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Bodo aiting down at the bottoain? Or are we staying down here?"

I looked up at the slope and then off at the service stations, gently lifting Buster from the basket at the front of o up, but now … I feel like I want to be able to just take off without worrying about getting bikes down Just in case"

"I agree," said Peter, sitting down on the ground "Let’s stay down here tonight Can we eat now? I’" He tipped his water bottle up and al bit in the bowl for Buster asted no ti every last drop

I walked over and handed Peter my bottle He looked like he needed itto push it away

"I canwater and bleach But I’m sure it’ll rain later, so don’t worry about it Drink You don’t look so hot"

"I don’t feel so hot, either," he said, no longer arguing He finished ravel Buster laid down in between his legs, resting his head on Peter’s thigh Peter didn’t estured silently at Peter so Bodo would see, and he nodded

"I will get da ca if you want"

"Yeah, go ahead The sun’sover there, so do your best to find a spot that will still be in the shade in a few hours"

"Of course, yes, I will do dat," he said, digging out the tarps

I got out the parts for the water catcher and set it up just outside the shelter of the highway overhead I knew that even with blue skies now, the clouds could co the rain with them We were lower on water than I liked to be, especially since I was planning to ht Peter really looked like he needed the calories and I had a terrible craving for tonore

I went back to the site that Bodo had set up, and sat down "Bodo, have you ever had a garden?"

"Yes Myup I had to pull da weeds all da time Dat was my chob One of many"

"I want tomatoes Real ones, not the kind frorow I can do dat for you"

Hearing hi care of , and now Peter’s, it was nice to hear that soe

Bodo looked up fro and smiled at me "You look happy about dat"

"I auy I’d noticed them before, but for soood You are very pretty, but especially when you sernails and laughed "Wow, Bodo, you don’t set the bar very high, do you?"

"What does dat mean?" he said, a confused expression on his face "Set da bar?"

"Nevera lie, don’t you?"

"Not necessarily But I haven’t had a shower in weeks and I’ve probably never looked worse in my entire seventeen years of life" I looked up and smiled at him anyway, happy with his effort, even if it wasn’t true "So I find it hard to believe you can see beneath the griesture"

"Well, what I see looks pretty good to , like my mudder was She loved me a lot and I loved her too … but I also atmired her No matter what, she always did the best she could Efen when my fadder left, she alorked very hard to ks Like come to the Unitet States for example"

I lifted an eyebrow "Well, that sure worked out well for you"

"It did" He shrugged, ignoring my sarcasm "The worlt that we knew is ofer Not just here, but efreywhere Apart from my mom, dare was no one dare in Cher stuck here With you and Peter and da little doggy"

I was ih, there was no doubt about that

"Bodo, what’s your last naled "Your last name is Rooster? As in cock-a-doodle-doo?"

He smiled "What dit you just say? Cock-a- … what?"

We were both grinning like idiots at each other "I said, ‘cock-a-doodle-doo’ That’s what roosters say You know? Male chickens?" I put -flaps for effect

"Ohhhh, I ssee No, not a rooster Spelled like R-U-S-T-E-R See?"

I laughed some more "Okay I would have pronounced that ruster, like the word ‘rust’"

"You can say it however you want I don’t care, really It’s not a problem"

"No, I like rooster That’s cool I can see that," I said, pretending to look him over

"What do you irl chickens and tells all de udder boy chickens to go away?"

"Maybe" He did seem to be perfectly at ease around me Either that meant he was supremely confident or he didn’t consider me to be a member of his henhouse

"No I auy I don’t think I could manatch more den one chicken at a time"

I don’t knohy that made me so happy, but it did It’s not like there was a lot of competition around here or that I’d decided that I wanted him to be my boyfriend But still … he was funny and cute and didn’t seem stuck-up at all

"Is it possible to be conceited any I was doing it But it was out there now and I was curious to knohat Bodo thought, so I waited for his answer

Peter spoke up before he did, though "No"

"Oh, it’s possible, I think, but it wouldn’t do any good," disagreed Bodo "Not unless dare was a group of guys around and just a few girlss"

"Does it ever do any good?" I asked

"Sure Woo for dat"

I frowned at hiuys"

"Yes they do," agreed Peter