One day Charlie was fishing

.......................................................................................................................................................................................
(some time ago)

....he was fishing from his kayak and had been paying more attention to the fish than were he was or where he was going.

He heard a voice "Who are you and what are you doing on tribal land. Do you have permission to be here boy? Keep your hands where I can see them. Ya hear me?”

Charlie slowly raised his hands above his head.”_ Yessir.._”

“See that you keep em there. I’m coming in. If you make any sudden moves...well there’s a rifle aiming at your brisket.” the voice replied.

Charlie sat real still. Soon he heard the voice speak again. "You can put your arms down now. I couldn’t see your Beggars Badge from where I was. Now I do.”

“Beggar’s Badge?” Charlie didn’t much like the sound of that though he supposed it was accurate.

“Yeah..the thing that the Chief gave you.” The man said, poling a pirogue from behind some bushes. Actually it was boy...probably not much older than Charlie was. He hadn’t been kidding about having a rifle.

“Don’t feel too bad about it.” the boy said "A lot of us had them. I had one my self a while back. Paw got laid off and we moved to the swamp.”

“That’s what happened to us too.” Charlie said. "_ the Chief let us stay._”

Charlie looked around..it would be dark soon.

The other boy noticed the woeful, panicky expression on charlie’s face.

“Lost huh?” he said...not unkindly.

“eh...yeah. I guess I am.” he replied.

“You need one of these” the boy pointed to a portable GPS unit in his Pirogue. "I used to get lost all the time before I got it.”

Charlie looked at the little device with lust in his eye. "I don’t imagine that I can afford it. I’m broke. "

“There’s a lot of that going around.” the boy said. "This is your lucky day. I was going to the Tribal Office when I noticed you. You can follow me if you like.”

Charlie almost fainted from the relief”I certainly appreciate it. Lead on.”

Previous Chapter
The Beginning

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