Chapter 21: The Spy in the Morning

In the morning, I asked everyone if they'd like to be the one to invite our observer to breakfast.

"Hairy. Why do you want a woman to ask a man to breakfast?" Gil wondered.

I grinned, "surely you've done it before."

"Well." That tiny hesitation. "Yes," she confessed, "late at night, at a bar." She laughed. "He cooked." Everyone else laughed.

Barb asked, "don't you think you should go? That's a man out there and he's been here for three days and nights."

Ship said, "I'm the servant. I should go."

Simone immediately objected, "You're my twin, I'd be lost without you. If you got cut, I'd bleed from the same place. If you were struck, I'd bruise. Hairy, you go."

I called for a vote. I lost. Five to zero. Hell yes, I voted for me. These women have all the pussy. I'm not That stupid.

Which is why I'm trudging across the snow to the lean-to by the trees next to the cliff, unarmed ... except for a silenced CZ 70 ... I hadn't mentioned that I was taking it, just in case. I may be gullible but I'm smarter than that.

I put some wood on the fire, cleared my throat and backed off a couple of feet.

The furs wiggled a little, a head stuck out. Her eyes got big ... my eyes got bigger.

I knew I should have made one of the girls come instead.

Our observer was a girl, with skin the color of heavily creamed coffee and huge black eyes. She came out of the robe like a house afire, displaying an expertly made chert knife. I held up my hands and backed off a couple more steps. She was tiny, no taller than 4 feet 7. She spoke.

"Why are you here, in this place? This is the summering place of my band of the People."

I understood every word. The Powers that Be had promised we would understand and speak every language without accent.

"We have been here since before the shadows lengthened, the leaves turned and fell and the stream grew the crystals that melt. There was no one else here."

"Why are you here?" she asked.

"We have been waiting for you," I explained.

"I don't understand."

"The spirits told us the People would be coming. We are here to join you."

"Why?"

"We have things to teach. You have things to teach. We must learn from each other if we are to survive the next few years."

"What? Survive? All life is a gamble. Survival is a gift of the spirits."

"Come to breakfast and we can talk. The women are cooking good things to eat. You may wish to find out what you want to know from them." I smiled then and walked away.

"WAIT!"

I turned back, "Yes?"

"How do I know if it is safe?"

"You don't." I explained, "you must decide for yourself. My women will not let me harm you."

"They are not here."

"This is true. They made me come."

"Your wives made you come?" She was incredulous. "You obey your wives?"

"They were worried you were a man. Men deal best with men."

"This is true."

I said, "I have harmed you none. I have given you meat, shelter and fire. The spirits command it."

"Yes, they do."

"I would do the same for my enemy if he were in your moccasins."

"My moccasins? Oh. I see. If your enemy were cold, hungry and needy, you would supply his needs until he was fit to leave. You are right. The spirits command it." She smiled. "I have never heard it explained like that ... in my moccasins, indeed." She laughed outright.

"Yes. Come and eat. My lodge is your lodge, my food is your food, my fire is your fire." I grinned, "at least until you decide if we are friend of the People or enemy. Deal?"