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to be able to get to her feet.
    “It’s a snake.  Be quiet and quit fiddling.  That kind of snake is poisonous.  It can kill.  The sound you hear is from its tail.  That’s why they call this type of snake a rattlesnake.  It shakes its tail to make an intimidating noise.  Like I said, most things in the desert like to use their tails.”
    “How does it poison us?  And if it can, why are we not running away from it?  Why not use your magic trick to get us out of here?”
    “Because that is dinner if I do this right.”  He handed her the pack and then he gestured with his finger for her to stay there.  Then he eased around it.  It noted his movement and turned toward him and bared its fangs.
    Again, she yelled!  She was doing her best not to run.  She was also considering going back down there and staying there forever.  Then she watched as he moved his hand out to the side and waved it slowly.  The snake began watching his hand as he kept the rest of his body very still.    Then quickly he grabbed it from behind its head and she could see fluid pump out of its teeth.  She could hear it hissing at him.  That was a sound she had never heard before.  She felt light-headed with fear.  He put the other hand on its back and she heard a snap and then then threw it away from them.
    “Don’t go near it.  It can still bite.  It will be dead in few seconds, but even after that it can twitch and hit you with one of those fangs.
    “So we’re going to eat that?”  Her face twisted in disgust.
    “Believe me, it’s much better than that stuff you call food, down there.  Just wait a few minutes.  Then when we find shade we can skin it.  They are harder to skin if you cook them with the skin on, but we don’t want to take it off before we are ready to cook it.  It will rot too quickly in this heat, with no skin.”
    She looked at him as if he was far crazier than she initially thought, then she saw him produce a knife from under his shirt, leap on the thing and chop off its head.  “So you’ve killed things before?”
    “Yes.  It’s called survival.  You’re going to learn a different way to survive other than ripping off travelers.”  He looked at her disapprovingly.
    She grinned and looked at him.  “Well, I was pretty good at it until I met you.”
    “You’ll get good at a lot of things before this is over.  Or not, and I can always take you back down.  However, I suggest you try this”, he held up the snake’s lifeless, headless body, “before you go.”
    She had to admit to some curiosity, but couldn’t’ get out of her mind how disgusting it seemed to her.  Then she asked, “Have you ever killed a person?”
    He pondered how best to answer and replied, “Not for food.  I’ve been told people taste horrible.  Like vultures because people have such a wide varying diet they apparently taste putrid.  Also, it would seem odd.  I suppose we survived this far into evolution because most things didn’t want to eat us and weren’t interested in eating each other, either.”
    She looked at him unconvinced, “So why did you kill them?”
    “Can’t you tell when someone is trying to change the topic?”  He replied.  He began to walk again.
    “Well, I don’t believe you.”  She said as he was walking away.  Then she started to follow him again.
    “Good.  Because I did lie.  I have eaten people and so have you.  What do you think is used to make that you call food, down there?  However, I have to admit the reports that people taste putrid are true.  And that is why I prefer it up here.”
    She looked at him and ran a few steps to catch up to him.  “That’s not funny.  That’s not what it’s made out of!  We aren’t animals.”
    “No, you’re not.  Animals don’t eat people very often.  Didn’t I just say that?”
    She frowned and then asked, “Do you really believe that what we eat is people?”
    He tilted his head and sighed.  Then he grabbed