by J.T. Twerell
Chapter 5
Year 2
They moved up the steep path toward the place they both loved to visit. It was a long journey, and on these special days, they left before the sun came up and climbed high into the mountainside.
"I am glad we are almost there, for my breasts are dripping."
Adam turned and looked at Sun and saw the milk seeping from her nipples. "Do you want to stop, Sun? We can rest here for now."
"No, my love," replied Sun, "let me hold Star to my breast, and he can suck the milk. If we walk slower, it will be better. I am excited to reach the high place."
He handed her the boy who immediately attached to the nipple and began to feed. Adam laughed and bent down and sucked on the other breast. The milk was warm and sweet, and he drank deeply. Sun pulled him to her breast and kissed the top of his head. "My males are hungry," she laughed, "but I cannot walk if you both are going to eat, so lead, Adam, and leave the hungry Star his time of eating.”
Adam kissed her and started up the path. He turned and looked at Sun holding Star and once again was lost in great joy thinking of how happy they made him. The path began to even out, and they arrived at the place of their destination. They both stood and looked out over the scene below them. They were so close to the sky that on some days the clouds would be below them. The trees looked as the sheep's covering, but colored green. The river from the top of the mountain ran down the side, then fell over the edge, and crashed on the river below. They had gone to the bottom a few times and found the noise of the falling water to be so loud they could not talk. However, from up here, it was but a whisper in the distance. Adam watched the lower river as it ran through the valley and entered a clearing far away; that was where they lived and slept every night. How small it seemed from up here. Adam wondered if they would ever see the God of All Good Things up here, for they were much closer to the sun here than any place else. Dom said that God was not in any one place but was in everything. Adam was sure that Dom was right, but that made no sense to him. How can anything be in everything? Sometimes Dom spoke things to them that they would not even try to understand.
"Do it Adam, I want to hear it," Sun said as she rested Star on her lap and rocked him softly.
Adam walked to the edge of the rocks and facing the valley below, he shouted, "I am Adam."
They sat quietly and waited, and then they heard it. "I am Adam, I am Adam, I am Adam." Sun laughed aloud and startled Star with her joyous noise. She snuggled him to her breast and walked up beside Adam. "Do you believe another Adam lives out there?" she asked.
"I've never seen another as us," Adam said, "but every time we come here, someone always shouts back. If there is another Adam, why do not they come to see us, for we would all be one and that would be a great joy?"
"Why do you think we are the only Adams?" Sun asked as she handed Star to Adam and walked out on the ledge. "Dom says that God has created all things for joy, yet he has only created us as Adam. There are many different beings in the forest that are alike, but only you and I are Adam." She smiled as Adam pointed to Star. "You are right my love, there is another Adam now, and we have made him."
She stood and looked out over the high places around her and was amazed at how large the Earth was. Looking off in the far distance, she could see where the Earth ended, and she began to wonder what would happen to her if she went there and fell off the edge. Where would she go? She was about to ask Adam when something caught her eye in the distance. "Adam, come look at this. It looks like the cloud that comes when we make fire."
As he looked out over the high places, she pointed far across the valley and showed him the cloud form. It was not just a cloud for it came from the ground and rose to the sky. It was from fire, but not the fire caused by the light from the clouds. It was a clear day and no clouds to make water or light. "I wonder if that is where the other Adam lives," he spoke softly. "If it is, how can he hear me and shout at me from so far away?"
"Ask him," Sun spoke as she looked at the distant fire cloud.
Adam stepped up to the edge and shouted, "Are you Adam?"
They waited and then heard, "Are you Adam? Are you Adam? Are you Adam?"
"What a strange being, he knows I am Adam, why does he ask me this?”
Sun looked out over the hills and watched the fire cloud. "I would like to go there sometime, but it is far from our clearing, I do not know if we could do it before the sun goes down."
"Well, not today, but let us think about this, and maybe we will journey there some other time. Let us head down and stop at the trees with the sweet food. We can take some home and warm them over our fire. I love them like that."
Adam picked up Star and, holding Sun's hand, they left the open space and began to head down the mountain. As they moved farther down the mountainside, a sound came across the valley behind them. The sound said, "I am Adam." However, as Adam, Sun, and Star were far down the mountain and did not hear it, there was no reply.
The sun was behind the mountain and shadows filled the clearing as they arrived from their journey. Wellna came running to them and happily welcomed them back. He had become the keeper of the sheep and would lead them down to the lake for water and out to the clearing to feed. Several times they would find a sheep had been caught and eaten by another being in the forest. Wellna would watch for these beings and chase them away whenever he found them. Adam had removed the skins of the dead sheep and found their covering gave soft places to sit and to sleep. Sun had learned to take the sticky mud of the lakeside and make deep holders of water. When the holders had dried in the sun, they put the sheep's milk in them, and it turned into a thick mixture that was good to eat. Adam had tried to eat some of the insides of the sheep, but did not like it and decided that the beings in the forest who did eat sheep must be very hungry. They had set out tree branches and covered them with the skins of the sheep, and it kept them dry when the water came from the clouds. The male sheep grew big horns on their head. When the male died, Adam had taken the horns and found they held water and milk. They were very happy with all the sheep gave them and, with Wellna's help, had developed a large number of them.
Adam went to the hot coals of the fire and put dry grass on it and the flame immediately rose. He had found that a large piece of wood would stay hot for a long time, and they could make fire without the rocks if they kept putting new wood on it. Sun brought the sweet food they had picked in their travel home and the put them on sticks and held them in the fire until they started to drip water. Then they ate them and watched the evening sky produce the stars they loved to look at and name.
Little Star was asleep on his sheep covering, and Adam pulled Sun close and stretched out on their own sheep covering. Sun looked up in the sky and made stories about the things she saw in the sky. His favorite was the big Sumba who had run so high up the mountain that she ended up in the sky and moved across the night until she reached the high places on the other side. Tonight, the big light was starting to smile, and they knew it would grow over the next days until it was a full face, then it would get smaller until it smiled at them and went away.
Sun pressed close to Adam and felt his warmth on her flesh. She rubbed her hand on the hair he had where breasts should be. It tickled her hand, and she loved to run her fingers through it as he held her. "I love you Adam," she whispered to him.
"I love you too, Sun. You make me happier than all the lights in the sky above." He stroked her naked flesh, and she felt the pleasant warmth spread through her body. "The God of All Good Things has done a very good thing with us." She smiled at him, and rolling over on top of him, they enjoyed the fullness of their love for each other.