Part 12 (1/2)
”The horses and burros,” he explained. ”They don't like to have to go down to the lake to drink.”
”You have horses here?”
”Yes. I put feed out for them in the evening.”
”Could I see them?”
”Maybe. They're shy around strangers. Maybe after a few days they'll let you see them. They make friends more readily if you have carrots.”
”I must come with carrots!” she exclaimed.
”You like animals?”
”I always liked horses. Now, with you, I like all animals.”
”Maybe they'll like you,” he said. ”The three burros can be anywhere. I call them Burrito, Frito, and Dorito-that's the female. Burrito is very friendly, once he knows you. Mostly they graze among the slash pines here.” Then he set off again, loping up along an alley between the planted pine trees.
She pumped the bike along after him, brus.h.i.+ng through the tall dog fennel and clumps of bahia gra.s.s. Then she spied another kind of plant. ”Oh! Blueberries!”
He paused. ”Huckleberries-they're black. Blueberries are blue. Here.” He indicated another bush, where the berries were indeed blue. ”We have blackberries too. I come out here and eat them, sometimes.”
”I want to be with you next time!”
'The season's pa.s.sing; not many berries left.”
”I'd like to come here and just walk through the pines.”
”The chiggers will get you.”
”Chiggers?”
”Little red bugs. They dig into the skin, and a day later you feel the itch, and the spot takes a week to fade.”
”I must be getting them now!” she exclaimed, horrified.
He looked abashed. ”I didn't think of that.”
”But do you get them? You're out here every day!”
”I run. I get sweaty. They don't seem to like the way I taste.”
”There must be more to it than that!” she protested. ”A bug isn't going to turn up its nose at you if you're its only chance for a meal. You must wash off after you run.”
”Yes.”
”So I'll wash off too. If that works, I'll never have to use repellent.”
He nodded, then turned and resumed his run. He seemed indefatigable; he had obviously been doing this for a long time. He had the distance runner's body: lean and lanky. She had heard of ”runner's high,” with runners deriving a sense of well-being from the hormones the strenuous exercise produced. It was supposed to be akin to the highs produced by chocolate, and by s.e.xual activity. She liked the latter two; he liked the first. They were not that far apart.
The pines trees were in endless rows, and ranged in size from knee height to about twenty-five feet tall, depending, it seemed, on the nature of the soil. They must have been planted together, and those that fell on good ground prospered. There were patches of white sand where none grew, and at the edges of such patches were small ones, and larger ones beyond, until they got into one of the excellent patches. Pa.s.sion flower vines grew among and on them, their big, lovely, purple flowers like opening umbrellas. The dark green tops of the trees were framed against a beautiful blue sky, fading to gray near the horizon. A flight of half a dozen birds was pa.s.sing, in a somewhat ragged V formation. It was at once completely ordinary, and extraordinary. She had seldom been out beyond the range of houses, she realized; it was a different world.
Geode slowed and pointed. She looked, and saw a big gopher tortoise. It hissed and pulled in its head as she pa.s.sed. But she looked back a moment later and saw it moving along rapidly enough, snapping at blades of gra.s.s. She felt good for having seen it.
But now she was developing a pain in her stomach. ”Geode!” she gasped. ”I have to slow-I can't keep up with you!”
He stopped running. ”Side st.i.tch?” he asked.
”I'm afraid so. You've given me every advantage, but I'm just not in the condition you are. If I can rest a moment, I'll try to do better.” She stood where she was, aware how her heart was beating; she had been working harder than she realized, pedaling along the path.
”I used to get them when I started,” he said. ”Takes years to toughen up, and when I push it, it still happens, sometimes.”
”That tortoise-are there many of them here?”
”Yes. They have their burrows on the high ground. Other animals use them too; they call the gopher tortoise the 'Landlord.' ”
”Other animals?”
”Mice, rattlesnakes, maybe rabbits and burrowing owls-I'm not sure about them.”
”Rattlesnakes!”
”They don't mean any harm. If you see one, let it be. Just don't step on it. Coral snake too; that's the pretty one.”
”Coral snake!” she exclaimed. ”Doesn't that have the deadliest poison of them all?”
”Close to it. But it's mostly harmless.”
She shook her head, bemused. ”How can it be harmless when one drop will kill you?”
”It's a small snake, with a small head; its teeth are pretty weak. If it bit you on the leg, it couldn't get through the denim. You'd have to pick it up in your hands-and then it wouldn't bite you, if you didn't squeeze it. It's no threat to man; it uses its poison for prey its own size. I wouldn't hurt a coral snake for anything.”
”I didn't know,” she said, chagrined. ”I've got all these civilized ways, which really aren't so civilized. I a.s.sumed that poisonous snakes had to be killed.”
He shook his head in emphatic negation. ”No, never! Never! They have to make their living in their own way, same as we do. I don't care about it that way, but they are beneficial to man; they eat rodents.”
”I will not forget,” she promised, with a rush of emotion. ”You are teaching me.”
”And the big indigo snake is really beautiful,” he continued. ”Maybe six feet long, thick like a python, all black except for a bit of red in the chin. When I see one of those I just stop and watch.”
”I hope I see one.” She wanted to share everything of his in this alternate world of the Middle Kingdom.
”They're around, but rare.” He glanced at her. ”Can you move now?”
”I'll try. I'm really sorry about slowing you down like this; I didn't mean to be a drag.”
”It's the first time anybody cared to come with me. I don't care how slow it gets.”
”Thank you, Geode. It's wonderful being with you in your world.”
He started running again, and she resumed pedaling. This time he went slower, and she kept up more readily.