He wanted to offer to help her with the hacking of the leg, but didn't want to offend her, she seemed determined to use her small dagger as a saw, he admired her grit. She asked him a question then and he thought back, the foreign word not coming to him immediately, "Uh.... Vinatta? Yeah, that's it. I met two little sheila's Andara and Grace." He grinned as he thought back over his two meetings, and the fact that he knew three of his quoll pups had gone to new homes. He chuckled as she spoke of her pack, "Rogues and misfits, eh? Sounds like a fun place." He grinned, genuinely intrigued by this Anathema.
A small period of silence fell between them as the meat of the leg tore away from the body of the deer. The female placed the meat near to him and gestured that he should take it, he nodded and shot a grin her way, Cheers mate. He placed his foot-paw on the ankle joint and rolled it slightly. His grin broadened as she looked up at him with a sparkling smile and adventure in her eyes, her question made him release a happy, nostalgic sigh. "Australia?" He asked, "It's hot, and dry, and much less green." He chuckled. His smile became misty and his tail wagged slowly as he talked of home, "The Outback is vast, all sand and rocks and little critters. There's billabongs that smell like salvation, and sometimes they are. Water's scarce in the Bush. Almost every critter's venomous and wants ta bite ya, and the ones that ain't full of poison are just plain bad tempered." He paused for a moment, looking at the female, trying to tell if he was boring her or convincing her to run off to Oz. "Ah, despite all the dangers it really is a Beaut of a country. I can't imagine ever calling anywhere else 'home.'" He smiled at her, a little self conscious now after his mini speech.
Her next question caught him off guard, "Go back?" He laughed loudly, his grin now returning with ease, "Yeah, I reckon! My family's still out in the Never Never, I might as well lob in." He chuckled, "It'll be a while though. Gotta finish me Walkabout first, they understand." He fell silent and she told him of where she came from, he hadn't been to Canada, maybe he should go one day, see what it was like. The black and white femme expressed an interest in travel and he heard the desire to see more, feel more and know more, others called it the beginnings of Wanderlust, he called it the Walkabout bug. "Ah Darlin' Sounds like you got bit by the Walkabout bug." He winked, "It ain't fatal as long as ya get out and about eventually." He was enjoying this meeting, this complete stranger had distracted him from his mindless wandering and had provided amusement for him. She had even kept Pan and Gelar quiet, the Aussie animals enraptured by the strange coloured woman.
Photo courtesy of pierre pouliquin
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