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. 929Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKI95mxmekJ
“What we eating today, Br’er?” he asked the scruffy looking brown rabbit on the opposite side of the fire.929Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6V35QQxYKD
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.”929Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsRr9ccgNm6
“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.929Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUo9W8rPJrR
“I didn't even see you over there, Allie,” Oswald said as the girl stepped out of the brush and began walking towards them.929Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgxF3JMyuyj
“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.929Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSOQ1PhguuA
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. 929Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeuo2LoWSTE
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.929Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrvuEnW5pXe
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.929Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCi6hmdMM6y
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. 929Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcopi08WLGx
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.929Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaS4Hx4miyU
“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?”929Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6EuHEbd3FQ
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.929Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU34viJyDjp
“You ask a little too often these days,” Allie replied. “It's like you don't trust me no more.”929Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf1CfA28op8
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). 929Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZXIFsgETUG
“I trust you plenty,” Oswald answered. “Probably more than I should,” he added with a smirk.929Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYEELbCF5H7
“Probably,” she giggled. They all got a chuckle out of it. 929Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEFbgrWS94M
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.929Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ0kKtiOVSb
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.929Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3BRY5a0i98
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.929Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6V5UIpX1Rz
“It looks like we’re still a’footin’ it east,” he said.929Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwzcMb63oeG
His two companions nodded and closed their eyes for the night as well.929Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOynP5ubhaY
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