MEN

Chapter 24: Parent-men

It was silent night, eclipse was beginning.

The group of men that were looking for smart-man and idiot-man reached the desert.

The wind was calm, thus they swiftly swifted through the desert.

"Ehh can't we take a break-man?"
Clique-man complained.

"Come on, my man! We can do it!"
I-don't-know-man encouraged.

The others in the group felt encouraged by her enthusiasm and their travel swiftly concluded as they reached the end of the wild west: the mountains.

Smart-man's mother looked around, trying to find the way forward.

Idiot-man's mother did the same and she stumbled upon a huge ravine in the ground.

Diamond ore and gold ore was visible even from their elevated position as the ore was glimmering in the light of the eclipsed moon.

She got a bad feeling from that ravine, like it was drawing her into it.

At first she thought it was another kind of ore, but after closer inspection:
"Blood-man..?"
A dried up puddle of blood shimmered in the dark.

Idiot-man's mother snapped out of it and called for the group.

"I found a bridge-man!"
She was standing in front of a bridge that lead to the other side of the ravine.
It was very thin but seemed sturdy enough to carry multiple men over to the other side.

"Did we really send her to a dangerous place-man like this?"
She thought.

She hoped that this puddle of blood was just from some random animals that lived down there, but she couldn't stop worrying, especially since the puddle wasn't that far away from the bridge.

In her mind, her daughter could have fallen down there.

She didn't tell her husband about her worries.
He was very sensitive about blood and injuries. Her husband couldn't see blood. If he does he becomes very afraid and practically freezes.

This was the first time she saw her husband be as determined as he was so she didn't want to risk him chickening out of their journey.

That made her think though.
"Hey, husband-man, I meant to ask-man you before, but how come you seem so determined-man?"
She asked her husband, idiot-man's father, the original idiot-man.

He was a bit embarrassed since he knew how his wife would react to his truth, but he was sure that their relationship was strong enough for the truth to not harm it in any way at all.

"At church-man, smart-man's mother-man inspired me. When I saw her, I knew I had to follow-man her.. in a way, I think most of us are going on this journey-man because of her intense determination-man and desperation-man."
He explained.

His wife started pouting.
"Oh.. so you like-man her, don't you?"
She said while averting her gaze.

"Yeah, I do, my man."
He answered.

Idiot-man's mother looked at him, filled with jealousy and then sought out smart-man's mother within the crowd of people behind them.

After finding her, she left her leading position, since she was the one who found the bridge and thus was ahead of the others after crossing it she slowed down her walking pace to end up right next to smart-man's mother.

"Oh.. Hi, idiot-man's mother-man."
Smart-man's mother said.

"Hi..."
She replied quietly.
It was as if she was embarrassed.