Chapter 6

Restless, I wake up several times during the night, not accustomed to sleeping with someone beside me. She is spooned up next to my back when I awaken in the morning.

"I need to wash," I say as I pull on my clothes, my shoes, and my belt. She follows me to the stream and watches me as I wash my face with a bar of travel soap and brush my teeth.

"My mate Steve, strange things do. My mate Steve live many mountains far?" Sarbun asks.

"I do come from far away, very far away, indeed," I say wistfully. "I have a home near by, just one day's walk from here. Are you ready to go to your new home?"

"Yes, Steve. Sarbun make new day food, Sarbun pack furs."

"No, you don't need to cook for me right now. It will take too long. I have breakfast in my pack."

She looks dejected. What have I done? I retrieve all my stuff and Sarbun brings her sleeping furs and what looks like some of her clothes. I tuck her clothes into my pack, and fasten the furs to the outside of the pack.

I call the dogs out of their slumber and feed them some dry food on the ground. We sit nearby, and I show her how to open and eat her meal pack. "It does not taste too good, but it will do," I explain.

"Food strange not bad. Sarbun cook food good, Sarbun cook, my mate Steve."

"Sarbun, I don't mean to upset you. I'm sure you're a great cook. You can cook when we get to my - our home. Now these, these are quick to eat. We need to get going so we can get home before the sun goes down." We finish eating our meal packs in silence.

I go to Ungur's tent and clear my throat so he can hear me. He sticks his head out and I say, "Ungur, we are leaving now. It is time to see if your tunic is still there and check on your mate."

"Ahh, Steve make funny Ungur. Steve very strange, good fun. Steve come next season, Ungur trade much Steve. Ungur give Steve much hunting wish," he says.

"Ungur, we will not take Sarbun's tent. You must keep it. I wish you safe hunting, too, Ungur," I say, and I lead the way, calling the pups. Sarbun follows me down our trail towards home. When we leave the compound, I unlimber the bow and stop for a second to string it.

"What thing that, Steve?" Sarbun asks.

"This is my bow. With it I can make these arrows - little spears - fly very fast towards anything I want to kill. It is good for hunting and to protect you from wild animals."

"Not ugly spear, not club? Not good club. This spear good?"

"Oh, this is much better than a spear. The arrows are like small spears which go farther and faster than spears. I have many arrows so I can shoot many times."

"Oh, little spears. Sarbun watch."

"Yes, I will show you how this works." I shoot one off in the direction we are going. When we get to it, I pull it out of the ground, and hand it to my wide-eyed mate. She inspects it thoroughly before handing it back to me.

We continue on for a while. We are setting a pretty good pace so conversation is hard to maintain. I guess she is in for some culture shock when we get home. We stop at a creek for lunch about midday. We share some jerky and we give the dogs some to keep them quiet. We drink from my water bottle and refill it from the creek where we have stopped.

She's got tears in her eyes. "Sarbun, are you upset because we just had another meal that you didn't get to cook for me?" She nods and wraps her arms around herself, and her body wracks with sobs. I wrap one arm around her shoulders. "Sarbun, we are in a hurry to get home while it's still light out. Just because you didn't cook this meal, that doesn't make me think badly of you. If it helps any, I won't tell Ungur and Jairmo that you didn't cook for me." A tentative smile sneaks onto her face. I guess I'm back out of the proverbial dog house.

I take her hand, and we start off for home again. We see quite a bit of game, but we are just passing through, so my bow doesn't get a real workout.

In late afternoon we come around a hill and enter my home valley. "We are almost home." I pronounce.

"I want see tent my mate Steve. My mate Steve strange things do."

"I don't live in a tent made of skins. My tent is made of wood and is called a house."

"Take house much work?"

"I don't move it like you would move a tent. My house stays in one place. It is strong and safe, and I grow my own food, so I don't need to move all the time."

"Sarbun want see house."

A bit later, we arrive at the house — our home! When I open the door, the dogs go in and jump around, excited to be home.

Sarbun is curious, but distracted by the sounds of the chickens. She follows me to the chicken coop as I open the door and check on the birds. They are OK, but they are out of food and the waterers are full of feathers and junk. I quickly feed them and put the feeders and waterers back outside to keep the mess inside to a minimum.

"My mate Steve, what birds?" Sarbun asks, pointing at them.

"These are chickens. They lay eggs for us to eat, and sometimes we can eat the chickens. That big one strutting around is a rooster, which is a male chicken. We only need one of those. Come in here and see the eggs. See? I'll pick out two and you get two, and we can eat these for breakfast tomorrow."

She watches how I get two eggs, and asks, "Birds bite scratch?" I shake my head, and she gathers two eggs in just the way I had done it.

"They don't normally bite or scratch," I explain, "and they are not strong enough to really hurt you. A rooster can sometimes be mean, but he is just showing off or protecting his mates."

She follows me into the house, eggs in hand. I put all the eggs in a bowl, high on a shelf so the dogs can't get to them.

"This metal box over here is a stove. It keeps my house warm when it's cold outside, and we will use it for cooking. I will show you how to use it in a day or two." She is wide-eyed, incredulous. I shovel out most of the ash into a bucket for the garden. I load it with some tinder and light it with a Bic lighter. The fire starts, and I start feeding in larger twigs.

"Oh, my mate Steve holy man? Magic fire?" she asks.

"This is not magic. It's just a lighter from my old home, far away." She is almost afraid to touch it as I hand it to her. She barely looks at it, and hands it quickly back to me.