Troy was making two little fires for us to cook six fish. We thought it might be a little of an over kill, but again, the snow could keep our leftovers from going bad. Drake had given Remy his survival guide book and had him back out in the snow looking for the right wood for a cold smoker. He was determined not to let any of it go to waste.
Jace volunteered to clean our garments from yesterday and hang up our wet clothes. He had his phone playing some of his down loaded music, and I happily hummed and sang to the songs I recognized. I was going through music withdrawals. I missed playing music. I knew some of the other operatives had guitars, but I didn’t know them well enough to ask to borrow them.
After a few of the fish were gutted, Drake started stuffing them with the wild onions and garlic.
“How could you tell that they were edible?” I asked as I picked a couple up.
Drake smiled at me. “In the wild, the onions and garlic look like grass, but if you look at them, you can notice a greenish blue color to them. Then when you pick them, you notice they’re not flat like grass is, and when you smell them,” he paused and held one out to me. “They smell like their supposed to.”
“Onions,” I smiled as I examined it closer.
“And?” he asked expectantly holding our another one.
“Garlic!” I exclaimed.
“You nailed it,” he kissed my cheek. He leaned back on his haunches. “Does anyone mind if I dig through your MREs and grab your salt and pepper packets?” he called out so even Remy could hear him from where he was coming back in with the wood Drake requested.
Everyone agreed quickly. We all were eagerly awaiting to taste the fresh fish.
“I never used mine yesterday, so they are in my front pocket,” Remy said as he took off his outer layer of clothing and laid the wood out near the large fire to dry.
“Me too. I put mine in my side pocket,” I jumped up. “I’ll help you grab them.”
“You just don’t want to butcher anymore fish,” Noah called out knowingly.
“True story,” I laughed. “I’ll try again, but for now I think it’s safer if I walk away.”
“I think it’s safer for the fish too,” Jaxson snickered.
“Ha ha ha,” I tried to give him an annoyed looked but failed miserably. He was speaking the truth.
I went over to the pool and washed my hands of fish guts and wiped my hands off on a towel that was hanging out to dry. Drake followed me, and together, we went through all the trash and MREs to grab the salt and pepper packets. I used one of my empty packages to load the packets in, so I didn’t drop any. I also grabbed my dried cranberries, crackers, and jalapeno cheddar spread.
I had burnt a lot of calories wading through the snow today, and I was starving. I didn’t think I could wait for the fish. Drake snapped his fingers and ran back over to his pack and came back over with a pack of dried cranberries and an energy bar.
“Are you eating those cranberries?” he asked eyeing them in my hand.
I shrugged. “Probably not. Do you want them?”
He smiled. “I was thinking we can stuff them in the fish for additional flavor.”
“Great idea!” I enthused.
“If this turns out well, I’ll make sure to add this to Remy’s menu and credited it to you,” he winked at me.
We went back over to our cooking fires and I sat down cross-legged to try my crackers with the jalapeno cheese. I took a tentative bite and nodded. It wasn’t bad.
“Try this,” I held a piece of my cracker and cheese to Jaxson, since he had a love for spicy food. “It has a bit of a bite.” I explained to him.
He took a bite, purposely licking my fingers as I withdrew my hands. “Mm, delicious,” he smiled wickedly.
I laughed. “I shouldn’t have even shared my food with you, since you were being mean to me.” I said acerbically.
“Whatever, you still love me.” He smiled at me.
“Maybe, maybe not,” I teased as I continued eating my snack.
I was getting ready to help Drake stuff the fish when I heard a gasp from behind me.