10 Chapter 10

The Marine looked at me, and smiled.

“Neil,” he said ruminatively. “Okay if I call you Doc? Everyone else did.”

“Oh,” I said, flushing yet again. They had called me that. It made me feel a bit odd, but not in an unpleasant way. “Sure.” Then I grinned. “Okay if I call you Marine?”

My companion shrugged, smiling. “Or Corporal.”

After a short silence, he continued, “The next thing, I guess, is a source of water, and food.”

I nodded, thinking that could wait for tomorrow. I was feeling fatigued and even a little sleepy. But the Marine hadn’t finished for the night.

“In case of rain,” he said, “I think we should lay out more of your catch basins. But now,” he grinned, gesturing to the fabric of the pack, “We have more surface area.”