Page 49 of Last Chance Cowboy
“Seriously, though, why wouldn’t I just use a lighter? Since I have one in my kit?”
“Remember when you fell and you lost your phone? There are a whole lot of reasons you might find yourself without something. Or, it may not work. Or, let’s say you’re stuck for an extended period of time. You’re going to run out of lighter fluid. But a ferro rod will always work for you.”
“I don’t intend to be stuck for a long time.”
“No one expects to be in their own personal version of Hatchet, Cara, and yet.”
“Hatchet? Like the book?”
“Yes, like the book.”
She thought about the little bookshelf at the back of his cabin. She wondered if Hatchet was in his collection. Maybe he had old books from his childhood. Maybe he had been a reader.
She could see that. He was a physical kind of guy, but therewas that sort of quietness to him. She could see that he was the sort who would value an activity like that. Some solitude.
She liked quiet activities. She enjoyed an evening with a book.
“What kind of books do you like to read?”
He looked at her strangely. “That has nothing to do with starting fires.”
“But I’m curious.”
“You know what they say about curiosity.”
“It killed the cat, but nobody ever said what it did to the Cara.”
She couldn’t quite determine what the expression on his face meant. But it did something to her. Made her stomach feel tight, made her feel hot. It was a good reminder that even though she was having intense feelings, she didn’t exactly know what to do with feelings like that. Reminder that she wasn’t experienced or bold or coquettish at all. She was…
Well, it was best not to think about what she was.
“I’ll tell you what, if you can start this fire, then maybe I will tell you the title of another book I like. You already know one of them.”
“Okay,” she said, frowning down at the bare spot on the ground.
“Come on. You’re going to come with me to collect fuel.”
She took a breath and followed him down the same trail they had taken yesterday. But he didn’t stay on the trail this time. Instead, he veered off, and through the brush, and she followed on after him.
Now she was hyper-aware of the fact that there could possibly be cougars, wolves, or bears lingering around.
At least she had her bear spray.
She supposed that you could use that sort of thing on any animal. If it was strong enough to take down a grizzly bear, it could probably take out a rabbit or squirrel just as easily.
He began to put sticks and moss and other things into his backpack, and she watched what he chose carefully. Then, without a word, he turned around and headed back toward the trail. She went with him.
She watched as he built a triangular shape out of the sticks and added moss and other small twigs in between the larger sticks.
“Okay,” he said. “I’m going to show you how to use a ferro rod.” He held up the basic, dark colored cylinder in his hand. “There are three elements to this rod that are going to help you start a fire. You’ve got fuel from the metal, you’ve got friction, and you’ve got oxygen.”
“How do I have friction?”
“Do you have your knife in your bag?”
She reached into the pack that he had given her and took out the large folding knife that he had placed in there. She opened it slowly, looking at the large blade with some trepidation.
“Okay,” he said. He took the knife out of her hand, held the ferro rod out with his other hand, and began to scrape the sharp edge of the knife down the rod. Sparks flew off the rod, and he made sure to hold it up against the moss and other small things that he had put down at the base of the fire. “You catch your tinder, and it’ll catch the rest. This is definitely one of the easiest ways to start a fire without a lighter. If you have your knife and you have your rod, you should be pretty good.”
