he said, pointing to a grill that had been placed above the fire pit, and a pair of carving knives resting on the bench he’d sat upon. “Allow me to clean and prepare them for you, and then it should be time to make the short journey to the village.” The sun had mostly set, but the faint rays were enough to irritate his skin, as light tendrils of smoke drifted into the air above him from his arms and neck. He hurried over to the pit that remained free from even the slightest fractured sunrays seeping through the bamboo canes of our hideout. Before long, he and I sat together next to the fire. Crickets and tree frogs sang for one another as the onset of night fell upon us. He watched me as I ate, and nothing serious was mentioned by either one of us. I’d already decided in my mind that it would be better this time around to gather my own impressions of my new hosts without grilling him beforehand about them, and Kazikli seemed content to allow this.
