The phone fell face up on the wooden floor, blocking out the light of the flashlight, and in the darkness, the only sounds were the gasps of the two men….
She was so embarrassed she was about to burst, her face so hot she could fry an egg…..
She has bought anti-spill pads but they only work when she feeds her son, sometimes she gets up when Mike sleeps more, but she doesn’t automatically spill either….
Come to think of it, it’s a good thing he doesn’t spill. I’ve been hanging around the mountain all day and there’s no way to replace wet clothes…..
After a long while, Micaela, feeling less uncomfortable, put her hand on his shoulder and whispered to him:
-Carlos, okay, it’s okay….
Carlos gasped, looked up, leaned his head on the girl’s shoulder and smoothed his clothes in the dark….
-Micaela, that time you were hospitalized to help you bathe, which already seemed to me ‘the sweetest torture’, turned out not to be….
There’s more torture, and now it’s…..
Micaela blushes, fortunately invisible in the darkness, she bites her lip, not knowing what to say….
Carlos took several deep breaths to suppress his raging emotions and bent down to grope the wooden floor, finding the phone the girl had just dropped on the floor, sweeping it up, the two of them looking together at the light….
The house is not big, in front of it is a small bed against the wall, no bedding, at the end of the bed, there are things set up like quilts, the bed on top is a table, the table has pots and pans, kettle, rice cooker, and oil, salt and vinegar, under the table, there is a bucket with a lid, not far away there is a bamboo chair back….
He shone his flashlight upwards and indeed, there were wires, but no light could be turned on, the light would be more noticeable to those searching…..
He looked at the time, it was almost seven o’clock, everything was already dark, those people were with few men, they would increase their efforts to search in the mountain…
-Gollum Gollum…
Micaela covers her stomach, more and more ashamed…
Carlos could finally hold her in his arms without worries and sighed.
-Micaela, wait a little longer, I’ll bring you something to eat.
Then releasing her, he took some paper from the table drawer and cleaned the only stool, it wasn’t dirty, just a light layer of dust, it seemed that the ranger had been here recently….
He settled the girl there, turned, picked up his phone and made another careful tour around, noticing that there were actually windows in the back of this hut, not glass windows but wooden ones that pushed out and were secured with pins on the inside, which he did not open and instead opened the desk drawer, which contained a vacuum-packed package of rice….
Micaela, sitting on the sidelines, also saw it and was a little surprised.
-Carlos, can we cook?
Carlos looked at her with loving eyes.
-Of course.
He found the plug hanging on the wall, plugged it in and the light didn’t come on. Before Micaela had time to be disappointed, Carlos had quickly thought of the crux of the matter, picked up the phone and looked around. On the wall, next to the door, he saw the electric switch, walked over to it, flipped it and the light in the rice cooker came on immediately.
Carlos’ thin lips quirked a slight smile, he picked up the kettle and opened the door to go out, and at the back of the house he saw a mountain spring they had collected from somewhere in the hills, a thin spout that kept flowing for a moment and from which emanated the sound of running water he had just heard.
Under the eaves of the house is a mud stove, where the ranger usually burns bamboo sticks for cooking…..
He filled some water and paid attention to the surrounding sounds, the mountain was silent, only the sound of insects and birds and the wind blowing through the bamboo forest, it was sure that those people had not found the piece….
Once the water was collected, he led the girl, who was following him at all times, back to the house, boiling the water first and explaining to her that.
-Micaela, first drink some water when it is boiling, you wait here….
Micaela hugged him hurriedly.
-Where are you going?