Chapter 23: Sausage Privilege
The juices of meat and fat, seasoned with a rich blend of spices exploded inside the kid's mouth in a burst of flavor like water in hot oil. His body craved more. before he knew it, he was already munching on the sausage without the bear helping his jaw move.
When half the sausage was gone, and only the tip wa sticking out of the kid's mouth, he realized that the bear wasn't holding onto him anymore. Nick was several steps away, seated on the porch and resting his head on his palm.
There was an opportunity, and the kid took it. He quickly got up and sprinted away into the forest.
Kai reached after him with a furry paw.
"Let him go," Nick said, stopping him.
"He looked pretty malnourished, so I understand why you wanted to feed him, but kidnapping people is bad, okay?"
Kai lowered his head with a sad whine.
"That's not going to work. This time, things seem to have worked out, but if you want to make friends, you can't force anyone."
Kai exhaled loudly. Nick was pretty sure he also rolled his eyes. He was surprised. He didn't think Kai was this rebellious. But at the same time, he had slipped away from his parents multiple times and tried to break into the fridge.
He wasn't going to take Nick's words too seriously. Nick was just some guy with good food in the middle of the forest, after all. And Nick knew he wasn't Kai's parent, so he didn't insist on Kai taking his words of wisdom to heart.
As he looked at some of the branches still waving after the kid brushed against them on his way away, a thought struck Nick.