Chapter 163

"I'm sure it won't come to that since there are plenty to take care of the animals now. I just wanted to give them a few things to make their jobs easier. I'll be going now, but I'm sure I will see you all tonight at the celebration."

"We will all be there tonight, but you should look quickly if you want to see any of us standing. We love the bruga and it loves us and we will all be sleeping in its embrace as soon as possible," he said, and then he and his friends broke out laughing, at each other no doubt.

I took my snowshoes back to my cave and as I was heading for the bedroom I saw Deimeta and told her to see Mundo later today for some of her own.

"Thank you for getting me some, Daddy, I will need them to go and see Darta," she said.

"Well, it is Mundo and his friends who will be making a special pair for you, so be sure to thank him also."

"I will. I like Mundo, he has been very nice to me," she said, as I left for the bedroom.

After putting away my snowshoes I came back out into the cave and saw Bigglieo and several other men bringing the beer kegs, in their again-icy barrels, back through and into the celebration cave. Other men were getting the stored folding tables and the plastic mugs, making sure all the necessary equipment for the upcoming drunk would be ready.

Most of my mates were working on cooking now and I decided to go and see Racaato since I figured he would probably be alone in what had come to be his main operating area.

I went to the practice cave and was surprised to see more people firing. It was mostly my main helpers and I could tell they were busily re-sighting their rifles to make sure the new scopes were going to be able to do their jobs. Racaato noticed me this time and came over to talk.

"It looks like you have been busy all day, Racaato."

"Mostly I have been. I went around and made sure everyone with a rifle knew they now had new scopes and they needed to be sighted in.

"I think most of them want to get it done today so they will not have to do it tomorrow. I believe they are thinking ahead about the possible conditions of their heads in the morning," he said, with a smile.

"At least they are thinking ahead and no doubt sighting in a rifle tomorrow would be a painful experience. It is good they realize it needs to be done though."

"They all know if they need the rifle they will need it to hit where they aim it. I believe many of them were a little alarmed over what happened to the people at Caato's old camp. They aren't afraid, but they do want to be ready. No one has forgotten the trouble we had from Jadatako and those who followed him," he said.

"Surely we won't have that kind of annoyance again. If it is the camp Dotallto thinks it is they live quite a distance from us."

"Maybe so, but they made the trip to Caato's old camp and they can come on to ours if they are determined. I believe most of us would like to show them it will not be a profitable adventure," he said.

"It will be worse than that for them. I am already mad about them coming to kill men I was going to help. I plan to wait until the snow is gone and spring has come to deal with them, but if they make me any madder I might not. We have some large sleighs now and if we need to we can travel in the snow without too much bother. If we have to do it some of them are going to die for causing us the trouble."

There wasn't much more to say about it afterward and so I went back to my cave. I was a little restless and bored too and so I bit the bullet when I got back and asked my mates if I could help them in any way. They were more than happy to point out dozens of things I could tote and carry for them.

I spent the rest of the afternoon in their service, but it was not without its rewards. I was called on to do much tasting and sampling and of course I had to be the first to check Bigglieo's work and make sure the beer was just the right temperature.

I was also right on hand to help dig up the cooking pits and I sampled some of the mammoth meat which had been slow-cooking underground. It was tender and delicious and I could tell at once why mammoth meat was so well liked by everyone. It was exceptionally good and I couldn't help wondering how it would be if it were slow-smoked over a hickory fire. If Argent was still giving and not taking back when he returned I was going to make sure I found out.

After the preparations were over and I was released from my voluntary servitude I went to the bedroom and got naked. I found my way to the shower and joined those of my mates who were already soapy and slippery. Several of them began to soap and wash me and just so they would know I was getting into the spirit of things I did a little soaping and washing of my own. I don't know what it is with me and women's pubic hair, but working up a hand-made lather in a woman's bush is one of my favorite pastimes. This woke Dicky and as he came to attention he proved a popular destination for my mate's soapy hands.

"I think he might be clean enough now," I said.

"We will keep washing him a while longer to make sure," Yareela said.

"Yes, he needs to be very clean tonight," Xailieta agreed.

"Careful though, we don't want him to discharge too quickly," Taaheita cautioned.

"Taaheita is right, he has a busy night ahead of him," Geera added.

Finally they decided Dicky was presentable and by this time he was presenting. I left the shower to dry off and since many of them were finished I helped dry them too. Soon most of us were back in the bedroom dressing. I felt a little silly putting on my mail for a celebration, but I did it anyway. I always wore it now and would probably feel undressed without it.

After we'd dressed we went to the celebration cave to relieve the ones who had stayed to keep watch on things. I concentrated on looking around while my mates made the final adjustments to the food they were providing. The cave was nearly empty now, but people were beginning to drift in.

After a few minutes Georgo, his mates, and Dotallto came along. Dotallto and then Georgo were going to provide the opening shots tonight. Each would give a short talk praising the spirits and their gifts and then we would get down to the eating and later the celebrating. I decided I needed to take one last sample of the beer before things got started and so I went to get a mug.

Returning with my prize I got a little warning look from Dalia and she reminded me I would need to be sober when the night came to a close. I assured her this would be my only taste of the bruga refreshments and she seemed satisfied.

The beer was cold and it was good. It was a shame I didn't have the luxury of swallowing mug after mug of it, but the fact was I didn't. Things were expected of me tonight and in truth I was anxious to get to them.

The crowd was growing by now and Dotallto and Georgo had drifted toward their makeshift podium. It wasn't raised and really wasn't anything, but a spot where everyone expected them to stand while they made their talks. When Dotallto moved to the center of it everyone got quiet and listened to him.

He spoke for only about ten minutes, mentioning a few things from his travels, but mostly laying it on about our gifts here and the wonderful place we would have to protect us during the cold winter.

Georgo was next and he put on a couple more coats of praises for our camp, our spirit provided accommodations, our fabulous luck in the mammoth hunt, and even managed to mention our budding pig farm experiment. I'm sure if he'd had any idea we would be planting crops next year he would have mentioned them too.

Georgo brought his remarks to an end and then invited everyone to come and enjoy the bounty which had been provided by the spirits. I thought it was a little unkind of him to forego mentioning all the hard work my mates and the other women had put into preparing this bounty and making sure it was fit to eat, but I held my tongue.

I guess I could have stepped up on the spot and said a few words of my own, but I didn't. Public speaking was never any fun for me and in any case I didn't want to steal the limelight. I just wanted to get on to enjoying the bounty - the bounty of the hunt, the bounty of my mate's cooking, and the bounty of the mates of the men who would soon be falling down drunk from the bounty of the bruga. Now there was some bounty to be proud of.

The sampling I'd done had already told me the food was going to be wonderful and it was. I noticed this time there wasn't a mad rush to the beer as there had been before. Most of the men were intent on getting their bellies full of food first. I wondered if this was caused by the fact they now knew the beer barrels held a lot more bruga than they could hope to drink in one night.

After a while though, some had finished eating and started drinking. It didn't seem like there was even any urgency for beer now either. After looking at the lines for the kegs and paying attention to what had happened I saw what had changed. Argent had made allowances for what had gone on last time and there were more than twice as many kegs tonight.

Men were still lining up, getting a mug of brew and walking to the back to get in line again, but it wasn't necessary. With more kegs the lines were much shorter and even by pouring it down they couldn't finish a beer before they were back at the keg so the constant line up dissipated after a few minutes when they realized the beer was not going to run out and there was really no need to rush to imbibe all they could.

Of course many of them were pretty drunk by the time they figured this out, but they weren't falling down yet. Even the hard core drinkers were still standing when the strange musical instruments made their appearance this time, and their alcohol-induced stupor seemed to allow them to come closer to enjoying the throbbing beat the musicians produced.

The concert didn't last very long though and after the instruments were put away things degenerated into small groups talking and drinking and then drinking some more.

Within two hours of the end of Georgo's talk some of the men were already prone and were being dragged off toward their sleeping quarters. Bigglieo was one of the first to fall and I was more than glad to help Daleana and Sulieta pull him out of harm's way and into their place.