Then they only needed thick socks and sturdy underwear. Extra items were cut down to the bare minimum – water, food, a sharp knife, a flashlight a...d food. Every extra kilo becomes a problem when you have to carry it through the bush. The 9 of them surrounded a fire, and burnt a type of incense used to repel the flies, moths and other insects of the bush. The fire cracked in a loud roar, they ate, drank beers and Kinja practised her English. The next day, Kinja nearly died. She woke up to. When our parents took their holidays, we moved in with each other and toward the end of summer I bought a small tent and single ring burner, packed up my car and we took off for a week by the coast. It was on the last day there that Nicola dropped a bombshell on me.“I think we should split up," she said without looking at me.When I pulled her face around, tears were rolling down her cheeks.“Why are you crying? That should be me, surely?”“I don’t want to, but I think it would be best.”“Because. Finally, we pulled away from each other, for just a minute so we could undress to our underwear. She wore comfortable cotton undies and I wore my usual boxers. I pulled the bedsheets over us and soon we were both in dreamland.I awoke early the next morning and made us omelettes for breakfast. We decided that we wanted a lazy day together, so we both sent a message to the class WhatsApp group with an excuse and then I sent a similar message to work.After our breakfast we went back up to my bed. ‘I can’t even believe I’m considering meeting you.’ Truthfully, she had hit a hard spot in the current canvas she was working on and was craving a distraction. At a gallery near Lincoln Park, she had talked with a dealer, and managed to schedule time in a couple of weeks for him to view the canvas. How she was going to complete the piece in such a short period of time, was beyond her. ‘It’s one drink, we’ll get Jennings to meet us. It’s easier for the ladies to come up when there’s already one.