In the trailer, she mumbled “Thank you” as she climbed into her sleeping bag in bed and Kit said, “No problema,” but she had been thanking the universe, Lady, herself, and, sure, Kit too. She turned on her side and stared at Kit’s filthy jeans, since that’s what was in her line of sight. He was moving around Dart quickly. First, propping her up by bear-hugging her and pulling her upward and leaning her against the trailer wall, then heating water, putting a cup of tea into her hands. He was rewrapping her head and then unzipping the bottom half of the sleeping bag and pulling off her socks and checking her feet, then massaging them, then bundling them up with new socks with hand warmers jammed in. He was pouring dog food into a bowl for Lady. He put a sandwich into her hand, and when she didn’t eat it, he tore off a hunk and pressed it to her lips until she started chewing.
“You want medical attention? I can drive you. The wound—well, it’s not the gash I imagined, given how much you bled. It’s not too deep, but it’s long. Like, super long. Maybe about four inches. Dang, lady.” His voice was soft and he kept on chatting, perhaps to calm them both. “Starts at your hairline, goes back toward the crown. You have all this hair in the way. It’s hard to see. But it’s stopped bleeding, I do think you’ll be okay.”
But they both knew what he was also saying: If you’re fine, I prefer not to go into town, so she said, “If I need to, I’ll take myself in the morning.” Then, “Kit, how old are you, anyway?”
“Thirty-nine.”
“You look younger.”
“That’s what people say.”
“You’re a grown adult.”
He nodded, confused. “Just like you.”
“You been doing this for years, or is this a new thing?”
“New.”
“Because you got to a place in life where you knew you needed to do more?”
He nodded. “You could say that.”
“Just how much trouble are you in?”
He groaned and sat back. “I’m trying to figure that out myself. I know I need to take responsibility, but also, I need to say that what I am doing is right. I will say this. I’m sorry I left. I just didn’t want to put my…”
“Sister.”
“Yeah, my sister. In jeopardy. I don’t want to go to prison, though I will if need be, I guess. But one thing I can’t do is put her in danger. She’s only bringing me food. She’s got two kids! So I needed time to think through a plan. I went to this…predesignated site we have where I leave an empty cooler and she leaves me a full one. Believe me, I wanted to come back and hang…I wanted to stay. With you. You seem like kinda a nut, an interesting and intriguing woman…And this sucks, being out here alone! I’m not a natural at it. It’s not like I’ve got a long history of backpacking in the wild! I’m just figuring shit out, man, and I could use some company. I’m lonely. But I just couldn’t do that to my sister…”
“I get it,” she mumbled. “She’s one of your keys.” She reached her hand up to touch her bandaged head, if only to make sure her head was really there. The pain roared, and she remembered that she’d hoarded some antibiotics and so dug them out of her backpack, took one, and then got up to pee and change her pad. Then, she got back in bed and closed her eyes.
A firm hug.
A shower.
A real meal.
A more comfortable place.
Heat.
She wanted all this—for herself, for Kit, for everyone.
She reached out to touch Kit’s arm. “I’m so glad you found me.”
“What if I hadn’t, Kat? I was camping out there. I heard this noise. Scared the shit out of me.”
“Well, this wound is not going to kill me.”
“No,” he said.
“If a cut this size was on my arm, I’d just bandage it.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“It just bled a lot because it’s on my head.”
“I think so,” Kit said. “But I’m not a medical professional.”
“I don’t have a concussion.”
“You don’t seem to.”
“You talk to your feet?”
He paused. “What?” Then he laughed. “Oh, yeah, I mentioned that to you. Righty is quite a chatterbox, quite bossy and obstinate. Lefty, on the other hand, is quiet and meditative, a peacemaker. What can I say? I’m going crazy out here.”
She snorted. “I love it.” Then she added, “I wouldn’t mind if you stayed the night. To keep an eye on me.”
He let out a gust of air. “Well…I dunno, lady.” He smiled. His voice was encouraging when he said, “You stole a dog from a bad guy. You’re squatting here and you’ve been breaking into homes. You changed your license plate, I see. You might be a little crazy. But I need to tell you, you’re now harboring or helping a wanted fugitive who is a target of a federal investigation. You’re in new territory here, Kat. That’s why I should go. There is a warrant issued for my arrest. I’m telling you this so you can choose.”
“I choose you stay.”
“Kat, listen. There are three ways outta this. Are you listening? If ever someone questions you. There’s something called a justification defense, in which you can claim you felt the government was not justified in going after me. The other thing you can say is that you felt threatened by me, or that you had a lack of knowledge. Okay? So pick one of those three. If ever you need to.”
“Got it,” she said. “I’ll pick the last one. I don’t know nothin’. Yes. Lack of knowledge, that seems like the one.” She took his hand and looked up into his eyes. “Kit, just tell me. Overall, what do you want for the planet? What’s the goal here?”
