It occurred to me that I’d probably cried more in the last couple weeks than Madisyn had. It was pointless and self-indulgent. That thought helped me get a handle on myself.

I got up and started gathering more of the hanging moss, looking for the driest bunches. After about half an hour, I had a huge heap of the stuff piled beside a large tree. When the time came for bed, I’d just crawl into the pile. It was the best I could do. Hopefully it would keep me warm.

I reached into my pocket and pried out the snail. It had died, but it hadn’t gotten squished. I never in a million years would’ve thought I could eat a raw snail, but I suppose serious hunger has way of clarifying the mind. Holding my breath, I picked it out of its shell and swallowed it down in a couple bites. It was slimy and left a nasty aftertaste. I rinsed my mouth with water from a pool.

“Thanks for the snack, little fellow,” I said to the tree-’pus, which was still clutching me.

Then I sat down carefully and tried to think of something I could do that would make the next day a little better than this one had been. There was so much I needed — fire, dry clothes, food, a weapon, a way of signaling for help. I really couldn’t think of a way to get any of those things.

Something touched my shoulder, and I just about jumped out of my skin. It was another tree-’pus. It was clinging to the trunk above me. Once it had my attention, it held out a dead slug.

“Hey, thanks, that’s really nice,” I said, taking the slug.

It was intensely gooey. I really didn’t think I could eat it.

As I sat there, other tree-’puses approached me with offerings. By the time it started getting dark, I’d been given three large moths, a dragonfly, a lizard, two snails, and an earthworm. I thanked each ’pus profusely.

When the gifts stopped arriving, I retreated to my moss pile with my collection of food items. My passenger ’pus climbed off me and settled on the trunk over my head, changing color to blend in. I began to eat my gifts. The slug was just too huge and slimy, but the worm, snails, and moths went down the hatch. The lizard I offered to the tree-’pus who’d been riding around on me.

It just stared back at me in the dim light.

“Hey, I’ve taken you pretty far from your home. I think you deserve to get some dinner, don’t you?”

It stared at me a while longer, then accepted the lizard, which disappeared under the fleshy skirt that connected the tops of its tentacles. I heard a muffled crunch and wondered exactly how octopuses eat.