Chapter 6: Bonding

The next few days were a whirlwind of activity for my little family and marked some important "firsts" for us. Our hens finally started laying eggs. We had nine eggs on the first day and on the next we had another fourteen. After doing some thinking, I decided that we had enough eggs to last us for at least another week and I wanted to let this first batch hatch. We had plenty of feed to get through the winter for another six-dozen birds. I planned to harvest some of the grains to make even more. We would be able to store a fair amount in the cave. At any rate, you can't eat chicken and have eggs unless you have a lot of chickens. I liked chicken; hence my decision.

After some Internet research and a little tinkering, I created my own low-tech pasteurization process. I figured eventually we would not have to pasteurize the milk at all. Still, until my family had completely adopted good hygiene practices, I did not want to take any chances. We used the first batch of bison milk I got from Bossie, the other morning and the two others I subsequently got. We now have three gallons. The milk is not homogenized, which takes some getting used to, but it is surprisingly good once cold. The next experiment was to make our own butter. I found a simple design for a butter churn on-line and was able to use the tools and fasteners to build it. I was able to scoop some of the cream from on top of the milk and have been storing it in the fridge until we had enough to make a decent batch (I figured one more milking should do the trick). I decided to turn my resident butter fan, Rona on the project. She had developed a taste for butter and her strong arms would be ideal to operate the butter churn.

I also figured that we would try to ferment some cream as cheese too. I made a mental note on how to age some Cheddar and a few other kinds. We actually still had a fair amount of sliced and block cheese left, as I had used very little, but every once in a while I would get a hankering for some. Tonight, I had planned to grill some cheeseburgers.

The other "first" was our hunting trip. I took the oldest children, leaving Zeena to help her mothers to take care of the dogs and chickens. They would also assemble a drying rack for any meat that we got that required storing. Up to this point, I had only hunted twice and that was for gifts. In fact, I had only really killed one of the deer, as Jontar had dropped the other (with my help of course).

I was not sure what luck we would have. I knew we needed to start augmenting our food supply in the relatively near future. We were by no means desperate, but I figured we should hunt at least twice a week (and maybe fish at least once) while the weather was good. The other and more pressing reason for my trip was I was beginning to notice some discord in the family and the two leading perpetrators were now with me. It seemed to start last night and the snippy attitude seemed to linger through breakfast and needed to be addressed.

Individually, both Jontar and Sula were great kids, but I sensed that they were both vying for my attention. I also sensed some pre-teen gender related issues. The irony was that little Zeena was the best behaved of the bunch. The youngest had easily adjusted to our blended family as well as had my wives. Zeena even seemed to like Jontar and to his credit, I sensed he like his younger sister too. Still, I was worried that eventually Sula might poison Zeena against him and was beginning to get annoyed at her attitude at breakfast. Despite this, it was Jontar who began to annoy me first on our trip. I finally got tired of his non-stop bragging about killing his first buck the other day (as if I did not have anything to do with it!). I decided it was time to give the lad a taste of humility.

I had him shoot at three live targets and he missed all three. When Sula started gloating, I had her try to shoot at some fixed targets I had brought and she missed worse than her brother.

"I'm a girl. I'm not supposed to hunt," she pouted.

I had looked at her menacingly. "In this family, everybody does everything. That is my way! That is how I do things, so that is how you will do things too."

Jontar started to laugh until I fixed my steely gaze and gravelly baritone on him. "And you! You are not to make fun of your sister."

"But she..."

"Silence!" I yelled, before slightly softening to ask, "What is going on between you two?"

They almost spoke the same exact words simultaneously. They thought I was going to force them to mate each other when they came of age.

I wanted to laugh, but instead, continued to play the tough guy role and use a little bit of reverse psychology. "I have no intention of mating you to each other. In fact, I think maybe I should simply forbid it! You are brother and sister, even though no blood runs between you. At any rate, you are still obviously little children. I may decide not to let either of you ever mate at all."

"But I will become a woman in just a couple of summers..." started Sula.

"You will become a woman when I decide you are a woman. Just because your body says you are a woman, does not make it so to my thinking."

I turned to my son. "Jontar, you are no closer to being a man either, by your current attitude. Men do not boast of greatness. They make greatness happen. When you can consistently hit your targets and get your family meat, you will be on your way to being a man. If you listen to your mothers and me and heed our words, then you will have a good chance. If not, you can go on being a child."

I then turned back to my daughter. "Sula, the same holds for you, if you want to be a grown up, the first step is to start acting like one when you are required to act like one."

I finally addressed both kids. "Hunting can be a life and death situation. We must respect nature because it can be very dangerous. We all need to be able to trust each other if we want to survive. I don't just mean on this trip but in life in general. Remember: We are a family and family always comes first! Do you understand?"

"Yes," they both said in unison.

"Now apologize to each other!"

They both looked at their feet and but directed comments of apology to one another.

I smiled. Not a cross word or a boast was heard the rest of the day. They were both really excited when I hit a buck that we tracked down fairly quickly. Then we butchered the animal, carefully wrapped up the meat, placed it on the travois and carefully dragged it home.

That night, we had venison steaks. Lyna also sliced some thin strips to dry for jerky. The rest, I split between the fridge and the freezer. For a starch, we had a wild rice dish and canned carrots for our veg.

The next day's expedition was a failure from a hunting standpoint, but more importantly, I achieved the objective I was looking for. Jontar and Sula got along. They even got into a play water fight during our clean up bath in the creek when we returned; It ended with them hugging affectionately. I decided that I had taken the pressure off of them by telling them that they did not have to worry about being mated to each other. This allowed them to be the good kids I knew they were and to treat each other with the kindness they displayed to others in the family.

When I really thought about it, I did not mean what I said about forbidding them to mate. I would find other mates for them if they wished, but if they truly wanted to mate each other once I felt they were ready, I would not block them. Of course, they would have to be at least sixteen before I would consent to a mate for either of them. I realized that it broke with normal customs, but from what I understood, many men remained unmated for several years, until they were prepared to meet the mating price agreed by the women of their camp. We would operate our camp in the same way if our mates were to be brought in from the outside. Also, any male that would want to mate my daughters would need to agree stay with us (and I would need to approve of their character). I would reduce any mating requirements in exchange for that and their loyalty.

After I grilled some cheeseburgers and roasted some potatoes for supper, I heard the familiar voice in my head. I told my family I needed to be alone and took a walk in the twilight.

"I have a great deal of news for you," came Malok's voice.

"Any of it good?"

"I would say that some of it is."

"Well, I'll take that first."

"The shaman has just arrived at the Neanderthal caves and Geeta and your nuptials are set for tomorrow. A messenger will be sent at first light to tell you."

"Good. I'll set up a camp in the clearing to the north, to meet him. This way, he will not see where we actually live."

"Good thought," added Malok.

"Eventually, I may allow Hogat and his wife, Tola a visit to see our house, but I want to get to know him a little better first."

"Agreed."

"What else?" I asked with dread.

"I met your Sonya."

"She's not my Sonya."

"I beg to differ with you. She divorced her husband, you know."

I had not known.

Malok continued. "She has been holding on to a lot of guilt about what happened, but it wasn't just that. It was obvious that she was still in love with you. She was crying when she read your letter. She then begged me to let her see you."

I began to cry. I was bawling like a baby (and I was not a man prone to crying).

"I told her that it was not possible, per your wishes, so she begged me to record a message for you on my phone. I've uploaded it to your primary node, if you want to hear it."

"OK," I thought. Then I heard Sonya's voice.

"Dearest Michael. You never know how much your forgiveness means to me. I was a foolish woman and in a moment of doubt, forgot some very important things. I forgot how much you loved me. I forgot how important having you in my life truly was and had taken it for granted. Most of all, I forgot that you were the sweetest and kindest person I knew. I know you would never hurt me and you never would have scared me if you were well. Now I know that you were sick, I hated myself for not having faith in your love. I divorced Clete and finally saw him for the snake he was. He whispered hate and doubt for you in my ear and I was stupid enough to listen ... But Darling, your kind words of forgiveness only show how wonderful you are.

No matter what happens, dearest, you will always be the great love of my life ... Please reconsider and let me see you! Please don't be so proud about your condition. I know you're getting worse according to Dr. Marcus, but I need to see you ... to hold you again. I'll stay for you as long as you want me, Darling ... please..." she kind of faded out into a sob.

Now I knew that I loved Sonya. She was my Sonya and she was about to die alone! "Please Malok! Please save her! You can bring her to this world..."

"I'm sorry, my friend. The experiment as already started and I cannot bring anyone else to this world. Besides ... she's already sick."

"She is?"

"She can't feel it yet, but she is. She will be dead within two days."

I had been in abject misery, but now I was completely numb.

"I will be on earth for another day. Is there anything you want to tell her."

I thought for a moment, as tears started anew. "Tell her I've changed my mind. That I want to see her in three days time. Please tell her that I love her with all my heart and I always will."

I heard a gasp followed by a noise I could not understand in that moment in the background of my mind. "I ... I'll tell her," I heard Malok sob. "That ... is the Mike I know and love," he added before vanishing from my mind and leaving me to my feelings.

That night my mates comforted me. Apparently Lyna had told Rona about me having lost a previous mate who I loved. When they saw I was sad and moody, they did their best to cheer me up. As I was not in the mood for more, the three of us cuddled and I eventually fell into a restless sleep.