Wild West - Chapter 2 - Part 34 - 5 minute freewrite challenge

With their stomachs full they both relaxed and leaned back onto their hands.

“How about we rest a little now and continue in an hour or two?” Tom asked, and James nodded in response. Sated, Tom didn’t feel like getting up and taking care of the fireplace. “So, I do the cooking and you do the cleaning, right?” There was a visible smile on Tom’s face when he said that.

“I’ll clean the place up today, but don’t push it, kid.” James grunted on his way up, then began digging into the ground with his bare hands – throwing the removed soil onto the fire to put it down. After he had thrown on a hefty amount of dirt and the embers kept on crackling from under it, he stood on top of it and trampled it until the crackling sounds finally gave in and the smoke stopped seeping through.

Feeling full, James wasn’t too fond of the smell of meat he had to himself, and so in an attempt to deodorize he lit a cigarette. It wasn’t that the cigarette smoke smelled any better, but he was used to it.

With the cigarette in his hand, he sat himself down on the floor and finished it in peace. He looked over at Tom – who was now lying on his back with the Stetson covering his face – and decided to follow suit. James, too, laid on the floor in the tree’s shade, covered his face with his hat and fell asleep. There was no use trying to continue their way in such heat.