Tuksook's Story, 35,000 BC

by Bonnye Matthews

  Gumui watched the boat, remembering the tough sailing of the past. He marveled at the boat but had no desire ever to return to the sea. He realized that there must be something significant that the boatmen had to share, but as was typical of Gumui, he chose not to speculate as to what the boatmen’s reasons might be.

  The big boat took much time but finally arrived and Wave and Unmo led them to a safe turnoff from the river where they could anchor. Once anchored, the two men rowed over to the big boat. They tied up and met briefly with Huaga.

  “I would like to see the place where you live,” Huaga said. “I will come bringing Yumo. The rest will remain on the boat.”

  “Yumo,” Huaga said, I want you to meet Unmo and Wave. I have told them you’ll go with me to the home of these People. We should see with our own eyes what this place is where the People have moved.” Huaga had chosen him because Yumo was very vocal that the People should not even consider migrating to this land. If it was as it appeared, he wanted this man to see it, so he could describe it.

  “Very well. It’s near the evening meal. Will you want food sent to the boat?” Unmo asked.

  “That’s not necessary. We have sea aurochs to eat on the boat. The men are delighted, as you said, with the meat,” Huaga assured him.

  “Come with us, then,” Unmo said. “We will show you our home here.”

  Huaga and Yumo followed Unmo to the boat.

  “How did you learn to make boats?” Huaga asked.

  “It was difficult,” Unmo said. “Our People had to try to remember what they could of the boat on which we traveled and then make it smaller. It may not be made as you’d make it, but it works.”

  “I saw its use both here and on the edge of the sea. I would compliment you and your People for the success they’ve had.”

  “Thank you, Huaga. Coming from you, that means a lot,” Unmo said.

  Yumo was overcome with the green. Green was rare where the People lived in the old land. They were in starving times. Here, he’d eaten aurochs and found it wonderful. He was interested to see how these People lived in this north land.

  They beached and the men climbed out, tied up the boat, and went to the meadow. At the meadow there was a line of People.

  Unmo went down the line introducing the two men to the elders, Togomoo, Hamaklob, Moki, Anvel, Stencellomak, Hawk, and the Wise One. He explained that they were interested to know how they lived in this north land.

  Unmo took them to the bent tree house and had Gumui describe how it was constructed. He showed them the storage areas as well as the bench/sleeping places. They were surprised to see the bent tree house, something described in a very old story. Yumo went to a wall and examined it. They were interested in the mudded ceiling and the flaps to keep out volcanic ash. The winding flaps of the entryway amazed them, for the People assured them it kept it much warmer inside when the snow fell.

  Outside, they looked at how blocks of turf insulated the house and the skins of aurochs kept it waterproof and helped to hold the roof in place when the winds were blustery. The design of the two interlocking long rectangles amazed them.

  Amuin hit stones together signaling the evening meal. The boatmen accompanied Unmo to the food preparation area where they filled their bowls with sturgeon, greens, and berries. They hadn’t tasted sturgeon and liked it very much. The greens were wonderful, something their bodies craved. Huaga and Yumo walked with Unmo to the place where they removed the food from their bowls. They emptied them, carried them back to the food preparation area, and left for the outside council place.

  “We will all want to know why you stopped, Huaga,” Unmo said.

  “I will be glad to share when we meet,” Huaga said quietly.

  Yumo remained silent.

  People arrived at the council meeting as they were able. It took quite a while before all were gathered.

  Tuksook said, “We have People from our old land with us tonight. This is Huaga,” she gestured to Huaga, “and this is Yumo.” She pointed out Yumo. “We are delighted to have them here among us, and we are interested to know the purpose of their visit. Huaga, would you care to speak?”

  Huaga looked around at all the People. They were in good health. Their home was amazing to the boatman. They were a happy People.

  Huaga began, “I see about me healthy and happy People, living in a land of green that the People who remain in the old land can hardly imagine. The old land is a land of dust as some of you may remember, only it is worse since you saw it. Where your People are healthy and thriving, the People in the old land languish. Water runs low. The People often despair.”

  “I say this not for sympathy, but for understanding. As they cannot imagine this place, you probably would have difficulty imagining that a low wind stirs dust in the old land. People have to cover their faces to avoid breathing in the dust. We used to have water nearby. It dried up. We have to walk long distances to obtain water. Many People have died from lack of food. Where your People have increased largely, ours have dwindled. I will return to our People to let them know they must move. I ask whether you have enough food sources for us to move here, or whether we must look elsewhere?”

  Tuksook looked at the hunters.

  Stencellomak asked, “How many People remain in the old country?”

  Huaga looked at Yumo. “How many do you think?” he asked.

  Yumo reflected in his mind web. “I think at best we have thirty.”

  “Tuksook,” Stencellomak addressed her directly, “We should be able to add thirty People here with no difficulty. Prey in this land is abundant.

  Tuksook asked them, “When could we expect additions to arrive?”

  Huaga said, “We go now on our sea circle. We still stop over the cold time with the People. We try to bring foods to them, but many will have perished while we are sailing home. We would start as you did with your migration in the time of the year when the vegetation begins again to grow. Unfortunately, we have little of that anymore. They would arrive here about the same time of the year that you did.”

  Tuksook was still stuck on the maximum number of People as thirty. The drought must be awful, she thought.

  Stencellomak was staring at Tuksook. Suddenly, she was aware and nodded.

  “Your timing is perfect, Huaga. That would leave us much time to add to the bent tree house to take in the addition.”

  Tuksook shook herself out of her sympathetic shadow and said, “We would be glad to receive as many People as are willing to migrate. It would probably save lives, if they’d agree to do it. This is a land of abundance and peace. How I wish I could just say, ‘Appear,’ and they’d all just be here. The boat crossing is daunting, but worth it.”

  “May I speak?” Huaga asked.

  “Of course,” Tuksook invited.

  “If I cannot convince them, I will bring my family here. Knowing what I know now, I cannot leave them in the old land when they could spend the rest of their lives here.”

  “We welcome any and all who are willing to come, Huaga,” Tuksook said it firmly so there was no question.”

  He lowered his head and so did Yumo.

  “Are there any others who wish to speak?” Tuksook asked.

  Silence.

  Tuksook waited briefly and then said, “Since there are no other speakers, the council ends for this night.”

  Some of the People were surprised that she had no story that night until they realized the boatmen might want to leave, since they sailed regardless of the time.

  Huaga went to Tuksook. “The offer of the People is most generous.”

  Tuksook replied, “We have a land of plenty here. It is only right that we share it with those we left behind. If we can help them grow healthy and strong in this place, it is our pleasure, and, Huaga, our duty.”

  Huaga lifted an eyebrow. He said, “We must depart. I thank you for the wonderful evening meal, another meat we never ate.”

  “I too thank you for your wonderful hospitality,” Yu
mo said.

  “I will share your words with the People,” Tuksook replied. “You must wait for a moment before you go to your boat. We will provide you with jerky made from giant deer and sea aurochs. Men will bring it to the little boat.” At her words Jum, Velur, and Kig raced to the bent tree house and filled large skin bags with giant deer and sea aurochs jerky. They ran with them to the little boat on the river level.

  The men talked briefly with the other men. Unmo and Wave walked with them down to the little boat. They pushed the little boat out into the deeper water, climbed in, and paddled out to the big boat.

  “There are no bamboo trees here,” Unmo said.

  “I noticed,” Huaga replied, “I will tell those People where we usually stop that this may be the last visit from us. I do not intend to go to sea again. When we return, the other boatmen can decide whether to continue the visits. They aren’t really needed any longer. Any help they could have had from us earlier was lost in the drought. None of the places we visit have asked for anything for as long as I can remember. It’s time for change in many ways.”

  “May Wisdom protect you on your sailing and help you convince the People to come.”

  “Thank you, Unmo. You are most kind.”

  They reached the boat and Huaga and Yumo went from the little boat to the larger one with much greater ease than Unmo and Wave had experienced earlier.

  They waved as they worked to turn the boat around to head out to sea.

  Unmo and Wave watched for a long time instead of returning quickly to shore. The grasses held the little boat in place. Finally, Wave put his oar in the water. It was the special oar that Wikroak made. He wondered whether Huaga noticed the oar.

  “Unmo, do you think Huaga noticed the oars?”

  “There is not one part of this boat that Huaga didn’t see and consider. He’s a boatman. We are not boat builders. They may see boats before they see us.”

  “I’m sure you’re right. He doesn’t share much of what he thinks. He never said a word about the place we have here.”

  “Oh, Wave, of course he did!”

  “What do you mean?” Wave was confused.

  Unmo turned to look at Wave. “Huaga plans to ask the remaining People to migrate. If they don’t, he will bring his family here. Of course, he shared his thoughts. Huaga wants to live here. What greater statement could he have made?”

  “Oh, I see what you mean. Just because Huaga didn’t tell us at council what he thought of our life here specifically, he shouted it when he let us know he wants the rest of the People to migrate here. If they won’t come, Huaga will arrive here at the time the green comes to the trees that shed their leaves. Yes, I see what you mean.”

  “It used to be the way of the People long ago not to speak too highly of anything lest somehow it come to ruin. It is no longer the way of the People, just like we know what a hand strike is, but we don’t do that anymore.”

  They rowed on silently and beached the little boat. Wave tied it up while Unmo for the second time that day made his way up the path that very much pained him to ascend.

  Tuksook and Gumui had taken a walk after the council ended. They circled the meadow and then went up to the rock to sit. The warmth remained and it was a pleasant thing to stretch out on their backs, looking into the sky, letting the warmth of the rock warm their bodies.

  “Gumui, will it be terribly difficult to add on to the bent tree house to accommodate thirty more People?”

  “I’ve been thinking about that this evening,” he replied. We cannot go to the east or west because in either place there are no more trees. But to the north and south, the house can be expanded without difficulty. I think we’ll need to expand the north for more food storage and the south for People to have their own place to sit or sleep.”

  “When would you do the expansion?”

  “I think we can do it now when we’re not involved in something else. I can take time to mark it off right away. We could finish it before it becomes too cold. Then, if they don’t come, we have more space for food, tools, spears, and other things like sleeping rolls for hunters, and we will eventually grow into it despite the fewer babies born. If they do come, we will be prepared for them instead of wandering around wondering how to do it fast. The People sound as if their health is awful. I’d rather they didn’t have to spend time in a lean-to.”

  “Gumui, I love the way your mind web works. You are so thoughtful.”

  He reached for her hand.

  “Do we have any dried salmon?” Tuksook asked.

  “Dried salmon?” he asked. “You only want dried salmon when you’re pregnant. Are you pregnant?”

  “I think so.”

  “Are you frightened about losing another baby?”

  “Of course, aren’t you?” Tuksook asked.

  “Yes, I am,” Gumui replied.

  “I will be careful, but if I must end up childless, there are other things that could happen that would be far worse. Today, I see the blessings far more than I scrutinize the things that are tough. I will accept whichever way it goes. I won’t become greatly hopeful or concerned that I’ll lose it. I’ll simply take each day as it comes. That is the best way for me to remain in balance.”

  “I am so glad to hear you say that. I will follow your lead in this.”

  “Don’t talk about it just yet, Gumui. Sometimes I lose them very early.

  “I won’t.”

  “Are you ready to go inside?” Tuksook asked

  “Yes, it’s been a long day.”

  “Much change is in the air,” she said.

  The two of them sat up. Gumui extended a hand to Tuksook to help her up. They walked down the path to the meadow, his arm around her.

  Chapter Ten

  “Land ahead!” Yumo called out in his deep resonant voice. All the boatmen prepared to ease the boat into its space that had been cut out of the beach. The workers on land were digging furiously to open the barrier to the water so the boat could enter. The sail home had been a tough one with multiple storms and rough seas. Huaga was happy this would be his last crossing of the huge sea. They edged the boat into the prepared space, dropped anchors, and tied up. Some family members had noticed their arrival and come down to meet the boat to reunite with their boatman relative, husband, or friend.

  Yumo could see his wife waving frantically to attract his attention. He gathered his things and climbed down off the boat. The boatmen were leaving the boat rapidly. Huaga waited until all had left. He met with the land workers and told them where the traded items of food were. He wanted to store them in a certain place he had in mind, until he chose to transport them to the cave up the hill, where most of the People lived. Then, he gathered his things and left the boat to meet his wife and children, who had been waiting patiently for him to leave the boat. They understood that after the other boatmen left, he had things to do with the land boat workers.

  Huaga’s oldest son, Toti, walked up to his father; they touched shoulders; and he took the bag of his father’s things to carry. Huaga hugged his wife, Jowlichi, for a long time. Then he hugged his second son, Paq, and his daughter, Loafete. He was as happy to be reunified as they were to have him home.

  With Yumo’s family, things were a little different. His wife, Limilow, hated his sailing. She felt deserted each time he left. There had been talk about her and a hunter named Phantic acting as husband and wife, though he was joined to another woman. At least she had come to meet him and brought the children with her.

  It was late in the day when they arrived home. The path was dusty and the wind made the climb uphill to the cave unpleasant. It was a long distance, since they wanted to be far from any threat of high waters that sometimes crashed on their shores and sped uphill to the lower cave levels. At those times it seemed to them that the sea wanted to eat some of the People.

  Food was ready, because the People had held off eating until the boatmen arrived.

  “I’m so happy to be home,” Huaga told h
is wife, “I’d rather sleep than eat, but I will eat first.”

  “You’ll be the better for it,” she replied.

  He noticed how much weight Jowlichi lost since he last saw her. Her face was shrunken in at the cheeks and her sunken eyes did not look like her. The children also reflected that they had eaten poorly in his absence. It pained him.

  The evening meal consisted of a soup with very little water. It contained a little fish and some greens. There was barely enough for all to eat something, certainly not an adequate amount of food. It wasn’t seasoned, as if the women who made it either no longer cared, or there were no seasoning plants left.

  “You look good,” Jowlichi said, smiling at Huaga.

  “I wish I could say the same about you, my wife. You look starved. So, too, the children.”

  “We do the best we can,” she said defensively.

  “I know you do. I intend to change things.”

  “What can you do?”

  “I will explain to the People tonight that we are leaving for the meadow of the migrant People who left here twenty-five years ago and have found a land of peace and plenty.”

  Jowlichi looked at him as if she couldn’t comprehend his meaning. He did not try to clarify his intent but would wait for the council. His head spun with fatigue.

  Yumo ate with his family as if there were nothing wrong. He was too tired to argue or accuse or ask for explanations. His wife was doing everything to make him feel welcomed at home, as were his chidlren.

  Finally the council was called by one of the elder hunters. All gathered at the hearth in the largest cave.

  “Who wishes to speak?” Exit asked.

  “I would speak,” Huaga said strongly.

  Exit nodded to him.

  “We have met the ones who migrated to the cold place. They call their valley Eagle’s Grasp. They have a huge valley where fish swim in the rivers, big ones that taste wonderful. They have animals in the sea called sea aurochs that taste better than aurochs. Sea aurochs are easy to catch. Our People there have a wide selection of plants to eat and animals we’ve never seen to hunt. The People are healthy. They are happy. They live well. I had thought that we might wait until the leaves on the trees that lose leaves begin to sprout again, but the starvation I see says we cannot wait. In three days the boat leaves again. I would like to see every person here on that boat to migrate to the new land. The People there are willing to take us into their home. We will have a wonderful life, but we must go there to do it. I cannot let my family die of starvation, when there’s an alternative. I encourage all to come with us. When we completed the sea circle, we talked to those we’ve visited in the warmer places since time began. They know we will not return. Our days of sailing are over. Even the boatmen plan to come with us to Eagle’s Grasp.”