Jewel

Chapter Two, Summer 2037

The girl woke up wrapped in Marshall’s blanket next to a campfire later that evening.

“How’re you feeling?” he asked.

She slowly grabbed her side and looked at her arm. Marshall had cleaned and bandaged it with some of his unused clothes.

“Not good,” she said with a wince.

“You broke a few of your ribs,” Marshall said. “I could feel them.”

She sat up, adjusted the blanket, and scooted closer to the fire. “Where did you put my knives?”

“You broke those too,” Marshall said. “I don’t know who you are, but I’m going to wait to give you any weapons.”

“Yet you saved me.” She said, focused on sitting gingerly so she wouldn’t hurt herself.

“Yes.”

She rolled her arms around gently and said, “My name is Jewel; you?”

“Marshall Baker,” he said. “Jay, Eee, Double-you, Eee, Ell?”

“Yes.”

Marshall nodded without a word and gave her the chance to ask another question.

She asked: “Why are you wearing the blindfold?”

“Because my eyes were gouged out by the cavaliers and now I wear it so I don’t gross other people out and so my mind has a sort of reason for not being able to see. A placebo I guess.”

“What’s that?” Jewel asked.

“What’s what?”

“A ‘placebo’?”

“It’s like a fake something. Like if you take a pill for say… indigestion. It might have no effect on you for real, but your mind thinks it does, so it takes the pain away anyway.”

“Oh,” Jewel said. “What is ‘indigestion’?”

“A stomach-ache.”

“I’ve never heard it called that.”

“Do you know what those things I killed were?” Marshall had been dying to ask.

“Barrygangs,” she said immediately. “You haven’t seen one before, I take it?”

“What’s a barrygang?”

There was a pause. One that told Marshall he should already know this information.

“Fraiserbanes. They hunt kids like you and me.”

“Are they human? I can’t actually see them.”

“They’re monsters. Just like… caywards and novis.”

Marshall felt a thrill shudder through him. “‘Novis’?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s what me and my friends escaped from just a month or so ago. Two of ‘em.” Marshall sat up. “Have you encountered one?”

“I’ve heard about them. Supposedly the scariest fraiserbanes and best at killing, but there aren’t any on the Hook. Where’d you see these, Marshall?”

Marshall held up a hand and frowned, “What’s ‘the Hook’? And where are we? My friends and I traveled through a mirror to escape the novis. Do you know about mirrors?”

Jewel shook her head.

Marshall shrugged. “Thought I’d just check.”

“Are you sure you can’t see? How’d you know I shook my head?”

“Sound. That’s how I killed those barrygangs too. I can hear and smell so well that it’s like I can see. I don’t know what you look like, but I can sense all of your movements and even your heartbeat. I don’t… hear it so much as just paying attention to what’s making sound and letting my mind put the rest together. And I’m super flexible and quick now. Is that because of the fraise?”

Jewel was looking at him strangely, “What? Yes, it’s the fraise. You’re a hush, obviously, and you came from a mirror. What part of the world did you come from?”

“Pennsylvania,” Marshall said.

“Is that a state? From before the Rise?”

“The ‘Rise’?”

“The world rose, Marshall. I don’t know where you came from, but the rock we’re on is thousands of feet in the air above a never-ending ocean. Have you come across any cliffs as you traveled?”

“Yeah,” was all Marshall hoarsely said as he took all this in. “That’s why I was having trouble breathing when I came in a few weeks ago, huh?”

“It’s the year 2037 right now.”

Marshall let that fact sink in, though it didn’t sink so much as latch to his mind like a sore. He tried his best to pretend that didn’t shock him, but the length of silence he allowed to pass blew his cover. “So I traveled through time too, is what you’re saying?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Marshall put his hands on his face and pondered that. Myles warned them that the place they were going to was cold. And it could be bizarre. Heck, they’d run from an underworldly beast… why shouldn’t the world they land on be years in the future and floating? He had crashed through a mirror and landed years in the future which meant his parents were dead, and his friends? Did they make it? What about that dream around the campfire? Or was this a different world where the fraise existed?

“Marshall?” said Jewel a few feet from his face.

“Shit!” Marshall started, “I didn’t hear you at all.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, yeah I’m okay. That’s just… a lot to swallow. Does none of this surprise you? I’m a time-travelling kid from a different universe who now has superpowers enough to see without eyes… and don’t forget I also just saved you from bloodthirsty monsters.”

“Some people have a lot of crazy things happen in their lives. I’m heading to the city of Stablefield, about twelve hours of travel that way, or a day and a half,” she pointed in a direction. “Since the huge rocks float, there isn’t north or south or anything if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“That would make sense,” he said, taking a deep breath. “You’re pretty beat up though. Sure you should be traveling?”

“If I can talk, I can walk,” Jewel put her head back down.

“Stablefield, huh? What’s there?”

“People. It’s the biggest city on the Hook and it has a lot of boats if you want to travel.”

“I thought you said we were way above the ocean? How are there boats?”

“They’re floating rocks, not seaborne boats.”

“Floating boats?” Marshall asked.

Jewel nodded, trying to snuggle the blanket closer to her for warmth.

“Why do the cavs want to kill us? Is it just for the fraise?”

“Yes,” Jewel said. “It slows your aging and puts you on a days- or week-long high which will make you feel like a kid again. I’ve seen a lot of fraisers die or be captured.”

“Fuck,” Marshall breathed, “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“I’ve been saved a lot too. By the strangest people, not the least of which was a blind katana-wielding kid from back in time.” She laughed slightly, but he could smell the tears of pain that hadn’t quite left her eyes.

Marshall sat facing away from her so it didn’t seem like he was watching. He could sense her pain, where the cracked bones were rubbing against each other like the planks in a wood floor. She wasn’t complaining about any of her wounds.

“Weird question, but do you want one of these swords? Hopefully the longest one because I like the other two.”

Jewel’s eyes opened and she glanced over. “Where did you find those? You must have found them recently if you are still carrying all of them.”

“Found them the other day,” Marshall said.

“Glad you did. You took out five barrygangs pretty easily.”

“If I weren’t so quick and flexible, I probably wouldn’t have.” Marshall said.

“If you weren’t a hush? Yeah, unless you were a hanger and just flew away. Barrygangs are sneaky and simply outnumber single fraisers or steal kids that can’t defend themselves.”

“Wait, fraisers can fly?”

“Just the hangers.” Jewel yawned and winced as she felt her ribs again; filling her lungs like that hurt. “Thanks for bandaging me. I’m just thirsty and exhausted, Marshall.”

“We’re safe, don’t worry. You can drink this and go to sleep.” Marshall offered his water bottle.

Jewel took her arms out from under the blanket and downed all of the remaining water. “Thanks.” She screwed the cap back on and placed it next to her.

“Don’t mention it,” Marshall said as she fell asleep.

Marshall propped himself against a tree and dozed as well.

He didn’t stir, but felt his consciousness rise back. Marshall had heard some words.

Dropping to the frost on the glass was a map pointed to my secret hiding place,

He heard her look at him to see if he moved; he continued his steady breathing. The action came naturally as he was quite comfortable and warm in his ninja garb. She heaved breaths quickly, like one who is nervous. 

She resumed:

I led you to the tree with the split in its bark on the way into my family’s yarrrd.

In, that, tree, you saw I, brought the dog, back to liiife

I watched you from the branches as you stared from the ground with a look I couldn’t understand,

So I said ‘Leave me alone,’

‘If your only words are ugly ones,’

And you just smi-i-i-iiiled,

And said come and show me how it’s done.

Though he could see nothing, Marshall heard these words as Jewel sang. He didn’t move, letting her continue.

Dug up your old bird. and held her to your chest, as the breath went back into her lungs,

She blinked and flapped her wings, she sang a familiar song,

…before she took to the air and cut a path into the woods,

Then I cried, cuz all my life I had known,

That something was off,

But you just shrugged, and said ‘It ain’t just youuuuuu,’

Marshall thought she was done, but she continued and he realized she was just allowing time for some imaginary solo instrument to play.

Slippin’ on the pavement where we ran from the ghost that you saw behind the cellar door,

That’s the way you showed me that I wasn’t quite alone, that you’d also touched the dead before.

He heard her teeth chattering against themselves. Marshall wondered if she was cold or actually afraid. She wasn’t scared enough to run. ‘If I can talk, I can walk,’ were her words, so clearly it wasn’t him she was nervous about.

We were tight knit boys,

Brothers in more than name,

You would kill for me,

And knew that I’d do the same.

And it cut me sharp,

Hearing you’d gone away,

But everything goes away,

Yeah everything goes away.

But I’m going to be here until I’m nothing,

But bones in the ground.

And I was there, when you grew restless,

Left in the dead of night.

And I was there, when three months later,

You were standing in the door all beat and tired,

And I stepped aside.

Everything goes away,

Yeah everything goes away,

But I’m gonna be here until I’m nothing,

But bones in the ground,

So quiet down.

Another long pause, but this time Jewel was humming whatever instrument was supposed to be playing. Marshall felt two tears slipping out of his nose; this was the first music he’d heard since his captivity, and Jewel did have a half-decent voice.

We were opposites at birth

I was steady as a hammer

No one worried ’cause they knew just where I’d be

And they said you were the crooked kind

And that you’d never have no worth

But you were always gold to me

And back when we were kids

We swore we knew the future

And our words would take us half way ’round the world

But I never left this town

And you never saw New York

And we ain’t ever cross the sea

But I am fine with where I am now

This home is home, and all that I need

But for you, this place is shame

But you can blame me when there’s no one left to blame

Oh I don’t mind

Marshall decided it was time to wake up, but he had to consider how. A start would be easy and he could pull it off, but a sigh would take less energy and seem more natural. Jewel hadn’t ever seen him wake up before. It was nice having this bandana so she couldn’t tell if he was awake, only by his mannerisms. He decided he’d try to start awake by just jerking his head a couple of times and then rolling the cricks out of his neck.

“Marshall, wake up,” Jewel shook his shoulder before he could make a move.

“Shit!” he slapped her hand, his other hand reaching for a sword.

She gave a small yelp and backed up, “Whoa, bad dream?”

“Uh, sorry, no.” He rolled the cricks out of his neck according to plan. Sleeping against a tree wasn’t the best way to spend a night. 

“Were you awake?”

“No,” he stood and straightened his weapons on his waist.

Jewel considered him, like she smelled the lie hanging out to dry.

“What?” He asked.

“Do you have nightmares?”

“Yeah,” Marshall said automatically, but then realized the abruptness of the question. “I mean, I have. More in the past. Some recently, about novis.” But most recently, those sensations of killing Anda and the Cavs.

“I have them every night. Singing helps me fall back asleep.”

“How long have you had nightmares?” Marshall asked as he started gathering all of the supplies to start walking again.

“A few years,” Jewel said. “They went away mostly when I was with Ripley, but he has been gone for a while now.”

“You seen some shit?”

“What?”

“Have you seen some shit?” Marshall repeated.

“Oh, like messed up things? Yes; I’ve been told I’ve seen a lot for my age.”

“So that is probably what you dream about, huh?”

Jewel nodded.

“Which way is that city?”

Jewel pointed. “I think it’s that way. It’s tricky when the sun isn’t in the same place each day.”

“Gotcha. And who’s Ripley?” Marshall started walking with her.

“My best friend. I wonder where he is sometimes.” Jewel answered as if this were a wise thing to say. “He’s a wight. A few hundred years old.”

“Hundreds of years old?”

“That’s what happens to wights. It’s just about impossible to kill them.”

“What is a ‘wight’? I feel like I come from a super boring childhood.”

“Do you know what a ‘grey’ is?”

“Nope.”

“A grey… oh, Ripley explained it to me once. I know what they are, but I can’t describe it well. It’s like a person who has such a bond with nature that they don’t need food or shelter and tend to wander forests and such. Ripley said that greys also can learn the nature of… well, nature, and then return to their original living with a changed mind. Sometimes rich people will do it because there really isn’t anything to gain from money. That’s how Ripley described it at least. In short, it’s someone who has made a great connection with nature and doesn’t need food or shelter because they can get all of their nutrients and safety from nature. Does that make sense at all?”

Marshall could sense she was making a hopeful face. “So… a vegan?”

Jewel threw her head back and laughed two quick laughs before wincing in pain. “Ow, ow.”

“I’m surprised you know what a vegan is,” Marshall said. “I didn’t know what that was until a few months ago. And I asked what a wight is, not a grey.”

“A wight is a grey that doesn’t die. Most greys just pass away like the rest of the humans. Wights keep living, but their skin and organs and all of that can’t keep up and it all falls off of them. Then they’re left with just their skeletons which are held together with their soul. It’s really when the soul decides it’s time to go on that the skeleton will fall to the ground. Ripley pretty much said he couldn’t find peace until he wiped out a lot of bad guys. He’s still working on his list and that’s why he left me behind; he didn’t want me to be put into more danger. I was helping him for a while on a few different planets, but eventually we parted. He dropped me off here where he knew I could thrive.”

“Mm,” Was all Marshall said.

“I know your story for the most part. You came from back in time when it was peaceful. So all of this is very new to you?”

“Yeah; always thought it would be cool to have a couple of swords. And I’m dressed in this ninja gear with the split-toed shoes and everything. By the way, what color is my clothing?”

“Black. Kind of gray in some areas. There are a few stains of something, but it looks like they may have been washed out.”

“Cool. It felt black in the sunlight. I knew it had to at least be a dark color.”

Nothing was said for a few moments.

“There’s a dragon on my jacket,” Jewel said.

“Like… one landed on you?”

Jewel chuckled. “No, it’s a round patch sewed onto the back.”

“Can I feel it?”

“Yeah.” Jewel stopped and turned her back to him. “It’s yellow and black on a red background. So the patch is mostly red.”

Marshall felt. The patch was a little smaller than a dinner plate. It was sewed onto the middle of the denim jacket.

“Why did you choose this jacket? It must be hard to move around.”

“I like the feel. And this jacket is big enough on me that it does offer enough movement and warmth.”

Walking with Jewel made Marshall feel good. He found a new community, possibly a new Astronomer, all by himself. “Just wait ‘till you meet the rest of the Astronomers,” he said.

“Who are the Astronomers?”

“It’s the club I’m in. All of the Astronomers are the others who jumped into the mirror with me.” After he said it, he realized… “I don’t even know if they’re alive. Myles said we would be safe, but honestly I don’t know what happened to them. They could have landed in different universes or other planets with floating rocks.”

“And maybe not,” Jewel said, adjusting the sword on her back. “From what I know about mirror travel, the destination is usually nearby if you get separated. They wouldn’t have landed on a different planet; they would have landed somewhere else on the Hook in all reality.”

“How do you know about mirrors?”

“Ripley knew how to travel mirrors. He taught me a lot about jumping.”

“What do you mean, ‘jumping’?” Marshall said.

“It’s what you did. Jumping through time and space from one world or planet to another. You took a big jump in time, though. Your guide must have had little experience with mirror-jumping, huh?”

“Yeah. And by ‘yeah’ I mean he’d never heard of it before. Think of the most standard, unknowing person you know. That was all of us. Who the hell jumps through mirrors to escape monsters?” Marshall said.

Jewel stayed quiet for a while and then asked, “Did you like my singing?”

“Is that what that was?” He couldn’t sense it, but he just knew she was smiling at him right now. “I may have heard a bit. Part of you must have been happy to have someone listening, right?” Marshall wanted the truth.

“Yes. Did you like it?” She asked again, this time with a slightly impatient tone.

“If I had eyes, I would roll them,” Marshall said.

Jewel laughed aloud once and grabbed her side with the broken ribs, “Oww,” And eventually said: “That was hilarious, but it just hurts so much to laugh. Why would you roll them?”

“Yeah I’m a comedy genius. I just hate loaded questions like that. My english teacher taught me about those kinds of fallacies; no matter how I answer that, I’ll either be a liar or come across as too honest.”

“So the answer is ‘no’?”

“Correct.”

“Hmm, well thanks for being honest. Ripley liked my singing.”

Marshall could only think about his own friends now.

“What will you do now that you’re so far ahead in time?” Jewel asked.

“Can’t we just jump back?”

Jewel shook her head. “When you jump, you can only jump forward in time. Jumping backward in time would cause atoms to crush into one another because they’re inhabiting two spaces at the same time and there would be a huge explosion if it worked, but it hasn’t worked. Instead, you’re always pushed forward.”

“So… I won’t be able to see my family again?”

“Well, you could jump back to where you came from and see how they are thirty years later?”

Fuck me, Marshall thought. What happened? “It’s like I don’t exist anywhere. It’s like I was just born into a new life. I got nothing here. I got no history, no friends around.” His nose started crying again as his voice began to break. “I really have nothing? I don’t have anythi-?” A choke cut off that last word.

Jewel kept walking alongside him as he walked.

“Can- Can we stop?” His voice was choppy and distant from sorrow.

“Yeah,” Jewel said.

Marshall took a couple minutes of deep breaths and then shook himself. “Thanks.” Then he changed the subject: “Is Ripley around?” Marshall mostly wondered if he was dead, but didn’t ask. “Is he in Stablefield?”

“No, he’s not here anymore on this planet, but he’s definitely alive.” They began walking again.

“So he’s in space?”

“Different universe, I imagine.”

Marshall’s forehead wrinkled. “How do you figure that?”

“He told me a little about how all this works, about how there are different universes and multiple variations of ourselves. Not infinite, mind you; he was specific on that front,” Jewel said.

“Yeah, infinite variations. There are infinite universes.”

Jewel seemed hesitant. “That wasn’t how he really described it; how much do you know about it?”

“Oh, just that it’s been a theory of science for a while. I don’t know much about it at all.” Marshall said.

That ended the conversation. The smells and sounds were fresh and bright; Marshall thought he’d never have noticed just how nice everything smelled and sounded if he weren’t blind. Then he remembered just how much he’d lost now that he was blind.

“Even though you’re blind and I can’t see your eyes, you seem far off,” Jewel said.

“Yeah,” Marshall said robotically. “Uh, I was just thinking about that very thing: Not having eyes. It’s hard not to think about it sometimes, but even though I’m pretty used to it, the feeling is still weird.”

“Hm,” Jewel said. “You said you were looking for your friends?”

“Yeah, I saw them in a dream not too long ago. They said they were in Stablefield, so hopefully they’ll be there. Hell, maybe they found me already with their prophesying powers.”

“One of them is a prophet?” Jewel said quickly.

“Two of ‘em are I think. Mariah and Myles.” Marshall said.

“Two prophets!” Jewel said and reached slowly for her side. “Wow, even talking that fast hurts me. Ugh.”

“Are they rare? You’re the first fraiser I’ve met who isn’t a prophet.” Marshall said.

“That’s wild. Prophets are the rarest, then there’s a pretty even distribution of the other three: Minders, then hangers, then hushes.”

“So we’re the most basic fraisers huh?”

“Yeah.”

“How does it all work up here?” Marshall asked. “Are you always running for your life? Or are there towns and stuff?”

“I used to live in a village and then the Cavaliers pillaged it and burned it down. They took most of the fraisers, but not me, my older brother, or a couple others. I’d lived there all my life and I was seven years old when that happened. Then Mikey and I were captured and the other fraisers saved themselves which I don’t blame them for; they only would have been captured as well. Fortunately, Mikey and I were tied up with ropes at the Cavaliers’ underground base and we slipped out of them since we were both hushes. The Cavs found out we were loose before we escaped, so he shoved me into a dark room and drew them away. I wouldn’t have escaped if it weren’t for the wight they had locked up that I let loose. Then he and I escaped, but not before they killed Mikey. Mikey was my older brother, by the way.”

Jewel took a deep breath here and continued, “I loved and still love him; he saved me many times.”

Marshall wanted to ask questions, but he let her continue.

“Then I joined a different town and they didn’t know how to hunt at all, so I helped teach them and they adopted me. Then so many of them left to Stablefield that we figured we’d all split up and go different ways. I traveled with a few other fraisers and villagers for a while and we just lived off the land. There were these huge packs of animals we’d never seen before. They were like cows, but didn’t give milk and gave a lot more meat.

“Then we were attacked and a lot of us escaped, but we were scattered and I lived in the woods for a while. It was lonely, but eventually I decided to look for another village and I found one, but I didn’t like it. There were only fraisers older than me and they were cocky and we weren’t good friends. So one day I just left and I still don’t think they’ve missed me.

“I went to Stablefield, but on the way I ran into a group of fraiserbanes that I only knew by description: the barrygangs. I used to have two knives, but I lost one in the village I left and the second one I lost in one of the barrygang’s heads. They’d all been chasing me for a few days and I was tired which was when they hurt me. 

“So I climbed a tree and you saved me. Of course, if I had a sword I could have finished them easily.”

Marshall nodded sarcastically, “Uh huh, definitely.”

Jewel huffed a laugh, “You did save me.”

“First time I’d ever saved someone.” Marshall said before suddenly thinking of his dad. Saving his son on Bushkill Avenue from a couple of interdimensional monsters.

The two walked for several hours, Marshall telling her about the Astronomy Club and Jewel telling him about what life on the floating planet is like.

An hour before sunset, Marshall and Jewel found a lot of trailer homes, most of them overturned. The lot was the size of a tennis court and the trailers were mostly overturned.

“A bullet trailer!” Marshall said, walking toward a silver, round one. 

Jewel followed and asked, “Is it called a bullet trailer because it’s shaped like a bullet?”

“Yeah,” Marshall jumped onto its side and it partially rolled under his weight. “This is sick.” He opened the trailer’s door like he was entering a submarine.

The inside smelled like a frat house of raccoons had thrown a three-day party two years ago and left on the last night. 

“Well, I don’t think anything died in here. We could air it out, I’m thinking.”

“We could also try a different trailer.”

“I’ll leave this one open. Your turn to pick.”

“I had my eye on the Denali over there.” Jewel pointed. 

Both fraisers approached the upright trailer and stepped in. This one had broken windows and smelled like a wetter forest.

“This one isn’t bad,” Marshall said.

To their left was the main room: A conglomeration of the kitchen, living room, and dining area. Directly to Marshall’s right was the bathroom.

“Here we are, honey!” Marshall threw his arms open. “Our very own house. And it’s all ours.”

Jewel laughed and said, “Well, I still hate the carpet. It simply doesn’t match the wallpaper, but I know the colors are something you never had an opinion on anyway.”

Marshall almost laughed as he peeked past the bathroom and into the master bedroom where he sensed a large bed. “I don’t trust that mattress one bit. Probably rotted to hell.”

Jewel nodded. “I’ll probably sleep on the roof anyway. I don’t like staying in enclosed spaces like this.”

“Are there any blankets we could use here?”

“Most blankets from before the Rise are either threadbare or eaten to pieces. But maybe if some were kept in a cabinet, they may have been preserved.”

“For someone who was raised in an apocalyptic age, you have a pretty good vocabulary,” Marshall noted, opening and feeling around for blankets. All of these cabinets were empty.

Jewel was opening and shutting cabinets and closets as well. “Ooh, turmeric. And cloves and cayenne. Well, I haven’t just been on this planet. And Ripley was my teacher. I learned hundreds of new words by traveling with him for years.”

“You found spices?”

“Yup. Find anything in those?”

Marshall opened one more and felt cloth. Folded, stiff, and flat, but it was cloth. “I think I got something.” He pulled out a stack of old towels. “Tadaa.”

He sensed Jewel’s face brighten. “That’s a find,” she said.

After a quick search around the rest of the interior, the fraisers stepped out of the trailer. The air outside felt fresh after being inside. They walked on the cracked concrete to the side with the ladder to the top of the trailer. 

Marshall paused. “Let’s check the underside.” 

“Underneath the trailer?”

“Yeah.”

Jewel stood with her back to the trailer and bent at the waist, putting her head near her ankles. Her gaze looked underneath the trailer. “It’s all overgrown,” she reported.

“No, I mean the storage area. The one you can open like a trunk.”

“A trunk is part of a car, right?”

“Yeah, it’s the storage part on the back. With trailers like these, they’re usually on the side. He walked to the left side of the trailer and felt around for a handle. “We gotta look for some kind of metal handle. Most of them are stainless steel, so they shouldn’t be rusty. Do you see anything like that?”

“Yeah, near the front on the side the door was on.”

They found the hatch and opened it. There was nothing inside. They found another hatch on the very front of the trailer, but that one was also empty. 

“Well, shit,” Marshall said. “We could try the rest of ‘em.”

After frisking the rest of the trailers for about fifteen minutes, they only found a few sets of XXL clothing in a different trailer. Marshall took out the largest shirt he could find and put it over his head. Then he filled the shirt with the rest of the clothes and towels.

“Oh… shit. Never shoulda eaten all those Big Macs.” He started walking from side to side.

Jewel was smiling; he could tell.

“Say missy, know any good toilets around here? I think I need to shit the living daylight out of my asshole.”

Jewel laughed aloud, unable to answer.

“Oh, shit, I could eat a whole other fat person right now, but I think I’m ready to hibernate. Gotta burn off all this flab. Never should have worn stripes going side-to-side. Fuck, it’s this shirt that makes me look fat, isn’t it?”

Jewel was still laughing too hard to answer.

Marshall kept a straight face, though he wanted to laugh with her. “My fat ass hasn’t moved over three miles per hour since high-school. If the building around me starts burning and an exit is more than… ten feet away? I’m fucked.”

That comment made Jewel collapse to the ground laughing and Marshall started laughing with her. She finally clawed enough air into her lungs to say, “Your shirt says ‘Pink Strong’ with some little pink loop on it. I don’t know what that means, but it’s even funnier.”

Marshall pieced the puzzle together. “Some fat lady survived breast cancer.”

One second passed before both fraisers started laughing again. 

Marshall snorted. “This is a ladies shirt? She’s like nine of me; she was breast cancer waiting to happen.” The towels were starting to fall out and he had to cup his arms to keep the shirt filled. It looked like he was hauling around his stomach.

Marshall cleared his throat and put on a higher-pitched voice: “Cancer can’t beat me, but a car idling forward could beat me in a footrace.”

“I don’t get that joke, but I bet it’s a good one.”

“It’s always fun to make fun of fat people,” Marshall said, pulling out the towels and letting the other clothes fall to the ground.

“Especially when only the top part of you is fat and there are just two skinny legs sticking out.”

“Hey, I’m not that skinny,” Marshall defended.

“You’re a kid; of course your legs are going to look skinny compared to the XXL women’s shirt you’re wearing.”

“Fair.” Marshall took off the shirt. “Should we set up camp on that trailer?”

“Yeah.”

The fraisers climbed the camper and kicked the collection of leaves in the nooks of the roof before they laid down the towels, setting some aside to sleep under.

“I’ll be right back,” Jewel said, slipping down the ladder and backflipping off the second-to-last rung. She ran into the forest.

Takin’ a piss, Marshall thought. He hadn’t peed all day which probably just meant he was dehydrated. He sure was hungry and may have to eat water for dinner anyway. From his backpack, he pulled the water bottle out and took a drink. 

After a couple of minutes Jewel returned and joined Marshall on the roof. “Thanks for traveling with me,” she said.

“Thanks…likewise,” Marshall said.