Carl watched as Paul put on a backpack even bigger than his own before slinging a hunting rifle over his shoulder.
"That bag looks even heavier than mine," Carl said while shifting the weight of his bag on his shoulders.
"Forty pounds," Paul said like it was nothing before opening the door and stepping out into the crisp morning air with the smell of pine wood.
Carl glanced around and realized it was a beautiful area, though it was still somewhat dark outside.
"We are heading to a good-sized beaver pond about two miles from here. It's north west of here.
Now tell me from which direction does the sun rise?" Paul asked, and Carl started thinking about anything he had learned about the sun, but he didn't know.
"Where?" Carl asked, not wanting to guess and look stupid.
"Tell me, do you at least know all four cardinal directions?" Paul asked, generally worried about Carl's knowledge.
"Yes! My teacher taught me! Never, Eat, Soggy, Waffles! North, East, South, West!" Carl said proudly, remembering what his teacher had taught him about the four directions.
"Whatever. The sun rises in the East, sets in the west, though sometimes it sets in the northwest."
"Rises in the East, sets in the West. Got it!" Carl nodded, memorizing the words.
"Alright, you're leading the way. We need to go two miles northwest in an hour. Let's go," Paul said, making Carl look around confused.
"Uhmm. Which way is that?" Carl asked nervously
Paul just looked at Carl before pointing to his bag.
"What in your bag can give you the direction we need to go?" Paul asked, making Carl's eyes widen.
"Oh, I know!" Carl took off his heavy bag and searched in his bag before pulling out a compass.
"This thing, right?" Carl waved it around, making Paul's eye twitch. He was already regretting it.
"That's a compass. Tie it to your jacket so you can check it every so often." Paul said, and Carl tied it to his jacket before laying it flat on his hand and watching as things happened when he realized he had no idea how it worked.
"Haha, how does this work?" Carl asked while rubbing his head shyly. He realized he was going to be asking a lot of questions in the future.
"You're going to need to get your map out first," Paul said, not minding Carl's questions since he agreed to train him.
Carl went and grabbed his map from his bag before unfolding it. He was confused about what he was looking at.
"So if you look down here, you can see the declination that you'll need to set your compass." Paul spent the next twenty minutes teaching Carl thoroughly how to use a map and compass to make sure he was going the correct way.
"So this is the highway you and your mom were probably on right here, the 85. This is us right here. This is where we are going. Look at the degrees, that's our bearing."
"Not too hard, is it?" Paul asked while looking at Carl, who was stuffing his map back into his bag.
"It's a little confusing, but you would make a good teacher," Carl said and smiled when he saw Paul grow uncomfortable.
The only time he could make Paul nervous was when he gave a compliment, so he decided to just keep giving them.
"You already took long enough, now start walking," Paul said coldly before they started trekking into the forest, the sun rising over the mountains and bathing the green forest in a beautiful glow.
Carl felt his entire body burning as he hiked up and down hills with his heavy bag. He felt it mostly in his ankles and shoulders because of the bag straps.
Looking back, he saw Paul wasn't even phased as he just kept calmly glancing around.
"Do you live out here alone?" Carl asked, wondering where Paul's parents were.
"Yeah," Paul said, but saw that Carl was still looking over at him curiously.
"I never knew my parents. They died before I could meet them." Paul said, making Carl think of his own parents.
"I'm sorry." Carl said while glancing at Paul to see if he looked sad but he didnt.
"It's fine. I've gotten used to being by myself." Paul said
"You're not by yourself anymore." Carl smiled a silly smile, trying to cheer Paul up.
"Hm." Paul hummed before stopping.