A Texas girl finds herself admiring a light in the sky only to find out it is indeed an alien, which transports her to another time long long ago in Africa and pairs her with a Neanderthal population in hopes that her descendants will populate Nort...
My two wives at the time lived on the other side of the pond, just thirty feet away, but they had their own huts and their own children. Their houses were nestled among a small copse of palm and oleander, and a little stream ran through it, emptying into the pond. Clevis was the oldest by Sara, my first wife. She was favored by Julie over Finule, who would die one week after Kamrasi. Chume had lived in Egup long before we came along and attached herself to me shortly after we arrived.
Her clan was slightly taller than Julie's and much broader. It is the fish, they said, that grows us so large. I believed them. They are all gone now, that old Clan, and our children and our children's children are taller still.
So Chume, my second wife approached Julie's fire. Here, she said, I have brought the bottles I made. No holes this time. Perhaps the skins will hold better than the leaves, and she leaned down to kiss her mother-in-law, and her long black hair nearly fell into the fire. Be careful not to get your hair too near the fire. All that oil will go up like gasoline.
It looks better now since you taught us to cook the fat, Chume said.
Julie looked at Chume. Her skin was olive, and her breasts were large and full. Even before she gave birth to her first child she was stacked.
Girl, you still got it, Julie said, slipping into her Texas voice. Back where I come from, we'd call that a fine set o' jugs. She gave her a wink and slapped her cheek.
Chume blushed and said, I wish I could get Jason to say such things. He is already looking for another. I am too old.
Shit lady, I wished I 'da looked half as good as you at your age. And three kids. Hell, I'm thirty-eight and look at me. No, she said, I think it's just the nature of men darling. They gotta keep lookin for new stuff. It don't bother me though. I can always use a break from birthing babies. Then she slapped Chume on the rear again and laughed.
Chume smiled at the old lady. The others from your Clan love to talk about how you saved Kamrasi and Jason and his father from the terrible Cannibals. Julie looked saddened at this. She was thinking about Riangi and all the adventures they had been through. How much she loved him.
Julie nodded. I wish Jason had known him better. But Kamrasi was a fine father. They're in the hut now. You should go in and see them. Chume walked towards the hut, and her children followed. No, Joe, you, and Sunny stay here and eat with Julie. Joe, go and get your brother and sister.
They're in the village with Violet. Joe, my youngest boy, said.
My daughter, Sunny, sat down with Julie and diligently ate her baby crocodile. She looked at Julie and smiled, wanting recognition, and Julie smiled back and said, I know you are a good girl.
The night came, and the fire burned throughout the evening as the cliff above sparkled in the flickering lights.
Well after the moon had dropped out of sight, when everything was pitch-black, a visitor came to Julie and nudging her, whispered something softly into her ear.
She was dreaming when but the nudge woke her.
In her dream, her mind drifted back sixteen years to when she began this journey. She saw the waterfall and beautiful pond, and how the crocodiles had nearly done them in.
She recalled their capture by the Outsiders, and how the little people – even smaller in her dream – were scared stiff of her after she killed the chief, Mutanga the Fat.
And she saw me being born, still as a passive observer. But then, as dreams often do, her perspective changed, and having just pushed the baby out and turning her head, she saw sitting next to her a woman - her own mirror image but with thick, curly black hair and a bone in her nose - giving birth to Mary, her second baby.
As Mary emerged, the water of the lake began to boil, and then it quickly drained, rushing back towards the Fire Mountain. Few people survived that day. So many bodies were washed over the falls or forced through the tunnel that led to the cave. She climbed the hill higher and higher to find a way over the receding water, fearing that the soil would be too soft to walk on or worse. She feared seeing the bodies of Riangi and Tabi.
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