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. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhI76XIXCV5
“What we eating today, Br’er?” he asked the scruffy looking brown rabbit on the opposite side of the fire.881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWhCB5VCuYp
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.”881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhFJV8CzCIO
“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.881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ6h4wWJ19R
“I didn't even see you over there, Allie,” Oswald said as the girl stepped out of the brush and began walking towards them.881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYL161W3Zbb
“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.881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqZqm1rhnh1
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. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ3PI2jCAhI
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.881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAdesNRPRMl
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.881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcUbbrrdkEB
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. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrlnmFtkPAS
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.881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjacaMVOz9e
“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?”881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzVhokACU20
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.881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg0ZEGSg7UA
“You ask a little too often these days,” Allie replied. “It's like you don't trust me no more.”881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡud9RFYfr3U
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). 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGyOe2McjQK
“I trust you plenty,” Oswald answered. “Probably more than I should,” he added with a smirk.881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN821cBIdox
“Probably,” she giggled. They all got a chuckle out of it. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCN9FEZB8i6
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.881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡooJKblnE2i
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.881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVhrCOHQSuM
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.881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIDciTtFcfY
“It looks like we’re still a’footin’ it east,” he said.881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡorvylcqbMl
His two companions nodded and closed their eyes for the night as well.881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG8V9YUioQe
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