“Some grow on trees this time of year. Others thrive in the earth and look like regular white toadstools. Maybe later I’ll catch a fish or shoot a squirrel like an Indian with my bow.” Elise rubbed her hands together, then tucked them inside her pockets. Moisture dripped off the leaves overhead, and she drew up her hood. “Once we’ve got our food sorted, would you like to look for pollywogs?”

“That would be jolly fun.” Sammy bounced, his hunger forgotten.

“Afterward, we’ll need to build another shelter.” She didn’t add that today’s temperature was a fair bit cooler and so, undoubtedly, would be their night.

Though Elise detested vermin, she wasn’t one to quibble when she had a child to feed. A few hours later, she shot a dozen arrows before taking down two gray squirrels.

The lad was too hungry to wait until dark for them to hike up to the ridge to cook their food. Against her better judgment, Elise concocted a spit under a granite outcropping not far from the river. Sammy squatted beside her, observing her handiwork while she cleaned and skewered the squirrels, then set them on a spit to cook. Smoke filled the cavity under the outcropping, then seeped out under the trees.

While the critters cooked, she and Sammy foraged, returning often to rotate the spit. Alongside a burn, Elise located pink purslane and hairy bittercress. Not long after, she dug up a patch of wild garlic. The only mushrooms they came across were velvet shanks, an orangey-brown, capped fungi that grew on hardwoods. Returning to the fire with her cache, Elise added the mushrooms and garlic to the meat. Soon, the mouthwatering aromas were almost more than she could bear.

Sitting on the ground, she and Sammy propped themselves against the warm rock and dug in, burning their fingers on the hot meat.

“I like squirrel. It’s yummy,” Sammy said between bites.

“I’ll admit it’s better than I expected.”

But when she encouraged Sammy to eat their “salad” of pink purslane and hairy bittercress, Sammy turned up his nose.

After they finished, they sat in companionable silence, their bellies full for the first time all day and their backs warm from the heated rock. Exhaustion took its toll, and Elise dozed off.

A mechanical buzzing pulled Elise from her comfortable sleep.

Concerned, she made her way down to the river to scan the sky. Was that a small aircraft bobbing above the water? Elise stiffened. No one in their right mind would be out joyriding on a day like today. The pilot had to be insane . . .