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Oola

Oola stood at the water’s edge, pacing back and forth through the soft grass waiting for Shara to return from the depths of Red Cave . Daro and Moen were busy working on their gate, lashing and tying poles together. It was a beautiful day, with a cloudless blue sky, warm sun and a light breeze across her skin. A fine day for picking berries, or gathering fruits or anything.

Once Shara showed up, of course…

Why did she ask me to help her if she isn’t going to be here herself?

A gaggle of small children danced and splashed and kicked in the river, giggling and shrieking as the water ran down their naked sides. She smiled as she watched them, memories of her own playful past drifting into her head. She ached to jump in with them, but it wasn’t “appropriate” for an adult to do such things. Now it was time for her to find a mate, and bear children, and watch them play.

Hah. I’m going to play if I want to.

Pulling off her clothes, she jumped into the water, ignoring the stares of the mothers. “Roar!” she roared, and the children all laughed and backed away. “I’m a water bear! “ She splashed water at them, and laughing gleefully they started splashing back. Why would anyone would give this up?

“Oola. Get out of the water and get your clothes on.” Shaman said. “ You are supposed to be helping Shara gather more food for the Starfall celebration.”

The children all reluctantly pulled away, and she stood up, dripping wet. “I’m waiting here for her.”

Shaman frowned. “Instead of playing with the children, you should be looking for her. Go look inside the cave.”

Sighing, she pulled her tunic back on as he wandered away towards the hill, and walked past Daro into the shadowy depths of home. The cool air sent chills running through her damp skin, and she rubbed her arms as she walked past the many alcoves and grottos, some quiet, and others filled with the sounds of life and family. The baskets of berries, nuts and fruit were still sitting outside of Shara’s cave, untouched and alone. Oola tried to remember what Shara had said to her. Something about more baskets?

Maybe she is in the back, looking for them. But that should have only taken a few moments. Oola worked her way through the tunnels, following the stream of hot water back to its source. A man appeared before in the gloom, carrying a sputtering bit of burning wood. “Get out of my way.” he said, gruffly. She felt a sudden temptation to mischief, and forced it down, pressing against the cave wall to let him pass.

As he edged by he paused, and looked at her. “Are you looking for Shara?”

“Yes. Have you seen her?”

“Yeah. She is curled up near the pool, weeping again.” He said, mockingly.

His tone spoke volumes. “What did you do to her?” she asked, suddenly furious.

Barak snorted. “Nothing. She was like that when I found her. Useless as always.” He turned away and continued towards the front of the cave. In a moment his torchlight was lost in the distance, and she was alone with the dim glow of the stream. She rushed up the tunnel, then, fighting to keep her balance on the slippery stone.

“Shara?”

As she felt her way around the final corner, she saw her friend sitting there, trembling next to the pool. “Shara!” she called, and rushed over to her side. “Did he hurt you?”

Shara looked up. “Who?”

“Barak.”

She looked around. “What? No. He just yelled at me and left.”

Two baskets were lying on the ground next to her. Oola picked them up. “Here. We need to go find the extra food, remember?” Extending her hand, she helped her back to her feet. “Let’s go.”

Shara nodded, wiping her eyes with her hands. “Thanks.” Oola gave her a moment to get herself together, and they each grabbed a basket and started towards the entrance. As it grew close, Oola could hear Daro’s voice echoing through the front hall, lecturing Moen on something to do with the door.

Shara crouched down again. “Oh no!”, she said, covering her face with her hands.

Oola looked down at her, perplexed. “What’s wrong?”

“I promised Dad that I would help him with the door.”

She couldn’t help but snicker a little. “Let me see what he’s doing”. Cautiously she crept forward, keeping to the shadows. Daro and Moen were busy weaving sticks into the door frame – engrossed on their work. “Shara. Come on. ” She said, extending a hand. “They’re not looking this way.”

Silently the two of them crept out into the sunshine, walking casually to avoid attention until they were past the two builders. And then they ran north, climbing over one of the low humps of Red Cave hill, and ducking behind. Shara sighed, and then laughed. “I’m not having a very good day.”

Oola smiled. “Well, get over it. You’re going to be a woman tonight. The most important day of your life!”

Nodding, Shara got back to her feet, and they started walking across the prairie, wading through the long grasses, searching for berry bushes, fruit trees and vegetables.

“Which of us do you think will be married first?” Oola asked, as she dug a carrot out of the ground.

Shara laughed. “You of course. You’re beautiful.”

Oola shook her head. “You have better baby hips.” She said, shaking the dirt from the root and placing it in the basket.

“Don’t be silly. Your hips are fine. You have curly hair. Everyone will want to be your mate.”

Oola couldn’t help but glow a little at the compliment. When she was younger, the girls had teased her, calling her buffalo head and worse. Everyone but Shara. She had pressed her hair against her head, night after night, trying to make it straight and flat like everyone elses. But as she grew she started to hear compliments on her look, questions about how she had gotten hair with such wonderful circles and waves. “Maybe you’re right.” She said, perhaps a little too immodestly.

Shara rolled her eyes. “And it doesn’t hurt that you’re the chief’s niece.”

They kept working for a while longer. “Let’s look for berries now. I think we have enough carrots and onions”. Oola nodded, and they looked around for the low bushes. Further to the north, they saw a patch of blackberry bushes, perched hard against a small spruce tree.

“Who would you marry, if you could?” Shara asked as they waded through the grasses.

Oola shrugged. “I don’t know. Barak is a pile of wolf droppings. Armis is my cousin, and the others are just children.”

Shara nodded. “So Tohm, then?”

Oola made a face. “Ugh. He’s decent enough, but he’s not very exciting.”

“Well, if you wait long enough, you can marry Kito.”

Oola snorted.

Shara paused for a moment. “I guess in the old days, the women left the Clan – both of our mothers were from other villages. But I don’t want to leave.”

Oola smiled. “But it would be such a great adventure.”

Shara shook her head. “For a while, maybe. But I would miss my brother, and all of you.”

Oola considered this for a moment. “Maybe you and I could join the same village.” She said

Shara’s eyes widened, and smiled. “That would be nice. That would be wonderful.”

Reaching the berry bushes, they found several that were heavy with blackberries. As she gathered, she occassionally popped one in her mouth, enjoying the tart flavor. Finally, finished picking over the last bush, Shara stood up, stretching her back, licking her lips, her mouth stained with juice. Oola started laughing. “You should see yourself.”

“We ate too many. Your lips are purple.”

“Oh yeah? Well so are yours.”

Oola stuck her tongue out. Shara almost fell over laughing. “What?”

“My lips may be purple, but your tongue is too!”

Sticking her tongue out as far as it would go, she tried to spy the end of it. Sure enough, it was dark purple. “Oh well.”

“Hey, what about mine?” Shara stuck out her tongue, covered in dark stains.

“Yeah, you’re purple too!” Oola laughed again.

“Nothing we can do about it now.” Shara said, and then pointed. “Over there – is that a Paw Paw tree?”

“Where?” Oola turned wildly, and saw the broad, bright-green leaves standing out against the grass. They rushed over to it, examining the delicious fruits. But none were ripe enough to take. “Too early, I guess.” Oola said, frowning.

“Yeah.” Shara motioned towards a distant stand of trees. “I think there are peach trees in that wood over there.” With a last wistful look at the too-green paw paws, Oola started towards the wood, Shara falling in behind her. The grass was thinner here, mixed with flowers and rocks and barren patches of sand. Bees buzzed busily between the flowers as birds chirped, hidden in the grasses. A recently molted rattlesnake skin stretched across a near-white stone.

Not good.

“Shara.” She said, turning, but it was too late. Shara was looking over her shoulder at something, and collided with Oola, sending her basket tumbling as she fell awkwardly to the ground.

Immediatley, Shara grabbed her ankle “Ah!” Oola, why did you–”

A menacing hiss silenced her. A freshly molted rattlesnake was coiled around a tuft of grass, tail quivering. They stared at each other for several heartbeats. And then Shara started shaking, her breath coming in wheezing spurts. The snake repeated its rattling, tongue flicking nervously.

“Shara!” Oola said, eyes wide. “Stop!” But her friend just stared at the coiled terror, whimpering.

Dropping the basket, Oola edged sideways, trying to get behind the beast. It didn’t seem to notice her, eyes focused squarely on Shara. No time to wait. I have to get this right. Lunging forward, she snatched at the base of the snake’s head, smashing it to the ground. It squirmed madly in her grasp, but she had aimed well, and it was stuck, body flapping against her thigh. Oola reached into her pouch, searching for her scraper. Ouch. There it was, her fingers closing over it, slicing into her flesh. Pulling it out, she stabbed at the body below her hand, again and again until it fell into two bloody parts, the body part twitching feebly once… twice… Yelling, Oola threw the head into the grass and scrambled away from the rest of the snake, still twitching.

Shara was lying on the ground, sobbing. “Hey! It’s okay. It’s dead.” Oola reached around her friend to comfort her. Ouch. Her fingers sang with pain. She pulled her hand back and examined it – the scraper had gouged a nice line of blood across the tips of her middle three fingers. She stuck them in her mouth to suck the blood out and clean the wound.

That’s when she saw the second skin. “Shara! Get up!”

No response. “There may be more!” Oola said. “Shara!”

The word ‘more’ woke her up, and Shara glanced around wildly, face wet with tears.

“Grab your basket and let’s get out of here.”

Lurching to her feet, Shara snatched her basket, uttering a cry as it ripped slightly in her hands. “Oh no. It spilled.” Berries and carrots fell everywhere. She bent over to pick it all up again, shovelling it into the torn container.

“Shara.” Oola said urgently. “Leave it. We have to get out of here now.” Grabbing her own basket, she yanked on her friend’s arm, pulling her back towards Red Cave. Shara stood up and immediately stumbled, grimacing. Oola grabbed her hand and pulled her through the grass for several paces, until they were well away from the sandy patch.

Shara was sobbing behind her.

“What’s wrong?” Oola asked, slowing.

“My ankle. I twisted it when you stopped. Why did you stop?”

Oola felt the last remaining shreds of her temper disintegrate. “I stopped because I saw a snake skin.” She said.
“If you had been paying attention, you would have noticed me stopping and you would have saved your basket and your foot. If you hadn’t panicked, you wouldn’t have angered the snake, and I wouldn’t have had to grab it and slice my hand open trying to kill it. Now get over it. We need to keep moving, because there are probably more snakes out there.” She started walking again, pulling Shara behind her.

Within two or three paces, she felt terrible. She stopped, and turned towards her friend. Shara was hunched over, staring at the ground, long dark hair cascading around her face. “I’m sorry.” Oola said, cautiously. “I got angry.”

Shara shook her head, and looked up, eyes red. “No, I’m the one who should be sorry. You’re right.. I should have been paying attention. I shouldn’t have gotten so scared. I’m sorry.”

Oola pointed at a large rock that grew like an island in the grass. “Come over here, let’s look at your leg.” Meekly, Shara hobbled to the rock and sat down. Gently, Oola knelt next to her and examined her ankle. It was red and a little swollen, but not too bad. “I think you’ll be okay by tonight.”

“Thank you” Shara whispered.

Oola sat down next to Shara, and hugged her gently. “It’s okay. You’re my best friend, and I would do anything for you. You know that, right?” Shara nodded again and returned the hug, resting her head against Oola’s ear.

And then she paused, and looked up at the sky. “Where did that cloud come from?”

Oola saw a line of golden clouds stretching north to south across the sky. As they watched, it steadily faded back to blue. “That’s strange. I didn’t notice it before.”

“Do you think it was from Starfall?”

Oola shrugged. “Maybe.” They watched the skies for a few moments to see if any others would follow. “Oh well. I guess we missed it.”

Standing up, she helped Shara to her feet, and then picked up her basket. Gingerly, Shara limped her way back to the village, while Oola escorted her. As they approached, they could see Daro and Moen working on the gate, tying vines along the top.

“They’re almost done.” Shara said, staring.

Oola stared at her. How does she know that?

And then Moen fell through the air, crashing headfirst onto the stone. Shara gasped and rushed forward, limping and stumbling. “Find Shaman” her father yelled, and several women scattered. Dropping the basket, Oola rushed past the stricken boy into the cave to search for the healer, trying to ignore the quickly forming pool of blood next to his head.

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Sunday, February 19th, 2006 at 6:38 am.
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