A NOVEL SET IN PREHISTORY
The Oak People
Chapter 5: Bidari notices Bo
Bidari
Bidari walks on ahead with his elder brother, brushing the flies from his face. They keep to the path that winds between patches of bog, marked by reed grass taller than their heads. This part of the plain is riddled with swamp and they test the ground with their sticks. The others are following on behind, keeping to the tracks they have made.
A breeze bends the tips of the dry seed stems, breathing a tang of salt onto their faces, and Bidari feels the old excitement grow in him. He breaks off a stalk of reed grass and chews, the sweet liquorice flavour reminding him of trips to the shore when he was a boy. He used to roll the sweet gum into balls between his fingers.
‘I remember the first time I saw the water,’ he says.
‘Yes.’ Koldo laughs. ‘You ran straight in, before anyone could stop you. I’ve never heard such squealing.’
‘I thought it was just like the Crocodile River, but it chased me and sucked me in!’
Bidari laughs out loud at the memory. He is happy to be walking beside Koldo, just the two of them. He cannot wait to see Ansa’s face when she sees the waves for the first time. He cannot wait to dive beneath the water and taste the salt in his mouth.
But Koldo has gone quiet and his face is clouded. ‘I wish our father was with us,’ he says, at last.
Bidari looks up at his brother, taller than him by almost a head. ‘Why? The Marsh People won’t attack — they let us use their path.’
Koldo shakes his head but says nothing more. Bidari starts jabbing at the ground savagely with his stick. Why must he spoil this bright day with his dark thoughts?
‘What are you doing?’ Koldo’s voice is sharp. ‘If your stick breaks, you won’t get another here, on the marshes.’
He stops at once. When Koldo is roused, his anger is like the bite of a snake. Bidari’s happiness is beginning to drain away.
‘What’s wrong, then, if it’s not the Marsh People?’
Koldo frowns. ‘I’m thinking of when our father was alive — when we were boys. There was always meat then. Don’t you remember?’
Bidari thinks back. He remembers playing on the mountain, close to their mother. Koldo is right. The men were always coming back with deer or antelope, swinging from a branch. Most times, now, they come back from the hunt empty-handed.
‘But we don’t often sleep hungry, do we?’ Bidari rummages in the bag strung over his shoulder. He holds out some scraps of dried meat to his brother as evidence. Koldo snorts in disdain.
‘Tortoise, lizard — that’s child’s food. When was the last time you had fat meat, as much as you could eat? It was at the Balqa feast.’
Bidari knows that what he says is true, but Eshtu is high in the sky and the smell of salt comes more powerfully than ever on the wind. He strides ahead, chewing his meat.
‘Watch where you’re walking!’ Koldo calls.
Bidari turns to face him and laughs. He starts to walk backwards, to show he doesn’t care. ‘What’s the matter with you, big brother? The antelope will come back to the mountain. And tonight we’ll eat nefafa, as many as you like.’ Bidari pokes his stick at Koldo’s chest and, at last, sees a smile hovering around his brother’s mouth.
Cupping his hands, Bidari whistles to Nuno and Goi, behind. The women and the children are following, leaving only the old ones back at the cave with the babies. He will take some nefafa home for his mother. Koru loves to chew the salty morsels of flesh.
He searches the sky but there is no sign yet of the rains. Turning back, he can just see the figure of Ansa on the path. Who is that woman with her? Could it be Bo? He catches up with Koldo in a few quick strides.
‘Look at Bo,’ he says. He begins to mimic how the women walk: taking small steps, swinging his hips and cupping his hands around imaginary breasts, till Koldo laughs.
‘How big do you think her tits will be?’ he goes on.
Koldo shakes his head, but he is still laughing. ‘Keep your eyes to yourself — you have a wife.’
They walk in silence for a while.
‘It’ll be a few winters yet, but then a man will have to be found for Bo,’ Koldo says. ‘Ansa’s Desert People don’t have any boys the right age. Bakar wants me to go to the marshes — perhaps something can be arranged with them.’
‘What happened to Bo’s people?’ Bidari asks.
Koldo slows his pace and cocks his head to one side. ‘They died of that river sickness, so Bakar and Esti took her in. Don’t you remember?’
Bidari is quiet for a few breaths. ‘Ansa will miss Bo, when the time comes for her to go. They are always together.’
‘But soon Ansa will have a child to care for,’ Koldo reminds him.
Bidari grins, his joy returning at the thought of Ansa’s swelling belly. ‘Yes. Surely she will be happy once she has a child.’
Thank you for reading. Chapter 6 is here:
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