Chapter 3: Old MacDonald

I awoke the next morning to the sounds of squawking, yapping and whining, instead of Malok's voice in my head. My lovely Lyna was in my arms. In the light of day, I could see her completely. Her face was definitely angelic in repose. Her body was not hairless, but it was not very noticeable in all the usual places. While she had arm pit hair, it was the same kind of sparse, light color as the hair on her legs. Her bush, while more plush, was certainly lighter than most women I would encounter in these parts.

As she stirred, I gently kissed her on the lips and she awoke. When I broke the kiss, I noticed her eyes were shining and she wore a bright smile. Then all of a sudden, she jumped to her feet when she heard the sound of dogs whining and chickens clucking. "Animals!" she cried.

"Easy Lyna. We're safe. I need to explain some things to you and Jontar."

Lyna nodded, but still seemed uneasy. I tossed her one of my t-shirts. "Here. Put this on."

"What kind of fur is this?" she asked.

"It is a special piece of clothing. I'm sure you will find it comfortable." I said, as I helped Lyna get the shirt over her head and then helped her get her arms through.

I started thinking about the t-shirts. When I was making my supply list with Malok (when I knew him as Dr Marcus), he had told me that the t-shirts, undershorts, socks and long-johns (tops and bottoms) were of a special design and that I should always wear them under my brown leather clothes and boots. Apparently, they were made of some dense alien microfiber that would offer me some protection against spear attacks. I was glad to know that my new family would have the same kind of protection. Still, to me they just looked like Hanes or Fruit of the Loom.

Without even knowing the garment's defensive value, Lyna seemed impressed. "You are right, Mike. Like with everything you seem to have, it is quite strange but wonderful. I like it."

I picked up another t-shirt to take to Jontar and we walked out of the tent.

Jontar was already up and about and looking suspiciously at the kennel, which was the source of the whining and yapping. After amazing him with the shirt, I sat down at the table to talk about our new animal friends. First I had to explain about the table and chairs, but once I did, my mate and her son took to them with the same wonder and joy that they had displayed to all of my fancy trappings and ways.

"First of all, what you were looking at earlier is called a kennel. It is a place where dogs live."

"Dogs?"

I smiled realizing that my mate and her son had never seen dogs before (as they were not native to this time period on Earth). "Yes, these dogs are like tame wolves, but not so big. They're naturally very friendly toward people they know, so you don't have to be afraid of them."

"Why do you keep the dogs? To eat?" asked Lyna.

"No. I will train the dogs to be our friends and to help us protect our home and to help us hunt."

"And you can do that?" asked Jontar.

"Yes. I will need both of your help though. Dogs make great pets too."

"Pets?" asked Lyna.

"it is another name for special animal friends."

"What about the birds on the other side of the cave wall?" asked Jontar

"They are chickens. They lay eggs we can eat."

Lyna's eyes grew wide. "You eat bird eggs?!"

"Chicken eggs are quite delicious when they are cooked. I have some I brought with me from my old home. We will eat them for breakfast."

"I would not know how to cook them," stated my mate.

"I'll show you how."

"You mean you cook?" she asked in apparent surprise.

"How else would an unmated man take care of himself?" I laughed.

Jontar looked at me and then to his mother. "My mother and the women of the village cooked for me."

"Jontar, where I'm from, both men and women cook. It is important to be self sufficient."

"What does that mean?" asked Lyna.

"Being able to take care of one's self," I replied. Since there are only three of us, there is much for us to do. That means that we all must learn how do the things we need to do to stay alive. I have tools that help me to be a great hunter. I can show you both how to be great hunters too."

Lyna rubbed her chin. "If you are a great hunter, will you get extra mates?"

"Would you want me to?" I asked suspecting the answer I would get, but was quite surprised and somewhat disappointed.

"I think it would be a great idea," she beamed.

I had originally planned to have multiple mates, but that plan seemed to die last night after I had thought I had found my soul mate. Now, it seemed that my soul mate was willing to open my bed to other women. "But I only want you," I complained.

"You are a wonderful mate! The most wonderful mate any woman could ever hope to have," she grinned. "Think of how many other women you could make happy. Think of how helpful it would be to have other mates share our labor. More mates mean more friends for me too. I like talking to other women. I had many friends at my other camp."

"You can talk to me," I said with a pout.

She smiled that huge lovely smile with her shining eyes. "Yes I can. You are not only my mate, but my friend too. Still, there are some things I prefer to talk about with other women. You have Jontar to be your friend."

"Jontar is my son," I smiled.

"No, Jontar was Kontar's son," she corrected.

"Kontar is dead," I said turning to the boy. "Jontar, if you will have me, I would like to be your father."

Jontar's eyes opened wide and he smiled. "I never knew my father as I was too young to remember him," he said before pausing, "I would like that," he smiled.

I had always wanted children, but my wife was unable to have them. By the time we considered adopting, she realized that she had become too fond of her career, so no kids ... until now. Now it seemed I would have more wives and maybe more children to adopt. I might even have babies of my own. "Good! If it is OK with your mother..."

Lyna shook her head. "Mike, you are a strange man ... a strange and wonderful man. You will make a wonderful father. I can only hope that I can have your child too."

After I introduced them to concept of "the group hug" I continued about the remaining animal. "Now I suppose you are wondering about the horse at the bottom of the hill."

"Yes," my family said in unison.

"One day the horse will help us move things. Eventually I will also train the horse so I can ride it."

"Ride the horse?!" asked my new son in apparent shock.

"Yes. The horse will allow me to travel great distances in a day. It may also help in capturing other horses so that you both can ride too."

I looked at both mother and son. Jontar looked amazed, while Lyna looked shocked. I decided to pull back a little. "Well, the horse won't be ready to ride for several summers at least. You two have a lot to learn before we get to that point, so don't worry."

I could see Lyna relax a little and I took the opportunity to hug her. Then I discovered that Jontar knew something that I did not know.

"Mike?"

"Yes, Son?"

"What about the bison?"

"What bison?" I asked in great confusion.

"The one next to the horse," he said as he walked me over to the ledge of the hill so I could look down. I looked at the horse pen and there to the right of the pen was a much larger pen, from where I sat. It was made of the same composite material of which the chicken coop and the kennel were constructed. More surprising was the occupant of the second pen. It was a bison. I was confused for a moment.

"What is the bison for?" asked Jontar.

I was about to say food, but then I realized something. Why would Malok take the trouble to have a second pen made, then why would he just move a bison into it? There were herds of bison about three or four miles north in a large plain; just past the Neanderthals' caves. Then I realized. This was no mere bison. This was a female bison. In other words: A cow.

Without thinking in my excitement I answered him. "It will give us milk!"

"Milk?" asked my mate.

I realized that milk was not a staple of Cro-magnon society, well at least those above the age of two or so. "Where I'm from, we drink the milk of animals. It strengthens our bones and makes us stronger. Besides, it tastes good," I laughed.

"Mike..." she started before I finished her thought.

"I know. I'm a strange man..."

"But a wonderful mate," she said, as she hugged me.

That morning, I decided to "kill the fatted calf" (so to speak). I introduced my new family to a number of breakfast staples. As I did not want to spend much time eating breakfast when I was alone, I still had fresh eggs, milk, orange juice, bacon, butter and commercial bread and English muffins. I taught Lyna how to scramble eggs and how to fry bacon in the titanium frying pan. She was clearly amazed at the process. I made buttered toast on a titanium griddle (saving French toast for another day).

I also taught them how to eat with a knife and a fork while sitting at the table and the use of salt and pepper. Though they were no strangers to salt, they were not used to using it as they ate. They seemed to pick up on these eating habits and skills quickly. I loved hearing them both squeal in delight at each new culinary experience.

"I love the bacon!" crooned my wife. "It is like the crispy salted strips of deer meat, but it tastes much better!"

"This juice makes my mouth pucker, but it is sweet too," said Jontar, as he had another sip of orange juice.

When breakfast was over, I took my new family over to the kennel to take a look at our new four legged friends. I had requested three dogs, two females and one male. They were early kin of terriers, but prehistoric or not, they were adorable with brown and white fur. I had purposely made a lot of eggs and saved several strips of bacon, so they quickly treated us as long lost friends, as they ate.

While Lyna and Jontar sat rapt as they watched the dogs eat, I walked down the hill with a pail and then over to a small spring near the creek to get some fresh water. I then lugged it back up the hill. The pail was not really heavy, but I was thinking that lugging any real quantity of water uphill would get old in a hurry. I was hoping that I could design some way to collect rainwater, as they did on some tropical islands on my world. Perhaps once we started building our home, we could design our roof to do that. I decided to use a little downtime to peruse my cranial connection to the Internet to look for design ideas.

As I climbed the hill, I looked at my bison and colt. There was plenty of grazing for "Bossie" the bison and for the colt. I would need hay for the winter. I would also need to build a larger stable or a barn before winter now that we had Bossie.

After giving the dogs some water, I took the rest to the chicken pen. I had Lyna join me, so that she could learn about chickens. Jontar was completely enamored with the puppies, reminding me of the fact that he was a young boy who was not yet even eleven. I decided to let him and Lyna help me raise and train the puppies.

Speaking of the dogs, I was happy when Malok had told me I could have them. As I mentioned before, domesticated dogs did not exist on Earth until somewhere around ten thousand B.C., in theory, they should not have been available to me. Still, Malok informed me that when these experiments had been started several Earth years ago, overseers were allowed more leeway in what they could provide for their subjects. He argued since my requests were relatively easy to fulfill and since other experiments were allowed to have dogs, I should be allowed to have them too. I was now very glad for my friend's charm. I hated the notion of trying to raise and train wolf cubs.

As far as the other animals, I would teach my new family about the chickens too. For now, I would handle the colt and "cow". Although we had limited fresh eggs and milk left, we had plenty of the powdered variety of both. Still, I wanted to save them for the winter when it would be more difficult to get the real thing from our animal friends.

Once Lyna and I finished cleaning the pen, I removed my boots and socks, grabbed the olive oil soap and a couple of imitation fur towels and we took a walk down the hill. Once we got to the bottom, I could tell that she was getting curious.

"Where are we going Mike?" she asked.

"To get clean and have a little fun."

"How?"

"Just follow me," I grinned and I started running.

"Wait," she cried, as she ran after me.

When I got to the creek, I dropped the towels in a sunny spot. Then I ripped my t-shirt over my head, removed my shorts and jumped into the creek, stark naked. It was cold, but refreshing.

When Lyna got to the edge of the creek, she stood there.