Chapter 11
The Happy Day

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1_YESTERDAY
2_THE HONKS
3_THE FRUIT
4_THE LAUGH

1_YESTERDAY

They woke to the seven-pass still in each other’s arms. It had rained a little over the night and the ground was still wet.

They had scribed the marks on the wall, inside and out. Not only a diary in stone, but an almanac for the future. They were rendering the body of the Long-tooth when Ahoo appeared in terrible shape from his ordeal. They nursed Ahoo back to health. They prepared their garden and planted their precious seeds. They found and filtered clays and shaped crude pots, bowls and utensils. BOY made a crucible and fired the clays hard. A crucible to heat ores and drive the metals out. Wow, another remarkable day.

They both jumped up, determined what to do. They sat again around the marks on the wall and decided to scribe Ahoo and the crucible beside the six mark. AMI said, The waters fell last set. The waters to help our seeds grow and to fill our water pits above our cave with fresh water. Our crops will fare well for several passes. To protect our seeds we need to keep intruders away. BOY said, The water last set will give us time to secure more of the foods, and work with the other things that we need to do. When we have food secured, we can make more of the metal and cast it in the clay or use the very hot heat to pound it to shape. We have many things to plan to make. AMI said, I will continue the baskets and the clothing. I will make a joining of the stiff reeds and tie them to the end of a strong stick. This will move small things around on the cave floor and move out those things not wanted. This I will call ‘sweep’. I will think how to make cleaner for our bodies and to clean our eating forms. This I will call ‘clean’.

She walked over to the edge of the cave and looked over the fields. She spied something near the swampy area, and gave a sharp little whistle to BOY. She then whispered,

2_THE HONKS

BOY donned his lid and went out to the field. He cut and gathered as many long poles as he could and brought them back to the cave to be cleaned of debris. AMI broke small branches and loose bark off the poles.

Starting at the outside stairway wall, BOY dug holes with his axe and wood knife where each pole would go. He pounded and staked the poles deep into the holes, and tied them together with vines and made a high fence from the entry stairway to the front. After a fence four body lengths long, he turned to the rise and left an opening about elbow to elbow width apart. Then he continued with the fence across to the rise about three body lengths and then to the back to the cave wall. When the stakes were all tied together, it made a large and high squarish pen. He secured the bottom of the pen walls with large rocks on both sides to prevent escape. The pen was above his height and made an enclosure from the outside cave wall to the front then across to the rise and then to the back and to the outside cave wall.

Then came a door of stakes lashed together about two elbow widths wide. The door could be lifted in or out of the entry and had cord loops where it could be hung on the tops of the entry poles. The bottom had large rocks placed against the door to keep it from moving out or in. It could be lifted off the top when needed. It could open to get in and out. This would serve as a pen and keep the birds inside. AMI said, I will make round straw beds for them to lay their eggs in.

She gathered straw and made three raised nests inside. She put a bowl at one end where she could easily reach in and fill it with water. It would be easy to throw grasses and seeds for food down to the honks from the ledge and over the wall. BOY said, We can clip a short piece off the ends of their wings. Then they cannot fly high enough to get out of the pen. First we need to catch them.

He worried the honks might get out of the open top. He decided to place long poles diagonally over the corners of the pen and right above the raised nest site. When they had finished, they stood back from the pen happy of their work. My mother raised chickens. I would call it a coop. AMI said, Your pen is a thing of beauty. It will protect the Honks from danger. Now the fun part, we must capture the Honks.

Now to catch the honks, BOY took his best tools and went over to the bog where the honks were. The honks all flew off. He dug a long trench in the soft soil about a body length long. The trench sloped down from the ground to more than a forearm deep at the other end. He placed some debris around the top of the deep end making it even deeper.

When he finished digging the trench he scraped seeds from the tall stalks of grass and from the emmer plants and put them at the entrance to the trench. Then he placed them in a row heading down into the trench with a large pile of seeds at the bottom.

The trap was set. Would the honks take the bait and enter the trench? Would they even come back? BOY waited behind the garden ready to pounce if they came back and entered the trench.

He made several honking sounds and waited. After a few partitions of waiting, he started to walk back to the cave when he noticed a flock of honks nearing the bog. He crouched down and honked and waited for them to land. He stayed still not risking that they might fly off if he moved. Many honks landed feeling safe from the honk sounds. They pecked about and one noticed the pile of seeds at the tunnel entrance. It honked and flew over. Several others followed it there. When the first honk saw the seeds it made low honking sounds and ate the seeds at the top of the trench. Then it followed the seeds into the trench. Another honk followed eating what the first left behind.

BOY was excited. He slowly crawled closer and closer and then ran at full speed. Before the honks knew it he was on top of them holding their necks. He had dove straight into the trench and caught the honks off guard. They could not open their wings. As he held them both tightly all the other honks quickly flew off. He laughed and yelled, AMI, I have honks, I have two honks. AMI said, Wow. It is good we have honks. Let us make sure they are both of laying the eggs, and make calm for them to lay.

They honked and flayed all about but they could not get away. BOY checked, they were both of the laying of eggs. AMI ran to the field and held one of them while BOY cut the tips off their wings. He carried the honks by their legs back to the pen. Once securely inside he released them to the pen. The honks ran all about and tried to fly away. They could only jump a short distance up the pen walls and could barely fly at all. As they entered the pen AMI giggled with delight. She went in and again checked the right genders. They were both of the eggs and she fed them right away. AMI said, They can be happy here. They need look nowhere for safety and food. If we are lucky they will give us two eggs each pass.

AMI hung onto BOY’s arm as they watched the fluttering honks settle in to their new home. They talked gently to them to calm them down. The honks scratched at the soil and ran into the walls. They continued talking gently to them and put in a few soft honking sounds. Soon they were calm and walked through the pen pecking at the seeds strewn on the ground and gulping at the water. They then looked all around and laid down on the straw beds. It would be a few passes for them to feel the comfort to lay the eggs. Later that day BOY caught two more. One was not of the eggs and he let it go.

They had three egg layers and would over time gather more. As the decks went by BOY also caught two Quacks in the same trap and placed them in the same pen. They later found the Quacks were of milder temper and laid more eggs. AMI said, I wonder how Oink and Ahoo will feel of the fliers. Will they accept them as friends or not? Ahoo’s instinct to chase and eat may be a problem to solve.

Oink cared not, but Ahoo was right by the pen looking inside and he whimpered as he looked up at BOY and BOY sat on the ground beside, holding and petting him. Ahoo put his left paw on BOY’s knee and let out a low emotional ‘awwoo’. He calmed down as BOY pet him. He brought Ahoo to the doorway and the birds jumped and ran and voiced their fear. Ahoo was a predator and they knew it. BOY told AMI, It will take time but Ahoo will recognize these fliers as our group and will learn to protect, not endanger them at all. We will have to care for them each pass with food and water and to remove the dirty straw from their beds. We will replace the dirty straw with fresh straw and if needed when straw is low we can wash the dirty straw. When it is dry we can place it back in the pen. The dirty straw will go to a pile near our garden for the parts it contains. AMI agreed and said, Ahoo see these creatures and know they are our friends and that they will provide us with food. When we want young honks we can find the other gender of the honks and make young of the two by the eggs they make together, not alone. If we are lucky we will catch more of the egg layers in their prime.

This was amazing. They had caught birds that would lay eggs. Their garden was in seed. They had made comforts not possible to think from nothing.

As I marveled at their Vision, I saw they were making themselves self-sufficient, not dependent on anyone or anything at all. Their advancements were achieved at breakneck speeds. Could this pace truly continue, and where would it all lead? Were they building Sanctuary on the Turf? Would they usher in a unique type of people to roam the Turf? BOY said,

3_THE FRUIT

Now is a good time to bring the small fruit bushes near the creeks to a spot to the fall of our cave where Horus shines strong and the soils softer. If we dig new holes in the soft soils, far enough apart for the young bushes to quickly grow and produce fruit, I will dig up the best of the new trees and place them inside the holes. Within a few returns they will produce much fruit. AMI said, And water for their drink, we can easily water them here. We can tend to their being and protect them from danger. They will give us their food powers and provide continual supply.

She went around to the fall side of the cave and sought the best spots where the bushes would grow close enough, but apart. There were several good soft soiled areas where the soil went deep and was moist a short distance down. Here she dug the holes and loosened the soils with the stone axe and her knife.

BOY went to the large fruit bushes and searched around them for their young. Their young had to be small enough to dig up and transport and big enough to start fruiting within a few returns. In the meantime they would rely on the few fruit bushes at the edges of the fields. He dug as wide of a circle around each young tree as he could and still be able to carry the tree. He then dug down under the tree roots, cutting off those that were in the way. It was hard work right up to when he could roll it out of its pit. He then called AMI over to help. She dropped everything and ran over. They rolled five of the young trees onto his sled and towed them back across the fields to the orchard to be. AMI puffed and said, They will look well in rows with their bountiful fruits. They will glisten and ripen and abound in the new ground. We will learn how to dry the fruits and save them from time. We must water and feed them with fire ash and straw emergents when they are ready.

4_THE LAUGH

Toiled and weary, when able, they reluctantly would stop for drink and berries. When they finished planting the last tree AMI scampered up the ramp to see. The partitions were way over half way to the fall.

She sat at the top of the ledge and saw all the young trees they planted in the orchard. She sighed as she looked around at all they had done. Then a slow smile turned to a soft laugh. Her cheeks slowly rose as she laughed out loud. She giggled with her laugh and held her knees in her arms on the step she sat upon. She sputtered and she laughed loudly.

BOY turned in the field. He laughed to her laughter. It was of great joy to laugh together.

AMI smiled broadly and tears came flowing freely. They ran down her cheeks. Her eyes locked on BOY. BOY’s tears fell with hers. They ran to each other. There were no words.

They hung from each other. They laughed, then they cried. There were no words to say. They fell down in the field. They made one body of them, and then mostly they laughed. When they rose together AMI walked on up on BOY’s legs, and laughed.

She jumped off and ran away, BOY chased after her. Oink and Ahoo ran amok out in the field. They threw sticks and kicked leaves. AMI hung on a tree branch she could reach and swung back and forth and said, BOY swing on this branch, such joy to back and forth through the air.

BOY swung on the branch and set another idea in his mind. He wanted AMI to swing in the air. It made her feel part of the wind. AMI said,I like watching our honks play together. They are funny and each of them different. They chase each other, push each other around, fly up in the air and drop down, roll in the dirt, and peck at things. BOY said, I like watching our home grow. The fire, the water, the foods, the crops, the eggs, the fiber, the protection, the tools and the creations will all make a home. Mostly, I like watching you. I would like this pass to be the Happy-pass.

They decided to get everyone back to the cave as dark would soon set in. They had started a sanctuary on the turf and this time they were earning it through their grunt and their sweat. They walked hand in hand back to the cave. Oink and Ahoo ran ahead of them.

That night they noticed the hangs had moved much further back in the cave away from the fire and the light and the noise. They scraped the piles of burf from the cave floor under where the hangs had hung. The burfs were removed to the pile of weeds and grasses they made by the garden.

That night all was well. By the seven-mark, AMI scribed two honks and a fruit, and BOY scribed AMI swinging on the branch and a tear.

They performed their sessions and slept well through the night. They saved each memory of their day and placed it away. They felt very happy with this day and the Codes continue into The Joy Day.