Day 70, Rebuilding Our Home (V) - Bonus Chapter for Green Tangerine and Pomelo Tea

Today there was no way I could possibly gather pebbles, so I could only wait until tomorrow and take it one step at a time.

The sun was already close to setting. Spreading the dirt had taken me a great deal of time, but if I hurried and built the stove first, I should still make it. Before that, though, I still had to fetch some water; the bucket was empty.

I pushed the bucket into the little river, and it filled quickly. Going there was fast, but bringing it back to the treehouse would take some time. I had only thought of this way of carrying the bucket last time, and after a successful trial it had become the method I used most often.

First, the bucket could not be filled too full; about half to two-thirds full was enough. If it was too full, it would be inconvenient to transport this way, and besides, it could slosh out while being rocked, soaking me through.

The method itself was very simple. I tilted the bucket up on one side, then kept turning it as I pushed, so that it moved forward on its side. All it required was time. Though slow, its advantage was that I could get the water handled in one trip, and it did not take much effort.

After placing the water at the entrance of the treehouse and covering the bucket with two coconut palm leaves, I went down into the lower level. It was not yet dark, and I had better finish the stove before nightfall. I still preferred to cook dinner inside the treehouse.

The stove I built this time was rather makeshift. The main reason was that I had no especially good ideas; after all, I had no experience at all.

I first made a circle on the ground with stones, then slowly stacked more stones upward. I only built two sides; one opening was for adding firewood, and at the top I left a hole, a little smaller than the pot. At first I had wanted to build three sides, but it just did not feel quite right. The fire’s effect would not be as obvious, and the lighting would become very limited, so in the end I only built two sides.

That way, when I was cooking, I could put the pot on top, and when I was not, I could simply take the pot away without much trouble. Though it still looked a little odd, it would have to be improved little by little. Until I had a better idea, this would do.

To keep the light from being blocked, I had gone to great pains. While stacking the stones, I even deliberately left several gaps between them so the firelight could shine through. I had originally planned to coat the outside of this earthen stove with another layer of mud, but then I worried it would block the light, so I gave up on that idea.

Night was about to fall, and everything outside had not yet been put away. Lately I had been doing hard labor too intensely. At first I had felt sore and weak, but these past few days I had gotten much better. After carrying those sacks of rice and flour, I no longer felt sore at all. Perhaps one’s body really does grow stronger in ways one does not notice.

I brought in all the things that had been drying outside. On the upper level of the treehouse, I had already tied up several vines, specifically to hang food from them.

The grain was in rather poor condition, especially the flour. Even after drying, it had clumped together. Some of the bags that had originally been pressed down below were the worst; soaked through by muddy, filthy water, half a sack of flour had turned a muddy yellow. Whether to throw it away or keep eating it was a question that tormented me.

Only the rice was in somewhat better shape. Although it too had formed lumps, prolonged exposure to the sun had improved it a great deal. What I worried about most was the middle part of the sacks. The center was still not especially dry; if several days of rainy weather came now, it might mold before long. I only hoped the weather would stay this good for the next few days. Every extra day in the sun meant a greater chance of survival.

After finishing all that, I made a pot of cured pork and steamed rice outside with Little Black. After mixing in some lard, I ate it.

This busy pace left me utterly exhausted. As soon as night fell, I grew sleepy. I had barely finished eating and had not even rested enough when drowsiness hit me like wave after wave. Even Little Black yawned several times.

Dragging my worn-out body, I went with Little Black to the upper level of the treehouse. After closing the door, I collapsed at once onto the bedding...

“Don’t move!”

A cold object pressed against my head!

I jolted upright in terror. “Who... who are you?” I asked, utterly shaken. Gooseflesh covered my entire back, my body trembled violently, my scalp seemed to contract into a knot, and a chill spread from the soles of my feet all the way to the crown of my head.

I could almost stop breathing. I could even hear the frantic pounding of my own heart in terror. Those words had taken the last of my strength to force out!

“Hahahaha. Who am I? You’ll know when you look.” I did not recognize this voice!

“You?” Slowly turning my head to look, I saw a face that seemed only faintly familiar.

“No way!” I shouted in my heart. The reason that face looked familiar was because we had once met on the same cruise ship. When we were smoking together in the ship’s smoking area, we had even exchanged a brief conversation...

But that was all there was to it: a single chance encounter. And when the ship overturned, I seemed to have seen him then too. He was snatching another person’s life buoy. Whether it was really him, I could not remember clearly. Back then everyone had been fleeing for their lives, in utter confusion...

“I’ve actually been watching you for a long time,” he said calmly, pressing the gun harder against my head.

Those words made me, already chilled to the bone, even more terrified. Being secretly watched by someone was a truly horrifying feeling.

“You even have food! Weapons! Tools! So I had no choice but to creep up on you in secret and think of every possible method. Hah. At last I found my chance!”

“So it was you who made Little Black disappear yesterday?”

While he was speaking, I had already pulled the Swiss Army knife from my trouser pocket and taken it into my palm. His intentions were obvious now. To survive, I could only look for an opening and, when he let his guard down, strike a fatal blow.

“That’s right, it was me. I’d planned to have myself a meal of dog meat, but that beast got away. Still, it can be eaten in a moment!”

The moment he said that, my heart tightened. Looking over at once, I saw Little Black as if it had already been cut in two, blood streaming all over the ground.

I could no longer hold myself back. Leaping up, I drove the Swiss Army knife toward his eye!

A gunshot cracked.

...

“Ah!” I cried out and woke with a start.

It was a dream.

A dream so vivid that I felt as though I had been pulled from the water, my whole body drenched in sweat from sheer tension.

It had been too real. Too real...

I had been sitting at the entrance of the treehouse for about ten minutes, but my heart still had not settled.

Please let something like that never happen...