Hasti sat next to the boy, his head at almost exactly the same height as the that of the standing human. He sat close, but not too close, knowing each and every nuance of the boy’s movement, breathing, and even facial expression. The cat could not see behind himself but he could see back to a substantially unlikely degree without moving his eyes. He saw the boy reach out behind him, the human’s hand and arm moving slowly and naturally. The cat thought nothing of the gesture until the boy’s hand contacted the top of his head. It took all of the cat’s control not to move, and even more not to whip around and bite the offending appendage. The boy’s hand gently stroked the fur between the cat’s ears, while the cat sat and tried to come to terms with the contact. He flicked his ears, hoping to send a message of personal violation and indignity. Not a violation reaching the level of a violent response, but a violation nevertheless. What was to be done? The cat tried to think of the new experience but had no reference for it. The boy’s hand dropped down and pulled away. The cat felt a strange sense of loss, along with some measure of relief.
The cat and the boy stood nearby the cooking fire, in wait. The fish, filets laid flat on the surface of flat pieces of tree trunk, sizzled and bubbled. The two women handling the fire, and the fish boards, did so with great dexterity and subtle movements. They used strange implements. Sticks tied in a flat array to lift the fish filets, sharpened wood pieces to cut the soft flesh and a long thin spear tip to poke the coals or to snag the meat and move it around atop the flat pieces of wood.
Great story. Is it growing for you, or do you have an outline of the whole thing?
The story gets told as I sit down and remember it segment by segment…there is no outline…
just as there was no outline back then…
Semper fi,
Jim
Wonderful Chapter, Jim. Love how our tribe is beginning to coalesce, and communicate better.
The hunt is great, good teamwork between the three hunters. And the women starting to talk with Tama really brings it out.
Thanks Craig. Yes, it’s fun to watch it all develop, and for me too…
Semper fi, and thank you for mentioning that…
Jim
Jim, reading and re-reading – great stuff! BUT – what in the heck do they want cooked and dried fish bones for? Thought I was a good student of early American history, but I have never come across this. Please educate this troglodyte!
Cooked and dried fish bones keep like beef jerky. And the the energy from eating this is great
along with the fact that they are good for you and the cartilage is easy to digest.
Semper fi,
Jim
Wow! I do TRY to learn something new each day – and this qualifies for sure.
Tama’s touching Hasti sure reminded me of when I felt like touching that bobcat so many years ago – but we for sure weren’t as close mentally as those two are becoming.
I think the pain from that spinal surgery has become worse, but that could be the weather -50’s two days in a row, and FIFTEEN this morning!
Semper Fi, Jim – looking forward to the next chapter, and the ones after that.
Spinal surgery is out there in the great unknown when it comes to trying to figure out the pain
from those nodes and braided ropes of nerves.
You have my greatest sympathy, especially in this day and age when the doctors
want you to listen to classical piano music and take Tylenol instead of the getting Demoral or the shit
the really works! Thanks for liking the book and I hope it takes your mind off the spinal shit…
Semper fi,
Jim
Third sentence, “the cat could not see behind HIMSELF” instead of HIM.
Thanks for the sharp eyes, Tom
Corrected
Jim
Thanks relaxing read as I suppose it is relaxing or peaceful to write. 12th line from the end change swords o spears.
Thanks for the compliment.
Can’t find your note of “swords”?
“It took almost no time to get the big animal bound between the swords and the trip back to the camp begun.”
“… bound between the /spears/…”?
Got it, thanks, the fix is in….
Auto correct is worse than nothing at all…
Semper fi,
Jim
It took almost no time to get the big animal bound between the “swords” and the trip back to the camp begun. “spears”
There will be a celebration tonight in the camp.
Thanks for the editing help, as usual, Pete. Got it done…
Semper fi,
Jim