Amuse Bouche

This is what I do, have done. I strip off haunches arms breast buttocks calves. Slice it thin soak it in brine and dry to jerky for Jasper (the dog) for the days between. You remember the story of the rugby team in the Andes. The corpses were corpses already dead. They did it to survive. I am no different. I do it for him. I eat venison, bottom fish, rabbit, shiners. I keep his jerky in airtight buckets. He likes it the best of all his food I’m sure because of the salt. Tomorrow I will do it again but not the boy, I’ll bury him not with any tenderness or regret just in one piece with his hawk feather.
From The Dog Stars by Peter Heller.