Chapter 9 #2
“Okay,” he said, bringing her to the center of the driveway.
“I’m going to collect some wood for you, and some tinder, and then I’m going to show you how to light a fire.
You can use your lighter for the first round.
Because what I’m going to be showing you is what to use to build a fire that’s going to keep going.
But then, I’m going to show you how to start a fire with a ferro rod. ”
“Seriously, though, why wouldn’t I just use a lighter? Since I have one in my kit?”
“Remember when you fell and you lost your phone? There are a whole lot of reasons you might find yourself without something. Or, it may not work. Or, let’s say you’re stuck for an extended period of time. You’re going to run out of lighter fluid. But a ferro rod will always work for you.”
“I don’t intend to be stuck for a long time.”
“No one expects to be in their own personal version of Hatchet, Cara, and yet.”
“Hatchet? Like the book?”
“Yes, like the book.”
She thought about the little bookshelf at the back of his cabin. She wondered if Hatchet was in his collection. Maybe he had old books from his childhood. Maybe he had been a reader.
She could see that. He was a physical kind of guy, but there was that sort of quietness to him. She could see that he was the sort who would value an activity like that. Some solitude.
She liked quiet activities. She enjoyed an evening with a book.
“What kind of books do you like to read?”
He looked at her strangely. “That has nothing to do with starting fires.”
“But I’m curious.”
“You know what they say about curiosity.”
“It killed the cat, but nobody ever said what it did to the Cara.”
She couldn’t quite determine what the expression on his face meant.
But it did something to her. Made her stomach feel tight, made her feel hot.
It was a good reminder that even though she was having intense feelings, she didn’t exactly know what to do with feelings like that.
Reminder that she wasn’t experienced or bold or coquettish at all. She was…
Well, it was best not to think about what she was.
“I’ll tell you what, if you can start this fire, then maybe I will tell you the title of another book I like. You already know one of them.”
“Okay,” she said, frowning down at the bare spot on the ground.
“Come on. You’re going to come with me to collect fuel.”
She took a breath and followed him down the same trail they had taken yesterday. But he didn’t stay on the trail this time. Instead, he veered off, and through the brush, and she followed on after him.
Now she was hyper-aware of the fact that there could possibly be cougars, wolves, or bears lingering around.
At least she had her bear spray.
She supposed that you could use that sort of thing on any animal. If it was strong enough to take down a grizzly bear, it could probably take out a rabbit or squirrel just as easily.
He began to put sticks and moss and other things into his backpack, and she watched what he chose carefully. Then, without a word, he turned around and headed back toward the trail. She went with him.
She watched as he built a triangular shape out of the sticks and added moss and other small twigs in between the larger sticks.
“Okay,” he said. “I’m going to show you how to use a ferro rod.” He held up the basic, dark colored cylinder in his hand. “There are three elements to this rod that are going to help you start a fire. You’ve got fuel from the metal, you’ve got friction, and you’ve got oxygen.”
“How do I have friction?”
“Do you have your knife in your bag?”
She reached into the pack that he had given her and took out the large folding knife that he had placed in there. She opened it slowly, looking at the large blade with some trepidation.
“Okay,” he said. He took the knife out of her hand, held the ferro rod out with his other hand, and began to scrape the sharp edge of the knife down the rod.
Sparks flew off the rod, and he made sure to hold it up against the moss and other small things that he had put down at the base of the fire.
“You catch your tinder, and it’ll catch the rest. This is definitely one of the easiest ways to start a fire without a lighter.
If you have your knife and you have your rod, you should be pretty good. ”
He made it look easy. The fire bloomed to life almost instantly.
“That seems… almost too easy.”
“Yeah. Because we have nice dry fuel. After a heavy rain, it could be a lot more challenging. Just because it’s difficult to ignite wet moss and other damp tinder.”
“Can you use something dry that you’re wearing?”
“Yeah. You could try to use some fuzz out of your coat, or the bottom of a shirt, or something. Definitely. Though that’s one of those things that isn’t an endlessly renewable resource.”
“Yeah. I get that. But remember, in my scenario, I am not having a long-term wilderness experience.”
“Yeah. I do remember that.”
The fire was just beginning to catch, and he stomped it out. Literally.
“No oxygen, no fire,” he said.
He squished down the last ember and then looked at her expectantly.
“What?”
“It’s your turn.”
“Well, you already burned all the stuff.”
“No. I did not burn all the stuff. You can go collect more.”
“I have to collect it?”
“Yes. I need you to choose it. I need you to show me that you were paying attention.”
This was easy. She remembered exactly what he had gotten, and so she went ahead of him, going off the trail at a slightly different spot than he had, collecting some sticks, putting them in her pack, which was smaller than his, so it was slightly more challenging, grabbing moss and pine needles, smaller twigs, and other things that she thought looked like they would make good tinder.
She wouldn’t throw it all in at once. But she would have backup just in case it didn’t work.
Then, she turned and headed back out to the driveway, where she built a fire-starting area using the exact same steps that he had.
He handed her the same ferro rod that he had used, but she waved him off. She opened up her bag and took out her own.
Then she reclaimed her knife and took a deep breath as she began to strike the side of the rod.
And did not get sparks.
She did it gingerly, hating the sound of the metal on metal, and still, nothing.
“You’ve got to do it a little bit harder than that,” he said.
“But it feels terrible,” she said.
“Yeah. Well, metal on metal isn’t exactly music to my ears either, but you need to give it some force, because it has to have friction.”
“Okay,” she said.
She hit the knife blade against the rod again, and this time, there was… Still nothing. For a second, she thought she saw the tiniest spark, but if it had ever been there at all, it fizzled out almost immediately.
“This isn’t working. You made it look so easy.”
“It is pretty easy, but you just have to get the stroke right.”
“I don’t have the stroke right.”
He practically rolled his eyes at her, and then suddenly, he was behind her, his large body hot and imposing at her back.
Then he wrapped his large hands around hers. One gripping the hand that held the ferro rod, and angling it just so, and the other grabbing hold of her hand with the knife.
“Hey,” she said, resisting his direction of her movements.
“Let me show you,” he whispered, his mouth much closer to her ear than she had realized.
Tension and pleasure skittered down her spine hand in hand.
She was so shocked that then she just… Let him. Let him guide her hand holding a knife down the rod she had in her other hand. There was still nothing.
“You’re resisting,” he said.
“Well, you might cut me.”
“I’m not going to cut you. I know what I’m doing.”
She felt hot and a little bit sweaty.
She didn’t know why. She didn’t know why this was doing so much to her. The absolute most, honestly.
But she tried her best to relax, and this time, when he struck the knife against the edge of the rod and pulled it down, she felt the friction. Felt the difference. The angle combined with the force worked, and sparks flew from the edge of the rod.
“Oh,” she said. “Oh, I felt that.”
“Good,” he said, his voice rough and gruff, and he took a step away from her. “Now you can do it yourself.”