Down River Camp

 

    He went to her.

    As he climbed up the bank, she still did not run or cry out. At last, he faced her. He had never seen anyone like her.

***

    She had never seen anyone like him. He had come out of the river to her. She felt that in some sense he must be hers. Or else, why would he come to her that way? She began to think about bringing him to her mother.
    He was small, tight, and sinewy. He had darker skin than her people and dark brown straight hair. He had curious brown eyes, staring at every detail of her person.
    She had never seen an uncovered man before. She laughed. He was naked like a baby boy. He wasn’t very old. She could see that easily.
    He reached out and touched her dress, running his fingers down through the soft grey fur. He quietly touched her lighter hair and even the skin of her cheeks. He laughed at her too. He had never seen anyone covered in fur like that, which was not part of her body.
    At his camp his grandmother, the Old One, went nearly nude except for a little apron made of deerskin. Except for one brother, she was all he knew of family. He didn’t remember his father or his mother. His brother was older and was a better hunter than he was. They both hunted by throwing rocks. It took a lot of skill, and only brought down small game.
    His hunger made him bolder than he might have been otherwise coming upon a person he had never seen before. Always before, when he had seen in the distance some person not of his camp, he had hidden silently, just letting them pass him as if he didn’t exist. He feared others.
    But That One, this girl, was different. He had no fear of her. Her smile was warm and encouraging in a way that he was not accustomed to. In fact, no one was in the habit of smiling at him. He was often in trouble. He had a habit of curiosity.
    In a gesture as old as mankind, she took his hand and drew him further up the bank and onto flat land. He followed her. There was a trail between the trees and among the tall grass. They walked along together for some distance. Coming over a little rise, he saw where she was leading him.
    This camp was very different from his. It was out in the open. There was a simple building of sorts, made of small timbers lashed together and covered with the skins of large animals. Then he saw the people. Fear tugged at his mind then, for he had never seen so many others. It was just her family. There was an adult man, much taller than himself, dressed in furs. There was a woman, also in furs and two small boys. She also had the strange braided light hair. Her eyes were sharp and blue also.
    He had a brief urge to run, but then he noticed that there was a fire and there was meat cooking near it. This caught his attention.
    Still holding his hand, she led him over to the woman who was seated near the fire. This woman looked up curiously and she also laughed.
    The girl spoke.
    “Look. A man came out of the river to me. He was on a tree, but it stopped near me, and he got off of it. I think he is mine. The river gave him to me.
    “I think he is hungry. Look how thin he is.”
    The woman looked him over, then said, “does he speak?”
    “I don’t know,” said the girl.
    The tall man walked over to look. His eyebrows went up, but he didn’t laugh. He just watched.
    The mother took a black stone blade and began slicing off some thin pieces of the meat and laying them on a flat stone she had nearby. She gestured to the boy and then to the meat. He squatted down and picked up a slice.
    It was better than anything he was used to. It came from a deer, not a rabbit or a fish or a bird, and it was salted. Also, there were herbs. He ate it joyfully for it was very good. He waited for more, and she sliced more for him.
    The girl looked proudly at her family.
    Her father said, “he will need to wear something. He’s not a baby.”
    Everyone also ate as the mother kept slicing. The little boys examined him curiously. Then they ran off to play some more at their hunting game.
    When night came, they brought him into their shelter and let him stay.