Today he would apologize to her. He peddled hurriedly hopefully beating the heavy rain.
By early afternoon he was peddling around the twists and turns of the mountainside approaching Woodley.
He wished the path between the rock would appear into view so he could stop thinking of disappointing Ann. Pip and him stopped so Darrius could look over the map. As suddenly as Darrius opened the map, Ann's voice rang through the air. The tune sounded melodic and strangely familiar as it drifted through the valley. Pip howled and barked.
"Finally," Darrius muttered under his breath.
He peddled towards Ann's singing best he could. As he approached the cave in the clearing, Darrius noticed Ann didn't appear to have moved from her spot since yesterday. This was somehow pretty humorous but.. also weird.
"You took some time to return," Ann said to Darrius as he stopped next to her, "Please come into my home." It all seemed to be a pretty bland delivery of words for a possible date. He didn't hear any sort of sarcasm. He genuinely couldn't tell if Ann was upset or not about him missing their dinner.
"I'm sorry about yesterday Ann, I got a bit turned around. I'm still not sure how to get here really!" Darrius chuckled a bit. It was embarrassing.
Ann didn't seem to acknowledge any apology. Instead she stepped aside and gestured Pip and Darrius into the now-lit cave entrance that Darrius had noticed from his first visit. Pip growled, unsure about Ann's home, but followed behind.
Stepping inside, Darrius saw that there were leather pieces and animal furs in every direction the eye could see. Pip looked just as interested as Darrius did. Probably due to all the different scents. The heavy furs and "rich man's" decor contrasted the empty vastness of the cave.
"Where IS your family Ann? Didn't you say they lived here with you?"
Her face twitched in response, "They do live here... but presently my family is hunting game."
Strange. Darrius thought to himself that she had a strange way of talking to people. Maybe because of how little human contact Ann and her family seemed to have.
The cave opened up into two massive main living areas and a few smaller "rooms." One of the main rooms had been set up with a table and chairs.