[piosenniel]

Sam

The first faint smell of roasting meat drew Sam like a magnet. He was glad to see Reggie, and hopeful at first that perhaps he had brought back some food from Falco’s camp. But Reggie’s tummy growled as loudly as Sam’s, letting him know there was no hope there.

Then . . . a delicious odor tickled his nose and sent his mouth watering.

Sam turned in the direction of the enticing smell, hoping his mind was not playing tricks on him. There on the other side of the camp was Sassy, crouched down near a small fire she’d started. He could see her hands reach out to turn a spit to either side, now and then. And on each of those spits was a plump coney! He drew near the fire and crouched down, himself, near Sassy.

‘I’ll tend to this one, and you can tend to the other,’ he offered, nodding at the coney to his left. ‘We’ll get them done up in no time with two of us cooking!’ He pulled out the little knife he had in his pocket. ‘I can help with the cutting, too,’ he said, his eyes gleaming at the prospect of a hot meal.

‘Going to be a good day,’ he thought to himself, grinning as he watched the coney turn a nice golden brown and smelled the fat dripping from it sizzle on the coals.