Pushed Back

by S A Ison

  We were quiet for a while and I watched as he reached over and took his compound plyers and peeled off a long strip of snake steak. He held it up for a few moments, testing the heat of it then nodded and handed it over to me. I gingerly took the meat and bit into it, my eyes crinkled with dread. I was surprised, it tasted good. And no, not like chicken, but it was good. I grinned at him.

  “This is actually really good, especially since I’m so damned hungry.”

  He laughed and started eating his own strip. We sat in companionable silence, eating. I ate another long strip, it was really good and my nerves started to calm down. My brain started to work. We could not go back. There was no going back. So, we had to go forward. But now what? Was it March in this time? It seemed like spring.

  “I think that we are in spring here. But in our time, our winter isn’t bad, it’s cold, but not bad. But I think we are on the tail end of the last ice age. That means that the winters here might be brutal.” I said.

  “Yeah, I was thinking about that too. I think maybe as we go forward, we keep that in mind while we look for a place to live. We don’t have any tools to build with. I’m good at building, but without tools, there isn’t a lot I can do.”

  “What can we do? We need to have something to make a house to withstand a harsh winter. I don’t think we can make a teepee, since I have no clue how to cure a hide and no way of sewing it together.”

  “I know how to tan hides. Me and my dad have done bear and deer skins. Though we used chemicals, I’ll have to do it the old fashion way. But no, I don’t think a teepee would be safe. There are big predators out there and as we gather and preserve food, they are going to smell it or us. I’m thinking a cave.”

  “A cave? But won’t that be too hard to keep warm? Too big?”

  “We can look around and find something that is big enough for what we need, but something that we can live comfortably in. We just need to make sure there aren’t any animals living in it.”

  “So, we’re doing it. We are going to live the rest of our lives here. I don’t know how to feel. I know we have no choice. I know there is no going back. I guess I just need to wrap my mind around it.”

  “Yeah, but we are lucky Ivy. If we would have come in the middle of winter, we wouldn’t have survived. We at least have a chance and a good one. If it is March here, we have about six months to get our shit together and build up enough reserves to last us the winter. We know that winter will end in either February or March. We are looking at a five-month winter.”

  “When you break it down like that, it sounds reasonable and doable. Still scary, but not as terrifying.”

  “Look, we have time. First thing, we find a cave that will fit us. Then we hunt and fish and gather what ever kind of plant food we can find. We’ll have to be careful with unknown plants, because they might be poisonous. But these trees and plants look familiar. Like the oaks. This fall, we’ll gather as much acorns as we can. Those are full of calories and good fats.”

  “Okay, one thing at a time. I can do that. I can cope.” I smiled.

  “Good, I really think we can do this. If we look at it as a camping thing. It will just be long term camping.” He grinned. He had such a good outlook, positive. This was the most negative thing to have ever happened to me. Worse than my divorce from Ross. Yet, this man was confident and upbeat. That made me feel better and the hard knot in my gut, began to loosen, just a bit.

  He reached over and used a flat stick to roll out one of the stones that had been sitting in the fire for a while. He scooped it up, blew the ash from it and dropped it in the bark bowl I had filled. It hissed and he rolled out several more stones and dropped them in as well. At the sixth stone, the water started boiling, at first small and slow bubbles, but then a pretty good boil. It didn’t last a long time, but long enough.

  He reached over and took the hand towel and dipped part of it in the hot water and handed it to me. It was hot but it felt so good as I wiped my hands and face, warming me and dissipating that horrible cold feeling that had taken up residence in my body since waking up to this place. It made me feel so much better. A full stomach combined with a clean face and hands went a hell of a long way in making things okay.

  I handed him the towel and he dipped the other end and did the same. I pulled out the last bottle of water and opened it. The last of modern water. I took a long drink and handed it to Harper. Then I got out the raisins and we split a box.

  “I’m going to cut the rest of the snake into thin strips and let them shrivel up and smoke. That way, we can store them in the sandwich bags. Then we can eat what we want of it. We can’t waste anything.”

  “Did you save some of the bones before you cooked the snake?” I asked, I wanted to save some of the bones for needles and I knew he wanted to make fish hooks.

  “Yeah, I set them on the rock to dry. Those are some big rib bones. I saved a lot and some of the smaller ones. We might be able to figure out different uses for them. I don’t know right now, but I figure we can hold on to them.” He grinned.

  “What can we use as fishing line?”

  “Not sure, but I will hold on to the tendons I got from this snake. I will experiment with them. We have to start figuring out how to use what is available.”

  “Yeah, I’m starting to realize that.

  FOUR

  We went about our small camp gathering more branches. The light was starting to fade. Earlier, we had heard some kind of cat calling, a big cat. It scared the hell out of me. I threw some larger branches on the fire. I had rolled the rocks back into the fire to heat them. We had poured the boiled water into the bottles after the water had cooled. Then we filled the bark bowl once more. After we had our fill of drinking, I was planning to take another spit bath.

  Our stack of wood was nice and high and the water was boiling good. I looked up into the dark blue sky and the heavens looked like our stars. And if I didn’t know better, I wouldn’t know I was in another world. Because it sure as heck wasn’t my world, we were in. I watched Harper move about our camp, he seemed very comfortable in this world. Me, not so much. I witnessed a large bat swoop down for a bug, its large leathery wings spread out. The sky was slowly turning from a deep purple blue to inky black.

  “I hate to be more of a pain in the ass Harper, but would you mind turning your back while I take a bath?”

  He laughed and shifted on the ground, turning his back. “I’ll take the water after you’re finished.”

  “Sounds good. I don’t know why, but if I’m clean, I just somehow feel better.”

  “Yeah, me too. I think I’m really going to miss baths, I mean real baths.”

  “Yeah, you said it. Me too. I’m also going to miss having food right on hand and ice cream.” And my girls, but I didn’t want to say that out loud. I was trying to be positive, and move forward. Thinking of my girls was so raw and painful. Right now, I needed to keep my head straight. And write this journal. When I’m finished with it, I will wrap it in plastic and I will bury it. And maybe somehow, some way, someone will find it, and maybe find my daughters and give the journal to them.

  I want them to know, and understand, I didn’t leave willingly. But I am or was alive. When or if they get this, I will have been dead, thousands of years. Or they could look on it as me still being alive, as long as they live, I’m alive.

  I turned my back as Harper began to bathe. I had washed my underwear out and put on my spare pair. I laid them on a branch near the fire, so it wouldn’t take long for them to dry. I would have to find or figure out how to clean my clothes and my body. No soap. No deodorant. No toothpaste, no dentists nor doctors, nothing. If I got hurt or sick, I’m screwed. My life depends on me staying healthy and whole. Harper as well. We were going to have to depend on each other, that meant I needed to step up to the plate.

  “At least we have the light of the fire and we can see the sky. It was so scary last night, when we were in the forest.” I said, breaking off a small twig, that w
as a part of the green wood Harper used to cook the snake steak. I bit down on the twig and then began to rub it around my teeth and gums. It wasn’t a toothbrush, but I felt better for doing it.

  “Yeah, it was as if my eyes were still closed. I had to actually feel to see if my eyes were opened.” He laughed.

  “Me too!” We heard another cry from the forest behind us. I felt my heart jump into my throat. I scooted closer to the fire and added another piece of wood.

  “Just make sure you don’t catch on fire. We should be safe. That sounded far away, not as far as I would like, but I think we should be okay.”

  “Yeah, I think you’re right about living in a cave. I think we need something that will keep whatever it is out there, to remain out there and not in where we are.”

  “I’m just hoping it won’t take too long to find the right cave.”

  “Me too, I wish time traveling came with a guide of some kind.” I grumbled.

  Harper laughed. “You’re a mess.” He reached over and squeezed my shoulder.

  We settled in for the night. Either he or I woke up from time to time to add wood to the fire. We didn’t let the fire go down too much. We slept close to each other again, and our second night was a little better than our first. We at least knew where we were and even when.

  I woke the next morning, Harper was still asleep, his soft snores filling the quiet of the morning. I went to relieve myself quickly, keeping him in sight, I was afraid to get too far away from him and the fire. The air was cool from the night and I would have killed for a cup of coffee. I was really going to miss that. The air smelled damp and filled with woodsmoke. I then went to the water with the bark bowl and filled it with the frigid river water. I built up the fire and got the rocks heating up.

  “Morning, how did you sleep?” Harper asked, sitting up and rubbing his face, his hair wild and fogged around his head.

  “Off and on. I feel vulnerable out in the open like this. Can we maybe make some kind of lean-to when we make camp tonight? I know it won’t protect us a whole heck of a lot, but I’d feel better about it.”

  “Sure Ivy, we can make one pretty easy. At least I think we can.” He grinned. I liked his can-do spirit.

  He had made quite a bit of the smoked snake stake and we ate it for breakfast. We wanted to save the other food in case of emergency, as in starving to death. We needed to stockpile when we could find enough to do so.

  Within the hour, we were up and walking along the bank of the river. Neither of us talked, keeping our eyes open for danger and listening. At some point last night, we had heard wolves howling. The sound of it was pretty far away, and I was quite glad. We had burned the tips of our spears and Harper had whittled me a crochet hook. I wanted to try to crochet grasses together to make some kind of container to carry things in.

  I couldn’t weave, but I would learn. I was going to teach myself to do what ever it took to stay alive. As we walked, the river got wider and the water rushed by faster. Around noon, we stopped and Harper decided to try his hand at fishing.

  “I’m going to make a gig, with two prongs. He said, showing me a long stick with two natural four-inch stubs. I sat and sipped water, watching him whittle the ends to sharp points and then he cut inverted notches, so the fish wouldn’t slide off.

  My back and feet hurt from walking over all the rocks and rough terrain, it really felt good to sit and relax. I looked around the area. The tree line was farther back, maybe twenty feet. There were some green plants growing at the edge, so I got up and went over. I squatted down and looked at them. They looked familiar.

  “Hey Harper, guess what I found?”

  “What?”

  “Fricken dandelions. And you can eat these and they are really good for you. Just a little bitter.” I said and started picking the leaves. I crammed a bunch in my mouth and started eating them. They tasted just like the ones in my time. I almost started to cry, and I choked it back. I was thrilled with the find, because at least I knew if worse came to worse, we had meat and dandelion leaves. After eating my fill, I took a big handful over to Harper.

  “The gig is almost ready.”

  “You think you can catch a fish?”

  “I think so, and I can catch frogs too. These dandelions leaves aren’t bad. Bitter like you said, but not bad.” His cheek bulged with the greens.

  “While you fish, I’m going to gather more leaves. I also saw broad leaf plantains, it’s like the dandelions, it’s really good for you as well. We won’t get scurvy at least. And we’ll get good vitamins from them.”

  “I thought you said you didn’t know anything about plants.” He laughed.

  “I don’t, but I know these two weeds. The house I used to live in with my ex-husband and girls, we had tons of them. Ross wanted to use weed killer, but the girls and I threw a fit. We said it would kill the bees. My girls did research and they were the ones that told me about both the dandelions and broadleaf plantains.”

  “Still, that is one more thing, or rather two more things we can add to our menu. Snake steaks, weeds and hopefully fish.”

  I laughed and went back to picking the leaves. I ate some of the broadleaf plantains, to me they tasted almost like coconut. Maybe it was just me, but I liked the flavor. I had a large neat stack in my hand, like dollar bills. I went back and put them in with the trail mix. We only had about a cup left of that. I did feel good adding to the bag instead of taking out.

  I watched as Harper stood on rocks out in the water, his arm poised up and ready. Then his arm shot down and my heart jumped. He pulled back and nothing was on the gig. Crap, I thought. He had left his shirt, jacket and pants on the shore, along with his work boots and socks. I knew that water was really cold. He was a brave lad.

  Thankfully he had boxers on and a long black undershirt. He had long legs, though they weren’t skinny. Hey, I can look. Besides, he will pretty much be the only human I will ever see again.

  I saw his arm flash again, and pulled back. Nothing. I guess fishing was going to take time and luck. I hoped we could make or find something to make a fishing line. He did it again and then I saw a big fish at the end of the gig. I jumped up and hooted.

  “Holy crap, you did it!” I yelled, jumping up and down. He came back to shore carefully, trying not to slip on the rocks. When he got to the rocky shore, he tugged the writhing fish off the gig and smacked it hard on one of the boulders.

  “Yeah, I was beginning to think I wouldn’t catch something. I’m going to go try for another fish. We can build a fire tonight and dry the extra fish. Also, when we get to where we are going, we can cover one of the fish in mud and put it in the coals. It will bake the fish so that it’s nice and fluffy. My dad taught me that trick.” He grinned and went back out on the rocks.

  An hour and a half later, we had three good sized fish and we were more than happy about it. Harper cleaned them and hung the fish on a long stick to carry. Our stomachs were filled with snake steak jerky and weeds. We stopped and watched as a huge moose drank a short distance up stream. It was massive. Moose are normally big, and I’ve only seen them on TV, you know nature and that. But this animal made those on TV look like miniatures. This thing had to be ten feet at the shoulders.

  “Now if we could kill one of those, I think that meat would last a couple years.” Harper whispered in awe.

  “No shit, if you didn’t get stomped to death in the process. It is beautiful, for a moose anyway.”

  It had a deep russet brown coat, and long face, with mobile lips. Like our moose of today, it had long thin legs. It looked up toward us, but I don’t think it saw us. It turned and shambled slowly back into the forest. It was like the animals in this time were on steroids. Massive. I didn’t want to see what a predator would look like.

  It was easier walking along this stretch of the river, and our pace ate up the ground quickly. There were times that we stopped and listened, looking into the deep forest. We heard all kinds of birds and the chittering of squirrels. The
world was alive around us. The sun tracked across the bright skies, fluffy clouds scuttling across it. It was a brilliant blue. No pollution, we now inhabited a world with no pollution. No nuclear weapons, no politicians, now that was a nice thought.

  We found a natural ledge in the bank, up from the water about thirty feet. There was a good size overhang, well over six feet deep in the earth. It had large boulders around it, and made me think of a small cave. It looked as though the water had once cut through and around the large boulders and dug it out.

  “That looks like a good place to camp for tonight. We could build a fire in front of those big rocks.”

  “Good idea and looks like the dirt would make good mud for the fish. Let’s get branches together and start a fire. Then gather up stones for the water.” He suggested.

  We spent about a half hour gathering deadfall, there were always branches and limbs that had fallen from the surrounding trees. The evergreens caught fast and the hardwood burned hot. We had brought the bark bowl with us. It would take time to find another and we both agreed it was worth taking with us.

  “Pretty soon, we’ll need a cart or something to carry everything.” I laughed.

  “I was thinking maybe we could make something like a travois, do you know what I’m talking about?”

  “Sure, the Native Americans used those with their horses, to stack and carry their belongings on.” I said, glad that I at least knew that. See, it pays to watch Discovery and nature programs.

  “Right, as we go along, if we start collecting more than it’s comfortable to carry, we can maybe see about making one.”

  He used the bark bowl to make the mud. With a stick, he dug down into the fire and made a trough. He then took the fish to the water’s edge and washed it thoroughly. I watched as he swished it around in the water to clean. When he brought it back, I stopped him from putting it in the mud.

  “Let me put some of the leaves I found inside. I also have the seaweed snack. I can mix that with the leaves and then we can have cooked veggies with our fish.”