Ki'ti's Story, 75,000 BC

by Bonnye Matthews

  Grypchon-na noticed that Ghanya was standing near Keptu. He hoped the young man was not up to no good, but he wondered. Time would make all things clear. He worried for his daughter.

  The cave settled for the night. Wamumur could not sleep. He was greatly concerned. He had shared with Emaea and Ki’ti what had caused the meeting, but the rest of the People never knew the whole story.

  When Wisdom dissipated the darkness with rays of light from the sun, Totamu did not rise from her bed. She was alive but too tired to get up. Pechki was ripping loose at the belly. Her mother was her most special person. She could not bear it if she became ill. She refused to let herself think farther than that. The alarm for Totamu’s condition was so significant that no one seemed to notice that two people were missing from the cave. Wamumur knew. He had watched them leave.

  It was not until Minagle went to Grypchon-na and asked whether he’d seen Ghanya that any attention was drawn to the event of the night before. It seemed that Ghanya was missing. Sum missed his wife also. Keptu had waked before he did; he wondered where she had been for so long. Then, he became concerned and looked for Ghanya.

  Ermol-na who was the entrance guard during the first part of the night told Wamumur that Ghanya and Keptu had left the cave together in the middle of the night. He thought they might have decided to leave and the People had agreed not to stop anyone who was leaving. Each took weapons and some skins. That was all he could see was missing. They might also have taken some dried meat. Wamumur nodded. He told Ermol-na that he, too, had watched them leave. In a matter of hours, it was clear to all. Ghanya and Keptu had left. Hunters tracked the couple to the river that headed east. It would take them to the sea if they followed it all the way.

  As soon as the hunters knew the direction the pair had gone, they returned. The two would probably die in the next few days, they considered.

  Sum grieved but was not terribly surprised. He had certainly loved his wife, but he had found that he had much to learn and that pulled him to the People. He worried about what might happen to the two in their flight. Minagle was torn apart. On the one hand, her Izumo was in bed during the day, and, on the other, husband had left the cave with someone else! He didn’t want to be People? She was horrified. Now she had no husband and two children. She did not think Ghanya would return. He had an awful lot of pride, she thought. She had no idea why he chose not to be People. She wondered whether she’d done something wrong.

  Considering that she might think she’d done something wrong, Grypchon-na found his daughter and explained briefly what had happened. It wasn’t her. Ghanya felt superior to People and didn’t want to be one. Neither did Keptu. Both had believed the lie that was taught to the Others that they were superior to People. Minagle was stupefied! She’d lived for years with a man she didn’t know. How could that be? They had been intimate. He had been so kind and thoughtful where she was concerned. How could this be? Her belly ached with sorrow.

  The cave was busy preparing for the evening meal when a shout from Lamk outside brought hunters quickly to the rock wall. Keptu was crawling through some brush at the top of the hill across from the cave. She was bloody and apparently in pain. A stretcher was taken to her immediately and she was brought to the cave. She barely managed to tell of their flight and then running into a bear in the dark. The bear hit her first and when Ghanya tried to help her, the bear killed him and began to eat him. Her mind web flew away then, and it didn’t return. Sometime after a solemn evening meal was finished, her last breath exhaled. Would she walk with Wisdom? some wondered. The People buried her in their grave site next to Cue-na.

  Wamumur asked Arkan-na and Ey whether they wanted hunters to find the body of Ghanya. Arkan-na assured them that he did not. It was too risky to take a body from a bear that decided to eat it. He felt his son had shamed him. He wanted to have nothing to do with retrieving the body. His son was Other. He was People. That was all he had to say. Ey stood beside him grief stricken. She understood why he spoke as he did, but he was talking about his son. Ghanya had seemed such a happy person and now he was dead. It was hard for her to take in. Ghanya had been a year older than she. She never understood the superiority that the Others felt and had mostly ignored it. She said nothing.

  Wamumur assured Arkan-na that People did not take shame that was not theirs to own. Ghanya shamed himself, not his father. Arkan-na showed gratitude for the comment by lowering his head. He would try not to carry shame and feelings of guilt that were not his to carry.

  Minagle felt sorry for Sum. The young man had been in war for many seasons. His young body was scarred. He’d made a frightful trek to find the People. Then her own husband had run off with his wife. And she died before his eyes. Sum knew she was experiencing the same pain as he was. The two tried to comfort each other. Both were brokenhearted. She wavered emotionally between grief and anger. Sum thought of Minagle as woman before she ever saw him as man. To her, he was a young one who had been injured by her husband. To him, she had been injured by her husband, but didn’t know the depth of it. He would not enlighten her.

  As the season-of-new-leaves days passed and the two continued to try for mutual support, they drew together. Sum and Minagle walked down the path by the stream and up to the top of the hill while they talked. Although he was younger than she, he was taller and they fit well together while walking. After she made a complimentary comment to him, he put his arms around her and hugged her. She began to push him away and changed her mind. Without prior consideration and for many emotional reasons, they joined without pronouncement. They didn’t discuss joining, but the time spent outside or in one of the secret caves filled them with a sense of wellbeing and of being loved. Neither was ready to trust another for permanence but each found immediate solace together. Between Likichi and Domur, Minagle’s children did not lack. Minagle did manage to remember to feed Song. At age two, she still nursed from time to time. Meeluf at five was doing well with the other children. From time to time, Sum taught Meeluf hunter’s knowledge in the field so he would understand what he saw when he was allowed to go to watch a hunt. He would draw pictures in the dirt with a stick to show him where to aim for a kill on specific animals. It would be a while before the boy had the hand-eye coordination to be routinely successful even with a slingshot, but he was gaining valuable knowledge.

  Totamu’s continuous coughing was unproductive. She was fatigued and found she was sleeping more than she was awake. She sensed her time to walk with Wisdom was near. She talked to Pechki about the herbs and medicinals that she had accumulated over the years. She was confident that Pechki knew enough to attend to the People’s basic needs. She wondered about the others. Ki’ti had been the one she chose to teach, but then Wisdom snatched her away. She thought Ki’ti could still search her mind web for creating some of the remedies that would be needed, even if she hadn’t learned all the details. Totamu looked back over her life. She had lived seventy years. She loved every one of them. Some were admittedly better than others, but she was happy with her life. If her days were ending, she was ready.

  In a matter of a few days, Totamu began the return to Wisdom. The cave was in uproar, but quiet was maintained. There was weeping such as they had never seen—tears flowed profusely as quietly as possible. Totamu had been seen as virtually immortal. No one could imagine life without her. The People planned to bury Totamu higher than the site they’d chosen for their other burials. She would overlook the graves in death as she overlooked the cave administration in life. It seemed fitting to all. She would be buried in the same manner as Enut years ago, except that the young girls gathered flowers by the armloads to place around her and over her in the place where she’d lie in the ground. When Totamu was laid on the dirt floor of the excavated hole, she wore the long dress Pechki had made for her. It still had the three places where the shells had been sewed on. One was missing—the one that was buried with Enut. Flowers covered the woman from head to toe and all around. Nanichak-na took a sharp stone
and a wooden comb and placed them atop the flowers. Ki’ti told the story of the creation of the people. She barely maintained her composure. Wamumur had his belly ripped so badly he found standing there for the story time very hard. He also wondered how long it would be before he would go to meet her. He was only three years younger than she, and Emaea was five years younger than Totamu.

  The men gathered more meat by coaxing animals to go over the ledge or spearing them. The women fished. Children, who were safe swimmers, played by the lake shore until the season of warm nights came to an end. One day, when a large flock of geese landed on the lake on their journey south, the women used four-string throws to capture about ten of the large geese, and they had a feast of goose roasted over a fire on a turning spit. The People were delighted with the different meat. Leaves fell and the world began to turn bleak for the season of cold days. Sum and Minagle finally joined. They used a private cave for a single night. Minagle became wife to one much younger than she. Sum became husband and father overnight. Meeluf loved his new father. His new father seemed to approve of him where his old father rarely approved. It made him feel good.

  Even though the People were all equal as adults, there would always be leaders. Totamu had been the administrative leader of the cave. Her busy little body was everywhere at once, pushing People when they needed pushing, slowing them down when that was necessary. She had a mental inventory of all the food that was stored, as well as pelts by type and quantity. She knew who needed clothing and who needed tools. She knew when a joined couple was having difficulty and when help was needed to raise a child. Cave life functioned well; the People were clean and healthy because Totamu took it upon herself to see to it that what needed doing was done. She was a second mother to everyone in the cave and she had relished it. There was nobody who was willing to jump into her shoes. Finally, it became clear that Totamu’s successor would be Likichi. Everyone had expected Pechki to do it, but Likichi had the same drive Totamu had to be sure all was functioning well and contingency plans were available. Likichi didn’t take over through self-proclamation. It was more a function of People going to her when they had questions or needed help. Little by little, her leadership was clear and Pechki, Veymun, Amey, and Flayk made it clear that it was to Likichi that People needed to go, each breathing a sigh of relief it wasn’t to them. Totamu’s job was huge and all-consuming.

  When Wisdom brought the sun’s first glow to fade the darkness, Ki’ti went to find Ahriku and discovered that her little dog had breathed his last. She had seen him weaken over the last year. His muzzle, ears, and the top of his head were grizzled. She had loved that dog who went through the ashfall with her, saved Manak from a serpent, strengthened her through her learning to become Wise One, took the trip with her to the place where the giants played, guarded the First Night cave when she spent so much time there with Untuk. Ahriku had been with her through every major event in her life. She kneeled down and laid her head on his back and circled her arms around his body. He was part of her. How could she turn loose? Her belly ripped apart. She lost tears but was so choked up she could not utter a sound. He had asked for nothing but to be by her. She had totally taken him for granted. He was so special. And she hadn’t been with him when his life slipped away. In fact she had paid little attention to him lately. But that didn’t mean she loved him less. She just took his being there for granted in the same way she took Totamu’s being there for granted. In the same way with Wise One’s being there and Emaea’s. Was she about to lose them, too? she wondered in horror. She didn’t want that. She didn’t want that at all.

  Untuk found her on the floor on her knees, doubled over to her chest. Her hair was all over the place and her position was not very dignified. Then he saw what had happened. He tried to pull her up but she did not want to let go. “Please, go dig the hole,” was all she could get out.

  Untuk wondered about the People momentarily. Did they bury dogs? He had never known anyone to do that. To humor Ki’ti, he’d be glad to do it. He mentioned it to Wamumur. Wamumur let others know. Soon, children gathered flowers for the dog. Some of them had managed to overcome their fear and get close to Ahriku. Others had just known he was special to Ki’ti. They made as big a flower gathering for the dog as the adults had for Totamu. Untuk was shocked, and found the practice fascinating. He went to tell Ki’ti that the hole in the earth was ready. The one he dug was overlooking the area where the dogs lived. It was midway up the hill. To Untuk’s utter surprise, the entire cave turned out for the dog. What he’d seen was Ahriku’s last days, not his life.

  Ki’ti carried Ahriku from the cave and laid the dog on his side in the grave. His eyes were shut. Then the children formed a line and started covering the dog with flowers. Ki’ti wept for her loss and also with love for the children who made this gesture for Ahriku. Had he been a person, he would have been so pleased, she thought. Ki’ti sat at the side of the grave after it had been filled. Untuk left her there to mourn. When she didn’t want to come after he called the third time, he told her if she didn’t come now, he’d carry her down. She stood and waved weakly to the place in the ground and followed Untuk down to the cave. It was time for the evening meal. She ate little, but she was there. As if on cue from Wisdom or some other source unknown, as Ki’ti thought to get the sleeping mats laid out, a wobbly little recently weaned pup crawled into her lap. She looked for someone who might have put the dog there, but no one was around. A smiling Nanichak-na said from the entrance, “He just walked in here all by himself. I let him because I wanted to know where he’d go. I should have known.”

  The little dog looked into her eyes just like Ahriku had years ago. “I don’t think I can do this right now,” she said to the dog with a sob. He didn’t understand, curling up comfortably with his head on her leg. She silently dropped tears onto the pup, grieving for her lost dog. She looked around feeling that she was being watched. Had Wisdom sent her another dog? “If that’s you, Wisdom, thank you,” she whispered. “You are Panriku, Little Wolf.” She stroked him.

  When Untuk returned to her after filling Ahriku’s grave, he found her sitting on the ground with the pup in her lap. She had stopped crying. “Another dog?” he asked.

  “Yes. He came to me exactly like Ahriku did. His name is Panriku.”

  “Little Wolf?” he asked.

  “Exactly,” she smiled.

  “Let’s get these sleeping mats unrolled. I’m really tired,” he said.

  Ki’ti automatically unrolled the first mat and then the second. She placed the softer pads on the sleeping mats and laid the covers over the top. Untuk slid into the bedding and shut his eyes. Ki’ti reached over and hugged him. She was so accustomed to a hug and kiss for Emaea and Wamumur that it was automatic. He held her tight and then released her. “I really am tired,” he said.

  She lay down and covered herself. The little dog poked his nose under the covers and came to lie down right beside her. She felt as if she were reliving part of her life. She wondered whether Ahriku had been the father of this little dog. She cried for warmth of the new pup. She cried for the loss of her first dog, her loyal friend. She cried for Totamu. She cried for impermanence of those she loved. She cried that she and others had to continue on when they were bereft. Her belly ached. Her sinuses were clogged. She fell asleep.

  Ki’ti awakened because her face was being licked. She looked at the face of Panriku and laughed.

  “What is the matter with you?” she asked.

  She got up and noticed Untuk was still sleeping. She wondered briefly whether he felt well. She let him sleep. She went to the entrance and took the pup to the steps so he would go relieve himself. As if he’d been trained, he scampered off. She saw Chamul-na at the entrance and asked him to guard while she went to the privy. Even as an adult, she was protected. He agreed and she left the cold rock walk and went down the steps. Walking to the end of the open area to where the stream turned, she went to the privy and relieved herself. Her feet were cold. She s
hould have put on her boots, but she hadn’t noticed it was cold. Returning to the cave, she put on her warm pants and boots and jacket. When her hands warmed, she felt Untuk. He was normal in temperature. She hoped he was well, but still didn’t want to wake him up. Panriku returned to her.

  There was a huge earthquake, the biggest they’d had. It shook for what felt like a very long time and knocked some of the ceiling and walls loose. If Totamu had been sleeping where she normally slept, a rock would have hit her. It might have killed her. It was alarming, but they had experienced earthquakes before. It wasn’t new. The quake was followed by numerous aftershocks. They were smaller, but equally as disquieting. When one of the aftershocks hit, there was an enormous crashing sound north of them. It was deafening. Chamul-na and Nanichak-na took Kai, Lamul, and Manak and followed the trail to the north. They wanted to see whether they could determine what caused the huge crash. They followed the path north. When they got to the turnoff for the caves of the animals, they decided to check the caves for damage. Want they saw astounded them. It was as if someone had taken the cave and cut it off and set the top of the cave on the hearth level. All the wonderful animal images were gone, they thought. They did check around a little and found a small hole they could crawl through to enter the cave. Manak crawled in and found some of the images were still there, but many had been covered. Chamul-na called to him to get out before they had another quake. He did.

  Nanichak-na wondered whether the Winds of Change were starting to blow again. This was a big earthquake. They looked for more damage but found nothing more. Chamul-na wondered whether their cave was safe from collapsing like that one had. What made him feel better is even though this one caved in, the roof did not go down all the way to the floor. If People had been there, many would have lived. They returned to their home cave satisfied they had seen the major damage from the quake. By the time Wisdom sucked the color from the land, the aftershocks had stopped.