~~~ * ~~~

I felt very thirsty. There was no water left in the bottle and there was not a stream in sight.
“Do you know how people in the olden times survived in the forest when they wanted water?”
“How?”
“Like this—“ Saying this, one of them went over to a flowering plant and shook a dew-laden flower.
“You mean, sip droplets from the flowers and leaves?”
“Yeah! Try it!”
I found a suitable, seemingly harmless looking flower and encapsulated it with my mouth, stalk sticking out like a lollipop stick. One suck and I felt wetness down my parched throat.
“Didn’t the pollen grains affect those people in the olden days? No allergies, nothing?”
“That we will come to know in case YOU burst out into itches and rashes!”

Hmm.