In the Midst of Tribulation Read Online Free Page A

watching from the edge of the road. The youngster started to raise her hand but aborted the movement at her mother's glare. Shrugging, she followed her mother back into the woods.

Once the tents were finally set up, Martha dug out a pit for the fire. The fold-up entrenching tool was very handy, as the hatchet helped break up the tough ground. "We're going to need some rocks, babe," she called out.

"No problem. Part of the hillside has fallen down over here." Susan raised a couple of stones over her head.

"Better from the cliff than river rocks again."

"Yeah," Susan whole-heartedly agreed. She didn't want a repeat of several nights ago when the stones collected from the stream had exploded as they heated. They were lucky that no one had been injured. Shaking her head at the memory, Susan carried her burden over and set them in the bottom of the pit. It took her several trips to fill the bottom and make a ring around the outside.

As Doris and Eva brought in their next armloads, Martha skillfully laid the sticks and branches among the rocks. Susan used the magnesium fire starter to spark the tender to flame. Patiently, she fed the flames with kindling until several of the larger pieces of wood caught. Satisfied that the fire was burning, she carefully slid the small block of magnesium back into an inner pocket before standing up.

She walked over to Martha, who was looking down the gully at the returning teenagers. She glanced up at Susan's approach. Opening her arms, she welcomed the smaller woman into her embrace. "How about you and me go take a bath together while we're waiting to see what Piper brings back for dinner?"

"You're reading my mind, darling." Susan replied, running her hand down Martha's back and cupping her firm buttocks. "I'd like to get my hands on your skin." Giving the butt of her lover a final pat, she turned to go fetch the bathing supplies.

Martha called Cody and Carol over. "Hey, guys. Why don't you watch the fire while your Mom and I go down to the stream?"

Carol blushed as she thought of her parents bathing. "The water is awful cold," she warned.

"Hmm, that may put a damper on things." Martha ruffled Cody's hair as she walked past him to join her partner for a trek down the hillside.

The youngsters sat down around the campfire and just stared into the flames. It took too much energy to do anything but blink tiredly.

"Yo, the camp," Piper called out a short while later as she approached. She raised her fist. Dangling from it were two brown rabbits. "We're lucky tonight."

"Man, I'm getting sick of rabbit," Cody complained.

Doris glared at him. "You should be grateful. We've had more meat on this journey than in the past year."

"I know. I just wish we could have a bigger variety."

Eva retorted. "It's better than squirrel."

"You've got that right," Martha agreed as she and Susan returned to the camp, their hair wet and ardor temporarily cooled.

"I saw a doe," Piper offered. She placed the bow and arrows near her backpack and pulled out a sharpening stone. "She was about a half mile back. I could probably pick up her trail again."

"No. Right now we would waste too much of it." Taking the rabbits, Martha handed them to her adopted son. "Since you opened your mouth, you get to clean them."

"Try and keep the fur in one piece this time," Carol joked. "Nobody is going to trade for holey pelts."

"Carol, I'm sure I can find something for you to do if you have nothing better to do than torment your brother," Susan warned. She balanced the pot of water on the grill and began to sift through their dwindling supplies. Finding a few soft potatoes, she quartered them and added them to the pot with several wild onions they had picked yesterday.

When Doris stepped up for a closer look, Susan shook her head. "We don't have much left."

"I hope your friend is feeling generous."

Piper looked up from cleaning her knife. "We could always have stone soup."

"Stone soup?" asked Eva.

"Don't you know the