Oswald dipped the ladle into the beaten old pan hanging over the fire and dipped two scoops of the milky soup into his wooden bowl. He sniffed the contents of his bowl and his belly rumbled. 788Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡThmtMSJ4Xm
“What we eating today, Br’er?” he asked the scruffy looking brown rabbit on the opposite side of the fire.788Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDaPBr9KVl5
Br’er Rabbit shrugged his shoulders. “The usual I reckon,” he said as he plopped down on a raggedy blanket. “Garlic, a few wild carrots, a couple taters and what’er critter Allie a’stumbled into.”788Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo12FCoTUax
“It’s squirrel,” said a girl’s voice from behind a patch of bushes that were some ten feet away. The bushes rustled and a blonde girl, no older than nine, stood up. She was pulling up her overalls and tucking in her undershirt.788Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyfc9xg5gd7
“I didn't even see you over there, Allie,” Oswald said as the girl stepped out of the brush and began walking towards them.788Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGIfYPGivx0
“When I'm making water I generally don't mean to be seen,” she said to Oswald as she stopped at her pack and pulled out her own wooden bowl. She scooped some of the thin soup into it and plopped down next to the black and white rabbit.788Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLy42kToTuw
Oswald had wondered where she had gotten off to earlier that morning. Allie had a way of just slipping off and disappearing when she had a mind to. Being gone for an hour or two was just something that he and Br’er has just come to expect during the travel time during the day. It was mostly an advantage for the two rabbits, though, as Allie usually returned with some berries, critters or a better path to take than the one they were currently on. 788Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡffHVutH7n7
Dipping his spoon into his bowl and lifting into his mouth, Oswald took his first bite of the soup that the girl had put together. The taste of garlic overwhelmed his palette at first, but he soon decided that the soup was quite tasty.788Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1BQYgZtp2X
They had found a healthy patch of garlic a week or so ago (or maybe more than a week - Time was funny there) and they had been using it in everything they cooked. One night, when they hadn't found any game or wild growing plants to eat, they just drank boiled garlic juice. It wasn't tasty, but having something in your belly instead of nothing is preferable.788Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnsodOO3NJD
As Br’er had said, there were some carrots in there as well as some of the wild rice that he had found along the trail two days before, a bit of basil they had found growing in a field and the squirrel that Allie had popped with her slingshot. 788Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRabfXJFyJY
He chewed on the slivers of meat that were in his bowl. It was tough and a bit gamey, but tasty in its own way. He eyeballed Allie. “Did you watch the squirrels long enough to…” he said, but was cut off by the girl.788Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡojrkSNQ8IR
“To figure out if they were gabbers or not, Oswald?” she said sharply. “Of course I did. When was the last time you remember me consuming a gabber?”788Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Vgb18bAUj
Oswald shook his head and continued eating. “I was just asking.” It was against their rules to eat animals that could talk like he and Br’er.788Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJqSDaL85fX
“You ask a little too often these days,” Allie replied. “It's like you don't trust me no more.”788Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkdIR9MvRjE
That statement was about as ludicrous as it got. Oswald trusted Allie with his life. She trusted him with hers. And they both trusted Br’er with theirs. These three trail companions had been on the road together for a long while. How long? None of them could really say (time was funny there). 788Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpgbfbC4pkv
“I trust you plenty,” Oswald answered. “Probably more than I should,” he added with a smirk.788Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD5rwFq4hrV
“Probably,” she giggled. They all got a chuckle out of it. 788Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOuRzQARz30
Later that night, as the moon sat bright in the sky, Br’er reached into his pack and pulled out a beaten wooden box that looked like it had been around for a hundred years. He laid down with his head and shoulders resting on in his pack as he opened the box.788Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXWyb6HUGR4
From it he plucked a compass with copper and gold engravings on it. He tipped it towards the light of their camp fire so he could get a better view of the pointer.788Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb1k014dEkB
Allie and Oswald both watched him intently. Br’er gently put the compass back into it’s box and laid it next to him. As he tipped his big straw hat down over his eyes he spat out the long piece of grass he had been chewing on.788Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTpSCbDkXtU
“It looks like we’re still a’footin’ it east,” he said.788Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLInfnqfGpz
His two companions nodded and closed their eyes for the night as well.788Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpf191CRDNr
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