Chapter Five
It seemed they came out of nowhere. One minute there was no one and the next there they were, two young people, a boy and a girl, or a man and a woman. Gowdy could not be sure of their ages. They looked very similar, extremely thin, nearly skeletal, with long straight blond hair and naked, dripping yellowish skin. They must have just come out of the water, he thought, but couldn't recall hearing any splashing. They walked side by side, straight up to the fire hut, speaking to each other in a familiar-sounding language. As they came closer, he could make out some of the words and realized they were not only in English, but American English. Gowdy almost smiled. He was sure he was on the right track after all. He'd been worried they'd find themselves on the other side of the planet, far from the homeland of his enemies. He would have journeyed as far as he had to, but he'd rather not have to.
They watched as the two young people walked behind the hut, knelt down, and began to clear away an area of sand with their hands. They uncovered some sort of enclosure hidden below the beach, a box or a chest. They opened its lid and removed a neatly tied bundle of sticks which they set aside, then closed to top again, and covered it over with sand again. They stood and the male untied the bundle and carried the wood back around to the front of the hut while the female followed. Now they were hidden from view, Gowdy decided it was time to come out. He emerged from the grass and walked down from the dune with Soma and Squee right behind him. When they got to the fire hut, they saw the people again kneeling and both involved in arranging the sticks in a pile on the floor. They did not notice the strangers but silently went about their business.
Once all the sticks had been placed in the pyramid-like heap, they stood up and took two paces back from the entrance. The female bowed slightly and slowly raised her left hand, palm up, until it was level with her chin. At that moment, the sticks burst into flame, seemingly by themselves. The couple turned to each other and leaned their faces together to touch noses.
"How'd they do that?" Squee burst out, startling the couple. The man let out a shout, something like "ha!" as he turned and curled his fingers towards his palms in a gesture none of the immortals understood. Getting a good look at them for the first time, Gowdy noticed they had several folds of skin along the lines of their ribs, neat rows of flab that contrasted sharply with their otherwise bony bodies. Their fingers were much longer than a normal person, and their ears seem to be pinned back and welded to the skull rather than protruding.
"Hello," Soma said with a smile, stepping forward, holding her hands out in a friendly way. The couple both took a step back toward the fire and the man thrust his chin forward and made another grunting sound, this time like "er!". If he thought he was frightening the strangers, he was quite mistaken.
"Don't be afraid," Soma said. "We can be nice." She looked back at Gowdy and gestured for him to make a nicer face. She knew he could do it if he tried, and he did make an attempt, if not much of one. Squee imitated the man's recent grunting noise, which only had the effect of making the couple's eyes widen even more.
"What are you doing?" Soma asked, determined to get the conversation going. This time the female spoke up.
"Keeping the fire," she said.
"Why?" Soma asked, but there was no response.
"Do you live around here?" Soma asked. The woman shook her head.
"Where are your people?" Gowdy interrupted, prompting the man to answer this time, but not in words. He raised his hand and pointed out towards the ocean. Gowdy turned to look in that direction, then turned back.
"There's an island out there?"
The man shrugged, and looked at his companion. She seemed anxious and shook her head wildly. The man shifted his glance from Squee to Soma and finally to Gowdy.
"We have to do it now. Go away."
"Do what?" Gowdy asked as the woman grabbed the man's hand and started pulling him closer to her.
"Now," the man repeated. "Go away."
"I think we'd better back off," Soma suggested, and Gowdy reluctantly agreed. The couple's agitation was growing by the second. They were beginning to shake and quiver so violently it seemed they might burst. Soma led Gowdy and Squee back to the dunes behind the hut and, looking back, saw the couple fall on each other and begin to writhe on the sand and coil about each other like struggling serpents. It took her some moments to realize what was going on.
"Oh," she sighed as they reached their grass hiding place.
"Yes, that," Gowdy agreed. "Must be some sort of ritual."
"Did you see their bodies?" Soma asked.
"Very strange," Gowdy nodded.
"I think they're nice," Squee put in but the others ignored him.
The couple squirmed about on the beach for a few minutes, making a variety of noises that ranged from cooing to whistling while the immortals spied on them from their hidden spot. Then the two leaped up and ran plunging into the surf. Gowdy and the children came back down to the fire hut, hoping to catch the two in a better frame of body and mind after their horizontal dance, but the scrawny couple did not re-emerge from the ocean. Not once did they even come up to breathe, but were gone, submerged and lost from view for good.
Prisoners of Perfection - An Epic Fantasy by Tom Lichtenberg and Johnny Lichtenberg Page 5