That evening, after hauling all the logs I could, we set up a new little home underneath the cypress. I even started a little fire in the rocks of the ridge. We were out of meat and too tired to eat, though Holly had finished her basket. She’d used it to collect sweetberries, which we place on a flat rock. She then went and filled up the basket with water from the waterfall. The basket made the water taste like very weak gin. However, I was so thirsty I didn’t mind. Having the anthropology professor around was useful. Not only did we have the basket, but we also had rope.


    Most of our rope went to securing the logs to create the walkway across the ridge, but we did have enough for a rope ladder down to the beach. That was our escape route in case we couldn’t get out through our front door.


    Holly proved to be really good finding power crystals, and I was grateful. After all the sawing, Opal was closing out the day at a little more than eleven percent of her full power, and I was feeling pretty good.


    It had been a long day, and I figured all the excitement was behind us, but instead, we got the best surprise. As I was getting the fire ready, I heard a woman’s voice cry out. “Sid Marshall! Ema brocha hoggon flesha! Enna specha!”


    That was the huntress’s voice—Khanna.


    I hurried across the ridge, into the bus, which was empty of seats now, and through the back door. I didn’t see Khanna, but there, lying on the ground, was the hind leg of some kind of hooved animal.


    It hadn’t been skinned, but that hunk of meat was looking really good. That wasn’t all. Next to the meat lay a bag of what I thought was Wonder Bead. It had those same brightly colored bubbles.


    My mouth dropped open. Seeing the plastic packaging didn’t make sense. What was going on?


    I hurried out, checked left, then right, but didn’t see any sign of the woman.


    Was she paying me for the sex that morning? She’d been the one blowing me, but I remembered how she’d orgasmed over and over. Maybe this was just a gift, or maybe it was something more.


    I made my way back to the women, who were setting up our bus seats. Now each of us had two of our own, underneath the cypress tree, sitting on the unfinished floor. Our little home looked cozy, especially with the fire starting to crackle in a ring of rocks.


    “You guys will never believe what the huntress left for us?” I lifted what looked like a pig’s leg as well as the plastic bag, which wasn’t full. Turned out, it wasn’t bread in there. And it wasn’t from Earth, either.


    “Did she leave a vibrator?” Billie asked.


    Holly moaned. “Don’t remind me of vibrators, Miss Kidd. That’s cruel.”


    I didn’t know what to say, as I laid the pig leg down. Then I studied the packaging. There were words on the white plastic bag, sure, but they weren’t English. It looked like something made up, maybe like the fake language you’d see in a Hollywood space superhero movie.


    I consulted with the one person who could tell us. “Professor, is that any language you are familiar with?”


    Holly took the bag. “That looks exactly like Wonder Bread.”


    “That’s what I thought.”


    “What’s Wonder Bread?” Billie asked.


    Holly sighed. “Oh, that makes me feel old. I remember when they discontinued making it, but oh, the memories. White bread, of any kind, was forbidden in my house growing up. Mother only served what she called “real bread” which she made herself. It wasn’t good. I could never complain.” She looked profoundly sad.


    But then, a second later, she was smiling. “Oh, goodness. It’s not Wonder Bread, but inside are six medium sized chocolate donuts.”


    “What?” Billie thundered. “Junk food? From the huntress? I think I love her!”


    I had a disturbing though, and I wanted to address it right away. “Opal, can you scan the food for poison?”


    The hind quarter of the animal comes from a species somewhat related to the Terran Sus domesticus family, otherwise known as swine. No toxins detected. The bag is from a different timeline, Twankinian in nature. Twankinian culture prized highly processed foods. Twankinian donuts are considered a delicacy in some spacetime continuums. Source of donuts unknown. Incorrect packaging. Translating the Twankinian now. The packaging originally contained a product called Happy Loaf.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    I relayed the information to the girls.


    Clearly, the huntress had been to a section of Twankie that had been brought to K’Shaul. Why she had left us such delicacies was a complete mystery.


    Billie suddenly was fighting tears. “It’s…it’s a housewarming present. She saw what we are doing and wanted to make it special.”


    Holly’s brow furrowed. “A gift is one thing, but this bounty is another…”


    I had to laugh at the Professor. “Who says bounty anymore?”


    Holly smiled. “Apparently, I do.”


    “Don’t care” Billie shrugged. “I’m so happy! Let’s eat!”


    I left to search the Dinosaur Swamps for more wood and for branches, so I could make a spit for the fire. The trail to the Fodoron Oblisk was easy to find, and I was soon hurrying down the path, looking for some branches. Along the way, I heard a soft grunting sound, almost like a moo. Pushing aside ferns, I was given a view of a field of dry grass and a dozen or so stegosauruses of various shapes and sizes munching on the grasses.


    I had to stop and stare at actual dinosaurs, moving, chewing, and mooing. They must’ve smelled me because they ran off in a swish of ferns. I was going to cherish that moment.


    I found two Y-shaped branches from the Dinosaur Swamps and a long, very green limb I could use as a skewer.


    Back at the ridge, I used some rocks—we had any number of rocks to play with—to make a spit. Soon grease from our meat dripped into our happy fire, making a crackling noise. Unlike the tusked deer and the crow we’d eaten, this meat was far juicier, since it had more fat. I slowly turned the big hunk of meat as it cooked, and unlike so many of our other meals, I was confident this wouldn’t be burned on the outside and raw on the inside.


    The girls were licking their lips, eyes bright.


    Soon, I pulled it off, and waited a bit, for the meat to cool.


    “Let’s just fucking eat!” Billie, the former vegetarian yelled. “What are we waiting for?”


    “After cooking,” Holly explained. “The meat cooks after you take it off the heat, and then it will cool, and be the perfect temperature. We don’t want to burn our tongues. After all of our work today, I’m starving, but our patience will make eating more comfortable.”


    Carving off the meat with the ax wasn’t easy, and again, I wished for a blade. And nails. I still didn’t have a good solution to our nail problem.


    At the same time, it was getting colder. I thought of Billie’s desire for a blanket. We would probably have to settle for animal hides. Then again, if Khanna the huntress could find us alien donuts in a Happy Loaf plastic bag, maybe a nice warm fleece blanket would show up on our doorstep.


    Then, as we sat on a few extra benches we’d set up in our living room, we ate the roasted pig. Without a doubt, it was one of the best meals of our lives. We’d already devoured the sweetberries, that was the hors d''oeuvres, and the pig was the main course. We even had dessert!


    We passed around Holly’s basketful of pine water, taking sips, and then, we were ready for the chocolate goodness. We each had one. Holly had said she was going to save her second donut for the morning. I thought that was a great idea.


    But as we sat there, holding our donuts, I noticed that none of us were eating.


    Holding the donut, I realized this might be the last donut I would ever eat. Maybe I could figure out my nail problem, but to make donuts? That would require wheat, butter, sugar, and a deep-fat fryer. That all seemed impossible at the moment.


    “Who’s going to go first?” Billie asked.


    Holly sighed. “I’m being ridiculous. However, once I eat this donut, the experience will be over. It’s a taste of home. I want to savor it.”


    Billie had another explanation. “I’m scared it’s going to be gross. You know, since it’s not like Earth chocolate.”


    She had a point…


    “I’ll go first.” Then I bit into the donut. Like any cheap donut, the frosting was waxy, but then the flavor hit my tastebuds. Oh, it was chocolate all right, a dark, bitter chocolate, like nothing I’d ever tasted before. Then the sweetness of the sugary yellow cake part took over. It was a little stale, which wasn’t surprising, but that chocolate goodness made the whole experience worth it.


    Both Holly and Billie were studying me.


    Billie had a look on her face that was both hopeful and disgusted. “Well? Is it gross?”


    I had to laugh. “Not gross…not at all. A little stale maybe but not bad. I’m going for another bite.”


    Both the professor and the cheerleader both dove in.


    Billie sighed. “Oh, wow, that’s so good.”


    Professor Kroft had tears in her eyes. “It does taste like home.”


    Billie saw the tears and then it was like she turned into a completely different person. “Yes! It tastes like our home here, right here, under the cypress, on Lonetree Ridge. Our new Lonetree home. We’re going to be safe here, Professor, and we’re going to be comfortable, until we find another Ravana Storm that will take us home. And remember, we can each have a donut in the morning. I’m not going to feel bad.”


    I was never going to be able figure out these women. I thought Billie would join the professor in the waterworks, but instead, the CrossFit queen was embracing our new home. It was nice there, in front of the fire. We were under the cypress, so if it rained, we’d have some protection. We’d still need to set a watch, but unless we encountered more predators who could fly, we had the bus protecting us.


    If the rain got really bad, we could escape into the bus.


    “Thanks, Khanna,” I whispered. She’d made that first night on Lonetree Ridge special, and eating that donut felt like the perfect reward for our long day of work.