Chapter 12: The New Changes in the New Hood

Let me just say that Roo, Train and Tuka were trying hard to be everywhere and to see everything and everyone all at the same time. The first time Cleo called out for the cubs to appear so she could see them, a HUMAN STAMPEDE damn near broke out within the entire camp and just about everyone was suddenly on the move heading for the woods. Cleo was just doing what is natural for a mother with cubs. The three cubs wanted to be anywhere a human hand was nearby to scratch them between the ears. In addition, those cubs had discovered whatever berries that were just gathered tasted very good, as a few of the younger women were hand feeding berries to the cubs. The three cubs really liked those treats, and they had meant to stay until all of the treats were all gone. They may be young, but they knew a good deal when they ran into it. The problem is that no humans around here have ever lived with cats before, and both sides had to learn about each other.

When Cleo didn’t know where her cubs were, everyone in camp knew she wanted those cubs to appear when she put some noise in the air. Anyone who didn’t have some level of fear right then was already dead. Hell, even I trembled a little bit too. I am not ashamed to tell that fact to anyone who wants hear about it either. When the cubs ran to Cleo, they suddenly wanted to see what treats she was willing to give since she spoiled their new treats with the strange animals. Cleo let her three charges drain her of her milk.

Now Leo had left camp as he wanted it known that he was in the neighborhood and wouldn’t be letting any predators of his type hunt, or hang around either. Leo considered this neighborhood closed to any predators that didn’t belong to his camp, no matter if they had two legs or four legs they used to walk around on. He was better than a mile away from our camp when he ran up on a male cave Lion that had thought that this hood was his hood too. The cave lion roared at Leo that he was here first, and wasn’t leaving just on Leo’s say so. And the fight was on. When the cave lion roared back at Leo, I thought I was the only one that could hear them. What I didn’t know at first was that the cave lion’s brother and a couple of the females were nearby and were also on the move, to the fight scene. Apparently Cleo also heard Leo as well and growled at the cubs, then took off on a dead run heading for Leo. The cubs came right to me, Cleo had sent a vision of the cubs coming to me, which they did.

I took them to the horse cave to show them their area. I sent the cubs to the litter box with a vision of what it was for. They promptly put it to good use. Clyde came over to me to see if an apple might appear. Malla had brought three big leg bones with meat purposely left on the bones for the cubs. The new large area was large enough for Leo not to be near Cleo and her babies. The new area for the cats was so massive, it was large enough for quite a few big cats. The green astro-turf was plush and soft like a lawn, with grass about four to five inches high. With its own pool looking like a watering hole three-feet deep, and wide enough for more than a few adult cats at a time, should they choose to be in their pool together. About then I heard Leo had extra company. I quickly ran to Challa’s truck and made dirt fly as I floored the gas pedal. The warrior in Tarna ran to see why I was running, and she jumped in the passenger side and off we went. I thought to Cleo to stop running and she skidded to a stop. She jumped in the truck bed, barely missing the tools in the back of the truck, as we went by. Leo knew by then that we were coming, so he tried to keep from getting hurt while he awaited our arrival, as we were just a few minutes away.

When we arrived to see the four cave lions, two male lions and the two female lionesses were pacing around Leo, keeping him effectively cornered. Cleo was “Jane on the spot”, and promptly began introducing herself to the much smaller full grown cave lionesses. Cleo herself was bigger than the male cave lions. Then one of the males was stupid enough to take his eyes off of Leo and paid the price for doing so, as Leo lunged forward and took a swipe, trying to take half of the cave lion’s face off. That cave lion ran off to gather himself, leaving his brother to Leo’s tender mercies, Leo being nearly twice his size and was running very short on mercy. Gazoo sent images to Leo, Cleo and me about the small pride with young cubs, and a few lionesses west of our position. That pride would be defenseless if Leo killed the both of the males cave lions. The remaining cave lion had soiled himself as Leo was about to tear into his throat. Leo let him up as we all heard the hyenas when they showed up. All six cats helped them to know this was a wrong place and a wrong time issue for them to develop nose troubles about. The injured hyenas limped off as the healthier members put up a brave show of force in retreat, leaving the dead ones behind.

After the departure of the hyenas the two different species of cats were once again in “us and them” mode. Both of the males were more than ready to leave, but Leo was blocking the two females from exiting with the two males. Now knowing what the trouble was from Gazoo, I asked Tarna to stay with the cats as I headed to the pride. I was met with growls until I made some dirt jump from the shots that I fired into the ground. The pride moved away except for two very small cubs that were obviously nervously looking around for their mamas. I picked them up and went back to where Leo was holding court. The two mothers were very nervous, as Leo wasn’t giving either of them any peace. When I returned they both could see that I had both of their young cubs. I put the cubs down on the ground, and the cubs bypassed all of us en route to their mothers. Cleo thought all of these actions by Leo were somewhat comical by the look on her face as she lay on the ground quietly. Once the two cubs were claimed by their mothers, Leo began herding the cats towards our camp. I wasn’t saying anything about Leo’s actions, as a male, I know better than to get between a male anything and new potential pussy. The females didn’t want to go at first, until Leo put the proverbial paw down. Cleo looked at the cats walking and the truck bed, she chose the truck bed rather than walk, and we all went home together.

Upon our arrival, Cleo jumped to the ground and made a soft noise, the defeated females and their cubs followed her into the horse cave. Needless to say, Clyde and his girls didn’t know these two cats, and was he kicking up a fuss right now! Clyde was sending me thoughts of panic, I sent back thoughts of what happened. Leo jumped up and was stepping fast toward the horse cave. Clyde was sharing his direct concerns directly with Leo. Both Leo and Clyde were both looking out for their women folk. Now it was comical to me, and everyone in camp was looking at me strangely. Hey, I was leaning on the side of the truck laughing so hard that I was doubled over and had tears flowing also. “As most of you have no idea what went on, Leo was attacked by two male cave lions, those two females were with the two males. By the time Tarna, Cleo, and I arrived, Leo was in a standoff with the four of them. Cleo got to know the two female cats, because she is much larger, and I am sure all of the cave lions thought she was a male also. One of the lions turned his head away from Leo, and after a quick swipe of a paw from Leo, Leo was now facing just one cave lion.

Leo may have killed him, but some nosey hyenas took this deadly moment to show their faces. Hyenas and wild dogs are hated enemies of all cats, period. The six cats took on a pack of twenty hyenas, a few were killed, and more than a few of them had to limp away. I am sure that some of them might die naturally, while others will meet death at the hands of the pack as dinner, as that is how hyenas live and die, survival of the fittest is the law of the land amongst the pack. Anyway, Leo willingly let the male cave lions leave, but wouldn’t allow the females to leave and return to their pride. I thought that the females must have some young cubs. So I went to see, and after proving that I was dangerous enough to not challenge, the pride moved away slowly, leaving the two very young cubs that were seriously yelping for their mothers. After I was able to pick up the two cubs in full view of the pride, I left to return to Leo. I never knew Cleo was with me until I was headed back. Cleo was most likely why I had so little resistance to me retrieving the cubs after all.” I said.

“Why I was laughing so hard a few minutes ago is that Clyde was looking out for himself and his mares. Leo is smart enough to know he had to face Clyde and work together with him to settle the cave they all share.” I said. I thought to myself, that I myself wasn’t going anywhere near that vicinity, as Leo and Clyde needed to settle the tension in that cave. I don’t live in there, those two groups do, besides, I have troubles to settle in my own cave. I presumed that Queen Kamora had still some natural desires to take over both my cave and this entire camp. There were a few loud sounds that could be heard outside as coming from within the horse cave for a short while, then it was all quiet afterwards. As Clyde walked up to me later on, so I was assured no harm came to any of the horses or the cats within the cave. A little while after that, Leo walked out of camp once again going in a different direction than he had left the last time that he walked out of our camp.

I could see all of the hard work that Challa and Boso had done while I was gone. Those two had their crews working on the lodge like a well-oiled machine. They already had the base floor joists already in place. As well as the first floor sections had been completed, the new frozen cave had also been dug out and covered by thick plywood for now. People were cutting holes in the floors for plumbing and for the simple electrical wiring as needed. The Asorians were not really here yet when the infrastructure was set up. So by the time they were looking to see what was really going on with the building of the lodge no sleight of hand was needed by Gazoo. One of the things that surprised Queen Kamora the most was that the building of the lodge was an equal opportunity site. The workforce was of both men and women, as each group had representation in the building of their new home. People were cutting wood for floors, window openings, and walls. Plywood was both being made, as well as cut to size. Measurements were brought to the cutters as needed, and the pieces were then cut and given to those waiting for them with very few errors in the dimensions. When there were any errors, the jokes would break out and fun was had by all.

Hammers were being swung by both men, and women. In other words there were no men only jobs, nor were any jobs labeled for women only. When the lodge’s design was first laid out, women had the most input to exactly where they wanted things to be located inside the lodge. The control freaks that the men of this time period were instantly upset because their ideas were not being listened to as they normally are. I had to pull the men as a group away for a small informal chat. I asked. “Do any of you have a say as to how your lodges are run now?”

“No” the group of men said.

“This Lodge we are in is the same as all of your individual lodges. Where I come from, we say a happy wife, happy life. We called our mate by the name of wife rather than mate most of the time. You let your women run the camp from what I have seen since I got here, so don’t try and change now. It will only cause troubles among the women that none of us gentlemen will want to come to pass. Please just trust me on this one very important issue.” I said.

“Where I come from a man with a family is given one area within the lodge that he can control and make his own place to relax. Not to say that some of the other folks that he lives with do not use this area also. That area is typically called a man-cave.” I said.

“Surely you are not speaking truthfully, Alex.” Boso spoke for the group, with others nodding their heads. Naturally I had to explain what a man-cave was, and it’s uses. “No jokes, a man could set it up any way within reason that he wanted to, as a tradeoff, he was responsible for most of the cleanup of said area. Just work with the ladies and all will be well. And they, as you can see, have their own spot to meet at right now, and a truly wise man will never set foot in their special area unless he has an important question, or a need to. This is another trust me issue. Listen, I am all man, don’t get me wrong ever, but I am the leader of the entire camp. That means that I have to see both sides of any and all of the issues. And as sub-leaders, you men will be dealing with these kinds of issues first hand, just like you have always done. But the women’s grapevine will bring it to my women, who will expect me to solve it, and I will refer the matter back to you sub-leaders.” I said.

“You will still be a leader to your groups, as I have said before when you all joined this camp. I don’t want to disturb your leadership in anyway, but by the same token I will not let your troubles effect this camp. In addition, I will be trying to encourage my ladies to assist but not get involved in the affairs of other groups. The women have their own little power groups amongst themselves. I want all of us men, myself included, not to bother these women about their business. I will not understand any man interfering in the women’s business unless he is within that group. And you men know what I am speaking of. While the subject is being discussed, if anybody, male or female, does anything to make these men feel unwanted, or intimidates them, they will be dealt with by me personally. I want to seek out more of these men and women, not for me or anyone for mates. These people may have a skill none of us have, but are overlooked as they, liked by other people very much. Or think that they shouldn’t like that way the way they are.” I said.

We had come a long way since that long drawn out meeting when I was the only man who thought that what I said would work. But Challa had changed more than a few minds to the fact that all girls were not just soft little playthings for nightly pleasures. Each day more women who were not hanging around the sewing room, were starting to pitch in to see what they could do. It was surprising that hammering nails came easier to some of the women and faster than some of the men. The women were just so giddy with this new strength they had gained, that most of the second story, and roof construction would be handled later by a larger group of women than the men. This was a positive freedom for the women that they had never truly had before. I had to let my leaders know that the women were changing, so they had better change as well, as I would remind them that I would not tolerate any woman-beating whatsoever.