A large bump brought Kre back from his half-nap. It caused his head to smack against the wooden side of the wagon and he cursed softly as he gingerly touched the growing welt.
“Sorry about that,” came the apologetic call from the driver’s seat. “I was trying to get an apple out of the sack and didn’t see the rock in the road.”
“Likely story,” muttered Braun, rubbing the back of his own head. “If you wanted to switch drivers, you should have just said so.” He jabbed his free hand at Kre and motioned him to the driver’s seat. “Your turn.”
Kre nodded and fished two apples from the sack before he made his way to the front. He handed one to Lowil and took a tentative bite out of the other. He rolled the morsel in his mouth for a moment and then spit out the remaining skin off the side of the wagon.
“Still don’t like the skin, huh?”
The young man shook his head and sighed, “Sometimes I wish I did. It would make these things easier to eat.” He next resorted to using his teeth like a peeler, running all around the apple and tossing the skin. Lowil just laughed, shook his head, and took a huge bite out of the top of the apple, making a big show of gnawing through the core for Kre’s benefit.
“That sir,” Kre gagged, “is just disgusting.” The teacher simply laughed and slid to the back of the wagon, leaving Kre to eat his apple in peace. It took Kre three times as long to eat his snack, but at least he was happy that he didn’t ingest any of the waxy peel. He always thought of it like eating an orange, or a watermelon… you just didn’t eat the rind or the peel.
Lowil and Braun were in the back, talking in low voices that were partially masked by the clip-clopping of the horses’ hooves on the packed dirt road. He briefly though about leaning back to listen in but decided that they’d share with him what he needed to know, or least Lowil would probably after Braun was out of earshot. He could hear someone rummaging around in the backpacks, probably one or both looking for something more substantial than an apple.
“Hey, smoked chicken!” Braun’s voice seemed so happy and cheery that Kre didn’t have the heart to tell him not to eat it. It was possible that the chicken was fully cooked or, even if not, there were decent odds that he wouldn’t get sick.
Plus, if he did get sick, it would simply be karmic justice for all the grief he had caused unnecessarily.
Through a break in the trees, Kre spotted the sun and guesstimated that it was roughly late afternoon. He kept a loose hand on the reins and took the opportunity to bask in the warmth of the day.
He felt his eyes droop and his head drop down to his chest. He snapped his head back up and rubbed at the newly formed kink in his neck. When it happened a second time, he grabbed the canteen from under the seat and took a long pull. He disliked the taste of water normally, but in this case it was refreshing on his parched throat and helped him shake the drowsiness off.
A tap on his shoulder and a wave of a hand off to the side was his indication that he should pull the wagon off to the side for a short break. Lowil retreated behind some bushes while Kre took the chance to stretch his arms and legs. Braun stayed sitting in the wagon and Kre thought he looked a little paler than normal.