The three of us ended up sleeping there, one each on either side of me.
I woke up with the sun, feeling refreshed. Both women groaned as I slid out from between them but neither woke.
I knew there was a latrine downstream from the bathing pond so I went in search of it. I had my pouch and my sling with me in case humans weren’t the only ones down at the stream this early in the day.
I reached into the pouch and felt a piece of paper. I pulled it out and unfolded it.
My love,
I see you spotted my little trick of putting the three plants for the leather treatment where you would find them. My only excuse is that you would have had to search for hours to find all three of them. And besides, it was fun to yank on your leg.
I’m enjoying your vids but my day seemed empty after you left. Your numbers are up and you keep amazing me. I don’t think I could have taken charge and fixed that boy’s leg, even though I knew what needed to be done. And the way you saved that man who thought nobody loved him and gave him a purpose in life again made me cry.
I’m surprised you didn’t screw those two women’s brains out. They obviously wanted you to.
Take care, my love, and make sure you destroy this so nobody finds it.
You introduced me to so many new things like the biscuits and gravy.
And now you are doing it in your new home.
I love you.
Gem
That little vixen. I knew she was responsible for the three plants being together near the pond. She used the same keypad for everything, so she probably combined her processor to create the plants and the instantaneous travel so they were created here.
I missed Gem, too. She was the most stimulating woman I’d ever met. Part of it was her and part of it was that her society was so far more advanced than mine. But she didn’t go with the flow. She asked to train me when any contact with another was avoided, she learned how to kiss and make love, things that had been discarded and relegated to primitives. She even learned how to swim and dove right back into a pool she had almost drowned in.
She loved me and wasn’t afraid or embarrassed to show me. Meena and Neeta were perfectly willing to use their sex as a tool, a hook, a snare, to pull me in so I would support them. I had no doubts that either or both would be devoted wives, willing to do anything to keep up the household and pay me back for supporting them.
They were similar but different. Gem was the way she was, even though her society was completely opposite in so many ways. The widows were the way they were because in their society, that was the way to survive. They had married their true loves and they had been killed. Now they needed to marry providers and if they were lucky, love would follow.
I read Gem’s note again, then licked it. Just as I thought, it was edible and she’d made it taste like biscuits and milk gravy. Just another example of her love, I thought as I chewed a bite. Her line about yanking my leg was another. She knew that pulling was the correct word and she knew damn well that I knew she did. Changing the wording was just another way of playing with me. Something we’d talked about people in love doing. I could imagine either of the widows teasing me, but again, it would be as a means to catch me, not simply to tease the one you love. Not loving me because they loved me, as Gem did, but loving me so I would take care of them.
[I love you, Gem.]
I finished eating the note and realized it satisfied my hunger as well as tasting good. I also realized that Meena and Neeta were now the widows in my mind. Noomi had moved past that and was now Jara’s woman. That Noomi was a very perceptive woman. She had no idea what I had talked Jara into doing but she instinctively knew he was going to thrive when she saw that I had befriended him. They were made for each other. She needed someone to take care of her and to care for and he had been lonely, a charity case for years and now that it looked possible, more than willing to take care of her and get taken care of in return. The two of them were from the same world and it worked.
I was from two different worlds and I could see through the conventions and the games of this third one and I felt too good for these people. So help me, it was the last thing I wanted but I was a god compared to them. Humans were always playthings to the gods, things to be used and discarded. But I wasn’t built that way. Were the things that put me so far above these people the very things that would destroy me?
I was recruited and sent here because I was a problem solver. Well, I certainly had a problem here, a real doozie. Any no one else was going to solve it for me.
I finished up in the latrine and walked upstream, through the bathing pond and back to the village.
Jara and Jan were working in front of Jara’s tent. Jara was on his stump directing Jan as he trimmed the end of a six foot long stick. Two eight or nine year old boys walked up carrying a long piece of wood between then and Jara pointed and told them where to put it.
I greeted Jara and Jan and was introduced to the young helpers, Swen and Neel. Jara told Neel to get me some kuj and he ran off, returning with a steaming mug. It was a hot brown liquid, bitter yet sweet, their version of coffee.
I noticed that Jan was using a rock to pound on a sharp rock that he was cutting the wood with. I went over to where Jara was sitting and knelt next to him.
“Have you got a way you could attach a stone to a stick?” I bent my fingers over in the left hand, held that arm up and down, then made a fist with my right hand and positioned it above my bent fingers.
“If you could secure it somehow, you could hold the stick down at the bottom and swing it so that the stone would hit whatever you want to push. It would make the stone hit a lot harder. Jan would do the work much faster and be less tired.”
Jara sent Neel off to find some leather thongs and told Swen to dig through the pile of wood next to his tent and find a stick about as long as my arm from elbow to hand. When they returned, he sent Swen into his tent to get a bowl and Neel to a bush he pointed out, telling him to get a handful of leaves and to be quick about it.
Once everything was gathered, he had the boys sit down at his feet and take turns squashing the leaves in the bowl with the stick. They worked on it for about ten minutes until there was just a little pulp in a pool of liquid.
“I discovered years ago that this makes leather shrink and bond with anything it is wrapped around,” he told me. “It works with things other than leather and wood but it isn’t strong enough to bond the stone to the stick.”
He had the boys give him the stick, a stone that was shaped like an oversized, elongated egg and a piece of the leather. He draped the thong over the stone and held it on top of the stick so that both ends were hanging down on either side. It took some trial and error and some name calling by Jara but eventually, Swen and Neel got the leather wrapped around the stick from top to bottom, as tightly as humanly possible. Jara had them use small sticks to dip into the juice and smear it all over the leather.
“Let that dry in the sun for a few minutes, then you boys can put on the next piece of leather. Go get another long piece of wood while you’re waiting.”
They did two more thongs, gluing each separately and allowing it to dry each time so it took a little over an hour for them to finish. When they were done, Jara had Neel give it to me. I played with it and couldn’t get the stone to budge. It was glued to that stick for life.
I took it over to Jan. “Try this,” I said and took his hand, wrapping his fingers around the bottom, then helping him swing it, practicing on a scrap piece of wood. His eyes brightened up and he took over command of it, using his new hammer in place of the rock.
I went back to Jara. “Now, if you sharpened the hitting edge of that stone, you’d have an axe and could use it to chop down a tree or to cut branches.”
“Stop it, Jeff, Stop it,” he said, shaking my arm. “You keep telling me all these wonderful things and I want to drop everything I’m doing so I can do the next. Let me finish this sick bed you want, then tell me.”
I walked through the village to a part I hadn’t been before. There was a large tent away from the others with a big fire pit and its own drying rack. This was the only one I’d seen with furs spread out on the ground for visitors to rest upon. There was also a good sized log covered in fur. I saw a man a couple of years older than Jara sitting on the log, watching me intently. He was missing his right arm at the elbow.
“My name is Jeff,” I told him.
“Hello, Jeff. I am Nooka and the people come to me with their problems.”
“I have heard that you are a very wise man, Nooka.”
“And I have heard that you are a god.”
“No, I am but a man. A man with more knowledge than most but still a man.”
“And do you come to my village to share your knowledge or to take our village away from us?”
“I come to share and maybe to find a home and people to share it with.”
“That is good. I have heard many good things and none bad. I hear you were offered a bed and two willing women yet you took only the bed.”
“Is it right for a man to catch all the fish in the river simply because he can when he doesn’t even know if he likes those particular fish?”
“You are wise beyond your years, Jeff.”
“I have more years than you behind me, Wise One.”
His eyebrows went up. He looked at me, squinted his eyes and searched my face.
“Ah, I see. You come from a place none of the people could reach, no matter how long they walked.”
“Not without help, no. None of the people would want to reach it so they have not lost anything.”
“But you have lost things by coming here. You have gained many things but there are things you had in your world that you hunger for.”
“You speak the truth, Nooka. As I said, you are a wise man. Would I be welcome in this village?”
“That is not for me to say. I am the one they come to when they don’t agree about something. This is something they must all agree on. When a child is born, it is welcomed by all because it is from the village. When a stranger comes and wants to become part of the village, that is different. It will be discussed tonight and voted upon when we have our celebration. Whether or not you live with us, you saved one of us from the underworld, fed the whole village yesterday and killed a demon that will feed the village tonight and more. There will be music and dancing and drinking and celebrating tonight. You will have your answer before you hit the sleeping skins.”
“How did you lose your arm?” I asked him.
“It was a long time ago. I, too, lost some friends when we were surprised by a ger. My arm was mangled beyond fixing and I would have bled my life onto the ground if a friend hadn’t cut off the ruined part and stuck my stump into the fire. It was painful, but the years have a way of lessening things.”
“I will take my leave now.” I held out my left hand and he clasped it with his, in friendship and respect, then he jerked as if he’d been shocked.
“You have already found the fish for you and it is in a different river. You won’t find happiness anywhere until you have it in your net.”
“Thank you, Nooka. You are indeed a wise man and thanks to you, I know what I need to do.”
Chapter Eight
Taking the strap from around my arm, I folded it and put it in my pouch. I made my way back to Meena’s. The three women were at the community stretching rack a few tents over, putting the finishing touches on the ger skin. Each grabbed a part of it and ran over to me, holding it out. The thing was huge.
The women were all impressed on how the treatment had worked and there was lots of oohing and aahing and giggling as they took turns rubbing each other and me with it. I made a comment about how soft it was and Noomi insisted that the plant juice worked on the fur as well as the leather.
“I want you all to come with me to Jan and Gon’s home. There is work to be done on the sick bed Jara is making and I need to show all of you what it is and how to do it. I probably won’t be around when Jara’s finished with his part and I want Gon to have it as soon as possible.”
“You aren’t leaving us, are you?” Meena pleaded.
“I will be here for the celebration tonight. Whether or not I stay will be up to the village.”
“We all want you to stay, Jeff.”
“That may be. Whatever happens tonight, I will abide by the wishes of the village after I have spoken to everybody.”
We arrived at the twins’ and went inside. Gon was propped up and the sisters were sitting next to each other, near his head. I went over to him.
“How are you feeling today, Gon?”
“Much better. I almost feel like getting up and walking.”
“Not yet. That will happen soon enough. Enjoy it while you can because I can guarantee these two will keep you and Jan so busy that you’ll both wish you could spend some time just lying around.”
I checked him over and was surprised at his progress. The wound was nice and pink and was already fusing together. No swelling, no heat; it was healing days ahead of what I expected. His leg was still secured by the wood strapped to it. His face had lost its pallor and was brown instead of the sickly white of the day before.
“You may be getting around sooner than I thought,” I told him, “but don’t overdo it. I would hate to see you do permanent harm to yourself because you are impatient.”
Next, the widows had to show off my skin. If I stayed, it would earn a prominent place in my home, being the equivalent of a home theater or indoor pool in this society. There was some discussion about what to do with it since I didn’t have a place of my own and I suggested that they hang it on the stretching rack outside so others could see it. “You men certainly had a lot to do with it being here,” I told Gon.
I gathered the women around me and drew a rectangle in the dirt, divided it lengthwise by drawing a broken line from side to side, then made a circle that was divided by that line.
“Noomi’s man is keeping Jan, Neel and Swen busy constructing the frame for this,” I told them, speaking loud enough for Gon to hear. “It will have three pieces of wood here,” I said, running my finger from the dotted line around until I reached the other end of it, “and another three here,” running my finger around the other part. “Here and here, where the two parts meet, there will be pieces of bone holding them together while still allowing them to bend. There will be other pieces of wood underneath, holding it off the ground. Jara is also going to figure out a secure way to hold the top section up. The whole frame will be covered with the skin you all prepared yesterday and this hole will be cut so that Gon’s backside fits inside it. A bowl can be placed underneath it so that he doesn’t have to be rolled over by several people when he needs to get rid of waste. He’ll still need to use the piece of gut for making water. Once he’s on this, you can slide furs underneath him if it’s uncomfortable but I think you’ll find the treated skin will be soft enough without them. He can sit up during the day and lie down flat when he sleeps. And I’m sure we can find some men to carry the whole thing with him on it so he can attend the celebration tonight.
“I’ve already told the girls that I am going to be busy later today so I’m counting on the five of you to make sure this gets done. You’ll need to get some men to move him just like you did yesterday. As long as you are careful, there is nothing to worry about. I’ll be back in plenty of time for the celebration tonight. Are you and Jara are going to have something to declare in front of the village, Noomi?”
She turned a deep red and said, “I hope so.”
“You’d better hurry then, Little Girl. Once everyone sees what Jara can do, he’s going to be a very popular man. I’m pretty sure that you’ll have some time to talk to him before his helpers are finished building the frame if you get going right away.”
She grinned at me and rushed out, waving to the others as she left the tent.
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I showed the rest of the women how to make the stronger stitches and they took turns trying it out on the strap I’d loosened from my pouch. We then got the skin that was going to be used for Gon’s sick bed and marked where we needed to cut a hole for his posterior. We slit it from the middle to where the hole was marked, making eight flaps we could trim and then bend underneath at the circle. This gave us a double layer of skin where it was going to be open. They took turns sewing it up, then we tested its strength. We went over what needed to be done to get the skin mounted to the frame.
When we were done, Meena and Neeta came over to me. Meena said, “There’s no hope for us, is there?”
“No hope? I wouldn’t say that. It would take some major changes in me to marry either or both of you. If I’m allowed to stay after tonight, I promise you that neither of you will go hungry.”
“I’ve heard men make promises like that. They look out for themselves first.”
“Look at Jara,” I said. “He was an old cripple who was dependent on everyone’s mercy. Many called him their friend but few really were. He’ll soon be able to support himself and a wife and provide work for others so they can do the same.”
“You want us to work for Jara?” asked Neeta.
“I wasn’t thinking of that, but you can if you wish. He’s going to need someone to stitch the cloth on his beds and chairs; it might as well be one or both of you. Right now, only the five of you know how to treat skins. There are other things I can teach you, things that will make it so you don’t need to have a husband in order to survive. You will be able to afford to wait for the right one instead of the first one who comes along.”
“I thought you were the right one, Jeff,” Meena said.
“We’ve known each other less than a day. You knew your husbands your whole lives. One day isn’t enough to base a whole lifetime on, especially since I don’t plan on dying until I’m a very old man.”
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