Duel Nature by John Conroe

wife and wolf-dog,” I corrected.
    “Oh?”
    “Yes, Tanya did most of the driving to get
here, right through the night, so she’s taking a nap. You’ll meet
her later I should think,” I said.
    “Are burgers good for you ?” Gordon asked,
watching me pick up my fourth.
    “Well it goes back to that live it up on
vacation bit. I also have a pretty fast metabolism,” I said.
    “Well you’re not overweight,” Mitch said,
eyeing me in a way that suddenly made me self-conscious.
    “Yeah he reminds me of Jake from the cabin
next door….always eating,” Gordon said.
    “Oh yeah?” I questioned.
    “Two brothers…here to hunt
spring turkey from the way they tell it,” Mitch explained. “But
come to think of it they never seem to bring any turkeys back with
them. Anyway, Jake is the younger brother and he’s still got that
youthful metabolism that lets him eat anything. That will go away someday, ya
know?”
    Awasos got tired of looking at my two
remaining burgers, his being all gone. With a dart of his head, he
twisted his jaws to snap up one of the burgers. I beat him to it,
grabbing both of them.
    “Whoa! You’re fast!” Gordon said, his eyes
large.
    “It’s a game we play” I said, smirking at
Awasos, then relenting and tossing him my sixth burger, keeping the
fifth in my other hand. “That’s it though, you’re all done
Mister.”
    He scarfed down the bundle of bread, meat and
cheese, then laydown with his head on his front feet.
    “Gordon, we better get out on the pond if
we’re going to catch that dragonfly. They’re most active during the
heat of the day and all,” Mitch said. It was odd to hear my last
name as someone else’s first.
    His shorter, older partner gave me a quick
little wave goodbye and headed in a bee-line for the canoe. Mitch
shook his head at Gordon’s lack of social graces and thanked me and
Awasos for such an interesting meeting, then followed his
friend.
    They paddled out onto the pond with more
skill than I would have thought, Mitch guiding the canoe from the
back while Gordon looked everywhere and anywhere for his prized
dragonfly.
    The day had warmed to the mid-seventies, and
I found myself worried about the remaining uncooked food. There
isn’t a bacteria currently in existence that can harm me, not after
the V squared virus has had its way with my physiology, but old
habits die hard and no one really wants to eat spoiled hamburger,
even if it’s harmless. So I hauled the leftovers inside to the
fridge.

Chapter 10

    Awasos was lying by the firepit gnawing one
of his truck tire chew toys. Lydia had them custom made in a
recycling center from steel belted tractor trailer tires. Each tire
would make a dozen of the rolled and twisted chews, which was good,
because despite their awful smell, Awasos loved to tear them to
shreds and each one only lasted an hour or so. Black chunks of
rubber were strewn about the cabin site like an interstate
blowout.
    I was just coming back outside when I heard
the screen door from Billy’s cabin slam. Turning I found a man in
jeans and a polo shirt headed our way. He looked close to forty
years old, but his thirties hadn’t been kind to him. His hair was
thinning and the beginnings of a paunch was forming on what had, at
one time, been an athletic frame. He sucked on a cigarette as he
purposely headed toward us, his body language aggressive.
    He came right up to about ten feet away,
stopping suddenly when he spotted Awasos lying on the ground on the
other side of the cider block fire pit. Jabbing one hand in my
pal’s direction he opened his mouth and pissed me off.
    “Keep that thing and yourself away from my
wife and kid!” he spit out. “If you can’t, for any reason, I will,”
he added, raising his untucked polo shirt to reveal the butt of a
snub revolver. Part of my mind automatically catalogued it as a
Ruger SP101, .357 magnum.
    The rest of my mind was suddenly seeing
red.
    “Listen, mister, Awasos here wouldn’t harm
your