Tuksook’s Story, 35,000 BC

By Bonnye Matthews

"The Winds of Change blow in every layer of this magnificient novel.”- Dr. Attila Torkos

Tuksook’s Story: 35,000 BC is book 4 in the popular Winds of Change series.

Tuksook's Story, 35,000 BC is the coming-of-age story of a rebel child destined to be the spiritual leader of her people. Fleeing a drought, the People migrate from China/Mongolia to Alaska's Cook Inlet region. After they settle into a sleepy rhythm, they are disrupted again and again: a volcano, visitors from the North, and a violent earthquake. Canthey convince the starving ones who remain behind to leave and join them in this new untamed land?

The Winds of Change affect individuals, groups, localities, regions, or the entire world, and all life responds. The first four books exist in a world of peace following the eruption of a super volcano. With the last great Ice Age the lives of the People change from a world of peace required for survival--where in-fighting was a luxury they could not afford--to a world of war, well established by 11,700 years ago, that continues to this day.

"What author Bonnye Mathews has managed to do is to expertly craft a series of notably entertaining novels that incorporates new data into an historical fictional accounts that bring these ancient peoples alive." -Midwest Book Review

• Language: English
• Publisher: Publication Consultants
• Release date: Sep 11, 2015
• ISBN: 9781594335228

Bonnye Matthews

Bonnye Matthews, prolific Alaskan author, writes prehistoric fiction. According to Grace Cavalieri, award-winning poet/playwright, book reviewer, and host of The Poet and the Poem from the Library of Congress, Matthews is America's pre-eminent author of prehistoric fiction. According to George F. Steiner, Quaternary Geology and Pleistocene Cognitive Archaeology expert, “Her stories are fascinating and the science behind them is cutting edge.” The novel series focus is primarily the pre-ice age peopling of the Americas, and the novella series continues the same focus with a view of very old individual archaeological sites. There is a brief non-fictional accompaniment regarding her emerging western hemisphere population origin paradigm.

Book preview

Introduction

Tuksook’s Story, 35,000 BC takes place in today’s Cook Inlet in Alaska. In 35,000 BC, the area was nothing like it is today. There were geological, floral, and faunal differences. Since the flora is now coal deposits under the salt water, it’s not totally clear precisely what plants were present, so I have used the expected plants in the story. Dandelions were not endemic to the American continent; they were imported, so they are not present in this story as a useful green. Fauna differences were significant.

Present Day COOK INLET—US DOI BOEM Map (Volcanoes added.)

GEOLOGY

For the marine traveler to Alaska, Cook Inlet is a feature of mystical beauty. For Asian marine travelers, this wide body of salt water enters the mainland following the exquisitely placed snowy peaks of volcanoes and numerous islands that rise along the Aleutian Chain on the west. When the islands end great mountainous land begins. For marine travelers from the east, one travels north past Southeast Alaska and curves west where giant gem quality glaciers meet the Pacific Ocean in jaw-dropping grandeur before arriving at Prince William Sound where the glacier spectacle continues. Then the marine traveler continues west to the wide mouth of Cook Inlet. From either direction, the visitor is privy to scenes of geologic creation on a giant scale. There’s a sense of antiquity about this salt water entry to the great land, but it’s misleading. Cook Inlet isn’t all that old. The volcanoes and glaciers make their marks on the face of the land. Some very visible and some not-sovisible changes occur from the underwater subduction zone where the Pacific Plate relentlessly dives under the North American Plate. The great land is very much alive!

Mt. Redoubt Eruption 4/21/1990 (USGS)

Today’s most visible activity is volcanic. Volcanoes relieve the earth’s stress by creating land from above—spewing up ash and lava. Volcanoes are markers situated along the west shore of the Inlet, making picture-postcardworthy views from today’s populated east shore. Their unparalleled graceful contours speak of peace, while they hold enormous potential for destructive power. The volcanoes are not dormant. Mt. Redoubt (page12) stands more than half way up today’s Inlet. Mt. Redoubt and the other volcanoes gently remind all who live in the Cook Inlet area of their volcanic vitality by depositing occasional ashfall and rerouting planes. The land is not only alive—it has power which no human can diminish.

The invisible, underwater Pacific Plate pushes relentlessly north past Southeast Alaska. Stress release from the plate movement results in earthquakes. Alaska has many daily. The subduction zone’s progress enchantingly creates mountainous land on the east and west of the Inlet. As the Pacific Plate terminates, it dives under the North American Plate from the Aleutian Chain of islands on the west through Southcentral Alaska to the east. The Aleutian-Alaska Range and the Kenai-Chugach Mountains are the seeming magic result of sea floor riding on the back of the Pacific Plate—shoved up from the deeps instead of subducted. Shoved up and pressed together—by the wizardry of earth’s perpetual tectonic motion along with the shaking and jolting force of earthquakes.

Go to the seashore. Scoop up some sea floor. Press it together with all the force you can bring to it. When you release it, it’ll fall apart. With the earth it is not so. Subduction creates majestic, non-volcanic mountains that hold together for many, many millennia. Magic! But, not illusory. The earth creates the real thing—seemingly mysteriously.

Not all land building becomes visible. During the 1964 earthquake, the sea floor in Prince William Sound rose fifty feet. The creative wizardry leaves messages behind. The visible, tall mountains contain marine animal fossils giving away the once lowly origins of their soaring heights. Living Alaska keeps man humble. He forgets or ignores danger signs at his own peril. Sometimes even when taking great care, he perishes from lack of any hazard pre-warning. That’s part of Alaska.

Ghost Trees—Personal Photograph Collection

There are reminders of the earth’s creative power all around Alaska. Saltwater encroachment leaves traces in the State, even beyond Anchorage, to the Knik and Matanuska Rivers’ exits into the brine. Today’s gray ghost forests document where the salt water rose during the earthquake of 1964. It left standing ghost forests as reminders. In some places such as Portage, ghost houses still visible today join the ghost trees. This land is in constant state of creation and re-creation, the most active of any place in the United States. Along with the exquisite beauty is the price of instability.

Mt. Susitna (The Sleeping Lady) from Anchorage

The Cook Inlet of today is a relative newcomer following the last Ice Age. It is only in recent geologic time that Cook Inlet formed. Sixteen thousand years ago, salt water made its way to the Kasilof area (between Kenai and Homer on the map on page 10), supplanting fresh water as the enormous ice sheet in the area melted. Thirteen thousand years ago, salt water reached Anchorage. Tuksook’s Story, 35,000 BC gives the reader a chance to reflect on what glaciation can do to the land by envisioning how it might have once looked. From 60,000 years ago to the time of this story, Cook Inlet was a long river valley draining the Kenai-Chugach Mountains to the east, the Talkeetna Mountains to the north, and the Alaska-Aleutian Ranges to the west. Before that time, there had been some glaciation where Cook Inlet now stands. Each successive glacial period widened the river valley. Along with the river 35,000 or so years ago, lakes, ponds, creeks, streams, and swamps filled the valley. Where the wide saltwater Inlet is today, it began as a relatively narrow fresh water route from the mountaintops to the sea, and great forests grew on either side of the rivers and creeks and streams. Consider the last Ice Age effect. From about 20,000 years ago for about 10,000 years or more, ice covered the land in some places to about a mile deep. Ice completely covered Mt. Susitna (page 14) for a time, leaving behind erratics, boulders from another place, at the top of the mountain. Imagine the first people who saw the erratics trying to solve the conundrum of those out-of-place boulders. The people in this novel would have seen the mountain before it was deformed.

Used with permission from the State of Alaska, Alaska Historical Commission (from Alaska’s Heritage, Joan M. Antonson and William S. Hanable, 1986, page 7)

In Alaska during the Ice Age, only the areas shown in white on the map on page 15 remained ice free. In the ice-free areas grasslands flourished, providing refuge for the surviving species. Remnant glaciers continue growing and withdrawing off and on into our time. Imagine a glacier extending from the origins of the Susitna, Knik, and Matanuska Rivers and Turnagain Arm to its exit at the Pacific Ocean. The glaciation that formed Cook Inlet was part of an ice sheet that extended from Alaska into Canada and what is now a good part of the United States. To call it enormous may be a gross understatement. Theoretically, in the gray area at the bottom of the map in Southcentral Alaska, even the tops of Pioneer Peak, Matanuska Peak, and parts of the central Talkeetna Mountains and Chugach Mountain tops, greater in height than a mile, remained free of ice during the last Ice Age. The great volcanic mountains, such as Sanford and Drum to the north, and the volcanic mountains on the west side of what is now Cook Inlet would have peaked out of the ice sheet. Massive Ice Age glaciation would have scraped any form of human evidence from the surface of the earth, ground it to dust, or dumped it into the ocean or a moraine, as if it never existed. Ice scoured out the narrow river valley to create the wide Inlet of today, leaving a wealth of underwater coal resources from those once lush forests. As the massive glacier retreated, salt water entered the carved out former fresh water environment. It would backfill the area that had once denied it access. Beluga whales, salmon, huge halibut, sea otters, seals, sea lions, and a myriad of other marine life now swim where once mammals roamed. We can envision the old valley from glimpses of the present.

How Cook Inlet Might Have Looked Before the Last Ice Age (NOAA)

Tuksook’s Story, 35,000 BC tells of this pre-Ice Age time in the Cook Inlet region. The People fled a severe drought in the China/Mongolia area to find a place with meat and water to satisfy their basic needs. The valley provided more than the basic needs of life. They and their heirs thrived in the great land for thousands of years, exploring and enjoying its bounty until the Ice Age arrived. Following the Ice Age, every shred of evidence of their passing through the land vanished, as if they’d never been there. Their stories only whisper in the winds.

Aurora Borealis Presenting in Red (NASA Image)

Finally, Cook Inlet is within viewing range of the aurora borealis (northern lights). One of the rarest presentations of the lights is a red sky. The illustration above of the red lights will let you share what the People see at the beginning of Chapter Five. The book’s cover shows the lights in color.

FLORA

Because of the ice sheet, there is no way to prove except by imprints in rock what plants were present in the Cook Inlet area before the Ice Age, I have chosen to focus on plants that many people have not seen but are very common in Alaska. The plants or near relatives one might expect in the area of 35,000 BC could have consisted of cone-bearing evergreens, hardwoods such as birch, aspen, alders, cottonwoods, willows. There most likely were ferns, grasses, blueberries, cranberries, ligonberries, salmonberry, watermelon berries, mushrooms, grass, cotton grass, coltsfoot, wild chive, fireweed, cow parsnip (wild celery), wild rose, yarrow, stinging nettle, horsetail, mare’s tail, and so on. It might be noted that as they arise in spring, some ferns produce fiddleheads, curled stems that unfurl in time. They are edible when tightly curled, and the People use them, but they never heard of a fiddle. They call them fern fists. There were also numbers of plants that were poisonous: buttercup, monkshood (wolfbane), wild sweet pea, lupine, wild calla, devil’s club, water hemlock, elderberry pith, larkspur, some mushrooms, and all anemones. Sometimes plants look alike but are very different. For example, people not accustomed to seeing the differences could confuse edible and poisonous look-alikes.

Here are some examples of plants in the Cook Inlet region:

(Yes, I’m standing level with the plant.)

FAUNA

Pleistocene fauna, just as flora, is impossible to pin down. The ice sheets would have removed evidence. We do know that north of Cook Inlet in the large refuge areas north of the Talkeetna Mountains, there is a better picture of pleistocene fauna. Examples of Alaska’s pre-Ice Age fauna are: woolly mammoth, mastodon, scimitar cat, American lion, musk ox, steppe bison, dire wolf, short faced bear, giant moose (stag moose), giant beaver, camel, horse, Dall sheep.

Some Alaskan Pleistocene Fauna

WOOLLY MAMMOTH. These animals lived on the tundra (treeless plain of flat or rolling land). They grazed on grasses and vegetation. Predators that sought them were the scimitar cats and the American lions.

MASTODON. The mammoth and mastodon are often confused. In the picture above the mammoth is on the left and the mastodon on the right. They sometimes shared the tundra for browse, but mastodons had different teeth which enabled them to browse tree twigs and branches in forests, places where mammoth teeth would be a problem. Mammoths didn’t have the teeth to eat the tough material the mastodon could chew.

SCIMITAR CAT. This cat is rarely mentioned, and therefore it’s lesser known than the saber toothed tiger. It was one of two cats that roamed Alaska prior to the Ice Age. Its prey were mammoths and mastodons.

AMERICAN LION. This cat could have preyed on any of the numerous plant eaters.

MUSK OX. These animals require cold, normally arctic environments. They may not have come as far south as the Cook Inlet area. There is, however, a musk ox farm near the north end of Cook Inlet, but that is a farm, not a natural setting. The musk oxen there seem to fare quite well. Musk oxen are not included in the story.

STEPPE BISON. This steppe bison was found in the Fairbanks area and is a complete specimen. It resides at the museum at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. They call it Babe.

Steppe bison were not limited to Alaska. An artist in Spain painted one as shown above. It gives us a fuller picture when coupled with Babe to know what they may have looked like.

DIRE WOLF. Dire wolves, pleistocene animals like musk oxen, probably didn’t live in the Cook Inlet area. The farthest north one has been recorded is Alberta, Canada. Of course, lack of evidence is not evidence of lack. They may have lived in areas of Alaska where the ice sheet would have removed all trace of them. They are not featured in this story.

SHORT FACED BEAR. This bear preys primarily on musk oxen, caribou, and horses. If very hungry, they could have overtaken smaller prey. They dwarfed the modern day grizzly.

GIANT MOOSE (Stag Moose). This moose is described as a cross between a moose and an elk. From the places remains have been found, it appears to have inhabited areas typical to today’s moose. Antlers grow on males only. Females and calves could have moved through forests but males would have trouble, due to the width of the antlers. The People in this novel call them giant deer.

GIANT BEAVER. This beaver was eight feet long and weighed up to 220 pounds. They are much like modern beavers except for their teeth and tails. Because of the difference in teeth, there is a question among some scientists as to whether they cut down trees. They lived near lakes and swampy areas. They shared ponds with modern beavers.

CAMEL. Camels originated in North America. Most of their evolution occurred here. They began small, but by the pleistocene, some were exceptionally large. The Alaskan variety is Camelops. Based on findings of vegetation between camel teeth, it is likely they ate whatever vegetation was available.

HORSE. There is general agreement that the most plentiful of all the Alaskan pleistocene animals was the horse. This skeleton provides the silhouette. The picture on the right is a cave painting from Lascaux of a horse, which may typify horses in the Americas since they existed virtually world-wide, though they originated in North America.

DALL SHEEP. These sheep are alive today. The one pictured above is from the mountains by the Seward Highway in Alaska. At Jack Wade Creek in Alaska, a group of fossilized Dall sheep bones, dating to 30,000 years ago, were intermingled with bones from pleistocene bison, caribou, horses.

CARIBOU. Caribou are one of the large animals like the Dall sheep that survived the changes as the Ice Age drew to a close. It’s noteworthy that both male and female caribou grow antlers. The poem, The Night Before Christmas, contains the phrase click, click, click. Actually, the caribou make a clicking sound when they walk because of the movement of a tendon.

STELLAR SEA COW. The stellar sea cow lived in salt water and ate kelp. It became extinct a few centuries ago when people discovered that it tasted better than beef. It was slow moving and easy to catch. Sea cows grew to 30 feet in length. They were similar to dugongs or manatees. Its hide is described by Georg Stellar in De Bestiis Marinis, or The Beasts of the Sea (1751) as black, mangy, wrinkled, rough, hard, and tough; it is void of hairs, and almost impervious to an ax or to the point of a hook. Their feeding areas were clearly marked by heaps of kelp stalks washing ashore.

WHITE STURGEON. The white sturgeon’s range was the rivers along the North American Pacific coast. Like salmon, it was anadromous, living in both fresh and salt water, but unlike salmon, the sturgeon was not limited to a single return. Some of these fish live for a hundred years. It fed off crustaceans and fish.

Chapter One

Tuksook was very angry. The council meeting of the previous evening had left her shocked, numb, and now it had all turned to anger. She felt betrayed. Her father, Midgenemo, the People’s Wise One, had sat in judgment on a dispute. It was his duty to so do, but his judgment was wrong in her eyes. It didn’t matter whether a person’s heritage was the old People, Minguat, Mol, or the People from Big Lake. All were People. It didn’t matter whether you were male or female. All were People. Tuksook knew the stories. She hadn’t told anybody she knew them. Doing so would end her opportunity for solitude and stop her childhood. But, she knew them. She even knew the significance of each story. Her father had said that the man had authority over his wife. She knew what authority meant, and he misapplied it to lovemaking. He did it in a way that made the stories untrue. The stories made it clear, first, that man was made bigger and stronger than woman to protect her. Second, the stories also made it clear that lovemaking was with mutual consent. Her father’s judgment, according to Tuksook, made wives less than People. Rimut wanted to have sex with Pito, his wife, and she had turned her back on him. She said she was in pain. Rimut wanted permission to require lovemaking when she declined. Her father ruled that a wife had no choice. He brushed the issue of pain aside, because Rimut claimed she was whining in an attempt to avoid him. Tuksook was convinced her father and Rimut had no idea what love was. Tuksook concluded that she would never join with a man. If her father, the Wise One, could betray a woman in pain, she wondered, what would someone else do? She hated the ruling, and she had lost all respect for her father. She wondered whether her feeling toward her father qualified as hatred. She knew Wisdom didn’t want People hating People.

Moments ago, the Wise One had just told her to fly. He wanted to know into what place the river they were entering would lead. Would it be a good place for the People to live? She had to put aside the anger. This was her responsibility for the People. It was hard to put aside the anger. She went down the steps to her place for solitude. The steps were made of bamboo, the same material as the boat. She went to her place near the water and lay down. Still the anger hinted at return. She had to turn loose of it. She forced herself to relax. It was for the People. Finally, she reached the spirit place where she could fly.

Tuksook saw the new land though she appeared asleep. Her name from the old land was the name of an eagle, translating to sees-from-above, a name very strong for a girl of eleven. Her fingers dangled into the salt water. Her spirit was aflight. Tuksook overflew the verdant valley into which they were turning. Waterfalls, rivers, creeks, and streams drained into a central river. The valley went far into the land pocked with many lakes and ponds. Other rivers of good size fed the central river. It was like a tree where the central river was the trunk. Yet other rivers branched off from the main one, while yet others branched from the branches. Branching appeared continuous. They would not thirst here, she reasoned. Something heavy hung over the place, not in the present but it was something to come. What she saw was wonderful for the People at this time. What would come was cold and pressing, but not definable and not of this time. She knew it would be well beyond their lifetimes, but how far beyond she did not know. To her the largest rivers lay as a great bird leg with three toes at the north end. The upper bird leg came from the ocean’s meeting the river from the north. Three toes split off as the river went far inland. One toe pointed to the north, another to the northeast, and the third to the east. She fixed the vision in memory so she could later draw it, showing how mountains defined the large rivers.

Gumui sat near her assuring that no one entered the part of the boat where Tuksook sought refuge. Elfa started down to check the dogs, but Gumui waved her away before she began the descent to the low level.

The land was so beautiful; it brought tears to Tuksook’s eyes. The tears startled Gumui. The green filled her soul with joy. The winds of change had blown. Their land across the sea to the west had become lifeless from a long time worsening drought. This land brought hope for renewal. She saw animals in the forests—many of them—and more in the open fields. Some were strange to her. Out of a deep sense of responsibility, she returned to the boat, feeling the tug that indicated her flight reached the conclusion of its purpose. She had wanted to fly further to see the massive mountain far to the north. She had a gift, a special skill reserved for a certain person, but that gift came with constraints. She had to be obedient to the constraints. Wisdom made it clear: the flight was for the People’s needs, not her curiosity. She was never to use it for personal reasons.

You’re back, Gumui said quietly. The sun glinted in tiny lights from his auburn hair that fell forward as he leaned over her. A leather headband kept it from his face. He watched her deep blue eyes flutter under her brows, pale yellow-white as the grass in their parched land. Her hair of the same color wisped in the slight breeze, tangled. She had the rare, coveted sloped upper head shape, the greatest mark of beauty in women and manliness in men among the People, but the color of her hair was considered the least appealing. He reached for her hand and pulled it from the cold water to her side to let it dry in the sun. Tuksook was just a child, but she fascinated him ever since she began to fly. He felt then a need to protect her. It was an automatic response—not one reasoned in his mind web.

It’s perfect, she murmured, her dark blue eyes shining with new knowledge. A slight smile parted her lips to show two bright white front upper teeth that did not quite touch. She shut her eyes to avoid the glare of the sunshine. She would have much to share when the council met that night. Thoughts of the council made the anger creep back into her belly.

Tuksook lay near the caged dogs. They had learned to remain quiet and still for the long boat sailing after some days of whining and pacing. They had also learned to be careful with food, for it would slip through the bamboo and become unreachable. They enjoyed their freedom once a day when older children let them out so they could clean the cages. For cleaning they lowered birch buckets over the side on strong rope to gather water to pour over the cage floors. It was not a pleasant job, but it had to be done. Dogs were assigned the lower deck only, except for Tictip, the dog favored by the Wise One.

Gumui left Tuksook and climbed over the bamboo log steps to reach the higher level of the boat. Wise One, he called to a stocky, bald, gray-bearded man of forty years.

Midgenemo, turned and looked at Gumui with an air of expectancy. Instead of speaking, he raised his eyebrows. He was awaiting Tuksook’s initial view. Had it been very negative, he’d have considered turning the boat back to sea. He didn’t have to tell anyone that. They knew.

Perfect, was the reply to which Midgenemo and those who heard smiled with enthusiasm and relief. They had found their new home. Almost. Midgenemo looked up. Quietly, he spoke, Thank you, Wisdom. This is a place of peace. We will prosper and be grateful here. Midgenemo could hardly wait to put his feet on land. The boat sailing had been very stressful. He rarely slept.

Huaga, a leader of the boatmen, and some of the boatmen had trained the People who would migrate to sail. The training took much time, but the People were passable at sailing. Arriving at the river assured those in the boat that their training had been sufficient. They did not consider themselves boatmen. Midgenemo’s overwhelming responsibility was to lead the sailing to their new land.

Rowers muscled the boat mid-river against the current. As they moved up-river, the valley gave them a welcome fragrance of green growing things. Their effort increased significantly on hearing the word from Tuksook. They kept to the middle of the river since they were unaware of its depth.

Lower depth pole, Togomoo shouted. Depth poles were marked with leather to show the measure of a man height. They were usually four to five man heights. Two men took a bamboo pole and secured it to the holders on the bow of the boat. They lowered it to a man height more than the lowest part of the boat in the water. It would warn them if the river became too shallow for the boat to navigate.

Look for a place above the lower level of this valley. Midgenemo’s voice carried well, even though it wasn’t loud. All on the upper level of the boat heard easily. A level place that has a good view of below, he continued. A place safe from a surprise water rising and from eyes of strangers. Near running water and forest.

People on the boat listened carefully to the requirements and began to scan the river banks. How they longed to walk on land. Evergreens and hardwoods filled the low-and mid-lands. Tall volcanic peaks stood like watchers. Clearly, there was no drought in this land. They’d never seen a place so inviting. Wildlife noticed them with curiosity not fear. Stencellomak began to sing a rowing song. Rowers and others joined in. Those who rowed put more muscle to it. They were nearing home.

After their evening meal, Midgenemo called out, Council meeting! All but the rowers gathered around the central hearth on the upper deck where flat stones surrounded a sand pit. The Wise One took his seat. Everyone looked at Tuksook expectantly.

Tuksook, the Wise One nodded to her.

Tuksook knelt at the hearth, across from her father, not next to him as usual. He didn’t notice. She blew on the ashes to remove them. She spread the sand and remaining ashes for a smooth surface. She drew with a small hardwood twig an amazingly accurate picture of the main rivers in the valley including their relative length and width.

An eagle seizes the land, she explained. See how the upper leg of the eagle is the river’s exit to the sea. The leg goes over the land and ends with three toes. As she spoke, her graceful hands pointed to the rivers that looked like toes. White mountains, she said, carefully placing pebbles on the sand to mark snow-covered volcanoes. Mountains of lesser height rose on the sides of the rivers. There were five main sets of mountains. Tuksook sat with her eyes downcast. She didn’t dare permit herself to be caught glaring at her father. Pains in her belly from the harbored anger were seizing her again.

The People nodded. They made the vision of the eagle seizing the land a permanent, visual part of their mind webs. They noticed the mountains and fixed their positions in memory. Tuksook had given them a map of their valley even to the relative size of the rivers. They would know where they were as long as they were in the valley.

Leave the drawing, Midgenemo said. When you relieve the rowers, he continued as he looked at the men who would be the next rowing relief, Tuksook will show them the valley. I would like to call this valley Eagle’s Grasp. Any objections?

There was total silence among the People. That meant they all agreed.

It is aggreed, the Wise One said, using his right fist to strike his open left hand.

The chatter began as the People returned to what they’d been doing. Many comments filled the air—good omen, eagles seize what has great value, good council, good land, healthy air, beautifully green, and so on. Comments floated on the spring air as butterflies, there one moment and gone the next.

Two days later upriver, Amuin, spotted a meadow of great size, barely visible, uphill on the sunrise side of the river as they progressed north. The land was sequestered behind trees. Look! she shouted, pointing to the place on the hillside.

Murmuring from the People on the boat clearly supported their agreement. For some it took more time to find the place she saw, but when they saw it, all knew. They had their home. Rowers moved the boat as swiftly as possible toward the place.

The boat finally reached the place closest to the land that they could reach since the depth pole had bent, the boatmen lowered stone anchors, finding that they were in relatively shallow water. Two men, Hamaklob and Togomoo climbed down the side of the boat and slipped into the clear water. They estimated it was about two man-lengths deep, maybe a little deeper. They bobbed to the surface to alert their boatmen to anchor the boat fully on all sides. The People on the boat appeared calm and quiet, but inside they were very excited. Everyone wanted to reach land to begin their new lives in this inviting place.

Togomoo and Hamaklob swam to the shore with their spears. Quickly they shook off the water and sought the best approach to the upper level. An animal path made a diagonal up the cliff face through trees. Tree tops on either side of the path intertwined above the path. It was not visible to those in the boat. Eagerly they climbed the path looking for tracks to identify what wildlife might use the trail. Those on the boat watched the men. Occasionally, they could see them move through the trees up the path.

Hamaklob reached the flat land, standing at the edge by the trees waiting for Togomoo. He was thirty-five and in his prime. Wet from the swim, his long black hair stuck to his back. His leather headband was soaked and a bit tilted. His wide-open brown eyes surveyed the meadow. Togomoo at age thirty was a time shadow copy of Hamaklob. Togomoo reached the top and noticed the smile on his cousin’s face and a hand signal for silence. They gawked. There were four camels browsing. The men didn’t know what they were but took them for food animals. Clearly, browsers used the meadow. The space was expansive while well protected by the trees that might have hidden it from them. Evergreens and hardwoods surrounded the flat land. At the far side of the land there was a waterfall about the height of a man. It plunged into a catch pool. They observed that the pool was large enough to store four to six hunts’ worth of meat. No caves or large rock shelters appeared to be available. The men wondered how they’d shelter from the cold, but they knew that necessity would be resolved quickly. Hamaklob squatted down. With his strong hands, he dug down into the soil. He raised the soil to his nose and inhaled. Good, he said quietly, moving his hands toward Togomoo, who also smelled it and smiled. They’d return to the boat quickly to bring the others.

For the People, disembarkation was uncharacteristically loud and disorganized. A new place and new circumstances seemed in part to require patterns different from those to which they were accustomed. Coupled with a delight to be on land again, the People found it hard to contain themselves. They were adjusting but it was awkward. All day the People brought things from the boat to the land above. They had transported much, not knowing what to expect in their new place. Children old enough to help did so with an air of importance, not for themselves but rather for the progress they helped make. Older girls watched over children too young to help. They organized them into skills practice and singing. Some infants or crawlers were simply placed on spread out skins. When they needed feeding, one of the girls took the infant or crawler to its mother.

The release of the dogs brought the People unintended entertainment. They followed the People up the path after a swim from the boat. Each dog stopped at the opening to the meadow, and then they’d take off running all over the wide open space, barking. Old dogs looked like pups. Finally, they’d lie down panting, gazing at their new home. Midgenemo had already chosen the place for the dogs. He beckoned to Elfa to take them to their place to show them their boundaries. He selected the northwest corner of the meadow so the dogs could see the river and warn of anyone below.

Midgenemo and the elders: Ottu, Kew, Taman, and Mongo stood in the central part of the green open area. Ottu was seventy. His thinning white hair blew in the breeze. He walked with difficulty but his deep blue eyes were as sharp as ever. Kew and Taman were brothers, Kew at sixty-seven and Taman at fifty-five. Kew’s hair was white while his brother’s was just turning to white from black. Mongo, joined with Lupo, Midgenemo’s sister, when he was seventeen. He was from the Big Lake area of their old land, northwest of where the People lived. He’d been with the People forty-six years.

The elders were marking the placement for upright bamboo poles to enable them to mark the solstices and equinoxes, when Gumui walked by them with a heavy, leaf-woven box from the boat. He overheard the men mentioning shelter and walked over to them, standing until he was recognized and encouraged to speak.

Gumui lowered his head and slowly raised it, looking into the eyes of the elders as he spoke. Remember the story about the bent tree house in the time of Ki’ti? I thought of it as I climbed the path and noticed the tree canopy. Would that provide us with good, permanent shelter here? he asked humbly.

Elders glanced at each other. They visually communicated much without words by using tiny facial muscles: the idea had merit. The Wise One smiled at Gumui. He put his hand on the young man’s shoulder. Find some young men to explore with you. The best area is along the rim of the back forest here, he pointed. Take your idea and see what you can make of it. You’ll need a flat floor surface and trees that will bend. The structure should be more than twice what we need. People will expand in this land, and we’ll need to store some things.

Gumui walked off, deeply honored that the elders had given him such an assignment. He enjoyed the slightly damp grass sliding past his ankles as he walked through it. It was like a caress. He tried to remember feeling damp grass in the old land and couldn’t. The drought started before he was born. Quickly he carried the box to the area where women were preparing to cook the evening meal. Then, he sought out Tern and Orad. They began to search the rim of the back forest. The elder men turned their thoughts to placement of other common areas in the open space. No one issued orders as to task assignment. The People worked together knowing what had to be done. They were a unit in function.

Some of the women began to prepare the evening meal from the supplies on hand. Earlier in the day men had caught two large sturgeons from lines tied to the back of the boat. They’d never seen such fish. Some older girls had gone to the river to find greens, and others had taken digging tools to hunt for tubers, onions—whatever the land might provide for their evening meal. The girls had been warned not to touch or gather anything that was strange to them. Tuksook went with the girls hunting greens at the water’s edge. She was a little young for that group, but she was not very patient with small children. When possible, the People were flexible in task choice, unless some need failed to be met. The older girls fully accepted her. Tuksook normally enjoyed their company.

Ghopi looked up from the hearth construction and asked the women, Have you seen Sutorlo? How about Lurch and Gilo?

No reply meant that no one had seen any of them recently. Each would look from time to time to see whether the boys were visible. As yet, there was no need for alarm.

The boys had climbed the hill where the waterfall sent water cascading into a catch pool.

They knelt together solemnly with their fingers in the stream, and Gilo said, Wisdom, please approve and help with our effort to divert this water. We need it to separate meat storage and bathing into two places.

They dug a trench near the rushing stream. On either side of the trench, they carefully lined the bottom and sides with rocks and moss mixed with mud and twigs, fitted as tightly as possible. The water would fall to hit a flat rock and go into another small stream in its flow to the river. They could use this place for drinking water and bathing. Once the conduit was completed, the boys would open the stream for the diversion. The flat rock below would provide a place to put water holders as they collected it or stand as they bathed. It had already been established that the catch basin at the bottom of the falls would preserve meat from their kills. A drinking water and bathing place needed to be separate from the meat preservation water.

Tuksook wandered away from the older girls, because she was still enraged. She returned to the cooking area with a basket of fern fists, ferns that were in the early stage of development and tightly curled. She had never seen curled fern fists because of the drought, but several stories described them clearly. She sat, cleaned off the brown skin, and took them to the water to wash. They would be a delightful treat for the evening meal. Having done the duty expected of her, she climbed the hill to the east behind the meadow. Near the crest of the hill, she found a rock that jutted from the side of the hill. She climbed it and lay with her belly on the rock. She had to do it in stages, because it was hot from the sun.

As she lowered herself she whispered, Wisdom, please ease my belly with the warmth of this rock.

She hoped the rock’s warmth would calm her belly, but she knew that the bellyache would leave only when she turned loose of the anger. She didn’t know how to do that unless her father’s judgment changed.

Tuksook could hear someone coming. She didn’t turn her head. She just lay there.

Why are you here, Tuksook? Gumui asked.

I warm my belly. Why are you here?

Tuksook, you are still a child. You are not permitted to wander off. You could be prey to a bear or whatever lives here.

I don’t care, she replied carelessly.

Gumui grabbed her and turned her over. What made you say that?

I don’t know, she lied.

You lied. You do know, he accused.

She held her words. She’d already said too much.

You will come back with me, now! he said firmly. You will not wander off again. You would do well to remember the stories of Ki’ti. He frowned, threatening.

You would not beat me. Her belly gripped. She tried to ignore it.

You’re wrong. Do not disobey me, Tuksook. I know you’re almost a woman, but right now you are a child. A willful child. The People need you.

I don’t want to be needed! I don’t want to be a woman! Her