Turn 144 of 226

Hunt bigger prey — wild boar in the scrub beyond the rail spur. Both of us get severely injured. But we heal even faster than before. We are now 9'8" and 1250 pounds. Our hunt after that is in the darkness as a training variable

The boar is the thing that changes the hunting. The boar is not the raccoon or the coyote or the deer. The boar is the thing that fights back. The boar is the thing that is two hundred pounds of muscle and tusk and the thing that does not freeze. The not freezing is the thing the deer does not have. The boar charges. The charging is the thing Lena meets head-on — the head-on that is the thing the body has never done with an animal. The body has always been the predator. The boar makes the body both predator and prey.

Lena's arms are the things that wrap the boar's neck. The wrapping is the clinch entry. The boar's tusk is the thing that finds Lena's hip — the hip that is the thing that opens, the opening that is the six-inch gash. The blood is the thing that sprays. Lena does not release. The holding is the thing the body learned from the deer hunt and the deer hunt did not prepare the body for the thrashing that is the boar. The boar's head is the thing that swings and the swinging is the thing that catches Lena's ribs. The ribs are the things that crack. The cracking is the thing Lena feels and the feeling is the thing that is the information, not the pain.

Diane's hands are the things that find the boar's hindquarters. The hindquarters are the thing Diane grabs — the grab that is the thing that controls the rear, the rear that is the thing the sparring taught. The boar's hind leg is the thing that kicks. The kick is the thing that catches Diane's arm — the arm that is the thing that the tusk rakes on the backswing. The rake is the thing that opens Diane's tricep to the bone. Diane does not release. The not releasing is the thing the bodies share. The bodies are the things that hold the boar between them. The boar is the thing that is the struggle. The struggle is the thing that lasts four minutes. Four minutes is the thing that is longer than any tournament fight.

The boar dies. The dying is the thing that is the neck — the neck that Lena crushes, the crush that is the thing that takes the last of the glycogen. Lena collapses on the boar's body. Diane collapses beside the boar. The blood is the thing that is on everything — Lena's hip, Lena's ribs, Diane's arm, Diane's thigh where the tusk found the second strike. The blood is the thing that pools in the dirt. The pooling is the thing the bodies lie in. The lying is the thing that is the rest. The rest is the thing the bodies need. The bodies are the things that are broken. The broken is the thing the bodies carry back to the lot.

The healing is the thing that is different again. The hip gash is the thing that closes in two days. Two days is the thing that should be two weeks. The ribs are the things that knit in four. Diane's arm is the thing that seals in three. The thigh is the thing that closes in two. The healing is the thing that is faster than the coyote healing and the coyote healing was faster than the tournament healing and the tournament healing was faster than the pre-wish healing. The acceleration is the thing Lena does not question. The acceleration is the thing the body does. The body is the thing the wish builds. The building is the thing that includes the repair. The repair is the thing that is the wish's quiet work.

The measuring is the thing the bodies do on the morning the healing completes. The tape reads 9'8". The scale reads 1,250. The numbers are the same on both bodies. The numbers are the things that are the jump — the jump that is four inches and one hundred thirty pounds in the time since the foundry lot became home. The growth is the thing the hunting feeds. The hunting is the thing the fighting feeds. The fighting is the thing the growing feeds. The circle is the thing that is the spiral. The spiral is the thing that is the wish.

The next hunt is the thing Lena proposes in the dark. The dark is the thing the bodies have not hunted in. The dark is the thing that is the training variable — the variable that is the thing the warehouse did not have, the variable that is the thing the sparring under the sky did not have. The darkness is the thing that removes the eyes. The eyes are the things the bodies rely on. The reliance is the thing the darkness takes. The taking is the thing the body replaces with the nose and the ears and the skin. The nose is the thing that smells the boar musk at fifty meters. The ears are the things that hear the hoof on the gravel. The skin is the thing that feels the air displacement — the displacement that is the body moving toward the body in the dark. The dark hunt is the thing that sharpens the senses. The senses are the things the sparring needs. The sparring is the thing the dark hunt feeds. The feeding is the thing that is the spiral. The spiral is the thing that is the bodies. The bodies are the things that are Lena and Diane. The bodies are the things that are home.