|
Chapter 5
A few miles further down the trail, Lena spotted a snake in front of them and pointed it out to Yulia. Yulia, trying to prove that she was not scared of every little creature, decided she would pick it up. After all, if Lena could handle a five foot snake, why couldn’t she handle such a little one? What harm could it do?
“I wouldn’t touch that one.” Lena said as Yulia approached the snake.
“Why not? You think I can’t handle a small snake? It’s like what, maybe a foot long? Its mouth isn’t even big enough to bite me!” Yulia responded.
“Alright, suite yourself. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Lena said with an evil glint in her eye.
“Don’t underestimate the Volkster.” Yulia said confidently as she approached the slender smooth green snake.
“Okay, so I’ll just pick it up by the tail like you did. It can’t be that hard.” Yulia said as she grabbed the snake by the tail, putting a stick underneath it’s midsection to give it some support while lifting it in the air just as she’s seen Lena do with other snakes they’ve come across.
“Ha! See! I told you I cou--. EEEWWWWW!!!!” Yulia screeched, dropping the snake and jumping back as if she was bitten. “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! The little fucker sprayed me! What the hell is that smell?” Yulia said as she glared at Lena, who was doubled over in laughter.
“I told” *gasp* “told you” *gasp* “not to go near it!” Lena struggled to say as she was gasping for air in between her laughter. “That snake defecates and then lets out a horrible spray when it’s handled like that!” Lena added as she continued to laugh at the now stinky Yulia.
“Well you could’ve warned me!” Yulia said as she stomped off. “Now I have to go take a freaken dip in the river. And it’s cold!” Yulia whined as she grabbed the soap from her pack and headed off to the river.
“Maybe that’ll teach you to listen to what I have to say.” Lena said with a grin on her face.
----------
“Have a nice bath?” Lena teased.
“Oh aren’t you funny? You’re just so funny, funny, funny.” Yulia said as she rolled her eyes.
“Hey. I tried to warn you. It’s your own fault for not listening to my infamous wisdom.” Lena said with a flicker of playfulness in her voice.
“Well, it’s almost dark anyway. I’ll go ahead and get a fire going and cook some dinner.” Lena said.
-----------
“Wow. That actually wasn’t that bad.” Yulia said.
“Oh ye who have little faith. Of course my cooking is good.” Lena said with a smile.
“So,” Lena said as she stretched out her legs to get a little closer to the fire, “Have any interesting stories from Russia? What did you do during your free time, or shall I even assume you know anything outside of a mall?”
“For your information, I can do other things besides shop. I am an accomplished ballroom dancer and pianist. And I can play a bit of the guitar as well.” Yulia said.
“Oh so you can play the guitar? Interesting. I’ve always wanted to learn how to play that. Hey! Can you play any Shania Twain songs?” Lena asked excitedly.
“Shania who?” Yulia asked, puzzled.
“You don’t know who Shania Twain is? THE Shania Twain? Girl, where have you been? Living under a rock?! She’s only the best singer out there right now!” Lena answered.
“Sorry. Can’t say I’ve heard of her.” Yulia said.
“Oh we will be changing that. You will know all her songs by the time you leave, that’s for sure.” Lena said with a huge smile on her face.
“Right. Anyway, so what do you do besides hang out with your animal friends all day?” Yulia asked.
“Well, basically that’s all I do. I’m fascinated with animal behavior and how they interact with each other. You can tell so much about what an animal is feeling just by looking at the body language. It’s amazing how they communicate with each other. They aren’t like humans; animals are true and they show exactly what they feel without hiding behind any masks or image.”
Pausing to think a second, Lena then added, “I gave up on trying to figure out people awhile ago. Just when you think you can trust someone, they screw you over so why even bother with the effort?”
“You know, not everyone is a backstabber. There are trustworthy people out there, you just have to find them, or let them find you” Yulia said. Maybe I can give you a reason to trust again.
“Anyway, I think we should turn in for the night. We have a long day tomorrow and we both need the rest.” Lena said as she put out the fire.
As they got into their small tent, Lena noticed that Yulia’s sleeping bag wasn’t spread out yet.
“Aren’t you going to spread out your sleeping bag?” Lena asked.
At that question, Yulia got a horrified look on her face. “You mean you didn’t pack mine?”
“Are you serious?! I gave you a list of things to pack! How could you forget your sleeping bag of all things?!” Lena asked.
“Well your pack was so huge it looked like you had mine in there!” Yulia shot back.
“Unbelievable!” Lena said as her hands flew up in the air and she marched over to her backpack.
“You are *so* lucky that I packed an extra blanket just incase the weather turns cold on us. I’ll spread out my blanket on the floor of the tent and we can use my sleeping bag as a cover. You just better stay on *your* side.” Lena said with frustration. This is going to be a long two weeks.
|