Page 27

Chapter Nineteen

Three days later, Jovian was on his bunk, struggling with the ropes as he tried over and over again to get the knots right Cherokee had shown the class. “Hey, buddy, how’s it going?” Alan asked as he sat on the bunk and plucked up some of the rope.

“These knots are impossible! And if we can’t tie them, like all the other things we have to do, I will have to watch my boyfriend go off with all of you on that survival camp while I’m stuck back here.”

Cherokee had told the class that they’d have a quiz on the techniques he was showing them before they’d be allowed to go.

“Well, Jovian, he’s doing it for a good reason. I mean, this isn’t like the last one. We will really have to find food, make our own shelters, our own fires.”

“I’m just smuggling a lighter with me,” Jovian whispered. “I got one from that guy who smokes those nasty cigarettes. Of course, he charged me twenty dollars for it, the thief!”

“You’ll still have to make one for the quiz, Jovian.”

“I know, but it’s so long and tedious to make one. I’ll do that one, then have an easier time at the camp when Cherokee’s off, checking on other people.”

“That is…a plan, I guess. How about we help each other, quiz each other?”

“I suppose. You can start by helping me with these knots! How will I ever make a shelter from those ropes and tarps if I can’t tie a knot?”

The backpacks they’d take on the next survival camps had one energy bar, one small bottle of water, a long coil of rope and a tarp. No blankets, no other food, and the little white bags to be foraged weren’t included in the package either. They’d have to forage for things that actually grew.

Oh, and their multi-tool, too. It had a knife in case they caught an animal for food. Jovian wouldn’t, couldn’t, so he knew he’d have an energy bar for two days and that was it. “I’m going to be so cranky. I get very hangry if I don’t have a meal.”

“We’ll stick together, Jovian. We’ll find food, even if it’s just a couple of mushrooms.”

“Don’t get me started on them! Another thing I must study! I’m sure I’ll be poisoned. I know I will.”

“There are very few poisonous mushrooms around here, Jovian. Remember?”

“I heard him, but with my luck, I’ll find them all and try to make Marsala from them.”

Alan giggled and then grew serious. “I’ll help you, and Cherokee will too.”

“He said he can’t. That when we go on the camp, he can’t give me special treatment.”

“I don’t mean on the camp, I mean now.”

Jovian was too stubborn for that. “No! I don’t want him to think I need him to…I don’t know, tutor me! I’m smart, and I can get this, I’m just not an outdoors kinda guy. And there’s nothing wrong with that,” he said as his head raised.

“No, there’s not. Let’s get to the knots, and then we’ll take one of those practice tarps and make a shelter in the trees. We’ll get this, I promise.”

“This is so useless! I don’t ever plan to get lost in any woods! Either I’m there and naked with Cherokee in them or I’ll be in a nice, warm, comfortable bed.”

“Okay, deal, but for now, let’s learn these and make Cherokee happy. God, it’s weird calling him that.”

“I rather like it. It’s…it fits him.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

They worked on the knots for over an hour until Jovian was pretty sure he’d gotten them down. Once he did, they went to the storage shed and Alan rooted around until he found where Cherokee has stashed the practice tarps.

Together, they went into the woods, just short of the main camp, and Jovian stared at the blue tarp like it was a snake. “I know I’ll never get this.”

“We’ll work on it until you do, so start.”

Jovian whipped the tarps out of how it was folded and then moved it around with his hands until he came to the first grommet. “Grommet. What a terrible name. It sounds like some furry gnome in a child’s story.”

Alan snickered. “I guess it does. Maybe they were running out of names to name things.”

“Seems like a terrible excuse.”

He tied the first knot, a bowline knot, into the grommet and held it up for Alan to examine. “Is this right?”

“Damn, Jovian! That’s perfect! Great job.”

He feigned humbleness. “It’s a knot. I didn’t just buy myself a Lexus.”

Alan patted him on the back and soon, he and Alan made a ridgeline on one tree, then on the other, a trucker’s hitch and soon, they had the rope taut and could set the tarp over it, making it almost a tent.

“Okay, now, we don’t have stakes, so what did Coach say to do?”

“Make our own, of course. I told you, I was listening this time.”

They found some branches that would work and then got out their multi-tools, slicing off the bark and then sharpening the ends into a point.

After cutting pieces off the rope, they got the stakes tied to the tarps taut, until they made the perfect tent.

“Those other types of shelters, they are really complicated,” Jovian whined. “I can just do this one, right?”

“Coach said pick one you like and stick to it. It takes a long time to master all of them.”

He sighed in relief. “It thought so. This is good enough for me.”

“Bringing one end down, though, gives you more protection from the cold and elements. Why don’t we try to do that, at least?”

“Fine,” he grumbled.

When they were finished, Alan threw an arm around Jovian’s shoulders. “This…is good, Jovian. I think you’re gonna do fine.”

“We’re coming out tomorrow, right?”

“Every day until Survival Camp. And later, we’ll go to the firepits and practice getting a fire made.”

“No lighter, I suppose.”

“No lighter.”

Cherokee held another class that afternoon, all about how to filter water, and even digging to find it under the dirt.

Jovian couldn’t imagine drinking it, but once Cherokee filtered and boiled it, he passed it around, and Jovian was shocked to see it was as clear as tap water. “Well, wow. This is amazing!”

“Thank you, Jovian,” Cherokee said. “I like the approval.”

Hanging on every word that Cherokee taught, he was impressed with himself when Alan quizzed him, and he passed perfectly. “I can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it!”

Alan chided, “Don’t, Jovian. You wanted to learn this time, and even if it was just to make Coach happy, you’ll have this knowledge forever, which is all he truly wanted.”

“I know. He’s so worried about people that get lost. He said a lot, don’t make it out alive. Isn’t that terrible, and it’s not from bears or snakes! It’s from weather and being thirsty!”

“Yeah. I like the outdoors. I’ve been worried about it before. I don’t think I’ll ever go hiking again without a backpack filled with a compass, blanket, water, protein bars, you know.”

“Not that I ever aspired to hike up more than an escalator. I agree with you. Anywhere not on the main street, I’ll beware.”

“True. What if you got stuck in a bad part of town?” he asked as he gasped playfully.

That night, he walked to the cabin with Cherokee and actually took in more of the scenery. It was beautiful in the dark. He’d been terrified of it, but he was learning, with Cherokee’s help. The dark wasn’t much scarier than the day.

“You and Alan are getting tight,” Cherokee mentioned.

“He’s a good friend.”

“You sure that’s all?”

Jovian was about to have a hissy fit, but then it hit him. Cherokee was jealous. He was jealous! Jovian had been the one that wanted to hate Alan. “Oh, sure, because, you see, I am massively crushing on this big guy that teaches really boring things like knots and how to start fires with sticks.”

“Can you possibly add necessary to the boring? Like, boring, but necessary.”

“Yes, Cherokee. Boring, but necessary.”

“Thank you.”

Holding his hand, strolling more than walking, Jovian felt like a teenager. Better, actually, because he didn’t hold hands with anyone back then.

“You know, Cherokee, I thought I would hate it here, and now it scares me to leave.”

They walked more before Cherokee said anything. When he did, Jovian’s heart nearly broke into a million pieces. “Scares me to see you leave.”

He didn’t want to hurt Cherokee, not ever. “What if…I, you know…what if I come back, though?”

“Well, I’d like that just fine.”

“You’d like it just fine?”

“Yes, Jovian. I would. I would like it. I’m going to miss you, but we still have over three weeks, so maybe let’s not worry about that tonight.”

“It’s been three weeks already. It’s gone by so fast.” The time flew, but it also felt, in a lot of ways, that it had lengthened. He couldn’t imagine a time before Cherokee was in his life.

“I think I’ll make you fresh bread for breakfast this time, and fruit. My friend’s cherry tree has a great yield, so I’m trading him a bushel of peaches when they’re ripe.”

“Cherries. Yum. And fresh bread? How early are you getting up, and do I have to get up then too?”

Laughing, Cherokee said, “No. I already have the dough made. Maybe I’ll make the bread, then make French Toast with it, add some syrup and cherries.”

His belly growled. “Daddy makes his boy good food.”

“My boy eats like a pig when Daddy makes him good food.”

“I do?”

“Yes. I’m glad. For once, you’re not counting every calorie, and have you gained an ounce?”

“Not that I’ve noticed, but you also work me half to death. You know that Alan and Mike are making me hike the Diamond Line with the others tomorrow? To make sure I’m prepared for the survival trip?”

“Good for them.”

“I’m getting in good shape,” he said, leaving it hanging a little, hoping Cherokee would confirm it.

He did. “You’re fucking hot, yeah.”

“Thanks! I feel like I’ve got muscles now.”

“You do.”

Preening, Jovian whispered, “I’m glad you think I’m hot.”

Cherokee scooped him into his arms and carried him. “Can’t have you too in shape. I would miss carrying you around.”

“Oh, I’d never be in that kind of shape. And I’m still terrified of snakes.”

Cherokee stopped on the trail and kissed him tenderly. “I’ll always carry my baby boy.”

Jovian’s tears sprang into his eyes, and he held Cherokee tightly. “Daddy?”

“What, baby?”

“I don’t want to ever leave.”