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"Peter, do ether a list of all the indians and divide theirls, over eight or ten sessions max This is for tomorrow Start at sun-up"

I heard him say, "Okay, that’s not a probleet away from Bodo before I kicked him in the nuts or worse

I eventually caled over to a less obvious mode of travel Time to practice I looked up at the leaves on the trees and down at the ground aroundthe areas that looked like they were full of the dry, crackling stuff My progress through the swa like that of a buffalo to that of a smallish bear It felt like an improvement and made me a tiny bit happier than I had been back at the hut

Stupid Bodo Thinking he can tellin prettyin a direction I’d never been before An area off to hter than the spot I was currently in, so I made a detour to see as over there Hopefully, I’d be able to find h, in case I got lost I called it the screa in the trees to find a beautiful, wild sanctuary-looking place Patches of water were rasses and plants, and the entire bay-like area was ringed with cypress islands held together by their tangled webs of roots

I sat down just inside the cover of the trees to keep the shade overthe water below for prey A few gatorson the water and several others were up on the banks of the grassy mounds across from me

It probably should have sent , prehistoric-looking creatures out there, but they seemed really far away from my reality and totally unconcerned about ry to me There was an abundance of food here for theht be iving their intelligence too ain, and I was dead tired froainst the tree behinda dream about the mountains I had taken a trip with eneral store in a s on the porch in a rocking chair He was rocking back and forth, playing a harsound like it wasIt had freaked ain It didn’t frightentransported to a different time and place

A loud shriek jerked ht

What the hell was that? I looked around in a panic The sun was still up, but it was lower in the sky No gators were swi around nearby anymore, but there were several more up on the banks across the water None of theoodness It crossedin the world to fall asleep next to a pile ofhad woken me up, but I wasn’t sure if it had coain and kneas coe bird circling abovefroin harain

What the hell? I looked out across the water, a little toon a bank I wasn’t sure at first, but when I squinted to get a sharper view, I thought it ht-skinned, standing with an air of quiet confidence Yeah, definitely Bodo

I scraain under the full cover of the trees I stood when I was sure he couldn’t seeskills in real tieneral direction of where I’d seen hi to be quiet here, since even if I was sounding like a buffalo he’d never hear it froht I’d seen hi close attention to the leaves underthem out of the hen I needed to I paused between steps to ed creature was headed his way

I could still hear short, quick toots co from the harmonica occasionally, and they helped me stay on track I wondered why Bodo didn’t just play the da on it like that He sounded like a deranged goose

I eventually ended up in a spot just behind where Bodo was standing A few hts

Another honk came from his harmonica, and I used the noise to cover the sound of e tree and stood behind it, cliher and look through a space in the trunk where a natural oval-shaped hole had foruesstimate were correct, I would be able to see the area behind Bodo easily without hi to see ot toon the edge of the water, his feet sub at his sides In his left hand he held the harmonica, which I watched hi froht hand he held so I couldn’t see very clearly It appeared to be a wide strap of leather, wrapped around his arain

Bells? Where did I hear bells recently? And then it struckundressed My face screwed up in confusion Why the hell does Bodo have bells with hiain fro his arm out towards the water, the one with the leather wrapped around it He looked like a zoator-infested swa after hihttowards him from off in the distance, up in the sky It looked like ht for him

My mouth dropped open andlike -out heart What the …?

My brain would not coh-pitched shriek of a large brown bird of prey ca out to land, I couldn’t believe the vision beforeout and grasping onto Bodo’s ar

Holy doodle on a stick Bodo has a bird And it wasn’t any parrot or even a crow, either This thing was like a friggin eagle it was so big

It landed on his ar the leather on his wrist, stepping a bit fro fro Trip didn’t see him at all anymore

"You can cohed Dammit How had he seenout,to stand on the side of him that was opposite the bird, about ten feet away "How did you knoas there?"

"You are not very good at da sneaking"

"I thought I was pretty awesome, actually"

"Well if awesome is da same as loud, den yes, you are really, really, really aweso not to smile I looked at the bird, suddenly at a loss for words It was ical