The Big Stretch

By Jo Martinez

From the distant past, to the far future; this series of five short stories chronicles the human saga through the eyes of those involved.

AWAKENING : Two apelike hominids begin our evolutionary journey through an awakening intelligence.

DOGONE: Separated on the blood soaked sand of the Roman Colosseum, two lovers are reunited during the height of World War 2.

LODESTONE: Called by the pyramids, twin brothers leave their shanty home in the USA to sail down the Mexican coast guided only by a lodestone.

EXODUS PART 1: On a dying Earth, a group of scientists give their lives for a new hope.

EXODUS PART 2: On a new Earth, the scientist’s descendants struggle to survive when old hatreds reappear.

• Language: English
• Publisher: KonomexPublishing
• Release date: May 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9780648854104

Jo Martinez

Inez Minc is 50yrs going on a 100yrs and blessed with a rich life. Born in 1922 in the south of England, she emigrated to Australia in 1986. Both countries have her loyalty and her love of their unique beauty and heritage. Privileged to serve in WW2 with British Overseas Forces, the Australian Vets made her and her ex-serviceman husband welcome, soon after arrival. They, and some local GPs made it possible for her to voluntarily contribute the nursing skills as a Queen’s District seniors Nursing Sister, added to her English registration, in service to others in various ways She is now widowed with two fine sons in a close-knit family and leads an active life with other seniors.Her Three Loves Trilogy is also available as an ebook, or on order from your local or online bookshop.

Book preview

The Big Stretch

Jo Martinez

THE LONG STRETCH

The moral rights of Jo Martinez to be identified as the author of this work have been asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the author.

Copyright 2020

Konomex Publishing

PO Box 451

Bassendean, Western AUSTRALIA 6934

ISBN 978-0-6488541-0-4

(Smashwords Edition)

Cover: The Long Stretch by Kathryn Hamilton

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Acknowledgements

Awakening

Dogone

Lodestone

Exodus - Part 1

Exodus - Part 2

Thank you for reading

About the Author

Konomex Publishing

Acknowledgements

I have to thank the following people for their assistance during the writing of this story. Andrew Harvey for unrivalled help and support. Kathryn Hamilton for her dedicated hand painted book cover design. Mark for support with the intricacies of Microsoft Word and collaboration with Kathryn. And Ted and Adrian for nautical terms.

What would we do without such staunch friends? Thank you so very much.

Awakening

Eco was curious. She reached out to the beautiful blue-green pebble floating in the big star’s warmth and connected to it with a tendril of thought. She circled it, lanced deep into its heart then searched for new life.

High winds soughed in the tops of giant trees on the dark land to the south of the orb. An abundance of life beyond them, fertilised the veldt of what became known as Africa. Warm shallow waters caressed its shoreline before joining the deep oceans circling the continent. White spume edged waves of blue left a phallic imprint on the yielding sands, bordering some cliffs.

In the home cave in a cliff face, overhung with trailing vines, the creatures slept. A male stirred and stood up. It was short in stature but strongly built, dark skinned and covered in a thick down of hair.

The male bent down to nuzzle his mate, sniffing her hindquarters with a satisfied grunt until she responded with a kick and rolled into a protective crouched stance, before lumbering upright.

The female was heavily pregnant, as were the other females in the cave, for their mating was seasonal. The two creatures left the cave at an easy loping pace, making their way along the base of the cliff. They came to a halt below a fresh waterfall, spouting from an opening a few metres up the cliff face.

Directly below, a sharply curved outcrop of rocks encircled the entrance to a cave. They lifted their faces up to the fountain of spar-kling water and drank, before she clambered over the rocks and entered the birthing cave.

A shallow pool of water lay within, fed from the rivulets of water trickling down the cave walls. The female entered the pool letting the warm water take her burden as she lay there waiting. The male remained outside. Following the thin runnel of water from the fountain’s overflow, crevassing to the ocean’s call, he began searching for food under the rocks in small pools.

Back in the birthing cave the warning contractions in the female’s belly, gathered force. Nature guided her to squat for the expulsion of her offspring. The shallow waters clouded as the amniotic fluids washed the newborn from the womb. Downy arms gathered up the babe. The mother licked away the caul from its face and released the first cry of new life. She lay by the poolside to wait for the afterbirth.

Instinct drove her mate back to her side, where he stood looking into the pool and scratching his belly. His reflection looked up at him. As it moved, he growled a warning then started back when it yawed back at him. He shook his mane of red hair and watched the intruder shake his head below, until he reached down to repulse it. Ripples swallowed the menace. Again, and again he repelled the threat to his dominion.

A visceral group impulse brought the rest of the creatures to the cave where some copied the leading male creature’s pantomime.

A young female sat next to the new mother. Unlike the others she had very little hair covering her body. As she watched the babe put to the breast, she softly stroked the moist crown, then bent over the pool watching the reflected figures intently. The group mind was absorbing the increase of new life.

Suddenly, one reflection turned as a gut reaction to void by the seashore sent it trotting from the cave.

Eco watched the young female emerge from the cave. It was the time Gaia, Mother Earth, had prepared. An invisible thread uncoiled from within Echo to enter the female as she relieved herself while looking at the sea, the sky, a long-tailed lizard.

Soon to give birth to her first offspring, a sharp stab of consciousness followed Echo’s invasion. She suddenly saw the sea, the sky, the long-tailed lizard with growing wonder and felt the pain of isolation from the group soul.

Gaia shared the pain knowing power would follow, as it had since the beginning. Now she had the first seed of consciousness embedded, it would grow to help maintain a system on the new planet.

Back in the cave, the humanoids, the first and last thoughts of creation, moved out to forage along the shoreline. Their encroaching bodies disturbed the calm of the lone female who sought her mate’s protection. He stood tall among the approaching group. A thick mane of red hair fell about his broad shoulders from a receding forehead, and like the female he had less body hair.

He was sniffing the air around upon another young female, to sense if she was ready to mount. His mate’s call brought his head round to look in that direction and move towards her. She drew close to his side gazing up at him with the wonder she now saw in all. Their eyes met and her newborn soul, searched for his. Another invisible thread uncoiled from Gaia and entered him.

His eyes lit with the same surprise as secret knowledge was shared in the tentative touch of hands on each other’s shoulder. Their animal drive to satisfy an urge, had become personal as desire was born. Her musky scent was for him alone as he came to know her among a brood of females. Returning to the home cave the two stayed close together but shunned by the group of hominids who growled and nudged them away from the warmth of the group body because of their scant hair distribution.

One evening two large males confronted the young one as he tried to enter the home cave with his mate. Growls and menacing fists barred entry. Outside the cave, alone in the light of a setting sun, the pair searched for safety past the birthing cave. They made for