When the sticks looked to Ham to be just right, Ham and Hal pulled them out of the fire, doused the ends in the bucket of water that the smokehouse master kept by the door, and took the sticks – now staves – outside. With their belt knives, the two young men quickly scraped away the outer layer of charred wood to reveal the black, hard knot that had been formed by the smokehouse fire pit.
Hal looked at the end of his staff, then banged it experimentally on the ground. There was a spurt and a puff of dirt and dust. Hal raised the end of his staff to examine it, and found that – other than being a bit dirty – it was still hard and smooth.
“Hunh!”
Ham looked at Hal and smiled.
“Let’s get you ready for our trip, Hal,” Ham said.
“’kay,” said Hal, never one to waste words, as though each was a precious resource to be hoarded and spent with judicious restraint.
The two soon-to-be traveling companions moved back to the center of Drear. Having a bit more experience as a traveler now, Ham moved quickly to show Hal what needed to be done. They assembled Hal’s carry pack, some food, some clothing, a blanket roll to sleep in, and then Ham showed Hal how to make a carry bag for his water. As Ham showed Hal, he noticed that some of the Huddlers of Drear would pay just the smallest, slightest, tiniest bit of attention to what they were doing, looking sideways, walking a bit crabwise, as though they didn’t really want to look but felt drawn to what Ham and Hal were doing.
When Hal’s kit was all assembled, and Ham could not think of anything more to be done, the two young men headed eastward out of town, the wan sun drawing them forward as it settled to the horizon, and the first signs of dusk shadowed the village. As they reached the edge of the village of Drear, Hal stopped.
“Leaving,” Hal observed. He looked back over his shoulder at the village he had been born in, had grown up in, and in which he had learned everything he knew, up until now. Ham could see Hal’s eyes touch the roofs of the homes and the smokehouse and the well in the center of the village.
“Yes, we’re leaving. I expect we’ll be back at some point. I just don’t know when.”
Hal cocked his head to the left and looked at Ham, then cocked his head to the right. He took a firm grip on his staff, shrugged his shoulders beneath the straps of the pack on this back, and took his first step across the unseen but very real boundary of Drear.
