Arabella laughs, a full lovely sound that causes me to join her.
Okay, Will, enough of the gazing at the beautiful princess. You can't have her, so forget about it.
Needing to distract myself, I check the temperature of the salve, finding it just right. Scooping some onto my finger, I hold out my other hand. “Your foot, milady.”
“Oh, no, it's fine. I'll do it. I haven't washed my feet, so they’re rather yucky at the moment.”
“I have news for you. Every part of us is going to be ‘rather yucky’ until we get out of here,” I say. “That's just life in the bush. Now, I offer an all-inclusive service out here in the jungle—delicious warm meals, unlimited fresh larvae, and medical attention.”
“All-inclusive? Hmm…” she says with a flirty smile.
Oh wow, do I ever want to find out what she means by that. Instead, I force myself to get back to the matter at hand. “Give me your dainty little foot so I can fix you up.”
She reluctantly lifts her foot and sets it down on my waiting palm, the weight of it giving me a hint as to how slight she really is. I switch the headlamp back on and get to work, fixing up her ankles and covering them with bandages.
The fire starts to die down, and I see her yawn, then realize I’m a little disappointed that this evening is coming to an end. Huh. That’s weird. “We should get some sleep. It's been a long day.”
She glances over at the tent, then at me, and I can't be sure, but it seems as though there is meaning in the expression she's giving me.
No, that can’t be right. I’m just tired. But she did make the phrase all-inclusive sound a little dirty…
Which is exactly why I have to sleep out here tonight.
She blinks slowly. “I feel terrible taking the tent while you're out here.”
Do not make eye contact. I glance up at the sky. “I actually prefer it out here under the stars.”
“And with the brown recluse spiders and Wolverine frog and mosquitoes…”
Is she trying to persuade me to join her?No. Bad, Will, bad. Do not go there.“I'll be fine. Maybe if I could keep my boots in the tent with you. That way if it rains, they'll be nice and dry for me.”
I stand, and get my sleeping bag out of my backpack, then lay it next to the fire. “Do you know why I picked this spot for the night?”
“Because of the water.”
I nod. “Yes, but one of the benefits of being next to a river like this is that there's a break in the trees so you can see all the stars up there.”
Arabella leans back and stares up at the night sky. “Well, that is incredible,” she whispers.
“Right?” I say, laying back.
“I mean, I knew there were millions of them, but the sky isn't even black. It’s absolutelyfilledwith twinkling lights,” she says. “Hold on a second.”
Arabella gets up and unzips the tent, then pulls out her sleeping bag. She sets it down near mine and lays on it. “I'm not ready to sleep just yet. I want to stare at this until I know I'll never forget it.”
“It's amazing, isn't it?” I ask with a happy sigh. “People go their whole lives without seeing the Earth and the sky for what they really are. They just stay stuck in their boxes from the moment they are born until they die.”
“I’ve spent my entire life in a box. A very grand, luxurious, safe box,” she says quietly.
Glancing at her, I say, “Is that why you came, Arabella? Because you can't stand being confined anymore?”
She nods, turning her head to me. “I needed to get out. I felt like… I might…”
“Die if you didn’t?”
Nodding again, she says, “I know it sounds horribly ungrateful. For someone like me to feel any sort of discontentment when my life is one of incredible privilege.”
“Not to me, it doesn’t,” I say, turning onto my side to face her. “To me, your life sounds really sad.”
