A Camping For Two

Trip 6 (Big Meadows Campground II)

Sebastian

After an hour of setting the camping tools and a campfire, the two of us finally settled down for lunch. And when I said lunch that means Maya cooks while I helped her prepare the ingredients.

“Maya, should I cut the vegetables a bit smaller?” I turned to Maya while showing a big cube of carrot that I just sliced in my hand. Maya who was setting the pot above a portable stove stopped and glanced at me for some time.

Suddenly, she broke into a small smile. “That size is about right. Please cut with a size like that for the potatoes too, Sebastian.”

“Oh…” I exclaimed beneath my breath, somehow stammered by her reply.

Maya seemed to notice my reaction, when her head titled at me with a worried look on her face. “I’m sorry. Do you hate it, me calling your name?”

“No! It’s not like that-” I forced a reply, trying to snap out of my daze. “…Now that I think about it, we never officially called each other’s name, verbally, I mean. But we can be casual with each other from now on.” I stammered everything my mind could think of. Most of them were taken from my circulating thoughts.

And now that I think about it, I didn’t know the overall damage from a girl calling my name in a soft voice with eastern accent could make my heart skip a beat. Am I nervous, or did I unknowingly yearn for something else?

“…Okay then.” She replied almost monotonously, then continued with what she was doing. Thankfully, she seemed to take in well of my reasoning-

“Ouch.” I exclaimed in monotone and glanced at my bleeding thumb. The cut is not that severe if we were to ignore the incessant amount of blood dripping out from the cross section of my thumb. It’s starting to throb and the chilly weather makes it a bit painful.

“What the?!” I heard Maya’s voice raised a few octaves, then saw her left her task and quickly trotted to me. She was holding my bleeding finger with both of her hands as soon as she stopped near me, and stared at it for a quick second.

Her first expression after breaking her focus on my wound was a linear gaze filled with scrutiny. She didn’t even need to say a word, not a scolding even, but immediately received a sincere and quick apology from me.

“Come here.” She then gently tugged me to our resting spot surrounding the campfire. After that, she told me to sit after giving me a bottle of clean water.

I was told to wash my wound with that water while she went to her tent. Because the cold water against my open skin stings a bit, I couldn’t help but hiss. I just realized that the skin of my thumb on the area of the thumbprint is partially slit open after I washed it. It seems that my wound is pretty deep. So that’s why I was bleeding quite a lot.

Maya returned to me and extended one of her hands. “Your hand.” I gave my wounded hand to her.

With her other hand, she applied something on my wounded thumb. It was a green murky goop(?) that felt damp and smelled like herbs. Though I think that substance might be a traditional medicine or something, I still grimaced when I saw it plastered around my thumb. Now my thumb looked like it grew a big and dark green swelling.

“Thanks.” I said to me.

She suddenly huffed at me. “Now rest. I will take care of your cutting task.”

“But I can still help-”

She shook her head. “No. Rest. Don’t come and help me until your wound gets better.”

“But I-”

She silently glared at me. Maya seems enthusiastic in not wanting me do any work. But Maya, if you said that I can only help you when my wound is healed, won’t that take a few days before it did?

Won’t I be able to be of any help then?

I missed my chance to try change her mind when she already left and resumed to cook. She must think I am a burden, what a great bodyguard I am…

I decided to look after her while I was resting on my portable chair not too far from where she was cooking. After a few minutes, I don’t know if I am too tired or something, but the smell of herbs from this big lump of goop around my thumb really gets to me. It makes me sleepy.

I shifted my sitting position to sit comfortably. Ah… The blue sky looks pretty…

Soon after that, I fell asleep.

***

I must have fallen asleep for some time. When I blinked my eyes open, steam of something spicy and savoury wafted tickled my smelling senses, rendering me to shot up from my seat.

“Oh, you are awake.” Maya lifted her gaze to me. “We are having curry for lunch. It is almost done so can you help me set up the plates?”

“I…” I darted my eyes around. Phew, it felt like a long time, but it seems like I fell asleep when she was cooking and woke up right at the few moments before the dish cooks.

“Sure.” I stood up from my chair and went to the pot on the stove. Maya was stirring the contents of the pot.

“…Whoa.” I exclaimed. What is this dish that I am looking at right now? I don’t know the specifics, but this dish has a light brown thick soup, with strong scent of herbs from its steam.

“This is…” I shifted my gaze to her.

“Curry.” Her small smile reappears. “It’s pretty cold right now so I figure out that we should have something that can warm us up.”

I nodded in understanding. Curry, huh? I believe this is my first-time eating curry that looked like this. I have eaten Indian curry before and I remembered the colour was not as mild as this one. Indian curry is a bit darker in colour and they tasted a bit spicy and minty. I wonder how Maya’s curry would taste like.

“Before we eat, you can wash your hands first.”

I lifted my hands and eyed at them before looking at Maya in wonder. I mean, why do I have to wash my hands? It’s not like I touch anything dirty. I just woke up from my sleep.

“Even though you know you didn’t touch anything and you just woke up from your sleep, you still have to wash your hands before eating.” Maya narrowed her eyes in a judging manner.

I am happy that Maya showed me a lot of her expressions today but how did she know what I was thinking?

Suddenly the strong smell of herbs interrupted my thoughts. Ah, right. I was injured, and this lump of goop around my thumb might smear everywhere in my sleep.

“Do I…” I pointed at the goop. Maya became quiet all of a sudden with her eyes etched to the injury.

“You may wash it. Do tell me what you saw.” Then she resumed her work.

Okay, that was a weird statement. I then head to the water pipe nearby was washing my hands just like Maya had instructed me. Thinking about the opened wound on my thumb made me cower for a bit. I might not feel pain when I washed the goop, but what will happen if the cold water reached my severed skin?

Oh, it’s going to hurt like a b***h.

I grimaced a bit as I looked at my injured thumb under the water. I was expecting to feel pain from the cold water and braced myself from any uncool act I was about to commit, but somehow, I felt nothing.

Then I flipped my cleaned hand to take a better look of my thumb. My thumb looks a bit red, but heck, all of my fingers becomes red from the cold. That is not the point right now.

The wound, where is the wound?