The First Jumper (first draft version)

The First Jumper 34: Cold Cave

Outside, the wind howled for two weeks, in a sub-freezing gale that many said had voices in it.  Holly thought it  echoed the voices that spoke from the fire.  Violet thought it was the voices of lost children.

When they asked Raccoon, he said it was the voices of all their hearts, but would explain no more about it, except when they asked if he thought they were angry with them.  He smiled a little bitterly, and said, "No more than you are angry with yourselves."

For two weeks, they were trapped inside.  Going outside in that wind would be death.  Any game out there, if it was alive, would be hunkered down under snow drifts.

They had plenty of meat.  Plenty of meat meant no need to hunt.

In the cave with no need to hunt meant the tribe had to get work done, in the little light they had, either by the fire or out in the bear cave, where there was natural light.  Either way, they had to stay busy, or the men were going to start fighting amongst themselves.

The men had finally accepted the throwing stick.  They had all seen how far Little Bear had thrown at the camel, and everyone had seen the spear which had been completely buried in the young mastodon, transfixing its heart.  Not even Cave Bear could have thrown with such force.

The men spent nearly all day, every day, practicing with the throwing sticks in the large cavern.  Some of them were picking it up faster than others.  Tiger was already better with it than Little Bear.

The women were mostly either cutting up rawhide and making clothes from animal hide, or they were fashioning clay into pots.

Ringtail had determined that the clay from the one cave might be useful, so they were making pots, then setting them in the hottest part of the fire to dry.  When they were dry, they lifted them out of the fire to cool.  They tended to crumble and break easily, but they would hold water, and they could hold fire.  

Ash sat with Willow and Blueberry, making additional throwing sticks.  They only had three more pieces of wood that might make throwing sticks, and each worked on one.  As they worked, they chatted.  Both girls were flattered that the head woman would want to spend time with them.

Ash was a hard worker, and did not complain, even when she nicked herself with a flint.  Eventually, they got around to talking about the girls’ plans for the future.  Initially they didn’t want to talk about it, but they got over their reticence when Ash told them the whole tribe knew they both wanted to marry Little Bear.

Willow glared at Blueberry, “I chose him first.  Go find your own husband!”

“Maybe my time will come before yours,” Blueberry retorted.  “If it does, I might choose Tiger.  Then again, maybe I’ll choose Little Bear.  Then I’ll be Senior Wife, and you’ll have to do what I say.”

“You’d better not!” Willow shot back.

“Girls, girls,” said Ash, “Calm down.  Blueberry, I can understand why you’d want to choose my son.  Tiger is the best young man in the tribe, and he’s going to be chief some day.  On the other hand, he is also your half brother.  You’ll make better children with Little Bear.”

“Noooo,” moaned Willow.  “Don’t encourage her!”

“You, on the other hand,” chuckled Ash, “Seemed to choose Tiger, a while back, but then you changed your mind.”

“I chose Little Bear,” said Willow.

“So you did,” said Ash, “so you did.  And you have that right, just as you have the right to change your choice, right up until your day of choosing arrives.”