Remembrance of Eve *NANOWRIMO13*

Chapter 11

The bawling seemed to come closer to us. We jumped out of bed, to find a black bullock calf, too young to be away from his mother. Adam reached out, gently calming it as he quietly spoke to him. “There, there. Is your mother missing? Where do you think she is? It will be well with you. We will care for you until we find your mother. There, there. All is well.”

The calf slowly calmed, gentled and quieted by Adam’s gentleness. It submitted to his gentle rubbing of his nose and head, bending to allow him to rub between his ears. He folded his legs beneath him, and lay down. Adam continued to pet the calf’s back and head. The calf was soon breathing heavily, and sleeping.

“You are good at settling unhappy animals,” I whispered, not wanting to wake the calf.

“He is just lonely. His mother seems to be missing. We will look for her tomorrow. Now, we must get some rest ourselves.”

“But, we have so much to do.”

“True. But, the little one needs his mother. He is too young to be away from her. We must help him find his mother.”

We returned to our bed, and lay arm in arm, Adam’s hand over the small one, who responded by moving energetically. Looking at the sleeping calf, I knew that Adam would be a gentle and kind father. He had learned much from our Heavenly Father.

“Look!” Adam whispered. “A streak of light.”

I looked up just in time to see a light, like a star, streak across the sky.

“Beautiful,” I breathed.

“Life is good.”

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We woke the next morning to the sound of the calf suckling his mother. She was a big, black and white cow with gentle brown eyes. She looked at us as if to say ‘Thank you for caring for my baby.’

I slowly walked to her, reaching my hand out to her. She let me pet her head and between the ears. She softly mooed. I rubbed her back and sides. She seemed to like it. Her calf bumped into me with his hind quarters, he was not going to let go of his mother’s teats. I laughed, and patted his back, “You want some, too, do you?”

Adam joined us, petting the cow and the calf. She enjoyed the attention. After the calf finished eating, the wandered away to get a drink at the stream, and graze on the grass. We watched them leave.

“What do you think,” he asked, “will they stay?”

“They may. We will have to watch them, and see.”

We went to the stream and washed our faces and got a drink. I found some fresh fruit in the basket, and the meat from in the stove, preparing a simple meal for us to eat.

“What is most important for us to do today?” I asked Adam. “We have the rest of the crops that must be gathered, the house to finish, a writing tool to devise, and something to write on. There is still the meat and hide from the sacrificed bullock. Lots to do. What shall we do first?”

“Much to do,” he said as he ate his meal. “We must care for the meat and the hide, first. If not, they will spoil. Then, the crops must be brought in. If there is time, we can work on the house. Maybe as we work, we will think of a way to create something for writing.”

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We had found that it was best to slice the meat into small strips and hang them to dry in the smoke from the fire. From experience we learned that this was a way to preserve the meat that was ours after a sacrifice. We did not sacrifice often. It would take about a week for the week to dry enough that it would not spoil. It took much of the morning to get the meat ready and hung to dry.

We still needed to be cared for the hide as well. We took it to a pool, some distance away from our bathing pool, and washed it. We needed it to be pliable, for we needed foot coverings, and Adam suggested that strips of the hide could be used for attaching the door to our house. We had many uses for a large hide, like this one. We found large rocks and placed them on the hide, to prevent its floating away in the current. We left it there to soak for a few days.

We then went to our pool to wash away the blood from the sacrifice. I washed our clothing, as well, so that it would be clean for the Sabbath. As I walked toward the bank of the pool, I noticed reeds. They were hollow. If we could find some thing to use as an ink, this would hold it inside the hollow space! I gathered a few reeds, and showed them to Adam.

“Excellent idea. That may be a solution to one of our problems. What will we use for ink, and on what should we write? Still challenges to solve.”

As we walked hand in hand back to our home, I asked, “Have you any idea yet what we can do to solve these problems?”

“Not yet.”

We passed a mulberry tree. The fruit of this tree was tasty, and purple. If it touched our skin, it left a purple stain on it for days.

“Oh, yes. We talked about this yesterday. Maybe the juice of the mulberry will work,” Adam suggested.

“Why not. It stains our skin. It should stain a surface so our words will stay.”

We gathered a small supply, and placed them in the basket we always carried with us, hoping it would work.

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We had found that it was best to slice the meat into small strips and hang them to dry in the smoke from the fire. From experience we learned that this was a way to preserve the meat that was ours after a sacrifice. We did not sacrifice often. It would take about a week for the week to dry enough that it would not spoil. It took much of the morning to get the meat ready and hung to dry.

We still needed to be cared for the hide as well. We took it to a pool, some distance away from our bathing pool, and washed it. We needed it to be pliable, for we needed foot coverings, and Adam suggested that strips of the hide could be used for attaching the door to our house. We had many uses for a large hide, like this one. We found large rocks and placed them on the hide, to prevent its floating away in the current. We left it there to soak for a few days.

We then went to our pool to wash away the blood from the sacrifice. I washed our clothing, as well, so that it would be clean for the Sabbath. As I walked toward the bank of the pool, I noticed reeds. They were hollow. If we could find some thing to use as an ink, this would hold it inside the hollow space! I gathered a few reeds, and showed them to Adam.

“Excellent idea. That may be a solution to one of our problems. What will we use for ink, and on what should we write? Still challenges to solve.”

As we walked hand in hand back to our home, I asked, “Have you any idea yet what we can do to solve these problems?”

“Not yet.”

We passed a mulberry tree. The fruit of this tree was tasty, and purple. If it touched our skin, it left a purple stain on it for days.

“Oh, yes. We talked about this yesterday. Maybe the juice of the mulberry will work,” Adam suggested.

“Why not. It stains our skin. It should stain a surface so our words will stay.”

We gathered a small supply, and placed them in the basket we always carried with us, hoping it would work.