Page 60 of Rules Of Engagement: St. Louis
“You can climb this tree!”
The boar charged again and again I swung the branch like a bat, catching it across the snout hard enough to stun it momentarily.
“Now! Climb now!”
Naomi’s agility kicked in and she scrambled up the oak tree, her adrenaline overriding her protests. I followed, pulling myself up just as the boar reached the base of the tree.
We sat on a thick branch about ten feet off the ground, breathing hard, while the boar paced below us like it was personally offended by our existence.
“Is it going to wait us out?”Naomi asked.
“I don’t know. I’ve never been treed by a pig before.”
“Treed by a pig.”She snorted then started laughing and I laughed with her. “I’m sitting in a tree, covered in dirt, hiding from a pig.”
“Technically, it’s a wild boar.”
“Oh, excuse me. I’m hiding from a wild boar. That makes it so much more dignified.”
Twenty minutes passed when Luca appeared below us, now with both dogs safely leashed. “You can come down now! She’s moving away!”
The boar had indeed lost interest, wandering back into the undergrowth in search of whatever it had been protecting.
I climbed down first, then helped Naomi to the ground. Her hands were shaking slightly as I lifted her from the lowest branch.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah… I just got saved from a pig by a man with a stick. I’m living my best life.”
I chuckled. “That was a very impressive stick.”
“It was a very impressive stick.”She looked me up and down, her expression shifting. “Thank you.”
“There’s no thanks necessary.”
“Of course there is.”
“Why is there?”
“You stepped in front of a charging boar without thinking twice about it.”
“You were in danger.”
“And you protected me.”
“Of course I protected you. I would do so with my dying breath.”
Her eyes widened and a soft blush covered her cheeks. “Don’t say things like that.”
“It’s the truth, lover.”
Next to us, Luca grinned widely. “Bene! Very exciting! This will be a story to tell, no?”
“Definitely a story to tell,”Naomi agreed.
“And now,”Luca continued, “we find more truffles. The excitement makes the forest more generous.”
He was right. Over the next two hours, we found six more truffles, including one that made Luca actually weep with joy. Naomi threw herself into the hunt with complete abandon, no longer caring about dirt under her fingernails or mud on her jeans.
