He gave me a look, but didn’t challenge me. “Good idea. I think I’ll take a rest myself.” He angled himself down beside the little girl, blew out a heavy breath, and tilted his head back. He was some years older than I, and for the first time it stuck me that life was never as long as we wished it to be.
I watched him for a few moments, then hurried off. I had better find something that would give us all enough energy to journey on.
I had not gone more than a hundred yards when I came across a stand of sugarcane. I did not question my luck, just used my cleaver to cut off a dozen or so stalks and carried them back to our temporary camp. Whatever we didn’t use would come in handy at a later time.
* * * *
“They’ve been gone too long,” my Frank said, licking a stray drop of the juice of t
