“But first, you need to come to the stream and wash off. You’ve had a busy day and you need a bath,” said the third as she tugged on my arm, forcing me to stand. She had dark brown hair, almost black.
“You could use a bath, too,” I said to Jan. “You’d better get Eva to help you. And how about you, Jara, my friend. How long has it been since you had the opportunity to have three beautiful women such as these help you bathe?”
“Too long, my friend,” he answered, holding his hand out for me to help him up.
I put Jara’s arm over my shoulders for support and the redhead quickly ran to his other side and imitated my action. I leaned forward and looked at her. We started walking, following Jan and Eva.
“My name’s Jeff,” I said.
“I know. My name is Noomi.” Her voice was soft and melodic. She was about five and a half feet tall, completely covered in freckles and her red hair flowed down below her shoulders. Her eyes were the brightest green I’d ever seen.
“A lovely name for a lovely woman,” I told her. “I’ve always been partial to redheads.”
She started to turn red and I added, “I love to see them when they blush.”
“Stop it,” she said, covering her face.
“As you wish.”
While Noomi and I were introducing ourselves, the blond had grabbed my free arm. The brunette was on her other side, holding her other hand.
“I’m Jeff,” I said to the blond.
“Everybody in the village knows your name, Jeff. And we know that you saved Gon’s life and killed a ger all by yourself that was too wild and vicious for five of our hunters to take down. And we’ve heard you might leave us. We want to know what your plans are.”
“I have no set plans. I’m from a land far away from here and I’m looking for a place to settle down and possibly start a family.”
“This place will be perfect for you. And we just happen to be short of men and there are three available women right here. Any of us would be more than happy to start a family with you. My name is Meena. And this is Neeta on my other side.
“Hi, Meena. Hi Neeta. I’m happy to meet you. As far as starting a family is concerned, it’s not something I want to jump into. I plan on living for many more years and I want to make sure I will be happy with whoever I marry for all of them. Besides, Eva has been telling me that there are two more girls as beautiful as she is who will be available for marriage within a few months. Who knows, I might be able to support both of them.”
Eva turned quickly and looked at me. I winked back at her and she smiled, leaned back into Jan and continued walking.
Meena had fire in her eyes when she answered me. “You don’t want any little girls. Any one of us can take care of you better than both of them. I know for a fact I can keep you happy.”
Her blond hair came down to the middle of her neck and she had blue eyes. She was a couple of inches shorter than Noomi.
Neeta was the tallest of the bunch. With dark hair just touching her shoulders and violet eyes, she stood just a couple of inches less than me at 5‘11”. She just smiled and winked at me. Her smile was bright and warm and made me want to melt.
We made it down to the bathing pool. It could be why the village was located here. It was an O shaped pool off the edge of the stream that was kept warm by the sun and was perfect for group bathing.
There was plenty of room for the seven of us with room for another seven or eight. There were several stumps of various heights set up for people to sit on, both kids and adults. Noomi and I helped Jara into the water and found one that allowed him to sit comfortably, immersed to his chest.
The bottom was covered in sand, making a solid enough surface with some give to it. It reminded me of the floors in the realm where I’d learned how to survive on this planet.
Eva, Meena and Neeta all stopped and tore leaves off several bushes that were a few feet from the water. Each of them ended up with one and Neeta got an extra for Noomi. The leaves were the shape and size of a large chicken breast. Noomi dipped hers in the water and started rubbing Jara with it. He closed his eyes and sighed.
I was soon imitating him as Meena and Neeta double teamed me.
“It is called a muri bush,” Neeta told me. “The leaves give off a fragrant oil that cleanses the skin and makes it soft and smooth.”
“It feels good,” I told her. It reminded me of a lover washing me with a soft washcloth so soapy you couldn’t see the cloth through the foam.
The two women gently washed me all over, each making sure that the other didn’t miss anything. Even though they had both seen everything I had to offer, each explored between my legs manually, both with and without muri leaves. Jara and Jan were getting the same treatment from Noomi and Eva.
As if there was signal of some sort, all four women stood up at once and handed their muri leaves to their male partner. I ended up with two of them but that was fine; I had two women to bathe. It was a wonderful experience and I took just as much care with the two of them as they had with me. Both had skin that was soft and smooth, a testament to the muri leaves, I suppose.
Again, as if there was some signal, all four women stood up. Noomi and I took charge of Jara once more and got back on dry land.
We were about fifty feet from the water when I saw some bushes off to the right. I detoured the group until I was standing in front of them.
“Have these bushes always been here?” I asked the group in general. Nobody could remember seeing them before but none of them had any reason to notice them. At most, they would have taken a quick glance, seen that they bore no fruit and gone on with whatever they were doing.
“Take a handful of leaves from all three of them,” I told Meena. “They are the three used to prepare the animal skins.”
That excited all of them and Eva let go of Jan to get her own batch while Meena and Neeta harvested leaves.
It just seemed too big a coincidence to me, finding all three together like this. I knew the reason nobody on this planet had figured out that they could be combined to treat leather was that you could rarely find even two of them growing near each other. [Real cute, Gem], I thought.
We made it back to Jan’s tent and got Jara situated on the log again. It seemed easier than before. I wasn’t sure if it was because there were two of us to help him or if he was doing better because we supported him back instead of his staff.
“You look good, my friend,” I told him. “How do you feel?”
“I feel good. It’s surprising how having something to do with my life, then getting a loving bath from a beautiful woman and giving her the same can make this old cripple feel better.”
“You are not an old cripple,” Noomi said, sitting next to him and taking his hand in both of hers.
Eva had gone right inside the tent and was now back.
“How’s our patient?” I asked her.
“Good. He’s asleep now but May says he woke up and he peed through that … that…”
“Tube?”
“Yes, tube. I was going to say Gut, but that didn’t seem right.’
“Nothing wrong with that. That’s exactly what it is. Don’t ever be afraid to say what you mean because of the way people might think about you. You would be amazed at how much trouble that can eventually cause. So I take it, the tube worked out alright?”
“Yes, May says they were both very happy with its performance.”
I asked Jara if he’d done any thinking about the sick bed and he told me he thought carving six branches into flat pieces of wood would not be worth the time and effort involved. He thought he could attach two pieces together by carving a slot in one and a tab in the other, then driving a piece of bone through them, reinforcing the joint with leather thongs. He also said he could do the same type of thing with the two sections so they could both be the same size. I asked and he gave me a size for the whole thing.
“Eva, do you think you could find me a skin that’s that big plus an extra foot
on both sides and the ends for wrapping around the frame and stitching?”
“I think so.”
“When you do, bring it out here and I can teach all of you how to treat skins to make them soft and last longer. Have May come out with you if she wants to learn. I’m sure she can trust Jan to look after his brother for a few minutes.
“We’re also going to need a bowl big enough to put at least three of each leaf in, something to press or grind them into the bowl to get juice from them and enough rabbit skin so that anybody who wants to work can have a piece. What you’ll do is smash the leaves, then wipe the juice onto the skin you want to treat.”
Noomi stayed with Jara as the other two took off together to gather supplies. Noomi still had Jara’s hand in both of hers but she was now leaning against him, I could tell from the way he was smiling that he was enjoying the closeness.
May and Eva came out holding a large skin between them and showing it to Jara. “Will this be large enough?” Eva asked him.
“That should be more than enough,” he told her.
May told Jan that his brother was sleeping but he could go sit with him if he wanted. He said he’d like to see this and Noomi told him to go ahead, that she would be able to hear Gon if he called out.
There were community racks throughout the village for drying animal skins and the girls took theirs over to the closest one. They were just about done stretching it out when the other two came back.
Meena had gotten two bowls and two rocks suitable for crushing leaves so the two widows took turns crushing leaves in one bowl while the sisters used the other one. It wasn’t that big a job but they all wanted to take turns. Noomi could see what was happening and seemed perfectly content to stay there with Jara.
There was enough rabbit skin for all of them to apply the treatment and the skin was saturated within five minutes.
“Just leave it hanging until Jara has the frame ready, then you can take it down and attach it. I’ll teach you how to do the stitching, we’ll put it on the frame and then we’re going to cut a hole for Gon’s butt so he won’t have to get up to take a crap. He’ll be able to lie on the comfortable skin and we can raise or lower his back so he’ll be able to sit up when he wants.”
May came over to me and kissed me. “That sounds wonderful,” she said.
Meena and Neeta picked up the bowls and rags and then went over to Noomi, yanking her up from her perch next to Jara.
“We’ll bring her back to you, Jara; it’s just that she promised she would help with Jeff’s ger skin,” Neeta said.
“That’s fine. I don’t know how much more teasing this old body can take,” he answered.
Noomi said, “I’m not teasing. We’ll be back for dinner.” She tossed her hair and pranced away with the other two.
Chapter Seven
The three women were back 45 minutes later, bearing food. Noomi had a big bowl that was filled with meat, Meena’s had fruits and vegetables, some cooked, some raw and Neeta had two jugs filled with fruit juice. Noomi handed me a smaller bowl that had a chunk of meat that I recognized as a heart.
“That’s the heart of the ger,” she said. “As the warrior who killed the great beast, you are entitled to eat its heart. May it give you this animal’s strength and courage.”
I held my hands up, touching the side of the bowl but not taking it or the heart within it. “Eva, please go inside and see if Gon is awake. If not, have May wake him. Raise him up and put some furs behind him so he can sit up a bit. Girls, if you would help, I’d appreciate it.”
All four of them went inside the tent.
“Jan and Jara, I’d like you to come inside with us, too.”
I motioned to Jan and we both went over to Jara and got him to his feet, then put him between us and helped him into the tent. There was a stump inside that was used as a chair and we sat him down upon it.
Gon was propped up with May and Eva on either side and the widows behind him. “You look good, my friend,” I told him. “How do you feel?”
“I feel a little weak, but I’m glad to be alive.”
“You lost quite a lot of blood and it’s going to take some time to replace it. The important thing is that whatever you do, don’t move that leg for a week or so. Jara is going to make a device that will make it easier for you to relax and when it’s alright for you to move around, he’ll have something else ready that will make that easier, too. But right now, you need to get plenty of sleep and to let your woman take care of you.”
I raised my eyes and got everyone’s attention. “I’ve been offered the heart of the ger to eat since I’m the one who killed it. Yes, it was my sling that brought him down, but there were a lot more people involved as well.”
Noomi started to say something and I motioned, cutting her off.
I took the heart from her and bit off a sizable chunk. It was pretty good, unlike any meat I’d had before. I was happy they cooked it, after seeing pictures of people cutting out a still beating heart and eating it.
“Gon,” I said, “For your courage in standing up to the ger, I want you to take a bite of its heart.”
He was ready to protest but I just pushed it toward him. He reached up, put both hands around the one I had the heart in and pulled it to his mouth, taking a bite out of it.
“Jan, for having the courage to rescue your brother out of the jaws of the ger, for getting him back home when all sense said it was too far to carry him, for leading me to the ger’s lair and for staying steady when it attacked, I offer you a bite of the heart.”
He didn’t fight me on it; he just came over to me and took his share.
“Jara, for encountering your own ger and living to tell about it, I offer you some of this heart.”
I took it over to him and let him have a bite.
“Noomi, Meena and Neeta, for having the courage to send your husband’s away from the safety of the village to hunt, knowing that they might not come back, and paying the ultimate price when they didn’t, I offer each of you a piece of this heart.”
Noomi came over to me, kissed me on the cheek and took a bite. Meena followed, then Neeta. All three had tears in their eyes.
“May and Eva, for doing the same with your men and for being here to nurture them when they came back home, I want you to have the last bites of this heart.”
May was crying openly. She came up to me and wrapped her arms around me, kissed me on the lips and said, “Thank you. Thank you for saving my husband from death.” She took a bite and went back to Gon’s side, taking his hand in hers.
Eva was the final person and she hugged and kissed me like her sister had. “Thank you for bringing me back a husband. We both know if you hadn’t gone after the ger, he would have gone after it himself to avenge his brother and that I would be a widow before ever being married.” She took the final piece and put it in her mouth.
I looked around the tent. They all had smiles on their faces and every cheek had tears on it.
I went over to where Gon was and knelt down next to May. “I’ve got Jara and the girls working on something that will make it easier to take a crap but it won’t be ready until sometime tomorrow, probably not until the afternoon. I don’t know if you’re hungry or not and I see no reason you can’t have something to eat. Just remember that whatever goes in is going to have to come out and right now that means having a bunch of people roll you over on your side and crapping in a bowl.”
“I think I’d like some juice and maybe a little fruit,” he told May.
The meal was a celebration of being alive. The three who had been killed were missed and Gon was not in the best condition, but these people lived a hard life and times like this were expected. I could tell that every one of them felt a little prouder after I had shown them my appreciation for their sacrifices, whether they had any choice in making them or not.
The food was good. The bara most mostly light in color, similar to pork. It cooked up moist and tender and had a sweet aftertaste.
There was an assortment of vegetables that were similar to some I was familiar with and others that were different in taste, texture and color. Dessert was a leaf nearly as big as my hand. Everyone just bit into theirs so I did too. It had a light, fruity flavor and was the perfect end to a wonderful meal.
Jara made arrangements with Jan to meet first thing in the morning, then we helped him up and took him home. As before, Noomi was on one side with me on the other and the other two on the end. We helped him inside his tent onto his bedding. Noomi lay down next to him and said, “I’m going to stay here tonight.”
I said, “Goodnight, Noomi and Jara. I’ll see you tomorrow. Noomi, don’t go overboard with Jara. I need him to be able to work in the morning.
I turned around and Meena and Neeta each took an arm. “You don’t have anything to do in the morning, do you Jeff?” Meena asked.
Meena’s tent was three further away from the river than the twins’. We passed several natives from the time we left Jay and Gom until we got there. All thanked me for feeding them and killing the ger and most smiled knowingly at the two women hanging onto me.
Her tent was about the same size as the others I had seen but it wasn’t as nice inside. Not that they had a portable TV instead of a wide screen or the carpet was ratty instead of new but it was the equivalent of those things in this world. The two twins seemed to provide better for themselves than Meena’s husband had for her. Her tent was like a trailer in a rundown trailer park while theirs would compare to a duplex in a lower, middle class neighborhood.
Meena was embarrassed when we got there, no matter how much she wanted me there. I asked her if it was possible to get any of the fruit juice we had with dinner and Neeta ran off to get a pitcher. The three of us sat on Meena’s sleeping skins, drank fruit juice and talked. They talked about their mates, how they had tried but weren’t the hunters that some of the others were and how the widows were now going to be dependent on the charity of others if they couldn’t find new husbands. There were some hints about me looking for a mate and them being available but I told them that I wasn’t going to get involved with anybody I didn’t know. It wasn’t fair to them or to me.
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