Read Online Butterfly Hunter 01 by Julie Bozza - Free Book Online Page A

that, walking away from
the fire, with Dave leading Nicholas, hand in hand. Picking their
way through the scrub, keeping an intent gaze on where they were
putting their feet.
    Finally they were ready. Dave
came to a halt, and Nicholas settled beside him, watching him
trustingly.
    “ Now,” said
Dave, “look up.”
    And rather than take in
the wonders of the night sky himself, Dave watched Nicholas’s
stunned reaction. He gaped, and swayed back for a moment as if he’d
find himself abruptly sitting down again. “Oh my …” he murmured.
Dave had let go of Nicholas in order to put his hand to the man’s
back, keeping him upright. Nicholas similarly grasped a goodly
portion of Dave’s shirt in one hand, hanging on. Hanging on.
Somehow restraining himself from actually touching Dave, though,
for which Dave gave him points.
    So many more of the stars
were visible out here that it seemed like some kind of miracle.
Some completely different universe, perhaps, or more than one,
intermingling its beauties with the Earth’s familiar
skies.
    “ Oh, David,”
Nicholas murmured.
    “ I
know.”
    “ You don’t
even guess at all this. Not even from the country, let alone a
city. In England, I mean.”
    “ It’s just the
lack of other lights out here,” Dave explained. “We’re so far from
anything now. This is always there, above our heads. We just don’t
see it.”
    After a moment, Dave
realised that Nicholas had lowered his head and was staring at Dave
with much the same kind of wonder. “That’s very wise.”
    “ Is
it?”
    “ Don’t you
think …” Nicholas slowly began. “That’s such a metaphor. For our
lives, I mean. The beauty is there – the awesome beauty – but we
just don’t see it. Most of the time it’s right above our heads, and
we walk along oblivious.”
    Dave shrugged
uncomfortably. “I was just talking about the stars. I don’t know
that there’s any life lessons to be had here.”
    Nicholas considered him for a
moment, thoughtful. And then he deliberately let go of Dave, and
stood alone. Dave let his hand drop, and was almost sorry for it.
Nicholas turned his face up to the stars again, and now Dave did,
too.
    “ I’m sorry,”
Nicholas eventually murmured. “I was making a philosophical
mountain out of what should be simply a lovely
experience.”
    “ It’s all
right,” Dave muttered uncomfortably.
    “ Some of us
need a little more faith to cling to, that’s all.”
    Dave made a fairly
agreeable yet neutral noise, and left it at that. The stars were so
very spectacular … He found himself wondering, though, what
Nicholas really needed. And why.
     
    Dave woke early, as he
usually did – though if he didn’t have any particular plans for the
day, he was partial to returning to bed for a further snooze. That
morning, however, once he’d seen to the necessaries, Dave
discovered that Nicholas was already up – and perhaps had been for
some while, even though it was still mostly dark. The eastern
horizon was just beginning to lighten. And Nicholas was sitting
perched on the roo bar of the Cruiser, with a blanket wrapped
around his shoulders.
    He cast Dave an apologetic
smile as he walked closer. “Good morning. I hope I didn’t wake
you.”
    “ Morning. No,
you didn’t. This is kinda my usual time.” Dave figured Nicholas
must have been very quiet; Dave usually had a sense for what was
happening within his own campsite. “How long have you been
up?”
    “ Oh, an hour
or more. I wanted to see the stars again. I wanted to watch the
sunrise.”
    “ Of course,”
said Dave, as if this were the most natural thing on earth. Which
it was, really. “I’ll make us some tea.”
    “ Thank you.
Can I help?”
    “ No need,” he
easily replied.
    Dave put the kettle on,
got the tea makings ready, and then took another couple of blankets
over to the Cruiser. “Come on, you don’t have to sit up there.”
Dave spread one of the blankets over the bonnet and windscreen,
then