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WomanWizard

Member

Registered: 2018-05-11

Posts: 212

We were goners.

We were goners.

At least I thought we were. There I was, Twila Yi, a young baby clutched in her hungry mother's arms. My sister was trying to get the forge ready, since we desperately needed tools. We had nothing. Just five empty berry bushes, a small stack of iron, and a barely crackling fire.

My mother died next to a wild bush. There was one berry left on it, but she didn't get there in time. I ran back to my sister, crying for help. I was too little to feed myself, but she had no food. "We're screwed," she said. Or something along those lines. I don't remember. I was just a baby.

I led her to the same bush our mother had died next to, with the one berry on it. But just like mom, she was too slow.

There I was, a hungry baby standing next to two corpses and a single berry I could not eat. I was alone. I cried.

No, I thought. I will not die. I fumbled at the bush, my clumsy fingers grasping uselessly at the single berry that had been taunting me since my mother's death. At first it evaded me, but soon my chubby fingers pulled it off of the branch. I shoved it in my mouth, crushing that awful berry in my barely big enough teeth. If my mother and sister couldn't live, then neither could it.

I ran back home. There was still no food, and no tools. The fire was embers, but there were plates and eggs by it, so I threw on a flat rock and made some omelettes. Maybe a little too hearty for my little stomach, but it was all I had. After a far too enormous meal, I grabbed a bowl, and gathered the few berries I could find away from camp. Single berries, the last on the bush, just like the one I had decimated earlier. I left the rest of the omelettes for food emergencies, and boy did I have some while I got the farm set up.

I watered the berries, and planted some carrots in the one plot that was still waiting for seeds. But I had nothing left to till more soil, and I knew I needed to forge soon. My sister had almost set everything up. There was a clay nozzle alongside other pottery, waiting to go in the kiln. A rabbit sat next to me, skinned and ready to be turned into a pouch. Two pairs of tongs. Almost everything I needed for the bellows. I threw the snare on another hole. More food is better, I figured. I probably should have cooked that rabbit before the omelettes. Oh well. It was too late for that.

Out I went for milkweed. It wasn't far from camp, which was a good thing, since my stomach was still much too little for me to last long out there. I cooked the rabbit, made a pouch, gathered kindling, started a new fire, and lit up the kiln. In went the nozzle and other pottery, and on went the adobe. Soon I would have charcoal, and more kindling sat waiting so that I could make even more.

The berries grew. Good, because I didn't want to make another trip into the wild to fill my bowl, and the omelettes still looked a little big for me. I made the bellows, made tools, and was finally able to start expanding the farm.

My first child didn't make it. He died in my arms, going suddenly limp. It was sad, but sometimes there was nothing you could do, and I still had lots of work. I needed firewood, and more carrots, more berries and stew crops, and... well, I needed more hands to really get this place kicking. Right now, all I had was just enough food to feel comfortable, and a dead baby. If I wanted to keep my future kids alive, that wasn't going to be enough. I took one last look at the body of my son, and I forged on.

My second son was a trouper. Cadence stayed by the fire when I told him to, and was all excited to gather iron for me when he was old enough. He farmed at first, and when I eventually gave birth to his sister, he seemed more or less ready to venture into the wastelands.

Cadence and Tamara were good kids, and the only ones I had who lived. Not through any fault of my own, I hope. Just like my first boy, the others would die in my arms. My last son even spoke to me before he died, though I'm not sure what he was trying to say.

There was a scary moment when we ran out of food, and I was too grey to have more kids. I scrambled to bring Tamara a bowl of wild berries and nearly had a heart attack when Cadence led her north, to the exact place my mother and sister had died. This time there were berries. I sighed in relief, and gave her the bowl while she clutched a fresh berry in her hands. My daughter would live.

I puttered around as an old woman, doing whatever job seemed to need doing at the time. Pop popcorn, plant more beans, water the berries, etc. I helped the kids get more tools going, being an expert at the forge after having been rushed into it at a young age. I tasked my son with gathering stones for a well when I was too old to travel far from the bushes. He had it built before I died, and it was the most beautiful well I had ever seen. I told him so.

I would have liked to see my grandkids, but I think my two beautiful children were enough for me. Thank you, to both of you. You made what could have been a terribly sad life into something wonderful.

sarannwrap

Member

Registered: 2018-10-05

Posts: 47

Re: We were goners.

Twila Yi.
Almost positive I at least saw you.  We were born to twin eves and your ma tried to name you something kinda silly but inoffensive, right? Twila came from somethin kinda goofy and pretty sure i saw her name you while i was a toddler.

gabal

Member

Registered: 2018-07-26

Posts: 133

Re: We were goners.

What a great story. Often such experiences are very memorable.

One of my favorite lives I was as a daughter of Eve. Mom was obviously capable but she hot bitten by a snake while still nursing me. It was a really tense situation as she watched anxiously while perishing from venom. I was standing on warm spot growing more and more hungry untill just before my mom died I grew enough to be able to pick a berry from a nearby bush. I ran i to my older brother not long after and together we continued building from foundations our mom started. In the end village survived for 20 generations and all those lives would have never happened if that baby didn't grow up in time to pick a berry.

WomanWizard

Member

Registered: 2018-05-11

Posts: 212

Re: We were goners.

Twila Yi.
Almost positive I at least saw you.  We were born to twin eves and your ma tried to name you something kinda silly but inoffensive, right? Twila came from somethin kinda goofy and pretty sure i saw her name you while i was a toddler.

I'm afraid that wasn't me. After looking in the family tree, I was fifth generation, which explains why there was so little wild food about. My mother and sister were the only ones in the camp, so when they died I was completely alone.

Morti

Member

Registered: 2018-04-06

Posts: 1,323

Re: We were goners.

http://lineage.onehouronelife.com/serve … id=1278262

kcmcc2

Member

Registered: 2018-06-02

Posts: 6

Re: We were goners.

Twila--this is Sky! So happy to hear you made it! I thought for sure you would die without me or mom to feed you.

I'm sorry I couldn't live to see you thrive.

WomanWizard

Member

Registered: 2018-05-11

Posts: 212

Re: We were goners.

Twila--this is Sky! So happy to hear you made it! I thought for sure you would die without me or mom to feed you.

I'm sorry I couldn't live to see you thrive.

Aw, I'm sorry you didn't get to the berries in time. I'm sure we would have done even better with two ladies running the place!

Edit: Also thank you, Morti, for posting the family tree. I should remember to do that myself, but I just like writing stories so much that I tend to forget.

Last edited by WomanWizard (2018-10-27 02:53:19)