LiTTLE CHERiNE Book 02 - post110

With new energy I rushed back, nearly falling. I slowed down, I could not afford to be careless now, their lives depended on me. I shouted every now and then until I heard someone call back. I carried on a bit further and called to them to come towards me.

Previous Post 109

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There was only space for three to lick at the cliff face so I made them each only take five licks and they had to move on. It took a long time for them to get enough moisture to stop the torment of thirst.

“Why aren’t you taking your turn Robbie?”

“I can last, first let’s make sure you are all well. Thank you for thinking of it Bernie. God I feel sorry for your parents, and yours Em-e. By now they must be thinking we are dead. They will probably never allow any of you to jump anywhere with me again.”

Angelo gave a little laugh and coughed. “We are stuck in the desert, hardly any water and no food. Our gifts are all dead and gone and he is worrying that your parents won’t let you jump with him again.”

Cherine forgot her weariness and stood up in front of him, her hands balled up into fists. “How dare you doubt Robert!!”

“Συγνώμη (sorry). I was wrong to speak.”

“You are never wrong to speak Angelo, but you are never wrong to hope either. Is your gift of making you irresistible also gone?”

“I have not tried it. How do I? Oh, you mean with Cherine, I could not do that.”

“Cherine, stay angry at him, after all I have done for him the ungrateful wretch dares to doubt me, blah, blah. Now Angelo have a go at her. I need to know.”

His gift was also dead.

“Something does not make sense. Your gift has nothing to do with Cherine. Henry, any balls of lightning?”

“Nothing!”

“That does it. We have not lost our gifts. Somehow we have been blanketed. This is exactly like the blocking we did to you Henry. Why hasn’t the protector reacted though?”

“If it does not sense we are in danger…but it should be worried about not sensing us.”

I nodded. “We will solve that later. It is stupid to worry about the wrong things. Our first job is to survive. This is how I see it. As long as water continues to trickle down, we all drink as much as we can. Henry and I will go out a few hours each day to search for food. If we get a lizard or snake we eat it. No squeamishness allowed.

If we do not find food we leave in three days. If we find food we may stay a bit longer. The stronger we are when we leave here, the better our chances of getting out alive. Can anybody think of a way to take some water with us?”

I took Henry with me to collect some stones and search for something to kill. At the entrance we found something on the ground. It was two dead lizards. I sat on the ground outside and used a stone with a sharp edge to split off some of the plastic on the one edge of the razor.

I explained, “We need to be able to slice it. We cannot just bite through skin and all. It will be easier to get them to eat slices rather than showing them the whole body.”

My hands, being the hands of an artist, were very careful, gentle and trained to be precise (ακριβής). I managed to remove some of the plastic, but the blades were not strong and one broke off. I carefully put it to one side and continued working on the other. Finally there was a piece left exposed, not long enough to slice deeply, but it would have to do; we could not afford to have this one break on us also.

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I sliced the skin and then stripped it off, using the blade only when absolutely necessary. I did the same to the second carcass. I then cut them open and cleansed them of all internal organs.

“Henry, while I cut the meat into thin strips, do me a favour and go get us some plates with knives and forks. Lots of ketchup too.”

He grinned at me. His voice was soft and full of fondness. “You really are crazy - they should have locked you up instead of me.”

“You have just made me happy. To hear you make a joke of it without hurt or bitterness in your voice, it means a lot to me.”

I heard a small sound behind me and knew somebody was listening, I ignored it.

“Robert. You asked me to go back to school. I did not answer you.”

“You needed to find out for yourself what is necessary for you.”

“I have had you to teach me. I see how ignorant I am. Sometimes I feel like a stupid little boy.”

“If it helps at all, so do I.”

“For instance, who or what is helping us. Why do they hide from us?”

“That would probably be part of your geography lessons. I think it is a bushman. I read that they will help, but are extremely shy. I am not surprised they are. They have been hunted and slaughtered by both white and black men.”

“That is horrible!”

“That is why our dream of being Cherinians is so important Henry. Here, taste this.” I watched him chew it. “There is so much senseless hate and suffering. I think we could end it. Here, try this part.”

“I bet if we got stuck here for ten years you would still be making plans and dreaming. You never give up?”

“If I was alone, had no one to love me, I would have given up a long time ago. That was how I was when I met Cherine. I had lost my love, for no fault of mine that I could see. I was bitter and hurting. I had turned my back on the world and was dying inside me. Then this cheeky, bright-eyed little girl turned up, put up with my coldness and indifference until she broke through and made me love her. None of us are supermen Henry, but if we love others, that love can make supermen out of us.”

I was piling the slivers of white flesh onto my shirt sleeve. It was not much for so many of us, but it helped. I made Henry get rid of the offal and skin and called for the girls and Angelo. I made certain everyone got their share and that they ate it. Only Henry got two slices extra - that had been my purpose in getting him to taste it. He has to be able to carry on after me.

There was no further offering the next day, nor the next. We were useless at hunting, we could not even catch sight of anything. After three days of staying in the cooler cave and drinking as much as we could, I felt any further delays would only weaken us. I told them we will move out at night-time.

“We can’t leave yet Robbie.” Meli picked up something and showed it to me. “At the bottom of this damp rock there is a little bit of mud, it feels like clay. There is not enough to make pots so I took everybody’s shoes. I have caked them with the mud and have been building up a neck to hold the water in. I need to dry it but I cannot dry it too fast or it will crack.”

“You are a lifesaver. I’ll give you till tomorrow evening then. We can’t wait longer love. Henry, one more try for food. Angelo, you want to come with?”

Our benefactor had obviously decided he had done enough to help us and disappeared. I was grateful for what he had done, saving my girls would not have been possible without his help. While Angelo got ready, I spoke to our two friends.

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“This man who helped us comes from a culture we consider primitive. Their race was almost wiped out by men like us. His life is of extreme hardship and poverty. To a certain extent I am generalising, as I do not know that much about them. He saw our desperate plight. None would have known if he had left us to our fate. Instead, though afraid or shy, he led us to this water and provided us with food the first day. If you consider that the time taken for him to help us probably caused him hardship, it says a lot for the spirit within him. We owe him our lives and we cannot even come back to repay him; We would never find out who he is. I think the only way we can repay him is by surviving.”

We did not find any food and the next day I did not want to tire us out as we would be walking all night. In the morning our shoe-pots were put outside while we all removed our shirts and blouses, giving them to Meli. She placed them along the bottom of the damp rock. By the time she was ready to test the first pot she was able to fill it by ringing out our clothes. I hated to think of what it would taste like as our clothes and shoes had attained a rich smell of old sweat - though it would be good to recover some of our salt. She managed to fill all six shoes by nightfall and she closed the tops with a sort of cork shaped clay wrapped in torn pieces of cloth.

Our clothes were wet and it was cold outside and I was standing thinking what to do. Solomon came to me in the dimness of our cave and asked to speak to me.

Next Post 111

I hope you enjoy reading this story of fantasy, adventure and love.

Αλέξανδρος Ζήνον Ευσταθίου

(Alexander Zenon Eustace)
^{3rd December, 2018}

* posted on Steemit: 3rd December, 2018



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