Hat (part 3)

*This is the last of the online JFRL Hat series. It was never meant to be a true story and similarities to real incidents are coincidental. This is also not a copied story and other stories like this are not copied. This story was also never meant to be published.*

Hat sniffed around, and ran away. Nivea assumed he had caught a rabbit, but came back with a dead bird in his jaws. Nivea gulped. She was pretty sure the bird was an endangered species, but it had turned out Hat had chased a rabbit but it had run away and he found a dead bird on the soil. A fire was burning in 10 minutes thanks to Nivea's skills, and she nicely cooked the dead bird. She didn't have anything for her to eat, and she wasn't about to kill a living creature. That was Hat's job. It was comforting to think that from them both, Hat was the one who could survive the most in the wild, without her. Even if they separated, Hat would stay alive here for at least a week, defending himself.

Hat was gobbling up the bird, which turned out to be a pigeon, and Nivea continued to find food for herself. She tried finding that berry bush, but instead, found a Hickory Pignut tree. It was big, and she started climbing it. She grabbed a nut from the ground. It felt rough, the skin of the pignut rubbing against her finger. She popped it in her mouth. She remembered her camp class teacher saying pignuts were one of the healthiest things to eat when stranded in a forest. The pignut tasted bittersweet at first, like a smoky, bark flavour, not unlike hazelnuts. Then it turned sour, stingy, tangy and like freshly picked peppers, fiery taste burning in her mouth. She picked more, and pocketed them. She ran to Hat, and discovered he had finished the pigeon. Nivea tried giving him some Hickory Pignuts but he turned away in indignation. He had meat, and he was sticking to that! He was used to Black Hawk beef dog food, not the raw taste of pigeon or rabbit meat, but it was better than veggies. The wind swished around, blowing in Nivea's face, as she crouched down and popped another pignut in her mouth, first, the sweet chestnut flavour, instantly turning into that salty, piquant taste. It tasted better than nothing. She hadn't expected a Hickory Pignut tree to appear, as they were rare in the deep hillside forests of Park street, only one every 300 km. At least she had some food for today. Pignuts weren't the tastiest thing in the world, but it would have to do. She and Hat started their journey to find home, a very long journey.

## Hat & Nivea; Journey to the south

They hadn't arrived yet, but hopefully, it wasn't going to be long. Nivea's mother would be very worried, a search party perhaps going on right now. She wished she had her cellphone with her, but unfortunately, she didn't, so she couldn't call her mother or the police. So they headed south, at least what she thought was south. Hopefully it was. She ate some Hickory Pignuts, and saw a large bosky tree with leaves arched into a corner into a shape of a ball cut in half, but bigger. Nivea squeezed into that corner, because it was sort of like a hut and very shady. It was getting dark, and her eyes were starting to hurt, so Nivea guessed it was almost midnight. Her dog was exploring, the otterhound in him as he sniffed around the forest. 'Hat!' she scolded. 'There's nothing to smell there. Now come here!' Hat obeyed dolefully, whimpering as he cheerily pounced his way into the leaves, and started licking her. She giggled. 'Stop it now! Here, eat some berries.' She was not sure they were completely safe, because she picked them off the ground, but it was all there was left except pignuts, which she remembered might be bad for Hat. The best thing to do was to keep Hat alive, someone worth living, she thought. So she took the round green berries she thought were sour-berries, a name you call berries that are not yet ripe and tasty. But sour-berries were fine for dogs, so she gave one. Hat gazed at the berry, blank. 'Eat it, Hat,' Nivea laughed. Hat didn't understand, but sniffed the berry. The tangy smell made him turn away and start digging the ground. 'Hat!' She grabbed his collar, and made him inch forward. 'Listen to me. Please. Eat. This. Berry.' Hat blinked, but sniffed the berry again, this time slightly longer, and bit into it. He started chewing it, but then spat it out. Nivea sighed. She lay down on the grass. Hat whined, and lay beside her, head on her tummy. Finally, they fell into a deep, subdued sleep, the birds chirping nearby, and the faraway rustle of a raccoon in a bush.

\*

The next day,