ch 8 jose

Deron took a turn watching from the magnificent perch Ed had found. (Deron had measured it to be exactly chest high.) He strained his eyes to see across the expanses of white soil and scrub brush as Ed snored loudly behind him, all four feet sticking straight into the air. As he strained he began to realize that Ed must have spotted the coyotes at a great distance. Those big goofy looking eyes apparently served a purpose to the strange creature.
Deron was slowly turning his head side to side scoping the entirety of his surroundings. He looked to his right, nothing. He looked to his left, nothing. He looked back to his right and again found himself nose to nose with Ed.
“Hi Deron the Moose. I am awake. Should we get going?”
Deron felt the ever present pain of thirst as he responded, “Yes please.”
They again started to trot out across the vastness, but as they moved on Deron began to see that they were moving up a long valley. The mountains on either side began to close in a bit and the hues of color began to change slightly from a dead brown-brown to more of a dead brown-green. The mountains looked like they were going to run together at some point. As the miles faded behind them Deron saw a mountain begin to rise in front of him. It rose up quite abruptly and appeared to have some jagged rugged cliffs and peaks. At the top sat a small puff of clouds, the first Deron had seen since escaping the men.
This sight gave Deron great hope and he found it easier to keep up with Ed’s relentless pace as he continually sprinted ahead to question roller bugs and dirt clods if they were indeed antelope. The creature had a great deal of endurance. Deron could not deny him that.
Deron’s spirits lifted as he set his sights on the peaks dreaming of a crisp cool lake. He could imagine himself sprinting full speed and hurtling himself from a boulder landing with a tremendous splash all to the delight of his dim witted traveling companion. The day dream was carrying him forward when suddenly it was interrupted by Ed carrying on a conversation with someone.
“Hi Jose, how you been? Oh yeah. That sounds downright pleasant! How are the kids? All of them? Well those little rascals!!”
Had Deron not known Ed for what now amounted to about a day, he would have simply assumed that his brain had finally baked in the unrelenting sun. But honestly he might be talking to a fence post just for fun or believe it was responding. It wouldn’t be the strangest behavior he’d demonstrated. Deron was writing it off as Ed antics when he heard someone respond.
“Ed I’m happy to see you it’s been a while, but how many times do I have to ask you not to blow my cover? Don’t you know its bow season already? I don’t want any hunters to find me.”
“Oh Jose you worry too much. You’ve only ever seen one hunter out here in all your life and you are the best hider I’ve ever met. Stand up and say hello to my new friend Deron.”
“Ok Ed, but you don’t get to be my age by taking risks.”
Now mind you this entire conversation Deron had been searching for the source of the voice and been unable to find it. They were standing next to what you might call a slight dip in the otherwise flat expanse. In the dip there appeared to be a few mustard and tumble weeds. Suddenly from the very indistinctive space rose a mule deer with quite a fantastic rack of horns. Deron was familiar with deer, they lived back home, but this deer had more magnificent horns than he’d ever seen. Each side had seven points and they spread very wide and very high from Jose’s head. And off of his right side a tine dropped well below his eye, nearly to his shoulder. Deron’s antlers were still greater in mass but for a moment he experienced a bit of antler envy.
“Hello friend. My name is Jose. It looks to me like you may be lost and far from home.”
“Hi. My name is Deron and you are exactly right. But my greater concern at the moment is that I am weak from thirst and this unrelenting sun feels like it will burn my hide soon. Can you help me find more water?”
“I certainly can friend. Follow me. Ed, are you coming with?”
Ed nodded, grinning ear to ear.