Shifting Ground Pt. 02 of 02

Stacy nodded and scooted over so she could look out the driver side door at what James was doing.

"You're reading tracks? Why did you call it a newspaper?" Stacy asked. James glanced up in surprise at her question.

"I am surprised you have to ask that Stacy...." He grimaced as he stood up and gently released the tension on the revolver's hammer. He pointed with the weapons barrel.

"A family of feral pigs came through, began tearing up the grass. Got down close to the water and got spooked by something? I am thinking a gator, or maybe a constrictor of some kind..." He beckoned her to come on out of the truck and Stacy walked over carefully trying not to step on any signs.

"This here is the personals section. Leaving the scent on the ground so others can take a sniff and see what's what. A small fight that happened amongst family members, Yup, this is my morning paper." James told her. Holstering the revolver he beckoned her to come with him and start getting set up.

Stacy was wondering what he was doing out here. This place did not look like a home. But she helped him get the trailer backed up and the awning rolled out. The truck was disconnected and covered with a tarp and set up on some rocks hidden in the tall grass at the base of a tree. Stacy looked at some strange mounds of vegetation and blinked in surprise.

"Is that corn?" She asked. James nodded.

"There are beans growing on the corn, and that looks like squash and there's watermelon over there. Why are they growing together like that?"

James grinned, "Because its easier to grow them like that. Beans put nitrates in soil, cornstalks are the poles for the beans to grow on, and most animals don't like rubbing against the leaves of the squash plant. It all works together to keep them growing and safe."

He shrugged, "Also corn and beans and squash are my favorite veggies...so I grow them."

Stacy pointed at the watermelons growing closer to the side of the stream, "So, is there something special about those then? Do you have a system for how you are growing watermelons?"

James rolled his eyes, "Yes, watermelon are very tasty...so I grow them." He had wandered over near the plants and saw that thankfully the hogs had left them alone for whatever reason. Which made him sure that they got spooked by something in the water and gave the plants near the streams edge a wide berth.

He went back to the young Shifter and kept giving her directions and watched how she implemented them. As he began unloading the back of the truck before covering it up completely with the tarp he kept observing his stowaway.

She didn't shy away from work, and she was strong for her size. Her mind quickly figured out how to put together the portable fire pit, and she set it up an appropriately safe distance from the door of the trailer and the awning. He handed her a pruning saw and an axe and pointed toward a small grove of trees he had been gathering wood from and she went over without a question and began gathering wood. When she came back he noticed it was mostly dead wood she brought and his estimation of her abilities went up a little more.

Stacy was tired by nightfall. Spending a week running through the woods would be tiring for anyone. The emotional shock of being found out by a human on top of that had frazzled her as well. Now here she was with this man, sitting by a fire and listening to some squash steam and hiss as it had been set on a grate right over the coals.

He took them off the grate and set them on a stone by the fire to cool. He handed her a knife and then showed how to split open, take the few seeds out and then mixed in some sausage and gravy to make a meal. It was still a little hot in her hands, but she gamely tried the odd looking dish. It tasted like moist spaghetti with gravy and meat. Not bad, and since she was hungry it tasted delicious.

The first half went down quickly, the second she took the time to savor. She looked over at her companion, taking in his relaxed posture as he sat on a cinder block, padded with an old canvas jacket. He was watching the sunset and just seemed to be at peace.

"How do you know about Shifters?" Stacy asked suddenly. James glanced at her, and then looked back at the sunset while taking another bite of his meal.

"Well, you know about Were's and stuff right...?" Stacy nodded so he continued. "...I was traveling through Montana a ways back, and came across a lame buffalo. It was a young male and must have stepped in a hole of some kind. I got out and loaded my rifle. Figured I could get some good meat off of him and put him out of his misery."

He took another bite of his meal and Stacy nodded in understanding.

"I saw he was still pretty young as I got closer. I was afraid to get too close since those animals are pretty strong, and it takes me a good thirty seconds to reload my rifle if I have to run! Thing is...it was acting too docile, so docile I began to wonder if my eyes were lying to me and I was seeing a shaggy cow. So I got closer and there was no bellowing, no warnings being given, it just seemed unnatural to me..."

James scraped the last bits of food from the blackened husk of squash and placed the remains in the fire to burn. Then he pulled out and bit off a corner of his tobacco and spit off to the side as he worked to soften the plug.

"I got close enough to see it was a juvenile, and it just watched me carefully as I spoke to him. I got close enough to see the wounded leg and on sheer happenstance I said out loud that I wished I could help. The damn thing rolled a little so I could see the wound better. And it wasn't broken, but he sure as heck couldn't walk on it..."

Stacy quickly finished her meal, caught up in the story, and placed her own trash in the fire and wrapped her arms around her knees, as it was getting colder outside. She thought about going back to get her coat but didn't want to have James stop telling his story.

"I decided to stay with the beast and even poured out a bunch of water for him to drink. Felt his leg, waiting for any movement that would show he was going to attack or kick or whatever. A few hours later a farmer and his family showed up with a trailer and loaded him up. A couple stayed in the trailer as they shut the door. The farmer was thanking me for finding him and looking after the animal."

James shook his head wryly, "They didn't latch the door well, being in a hurry to get him inside, the door swung open and I saw a young man with a fractured arm getting it bound up!" He turned to look at Stacy with a wide smile.

"I ended up living with that tribe of shifters for about a year. Even dated a girl from among The People! They frowned on that so I had to knock that off, her brothers wanted to make an example out of me so I left."

Stacy looked surprised, "Why didn't you fight for her? Did you love her?"

James shrugged, "A little I guess. I only ever kissed her once or twice and we talked a lot. She was kind of hung up on her pride as a Shifter, and that was more important than a relationship with a white guy like me..." He shrugged again and grinned, showing his teeth.

"Last I heard she was married and started her own herd. I could make a cow joke about that but don't want to be sexist!"

Stacy started to laugh and snorted as she tried to stop it, which made her laugh even harder! She had a mischievous twinkle in her gaze as she snickered at James, "Are you sure she isn't a Holstein...? I mean, they way you describe her!"

Which sent them both laughing as the evening wound down.

"So what do we do now?" Stacy asked James. "You told me you could help me?"

James nodded, "Yeah. You can stay here a few days. You mentioned you wanted to head west. I can probably take you to a buddy of mine who is moving stuff along the Gulf. From there he can probably give you another contact and you can get to the west coast. It should be easier than running all the way." He frowned in thought.

"Mind if I see how you look as a Cougar?" Stacy gave him an offended look! "I am a mountain lion, not a cougar!"

James shook his head, "Yeah, and a mouse would starve on the difference! I just wanted to see what you looked like as one, and besides.... you are looking a little chilly and a fur coat would do you good."

Stacy agreed with him about his assessment of being chilly. She had never just changed in front of a human though. "Well, I have..." Stacy thought to herself, remembering how he had scared her into changing. She gave him a wary look and then leaned back on the ground, changing as she went.

James grew still as he saw a good-sized female adult cougar suddenly appear on her back and then roll to a sitting position. Bright eyes looking at him warily in the dying sunset and the bright coals from the fire pit.

He nodded once and then gave her a wink.

"Yep, you are one sexy beast kitten." She coughed once and it made the hair stand up on the back of his neck! Then she slunk over and lay down next to him, her tawny shoulder against the side of his calf.

"I take it you have the whole, beast first mentality in this form?" She licked the side of his leg, which made him jerk once, and scratch where it tickled. "Yeah, I kinda figured that too. Well, you are not sleeping with me in that form. You wake up and get a hold of my leg with those claws I will have to wait until the next full mo...yeah. You ain't cuddling with me when you are this big."

He stroked the back of her neck and around her ears and a purr that vibrated so much he could feel it in his belly emanated from the large animals throat.

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The next few days were a lot of fun for Stacy, in a way. James seemed to be a hard worker when work was needed. He would wake up early and make a pot of tea or coffee and set out some gritty flour to slow cook near the fire. If there was nothing planned he would fall asleep lying in the grass, the rising sun warming the ground and causing a fog that touched the cool air. Later in the morning he would wake up and jump in the water to wash and drip dry by the fire while eating the now cooked bread.

That first day Stacy said nothing and just watched him. She was used to casual nudity since some shifters preferred it. What she wasn't used to was the lack of activity. "If this is how he normally is, and how he spends his days, its no wonder he lives in a trailer down by the river." Stacy stopped herself from laughing at her little joke.

He carried water and she helped him, to the vegetable garden. She was surprised at how well the plants were doing.

"It's the river water. All the fish crap and silt and bacteria are good for the plants. Water from the ground has a bunch of minerals leeched from the soil, but also it's too filtered. So, I prefer it this way."

She nodded and helped where she could. After the watering he pulled an aluminum boat out from under a bunch of vines that looked like they had grown over the small craft, but instead she found it had been woven, and it was still rooted in the ground! She expressed her surprise and James just shrugged. "I needed a way to hide it, and didn't want to buy a tarp or anything. I had nothing better to do at the time. It worked."

A half hour later she and James were armed with fishing poles and were paddling out into the swamp with a cooler and a plastic bucket for their fish. They were quiet until they tied off the boat and James tipped his ball cap forward and relaxed lying in the bottom of the boat.

"James?" Stacy asked, reeling in her baited hook and watching the float bob in the water. He answered with a small grunt. She looked over at him as his feet dangled off the side of the rail by the oarlock, his rod held loosely in his hands.

"Why are you helping me?" she asked. Though inside her mind she was wondering just how much "help" he was really giving her!

He was silent for so long she almost thought he had gone to sleep again, and was about to repeat herself when he answered.

"I don't like bullies...I don't like being told what to do. There is an old saying, so old I don't remember how it goes but I learned it over in China. I only remember what it meant to me, and the feeling I got from it. You want to hear it?"

Stacy nodded her head, remembered that he couldn't see her with his hat pulled down over his eyes and said, "Yes."

James cleared his throat, "While walking through life if you should meet the Buddha, kill him. If you meet your father, kill him. A man should make his own path."

Stacy gasped! "That is a horrible thing to say, to think! Why would...I don't understand!"

James chuckled and tipped his hat so he could look up to where Stacy was sitting. She looked horrified.

"It means Kitten, to break free from family and thought. There comes a time when you must go your own way and make your own choices in life." He pointed at her sitting in the boat and fishing. "Two weeks ago can you imagine that you would have traveled across two states, hitched a ride with a stranger and now be fishing in the swamps of Louisiana for Crappie and Bass?"

Hesitantly she shook her head.

"Exactly...you are now making your own decisions and will have to deal with the consequences. That is how life should be. Everyone should be free." He said. Then leaned back down and pushed his hat over his eyes.

Stacy watched him for a little longer, "You are a strange man. I like you, but you are very strange."

"Thank you. You aren't too bad yourself kittening. Now quit reeling your line in so fast. I want at least a few fish and you will keep scaring them off if they have to race after your bait. Its not normal for a worm to outrun a fish in the water."

She took what he said to heart, and slowly reeled in her line. The two began to quietly talk then. Stacy telling about her life growing up among her community, living among humans, having to be careful to hide her nature.

James told a little about his family, he actually did have as many brothers and sisters as he said he did which shocked her. She had asked if he was Catholic or Mormon, he just shrugged and told her it hadn't of mattered. "When it comes down to it kitten, some people just want to have kids! Religion may play a part of it, but most of the time its two adults who just want babies and love doing what it takes to make 'em!"

He grinned at her blushes, and thought that once she had matured a little more she wouldn't be too bad herself, once she got past the invincible nature that all teenagers had. "One day she is going to meet something that she cannot imagine dealing with and it will be a rude wake up call for her." He thought to himself.

They had good time fishing, Stacy filled the 5-gallon bucket with water and they put their catch in there. Nothing to put on the trophy wall, but a couple of bass and one crappie were enough. Stacy sat in the evening light looking around at the weeping branches of the trees, and listened to the sounds of the frogs and birds.

"You know, I once saw a movie of a couple of lovers who were in...Italy, I think..." James looked up, still rowing, to pay attention to what she was saying.

"...They had these long boats, and a man in a beret who paddle them through the canals in the city and sings. It was very romantic..." her voice trailed off as she looked at him. James looked about the river thoughtfully then rowed a little closer to the side of the bank. He set the oars along side the rails and locked them in place and stood to reach up into the low hanging branches. There was a grunt and a SNAP!

James sat back down and pulled his belt knife out, quickly pruning off the small twigs on the long stick. He gave her a cheeky grin and stood up on the bench seat carefully balancing himself so as not to tip over. The river was only a few feet deep so he easily pushed his make shift pole in the water and steered with pressure from his feet.

While his voice was nothing to write home about, he could at least keep a tune mostly on key.

"Che bella cosa..." James began to sing as he gave his second push and the aluminum boat slid through the tall cattails. Stacy looked up in surprise at the words and covered her mouth with her fingertips to hide her delighted grin. James chuckled as he drew in a breath and continued singing. He watched her lean back and fold one arm on her stomach, as the other went behind her head. She gave a long sigh and looked up through the tree branches at the evening sky where stars were beginning to appear.

She didn't know all the words but she had heard it before from the..."What were they called?" She wondered again. "Gondoliers? I think that's it. O sole mio! That's the song!"

Her smile widened as she remembered it and she hummed a little in time with the tune. Her toes slowly moving back and forth in rhythm with the rocking of the boat and the soft words in a language she didn't know.

She came out of her reverie as she felt and heard the boat hull press into the mud of the riverbank, "We're back kitten. Come on, let's go." She opened up her eyes and wanted to purr at James.

"Thank you! That was wonderful...where did you learn Italian?" She asked as he helped her to her feet. He tossed the makeshift pole further up the bank and after they stepped out he showed her where to grab a hold of the craft and pull it further up out of the water.

"I learned it in Italy, I had lived there a few years after all. I am not fluent, but I can hold an adult conversation if I have to."

"Do you know any other languages?" Stacy asked. James looked at her like he was wondering if she was making a joke.

"You know I do, I also speak English obviously." He retorted.

"I mean like an exotic language." Stacy said sounding exasperated. She saw that half smile coming to his lips, which she seemed to notice whenever he was teasing her.

"You're gonna have to define exotic for me. The world is my home so...exotic to some people could be a Georgian drawl, or the flat accent people get from Minnesota. Or the way a Texan can make it sound like all of the letters of their words are leaning sideways as they speak. So be a little more specific?"

Stacy grit her teeth, but she wasn't going to rise to the bait, "Just, how many languages do you speak?"

"8 to about 10 I would think..." He replied as he drug the boat with her help over to where the living sheet of vines were and laid them over the boat.

"Well, is it 8 or 10?" Stacy asked sounding exasperated. James chuckled quietly as he replied.

"I speak English and Italian, but also Spanish, Mandarin, French, German, Russian, Greek, and a small spattering of Slovakian, but that doesn't really count. It's a hard language for me and I keep slipping up and using German or Russian to fill in the gaps. I got laughed at a lot. But I also am trying to learn, and I think I really succeeded at learning Porpoise!" He told her.

Stacy blinked as her head tried to wrap around that last one and she looked confused. James looked to be absolutely serious as he was telling her this.

"You are joking. You are joking...right?" She asked. James shook his head, face straight.

"Not at all, dolphins have very advanced brains and a plethora of signals used in communication." He put his arms flat on the sides of his body and began waggling his hips back and forth keeping his ankles tight together as he hopped lightly in place making squeaky chirps and clicks.

"There, just asked you if you had a good day and if you could take the fish up to the grill." He turned and finished pulling the ivy vines in place and then began walking towards the trailer.

He heard the growl and looked over his shoulder to see Stacy trying to run to catch up, holding the fish bucket and muttering at him furiously! He stopped and reached out grabbing the handle of the bucket. She tried to pull it back but he held on tighter.