For the first couple of days, the small group found the traveling to be pretty much the same as what Ham and Martin had found before. Much of it was new to Walt and June, but quickly they adjusted to being outside their village of Wait and to seeing new things. They all slept under the stars in their sleeping rolls, made fires in the evening, gasped at the beauty and wonder of the stars (when they could see them), bathed in streams, and enjoyed the activity of walking and talking.
On the third day, something entirely new and strange and frightening happened.
For the first time, they met some Huddlers outside of a village!
This was strange for so many reasons. After many days of traveling alone and with others, Ham had never before met any Huddlers outside of a village. All of the Huddlers he had met had been too fearful to leave their homes, except for Hal and Walt and June. And since he was the first Huddler he’d ever met who could do the many things and make the many objects he needed for traveling, this wasn’t at all surprising.
Meeting Huddlers outside of a village was surprising.
“Hello!” said Ham, waving his stick back and forth in greeting.
The Huddlers up ahead seemed to hunch together and move a few steps forward, towards Ham and his friends.
“Hello!” said Ham again, taking a step forward and smiling a bit tentatively.
The Huddlers up ahead started to separate, and moving forward, sort of moved around Ham and Martin and Walt and June. Ham looked to his left, and saw that Martin looked thoughtful. He looked to his right, and saw that Walt and June were edging towards him. He looked around, and saw that there were six of the other Huddlers in a half-circle from his left to his right.
The other Huddlers had empty hands, were extremely dirty, were hunched and tense, and were sort of leaning toward Ham and his friends.
“Hello?” Ham said, inviting, asking, testing…
