Tuesday Tales From the Word Thanks

Welcome to this week’s Tuesday Tales.  Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American friends. I wish you wonderful times with family and friends– and football, of course.

This week, I continue with The Price of Courage. Whenever we travel, we have to make rest stops for food and other necessities, something far harder to do in the seventeenth century.

Enjoy!

“And those six children will no doubt eat all of the fudge.” Guy laughed. “Marie-Louise will be glad to have some company. While her mother and sister live with them, it’s always nice to have a new face around. And I’m sure she’ll have lots of helpful advice about the baby.”

Izzy rolled her eyes. “And if her advice is as helpful as what I received at the fête, no thanks. If I listened to all that twaddle, I would be starving both myself and the child. But, I do believe it’s time to find me a place to relieve myself.”

Luc bent down and whispered in Guy’s ear.

Guy frowned and nodded.

“Luc has arranged something for you. If you’re ready?” He bent and scooped her up once more.

It felt a lot colder away from the fire, but Guy followed the path Luc had made to another pine tree. He kept his eyes fixed the surroundings, trying to stay alert without having Izzy note his concern. The scout had found more tracks, but these belonged to men not rabbits. It could be local trappers, but there was always the possibility that these were the men who’d killed Leclerc.

Less than fifty feet from the camp, he found the privy Luc had made for them. Under the branches of another pine, the scout had propped a log between the ground and a low lying branch, and had left a small amount of moss beside it.

“Pull down your trousers and sit across the branch. It’s sturdy enough a seat. Use the moss to wipe as you usually do, and then I will bury it all in the snow.”

Izzy did as told, gasping when the cold branch met her tender cheeks. Her business complete. she redressed quickly. Once Guy had buried her waste, he carried her back to the camp.

Felix had spruce tea ready for them, as well as soup Maman had sent along.

“I know this isn’t the first time I’ve eaten outdoors, but I must confess I had no idea we would enjoy such luxury. From now on, husband, I’ll worry less when you have to travel.” Izzy turned to Luc. “Thank you for seeing to my comfort.”

The scout nodded.

She smiled at Felix. “And thank you for attending to the food.”

“Mon plaisir, madame,” the former soldier answered. “I hope that by this time next year, I’ll have a wife with child myself.”

That’s it. See you next week. Don’t forget to check out all the other posts on  Tuesday Tales.