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Stories from the Verse
Con Verse Lea
Chapter 65: Takano 77
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Beam 148
The next day Lauren brought home a deer fairly early in the day--not a huge buck, as she had shot that first day, but what was apparently a doe. Still, as they butchered it there was obviously more meat than they were going to be able to eat.
This time, Lauren skinned it carefully, and once the meat was cooking she scraped the hide. “I have no clue how to make leather,” she said. “Well, no, that’s not true. I think we have to stretch it and let it dry in the sun, but I’ve never even seen it done. I’m also pretty sure we have to scrape all the residual fat from it. Well, this is an experiment. If it goes well, maybe I’ll wind up with a sheet of something that will help insulate our nest this winter. Keep an eye on the meat,” she said as she grabbed her precious hide and started toward the lake.
“Lauren?” someone called. More questions, Tommy thought. Several people had come looking for her while she was out hunting. “I was reading--” the questioner began.
“Come, walk with me,” Lauren answered as she headed into the trees. “What’s your question?”
Tommy didn’t hear the rest, but decided that while she was sitting in the shade by the fire she should pull out her new Bible and do some reading herself. Periodically she turned the larger roasts that were sitting on crossed logs above the coals. People would come looking for Lauren, and she would point them toward the beach. When the thinner sliced bits were done, she ate a bit for breakfast. It occurred to her that they were going to have to give most of this away, but since she wasn’t certain whether Lauren had a plan for that she didn’t mention it to anyone.
It was a considerably longer time than Tommy expected before Lauren returned, looking a bit tired. “That was a lot more work than I anticipated,” she said. “I hope it proves worth the effort. Is some of that venison ready?”
“Yes, there are some steaks in the pan,” she replied. “Help yourself.”
“Thanks for cooking; sorry to leave you with the job.”
“No, that’s fine. I’ve been reading while I watch it.”
“And you have questions?”
The odd thing was that she didn’t, really. “No, I think I’ve got it.”
Lauren nodded. “Well, if you have questions, I’m here.”
She thought of a question. “Is there anything you think I should be reading?”
A thoughtful look came over the woman. “Well, don’t limit yourself, but maybe pay attention to John--that is, The Gospel of John. I’m thinking that I’m going to start a weekly meeting, a service of sorts. I was trying to decide whether to begin teaching Romans or John, but I think that I sort of started John already, so I’ll stick with that.”
Church. Interesting.
She flipped the pages over to find the Gospel of John. She knew it was in the New Testament, and it was a long enough book that she should be able to find it by looking at the headers. It took a minute, but once she found the first page she moved the little cloth string that served to mark pages to the beginning, and started reading.
There is a behind-the-writings look at the thoughts, influences, and ideas of this chapter, along with twenty other sequential chapters of this novel, in mark Joseph "young" web log entry #470: Verser Turnings. Given a moment, this link should take you directly to the section relevant to this chapter. It may contain spoilers of upcoming chapters.
As to the old stories that have long been here:
