens. Furs needed to be sewn together to make winter leggings, hats and cloaks. After trading away some smoked meat at River Fork, they needed to build back up their stock of smoked meat for winter. Also, they needed to find more grains and roots to store for winter. If Donte’s idea of drying fruit was successful in preserving it, it might help with some of the “meat only” sickness of late winter. It would be a huge advantage if they could discover ways to preserve all of the different varieties of foods from summer’s bounty ‘til winter’s dearth.

As they approached the Cold Springs campsite, they looked about for new gatherables that had ripened since they left. Not necessarily to gather now, as they were loaded from their trading, but to get on a return trip. They found a small meadow with several patches of ripening grain. They did stop to eat and collect some blueberries that had just begun to ripen. They carefully noted the locations of the lowbush berries and grain so that they could make a return visit.

Arriving back at the cave with bellies pleasantly full of sweet, tart, berries, they were pleased to see that the walls they had built to close off the cave were undisturbed. The entire structure fairly reeked of smoke, which probably accounted for the lack of animal intrusion as much as the strength of the barrier.

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