From the Shores of Eden

by Shelley Penner

  A quarrel broke out on shore and Redfish paused, lifting herself onto the rocks for a better view. One of those voices sounded familiar. Her first born, Eggsucker, raced along the shoreline, chased by an angry mother. He had snatched the crab she gave to her youngster. Redfish considered going to his aid. She watched his pursuer chase him up onto the rocks and then give up. Eggsucker sat down to enjoy his prize.

  * * *

  From a distance, Eggsucker sat watching uneasily as his mother struggled to give birth at the edge of the tide. The protein-and-omega-rich seafood diet, coupled with the necessity for developing an oral language, caused Eve’s descendants to evolve larger and more complex brains. This larger brain, however, also made birthing more difficult. Rocked and cradled by the shallow water, attended by her mother and sisters, Redfish at last gave birth to her second offspring, a tiny female, hairless except for a cap of black fuzz. This seemed a good sign to the females. This infant should fare well. Their rapid evolution, forced by the hazardous environment of the sea, meant occasionally they gave birth to throwbacks, dark with thick body hair, short, bandy legs and less agile brains. Like Redfish’s son.

  Eggsucker feared the waves and never learned to swim. At five years old, he could only forage in the shallows, where fewer shellfish clustered on the rocks. He earned his name because, once the seabirds nested, he abandoned the sea for the easy hunting on the cliffs, where he dined on eggs and seabird chicks. Others ate the eggs too, but most only took one or two a day before going back to the more filling and nutritious seafood. Once the surviving chicks matured enough to fly away, Eggsucker would comb the beach for edible seaweeds, crabs, turtle eggs and carrion tossed up by the tides, resorting to the sea only when necessary. Occasionally his mother still brought him tidbits she gleaned in her foraging, but mostly she left him on his own once she became pregnant again. Holdsfast, Eggsucker’s father, took little interest in a son who couldn’t swim.

  Eggsucker watched as his mother rose upright at the water’s edge and moved slowly up the beach to settle on the sun-warmed sand, cradling her new infant and flanked by her female relatives. Redfish stood about three feet tall, long legged and smooth skinned with a head of long black hair and an apelike face with a projecting nose ridge that helped to keep water out of her airway when she dove. To her son she looked wholly beautiful, not because of her appearance, but because she was the only one who had ever cared about him. Eggsucker longed to snuggle close beside her and feel her love comfort his loneliness. But he knew the females would not allow him near the newborn. Resentment stirred in his heart against this new sibling who had come to replace him in his mother’s arms. He walked away on all fours to the edge of the outgoing tide, looking more like his maned ape ancestors than like his parents. He began foraging among the rocks, hating the feel of the waves washing around his legs, miserably aware that he remained little better than an outcast, but not sure why.

  * * *

  Little Blackcap grew quickly, and before long she rode Redfish’s shoulders, clinging to her mother’s long head hair as she swam. Redfish often nursed her baby in the water, her mammaries enlarged with fatty tissue that kept them buoyant near the surface. The infant even occasionally ventured a few daring strokes away from her mother’s security before Redfish pulled her back. By the time Blackcap reached one year old, she could swim as well as many older youngsters, and by the time she finished her second year, she had already learned to forage for the smaller shellfish, though she still suckled regularly, and would until her mother once more came into estrus in two to three years.

  Eggsucker spent so little time with the family, Blackcap barely had an inkling he was her brother. He had grown too, bulking up into a hulking, muscular young male, not yet mature enough to mate, but certainly mature enough to watch females with interest. He had managed to make a few alliances amongst other males of similar age, mostly other throwbacks like himself. They caroused about the beach in a bristling gang, making mischief, bullying anyone smaller and stealing food until the mature males chased them off and restored peace. Mostly, though, Eggsucker preferred to wander alone. The Tribe remained a sociable bunch who stayed close to the ocean unless they sensed a big storm coming. Then they sought shelter in cave-like hollows carved into the sandstone cliffs millennia earlier when the sea level stood much higher. They each had their favorite nesting places where they slept at night, high up the cliffs, safe from rising tides and the few nocturnal predators.

  One blustery day after a violent storm, Eggsucker discovered the remains of a small whale washed up on the beach. Just a baby, it still looked as big as a mountain. Something very large had taken a huge bite out of its side, exposing its entrails. At first Eggsucker just poked curiously at it. But it smelled like meat, so he tasted a bit, then began gorging himself on the bounty. Finally, fully sated, he wandered back to the Tribe and shouted the news.

  “Food! Much good food!”

  Most just ignored him. Two of the bigger males approached him and sniffed him all over, inhaling the scent of strange meat. They followed him to check out his find, and when they saw the carcass of the whale, they began to hoot and run about in excitement. One of them dashed back to alert the Tribe while the other settled to eat as much as he could hold. Eggsucker climbed up on top of the whale and sat like the king of the castle, looking down on his kin as they gathered and began to feed on the feast he had given them.

  * * *

  The boost in status the whale-find conferred remained mostly in Eggsucker’s imagination. Everyone else forgot almost immediately that he had first discovered the whale. Within a few days the remains became too degraded to safely eat and the tribe went back to their usual diet of shellfish and seaweed. While they retained the memory of feasting on whale meat, that recollection lost any connection to Eggsucker. But he remembered with pride providing abundant food for his clan. His self-esteem took a quantum leap. The fact that no one else afforded him any added recognition intensified his sense of alienation and fueled the smoldering fires of bitterness he harbored. Even Redfish ignored him now that she had Blackcap to care for. The pain of that disaffection centered his resentment on his little sister. It was her fault. Already she could swim better than he could. With her smooth, almost hairless skin, she slid through the water like a fish and could go far beyond the wading depths he would dare.

  Eggsucker found his mother and sister sitting on the warm sand, drying off after a morning of foraging in the chilly tide. Redfish combed fingers through her daughter’s hair, a grooming ritual still used to strengthen bonds and relieve stress. Eggsucker watched from a few yards away, aching for some sign of affection. He moved closer and tried to insinuate himself between Redfish and Blackcap, rudely pushing his sister out of the way to take her place. Redfish began sifting through his hair and he relaxed, basking in this ritual of acceptance and affection. But when Blackcap huddled close, seeking warmth, he refused to share their mother’s attentions. With a casual backhand blow, he sent the youngster tumbling across the sand, yelping in startled pain. Instantly, Redfish turned on him with the fury of a protective mother. She battered him and drove him away screaming. Then she turned to comfort her little one, cuddling Blackcap reassuringly. From a safe distance Eggsucker watched while resentment of his sister crystallized into hatred.

  * * *

  The day started out badly for Eggsucker. He woke to a flurry of wings and a large gull perched at the opening of the hollow he used for a night nest. Perhaps it thought him dead, since it took a painful peck at him. When he lunged to try and capture it, the bird flew out of reach and his momentum almost carried him over the edge, so he had to scramble to prevent a crippling fall down the cliff face. A handful of early risers watched, grinning and snickering, their amusement adding to his humiliation.

  An unusually high tide further increased his discomfort. The shellfish lay in water too deep for wading. He strolled south along the narrow strand, searching for anything edible, but until the
tide turned and left its bounty behind, he would go hungry. Eventually he wandered back to where the tribe foraged in the deep water, sometimes diving beneath the surface to reach the richest shellfish colonies. This exercise in breath control helped to make possible their oral language, rich in varied sounds that carried well above or below the surface.

  Eggsucker settled on the sand above the water’s edge and waited. The youngsters had less resistance to the cold, so often their mothers would feed them first, then leave them on the beach and forage for themselves. One or two adults voluntarily watched over the little ones, but for the most part they remained undefended.

  Redfish emerged from the waves with Blackcap on her shoulders and a large crab in her hand. Crab remained Eggsucker’s favorite food, but he seldom got a taste unless he managed to steal one. He immediately moved to meet them, making a submissive, begging gesture to his mother. She ignored him and settled Blackcap amongst her friends with the crab to ensure her contentment. For a moment Redfish crouched beside Swims Fast, one of the guardian adults, a big male. She spoke softly.

  “Eggsucker want, Eggsucker take.” Then she walked back into the sea.

  Swims Fast moved closer to Blackcap. Eggsucker watched his mother until a good span of water lay between her and the shore. Then he suddenly charged through the nursery group, scattering youngsters to either side, and tried to snatch the crab from his sister. But he didn’t realize that Swims Fast expected such a move. The older male lunged to meet his rush chest to chest with a roar of rage. They tumbled in a clinch, biting and pounding while the youngsters scrambled to a safe distance. Though strong for his age, adolescent Eggsucker had no chance in a battle against the experienced, fully mature male. As soon as he could break free, he ran, battered and bruised. Swims Fast let him go, content to drive him away empty handed and thoroughly chastened.

  On the rocky headland above the curve of beach, Eggsucker sulked as he watched the tribe members coming and going, foraging and resting on the sunbaked sand to warm up. While adaptation had given them an insulating layer of subcutaneous fat, it needed a few more thousand generations to evolve thick enough to allow them more than a few hours in the water without risking hypothermia.

  As he watched, Eggsucker spotted an adolescent male named Sunstone offering a choice tidbit to an unattached female named Sparkling Water. She ate the treat, and then allowed Sunstone to mate with her. This behavior remained not uncommon among unpaired adolescents but having lived isolated on the fringes of sea ape society, Eggsucker had never realized a gift of food might gain him sexual favors. The idea excited him. However, he had nothing to offer and no friendly relationship with any females that might give him an opening.

  The sea eventually retreated enough so he could reach the intertidal shellfish colonies. Rather than once more displaying his inability to swim before the females he hoped to impress, he climbed over the headland and descended to the other side where he had the beach to himself. The pickings remained poor, since the tribe had already foraged there recently, but he managed to find enough to ease his hunger. Then he set off along the wrack line, searching for anything edible left by the outgoing tide. He picked through the piles of debris and even nibbled on a few bits of seaweed as he wandered. Then he came upon the tail of a large fish, bitten in half by some predator. He began consuming the sweet flesh greedily. Suddenly he remembered Sunstone and Sparkling Water and he sat for a moment in contemplation. Maybe the fish could win him the friendly regard of a female. He rose and headed back.

  Eggsucker sat once more on the rocks overlooking the sea apes scattered along the shore in small groups. He chose his target, a young female named Pearl, simply because he felt the strongest attraction to her. He might look like a hairy, loutish ape but that didn’t mean the choicest females looked any less attractive to him. Pearl had long legs, smooth, almost hairless skin, a nose made for diving, a thick mane of dark head hair and sweet, mounded breasts made for suckling. By this time Eggsucker’s fish had spent a good number of hours sitting in the sun or nestled against the warmth of his chest. It began to develop an unpleasant odor.

  Cradling his prize, Eggsucker descended to the beach and approached Pearl where she relaxed on the warm sand. He settled beside her, and she gave him a startled glance. He offered the fish. Pearl rose and moved away a few yards, uninterested in such a smelly gift. Puzzled, Eggsucker followed and once more offered the fish, wondering if she misunderstood his intention. Finally, she took the fish, dropped it into the sand and buried it to cover the offensive smell. Then once again she walked away. This time there was no mistaking her scorn. She rejected not only the gift, but the giver.

  For an instant he stared after her in stunned dismay. Then he exploded in a blind fury of frustration and bruised ego. He leaped on her from behind, pounded her into submission and took her by force while the entire tribe looked on. Her parents and siblings reacted first, charging to her rescue, followed by the dominant couple. They attacked in concert, biting and pounding until Eggsucker ran for his life, only to get attacked by others farther up the beach. He saw Redfish watching, cuddling Blackcap, and he called, “Mama! Help!”

  She stared at him as if seeing a stranger, then turned away. With a cry of despair, Eggsucker sank beneath the rain of blows as the tribe surrounded him. The pain became intense, and he felt the grip of death close around him. Spirit crushed, he surrendered and embraced it.

  The tribe left him lying crumpled and bloody and moved on down the beach, wanting distance from the disturbing events. They continued with their daily routine as if nothing had happened. Toward evening, Redfish glanced back, feeling uneasy, searching for the dark shape of his body. But Eggsucker had vanished.

  * * *

  Dizzy with pain, Eggsucker moved unsteadily inland, away from the tribe and the shore and the only source of food he knew. Death seemed little different from life to him. He had a broken shoulder and ribs, a concussion, multiple bites and bruises over most of his body. All his life he had remained an outcast, but he had still felt connected to the tribe because of his mother. Now, even more than the beating, his mother’s final rebuff had cut him loose.

  He followed the river upstream, unknowingly retracing the steps of his distant ancestor, Eve, though the terrain had changed dramatically from her day. The rainforest had disappeared, replaced by dry, grassy hills with areas of swamp and canebrakes where the river became broad and shallow. Eggsucker kept moving, with no thought in his head except to run from the pain of a lifetime of rejection. When twilight approached, he had no safe cliff hollow in which to sleep. He considered a small grove of trees, but with a broken shoulder he couldn’t climb. Instead, he curled up in a hollow between jumbled boulders. He felt beyond caring if predators found him, so broken in body and spirit that true death would come as a blessing. But the rising sun found him still alive, his physical wounds beginning to heal.

  For days he continued on a rising path, using the river as a guide in this unfamiliar territory. Each night he found some sheltered spot in which to sleep. He ate nothing, for nothing looked familiar or edible. He encountered no predators large enough to threaten him, but he did see signs of life everywhere — birds that ran along the ground and only flew if he came too close, water rats amongst the canebrakes, the tracks and scat of some small, catlike creature and several lizards in varying sizes. As his hunger grew, he began watching what the other animals ate. He saw small birds eating purple berries, so he tried one. It tasted sweet, so he ate a handful. When he began almost immediately to feel unwell, he ate no more. Within an hour he developed terrible stomach cramps and soon he purged himself, both the scat he left and the vomit smelling so foul he buried it.

  By the time he began climbing into the highlands, he was so weak he slipped on the rocks and fell into the river, which, this close to its headwaters, had become little more than a creek. He went completely underwater and came up choking and drenched. He crawled out onto the bank and lay on the sun-warmed
rocks for a while, shivering. While he rested there, unmoving, a troupe of small alpine monkeys discovered him. They surrounded him, calling back and forth in their piping voices, intimidated by his size and strangeness, unhappy with his presence in their territory. They threw pebbles and feces at him, trying to drive him away, but he just turned his back and curled into a ball of misery. Eventually they gave up and moved on.

  Once he dried off and warmed up, Eggsucker continued climbing until he reached a wide ledge, lined with moss and offering a magnificent view. He could see as far as the distant ocean and, from this vantage, he could see how it wrapped around the land in every direction. As evening once more approached, he lay down to endure another night. Above him, the stars spread out like a million glittering points of hope in an ocean of darkness. He had observed the night sky before but never considered the stars, never wondered what caused them. And tonight he noticed something new in the sky, a long streak of light. Starving and exhausted, he began to dream, but not a pale, ordinary dream. This dream felt real, tactile and intense.

  The mountain cradled him gently and rocked him, comforting him like a mother. The troupe of small monkeys returned and sat around him. They offered him nuts, fruit and grasshoppers, food they gleaned from the earth’s bounty. He recognized them as his little brothers and sisters. He suddenly realized that all food came from one source, the nurturing Earth.

  A figure too bright to look at glided toward him out of the sky, shaped like his father, Holdsfast, but glowing like the sun. That wonderful light felt warm, felt healing and life sustaining. The Sun Father advanced toward Eggsucker. With one hand he plucked that bright streak of light from amongst the stars. In his hand it grew into a glowing staff that looked like one of the canebrakes in flames. Suddenly the Father Sun flailed about him with the staff, striking the monkeys and killing many. The rest fled. Eggsucker understood. The Mother gave life; the Father, if he chose, could take it away. That glory-bright figure turned to look at Eggsucker, who cringed, expecting to once again be judged unworthy. Instead, Father Sun handed him the glowing staff.