CYOA Page 28
Sep. 15th, 2013 05:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lumy12You know it's usually advisable to do what Joel says... but you also know that if he's gotten into trouble, he might try to handle it himself rather than put you at risk. Even though I'm not that scared little girl in Boston anymore!
You only towel off for like five seconds before becoming impatient to see what Joel is up against. You don't bother with clothing -- not even your shoes. You just grab your gun from the riverbank and head up in your swimsuit, dripping wet and cold. Whatever it is, the horses don't seem addled by it at all. You look around and don't see any people... including Joel.
"Joel?!" you yell again. Where the fuck did he go? You look around wildly, starting to panic that you can't see him.
"Didn't I tell you to stay put?"
You run in the direction of his voice. He's not far away at all... there he is! Standing in front of a tree, his back to you. And he's... OH.
Now you feel stupid.
Joel zips up his fly and turns around. You must look silly, standing there all wet and barefoot in your suit and toting a gun, because Joel looks amused.
So you get defensive. "Why the fuck did you scare me like that?" you snap at him.
And now he's confused. "How did I--"
"You could've just told me you had to go! Fuck!"
He looks like he's stifling a laugh -- and oh how you hate it when he laughs at you! "My apologies," he says in that tone that means he's not sorry at all. "How was I supposed to know you'd freak out just from--"
"I didn't freak out!" you cut him off. You know that he knows it's a lie, yet the words tumble out anyway. "Just-- just-- fuck you!" ...Yeah, real mature... but you don't care. You stomp off to get dressed before he starts making fun of your goosebumps (or the fact that you're shivering).
Sometimes it's annoying that Joel knows you so well by now; it would've been nice to receive a sincere apology. For him to show some concern over you being mad at him. Nope! When you return, dressed and not quite so wet, you pack up your bath stuff in the saddlebag it came from... and Joel acts like nothing happened.
Of course, the good thing about that is you don't have to apologize, either, and you weren't exactly nice to him just now.
Joel approaches you with a branch full of... what ARE those? "Look what I found over there," he says, waving the cluster of red berries just enough to make them jiggle slightly.
You take a closer look. "Are those cherries?"
"I don't think so. Color's too bright. You know what I think they are?"
"What?" You can't even begin to guess.
"Buffalo berries."
You wrinkle your nose. "Are those edible? That sounds gross." For some reason, you're now imagining they're buffalo balls.
"Yes... remember that wine we had at Tommy an' Maria's? That was made from buffalo berries."
You don't remember hearing that. You only had a few sips of the wine; it wasn't that great. Only Maria seemed to really like it, of the four of you. "So they're sweet enough."
"I reckon so. But I ain't a hundred percent sure that's what they are so I was thinkin' we just take some back to town an' see."
"I'll try one," you offer, but he pulls the branch back when you reach for it.
"Might be poisonous. If anyone's tryin' 'em, it's me."
You roll your eyes. "I'm the one who-- has a condition, remember?" you say teasingly, avoiding the word 'immune' as you've been trained to anywhere outside your house.
Joel snorts. "You think that applies to everythin' under the sun? We've talked about this--"
"I was kidding! Jesus. But one little berry wouldn't hurt."
"You don' know that. Remember-- I told you I saw that one movie where the guy died after eating just a tiny bit."
"Yeah, and that's a movie. Movies are fake. You don't even remember the name of it so maybe you just dreamed it up."
"Sure, kiddo. I'm just tellin' tales."
"So you want to take some home? How?"
"Well, we've got the empty jars from the stew an' the soup. We could put 'em in there. I know it ain't much, but they'll get too smashed up in one of the bags."
You think out loud. "And if we try to just take them on the branches, they'll prob'ly fall off if we so much as trot... hey, maybe the horses would like them?"
"Don' know, but I think they'd better stick to the fruit we brought for 'em. Better to be safe than sorry. Let's see how many we can fit..."
You sit opposite of Joel with the branch between you, and pluck it clean; there's enough to fill a jar each, and part of a third. "Where did you find these? I'll go get some more and fill up this last jar."
"Right over there, near where I took a leak. I found 'em when I was lookin' around, waitin' for you. ...Only grab a small branch, yeah?" he adds as you scamper over there.
You find the patch of red berries easily, as there's kind of a lot of them. You try to find a branch that you estimate would be the perfect size to fill the jar. Your mouth waters a little. They look harmless enough... and they also look delicious...
But it's stupid to eat things if you don't know what they are, that nagging little voice in your head says (it's a voice that sounds rather like Joel). They can't all be like strawberries.
Yum, strawberries... you can practically taste the juicy sweetness, and you could kick yourself for going there, because you and Joel didn't bring any from home. Now you're really itching to try one of these!
If you can't resist and decide to try one of the berries, turn to page 54.
If you don't eat one, perhaps suppressing the urge by forcing yourself to imagine they're buffalo balls again, turn to page 59.
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