Hunger and Thirst Read Online Free PDF

few.” She pointed. “Over there, under those rocks is a family of rattlesnakes. They sun themselves on warm days like this. They’re very civilized rattlesnakes, unlike your friend Hewitt. If we don't bother them, they’ll pretend we don't exist. How did you annoy Hewitt?”
    “I had something he wanted.”
    “And to think, human beings used to be insulted by their relationship to apes. I imagine a lot of the people you've met would gladly trade places with monkeys.”
    “Yesterday, I would have.”
    “My rattlesnakes live their quiet lives and are not concerned about you or what you have unless you bother them. In the old days, they were hated and brave men killed them in competitions. When the overlords arrive, let's hope they're a bit more humane.”
    Natalie bent down and pushed aside a tiny cluster of blue flowers. There was a mouse hole beneath it.
    “My little family of kangaroo rats live here. She has four pups. Look at this.” She took two steps to the side. Beside a string of pea-sized yellow flowers lay a flat stone. She carefully tilted it. Beneath were two pale green translucent scorpions. She slowly replaced it and took his arm and they strolled on. “People always think the desert is a dead ugly place.”
    He could only see her.
    Very faint, carried lightly on the air, they heard barking... dogs barking... and coming closer.
    “Wild dogs,” she said. “They hunt coyotes and other dogs — and anything else they want.”
    “I hadn't heard anything about wild dogs out here.”
    “They could be local. They rarely come close.”
    “Do they hunt people?”
    “It's happened.” She casually scanned the south. “It's a beautiful place, isn't it.”
    “If one doesn't get killed or eaten alive.”
    “Most of us will have a final unpleasantness. It's part of the deal, isn't it. But aside from that momentary, personal event, all this remains the same. Even in our absence. Sometimes out here, I stand and hold my breath and see what the world will look like after I'm dead.”
    “I never thought of doing that.”
    She looked at him a moment and then by his hand pulled him closer. “You're cute.”
    ....
    He sat on a wooden folding chair in her bathroom. Six candles had been lit and placed around, high and low. She had him turned with his head tilted back over the sink. He had already shaved and she had trimmed his hair to a civilized appearance. Now she massaged shampoo into his scalp.
    “I never felt.... I love this,” he mumbled. Talking was useless. She stood in front of him, her shirt brushing his face. Her smell enveloped him. Jack could barely talk. “I had... no.... idea.”
    When she finished toweling his hair dry, she combed it back with her fingers.
    “Are you finished?” he said. His voice was almost a croak.
    “I'm just starting.”
    ....
    Jack stood on the upstairs deck, alone, drinking coffee and gazing at the Sierra Nevada. After a few days of cool weather in the desert, the mountains had streaks of snow down their peaks. It was cool, bordering on cold, but Jack was wearing an undershirt, shirt, and sweater. He almost felt civilized.
    Whenever he went outside, he always looked for Artie and called to him. He never saw him. But food was left by the front door at eight every evening. By morning it was gone. Whether Artie or some other animal had eaten it was unknown. He missed Artie. When he thought about it, he really missed Artie. He had once been all set to die with him.
    He went back inside, found his old backpack, which he now realized had a distinctly used odor, and pulled out his dogeared packet of flower seeds. California poppies. He was going to plant them someday, hadn't known when, but he knew now.
    Near the front door, he found a stick and cut a shallow furrow in the dirt. While pressing the seed into the soil, it occured to him that this didn't look like typical desert soil. It seemed to have peat in it. He wondered how she did that. Where did she get peat in the middle