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‘You have to cross the creek.’
I cast a suspicious glance in his direction before navigating my way down to the shallow part of the creek. We both dismount on the other side.
‘Now what?’ I ask.
‘Now we climb the hill.’
I walk at Hunter’s side, Charlie and Banjo trailing behind me. When we reach the top, we descend into the basin below. The sheep scatter when they see us coming, and twice I have to recall an excited and poorly trained Banjo.
The ground is squelchy beneath our feet when we reach the bottom. Hunter turns to me and says, ‘You can yell, scream, do whatever you like down here. No one’ll hear you. The hills are like walls.’
Frowning, I look around. ‘I don’t understand. You want me to… yell?’
He taps a fist to his sternum. ‘Just let it out. Whatever’s stuck in here.’
I furrow my brow. ‘That’s not a good idea.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because it’ll be ugly.’
He searches my eyes. ‘So you’d prefer to let the ugly rot inside you? Make you miserable? Bitter?’
I shake my head. ‘My feelings are private.’
‘It’s not a narrative. You can just scream and swear if you want.’
‘I don’t swear, remember?’
He shrugs. ‘Maybe you should.’
I scrape my teeth over my lip, wondering if I’m brave enough to partake in this insanity.
‘I’m not waiting here all day,’ he says on a sigh.
‘Fine.’ I can’t believe I’m actually agreeing to do this. ‘Turn around.’
His eyebrows lift slightly. ‘Why?’
‘I don’t want you to see me. Hearing it’s one thing, but a visual is something else.’
With a roll of his eyes, he turns his back to me. ‘Remember, from the chest.’
I stare at his back a moment. Having him in sight doesn’t work for me either, so I turn around also. ‘What do you normally say?’
‘I normally say “fuck” a lot. I guess you’ll have to be creative.’
I shift my weight from foot to foot, wondering if I have it in me to cuss aloud. ‘What’s the least offensive swear word, do you think?’
He looks over his shoulder at the same time I look over mine. ‘You could go with something classic, like “shit”.’
Facing forwards again, I ball my hands and close my eyes. ‘Shit.’ The word comes out as an embarrassing squeak.
Hunter bursts into laughter behind me. ‘What the hell was that? Either do it properly or don’t do it at all.’
I squeeze my eyes shut and shout, ‘Shit!’
He doesn’t laugh this time. ‘Better, but I think you’ve got more in you. You’ve gotta drag it out until there’s no air left to expel.’
