Ansel grinned, announcing, “The traveler has returned,” as he took off his backpack.
“Welcome back. That’s a lot fuller than when you left,” Hugh replied, eyeing the backpack. “Wait a minute, that’s not the same one.”
“Because I did some shopping, and needed one as big as yours,” Ansel told him. “Is there any more whatever that is left?” He gestured to Hugh’s bowl of stew.
“Yep.” Hugh got another bowl, filled it, and set it on the table next to his bowl, out of Orion’s reach. “What did you buy?” he asked.
“Well, I was going to get TP, but damn, those packages are big. So we’re now well stocked up with cheap napkins.” He took a package from the backpack. It held, he said, over two thousand of them. “A hundred percent biodegradable, too.”
Next, he put a large container of LoSalt on the
