a fiction about an aboriginal village that has been living underground, for decades, and also an assignment in social studies on building your own civilization. i think it ok
also just a short story.
There was a knock on a door, and Yoyekoyh poked her head in. She was a short woman and never smiled unless she was actually happy. She was two or three years older than me, but the most beautiful part about her was her eyes. They were the most striking eyes you would ever see, they looked green but they were actually hazel, it's hard to explain but when you meet someone with eyes like hers. She was my cousin and friend, we have been close since we were young and helped each other through some dark times.
"Yes?" I answered, looking up.
She stepped in. "the scouts reported that the Whitedeath is rolling back in. it's time to go back out."
A smile crept up on my lips, as I placed the baby basket I was currently making on the floor. It was only half done and I had to remake many parts of it, due to mistakes. In the end it should look something like this.
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It turns out that weaving is harder than the Elders make it seem. And no the baby basket is not for me. It is for my sister who will have her first child only in a week or less. My husband Tsonee and I have been wanting a child for a small time now, yet no luck.
Children are known as a gift here in Eureka, disease takes many each year, but mostly due to lack of vitamins, but the numbers have decreased rapidly, ever since minerals in the rocks were discovered, and they started to make them into teas. Know each family gets a certain amount depending on how many people are in the family.
I stood and looked around the room to ensure that everything was in order. Our cave is small since there are only us two (Tsonee and me) living here. Once we have children we will be assigned a larger cave. There was a bed in the corner, and a few chairs. That was it aside from some personal belongings. But not our regalia, it's tradition that your regalia is kept with your mother to keep in safe haven. My mother has many in the cave I grew up in. I have three other siblings. The regalia will soon be taken out for the birth of my soon-to-be niece or nephew. Wait I'm jumping, let me explain.Where a family's first child is born there is a ceremony in honor of the family asking the Creator for a good future for the family. There will be song and prayer, and a story of how when the white men threatened our land and people we fled to the caves, and then the Chief will give a big speech about how this child will be an good influence on his or her community and to it's siblings to come, how it will benefit the community, how it will improve the community. And then the Chief moves on to go on about how all the jobs in Eureka are important, whether it be a member of the counsel, a healer, hunters and gatherers, the fire keepers, and especially the mineral seekers (the current Chief as a certant liking with them, if you bring up the topic of mineral seekers...well you don't want to bring up the topic of the seekers, he will go on and on about how important they are). There are of course other jobs that he skims over, but thoughts are the major ones.
As for me, I'm a gatherer, but I'll get more into that when we're out in the Whitedeath.
Yoyekoyh and I navigate the winding tunnels that make up our underground civilization. As I walked down this tunnel for the millionth time I reflected on how dull our architecture is. When it comes to that topic all there really is, is winding tunnels and circular rooms. We have art in sacred caves written on the walls in our native languages, and symbols decorated tapestries of life, and stories on our home walls. But we have no temples, or altars, such as the white mans. The tunnels, and writing's and beadings, and weavings. That is our art and architecture.
Running footsteps get closer and closer, and suddenly I get a face full of hair. Whoever the hair belongs to jumps back in alarm.
"I'm so sorry," I heard K'wy's voice say in alarm. "I didn't mean to, I know you're in a rush with the Whitedeath and all, oh I'm doing it again. Wasting your time I mean. Sorry." she rambled on red in the face with a bucket in her hand (she was obviously getting water from the underground river). K'way' is young, about eighteen and pale. She was always pale with fair gentle skin. Until she had her baby. K'way' had an awful tendency to get sick, and when she did it was always bad. She had always lacked vitamins in her body, but when her late daughter was born she didn't have enough vitamins to support both of them. Her child passed away when she was a couple weeks old, from sickness. Many people have confronted the Counsel, asking for K'wy' to have a larger supply of the mineral teas, but the counsel always turns them down. Since then a fair number of people have become sour to the Counsel. I just hope that it doesn't escalate into anything.
"It's fine K'wy' really,' ' I say, trying to reassure her. She gave a faint smile and then hurried off down the hall.
"I can't help but feel sorry for her," Yoyekoyh tells me sadly. I just nod solemnly.
