Henry

Chapter 6

            Things changed after that one moment between Henry and me. He had obviously felt the connection, too. Whenever he brought food back from the outdoors he was willing to share a portion with me, despite me hating every last bite I took of the raw meat. I reminded myself that at one point I needed to gather some wood to at least cook the meat…

            Henry still didn’t trust me very much. Whenever he did leave the cave he still made sure to barricade the opening with the same large boulders. I really didn’t need that anymore—I saw no reason to escape. I lacked any dubious idea to where I possibly was. I knew it was probably worthless to try to outrun the beast, let alone find my way home.

            Henry and I had been together for almost five days now. I no longer suffered from discomfort. I was well fed and had learned to sleep in the cave’s conditions. I daresay that I was actually beginning to enjoy myself. I found it quite interesting to study the ways of life from a wild animal, a mythical animal at that. In fact, Henry had told me in his own very special way that he was wanting me to go fishing with him.

            He had held up the skeletal remains of a fish he had eaten the night before and flicked his eyes toward the cave’s exit. He even pointed indirectly toward the sun light. I took no longer than a minute to process his language.

            “Of course I’ll come with you, Henry,” I said with a broad smile. I always made sure that I emphasized his name in order to draw his attention and let him know I was speaking to him. Though he hadn’t smiled, I could see a faint sparkle in his red orbs.

            Henry got to his abnormally large feet and headed to the cave entrance. He looked behind himself and glanced at me before walking out of the cave—without blocking the cave with boulders. I leapt to my feet, wincing at the now fading pain in my knee and followed him into the sunlight.

            I almost felt like a vampire as I was blinded by the sunlight. This was the first day I had exposed my entire body to sunlight in days, not counting the little rays of light that broke through the boulder wall while Henry was away. I adjusted myself before scanning the area for Henry. Being the giant and dark-colored creature he was, I spotted him immediately some fifty feet away from where I was standing. Careful to not trip on my weak legs, I ran after him as fast as my feeble body allowed. I couldn’t have felt more relieved when he stopped at the bank of a small river flowing through the area. Yes, I had had water in the past five days but it was a meager amount. I had carved a boat-like object from an old femur from a past meal of ours using a small phalange I had sharpened with a stone. I instructed Henry multiple times how to use it to collect water for me. In all, I probably had about five tablespoons of water a day, if not less.

            I knelt by the water’s edge and plunged my head beneath the surface. I inhaled the water and swallowed amounts of water that were probably too much for my esophagus to bear. I pulled my head from the water to take a breath of air before plunging back into the water and finish quenching my thirst.

            I heard a roar from beneath the water. I reluctantly took my head from the water and stared at Henry. He looked as though he were annoyed that I wasn’t paying attention to him. I splashed him with a bit of water. A low growl came from his throat, so I rolled my eyes.

            “Henry, you try to go five days without proper water consumption,” I joked, crawling closer to him so he could begin his “demonstration” on how to catch fish.

            He watched me intently for several minutes to assure that he had my full attention. I looked him directly in the eye and smiled heartily. He finally decided that I was being attentive and turned to the river. Many minutes went by as Henry just stared into the clear and rippling water. I was almost tempted to go back to dipping my face in the water, but I knew he would get frustrated at me for doing so.

            After what could have been hours he hovered his large hand above the water. In a blink of an eye it went down and shot right back up in a second. In his hand was a large fish at least the length from my shoulder to my elbow. I applauded before taking the fish from his grip to let it dry out in the sun. Then again, Henry went into silence and watched the water for a long time. He took even longer than the first fish. I resorted to concentrating on the fish that was flipping around, begging for relief. It soon grew slower and slower until it came to a complete stop. Its eyes looked around briefly before they halted and never moved again.

            At this point Henry had successfully managed to catch another fish. He carelessly tossed it behind him and resumed his version of fishing.

                                                                        ***

            It was nightfall when Henry and I walked back to the cave. He had shoved several fish inside his mouth with bunches in his hands. I carried one in each hand, unable to accommodate for any more. But I was now on a mission. I was through with eating raw meat—I was lucky I hadn’t caught a disease yet. As we walked over the dark path to the cave I made sure to collect as many sticks and branches I could hold. I thought I saw Henry give me a confused look.

            In the cave I plopped the fish down on the pile that he had made and separated the sticks into two piles: one pile was to burn for a fire and the other was to make the fire. I took a couple of sticks to use as a spit for my food.

            “Henry?” I asked. Like an obedient dog, his head turned and looked at me. “You showed me how you catch fish. Henry, now I’m going to show you how to make a fire!”

            His eyes were questioning at the word “fire”. I began to rub two sticks together until the friction caused them to burst into flames. I held up the burning stick and pointed to it. Henry’s eyes were mesmerized by the dancing flames.

            “Henry,” I said loud enough to be heard over the crackling fire. “This is fire. We make fire to cook our food and to keep us warm.” I tossed the flaming sticks into the larger pile of sticks and watched as the dark pile turned to dancing shades of orange and yellow.

            Using my sharpened phalange, I cut one of the fish in half and shoved a stick into its bleeding insides. I held it in the flames and watched it cook. Henry looked very interested in the whole process. The smell of properly cooked fish made my stomach grumble more than it had in days. I knew it wasn’t going to be perfect since I couldn’t scale the fish or remove its organs… but the idea of having a cooked meal for the first time in a week was more than appealing to me.

            When I thought that the fish was finished, I handed the stick to Henry. His nostrils flared and flared as he sniffed the cooked fish. He finally shoved the whole thing in his mouth. A spark flew up my back as I listened to the crunch of the bones. That was the first time I had ever seen him smile.

            “Henry¸ would you like to make a fire?” I asked, grabbing two fresh pieces of wood. I placed one in each hand and gently took hold of them. I directed him into the back and forth motion as the friction brought up the flames. He held them into the air and waved them back and forth before they went out. “Great job, Henry!”

            I continued to cook the fish until there was nothing left but the pieces of bone that I tried to pick out from the food. We each fell backwards and drifted into a happy sleep as the crackling of the warm fire cooed us to sleep.