Chapter 10
Ingwe
Through the coming days, many times, Eku saw the beautiful Bwana female with the laza pendant at iliwi-kelele.
Usually with her Bwana female friends.
Not sure of the other tribe’s customs, he wasn’t sure when to approach her again.
But one day, Eku saw her wandering close to the dock again. This time alone. Glancing in his direction.
The beautiful Bwana female wore her usual zebra loincloth and necklace, but her hair was pulled back and wrapped tight down her back, so from the front, her hair appeared shorn, making Eku think the perfect female had emerged from shatsheli-lambo and cut her hair, just for him.
But that was silly.
Nevertheless, having built up a confidence that he knew was fragile, Eku approached as she watched.
Eku said hello in both Bwana and Abantu, but the beautiful Bwana female with the laza pendant simply stared, as if waiting for something else.
Stood with feet slightly apart.
Arms hung loosely.
Frantically trying to think of something to say, Eku grew frustrated, his mind blank in a baffling way.
Why could he not think of a single word?
The beautiful Bwana female made a face and ran off, just as before.
But this time she stopped a short distance away, put hands on hips in a way that Eku instantly adored and gave him a quizzical look.
Before he even realized, Eku was tearing after her.
The beautiful Bwana female shrieked with delight, spun and ran.
And she ran fast!
Eku immediately began breathing heavily, but diligently raced after, knowing his body would adjust.
So focused was he on her agile form and the hard-packed trail, before he even knew it, Eku had raced all the way into the Bwana encampment.
Quickly slowed.
There were tall palm trees interspersed.
The giant huts looming in the background.
Waka-waka people all across the hard-packed dirt, and certainly they were all staring at him!
There were trestles with drying hides and curing flesh hung and could smell the stink off a pit where fish was gutted and de-boned.
Eku stopped and felt panic, realizing that if he lost the beautiful Bwana female, he would be all alone in the Bwana encampment.
But she had also stopped and stood a few paces away, her pretty face flushed with excitement.
Not sure if he was courageous or reckless, Eku boldly charged forward and she took off, the squeal of her laughter telling him that she was pleased and making him forget the nervousness.
Eku raced past mothers with babies at the breast.
Skidded around a group of young females carrying baskets toward the water, a linwelewana with them, but even that wasn’t going to distract Eku.
There were Bwana males of his own age watching as if he were some silly Abantu gone mad.
Maybe he was, but Eku no longer cared.
All that he cared about now was the form of the beautiful female, speeding through the most crowded section of the communal area.
Eku had his second wind and closed some of the distance so that dirt from her heels sprayed off his legs.
Straining mightily, Eku drew within a pace, both he and the beautiful Bwana female breathing hard, feet pounding the dirt.
Racing at top speed.
Eku reached for the beautiful Bwana female’s shoulder, but she darted to the side, sending him skidding into a group of palms, heels leaving dark streaks on the soil.
He skipped around a palm trunk and negotiated the turn.
The beautiful Bwana female leaped over the outstretched legs of a Bwana male, lounging and twanging away with some kind of instrument of sinew that produced a musical note when plucked.
Eku cut around the sinew plucking musician and leaped clear of another Bwana tapping in accompaniment on a skin drum.
The beautiful Bwana female zig-zagged through a shaded area where people lay in hammocks and Eku followed like a tenacious mongoose.
She dashed around a large fire pit and cut through racks hung with skins.
Eku dodged cooking pots and leaped over a seating log.
With a supreme effort, he got close enough to almost touch her shoulder again, only to have the beautiful Bwana female squeal in excitement, which got Eku so excited he stumbled, allowing her to regain separation.
Surely, the entire Bwana tribe was watching now.
Eku heard what sounded like a knowing laugh.
He also heard words he did not understand, but sounded like encouragement.
Eku was sweating profusely, but growing confident.
The beautiful Bwana female was fast, but this was a game he understood. Besides, Eku was proud and a good runner, not the fastest, but with excellent agility and stamina that only Yat and Dokuk can outlast.
But the beautiful Bwana female was fast AND had stamina.
She raced all the way to the boxthorn barrier, Eku pursuing, before turning back for one last dash through the communal area to the river, where this had all started, slowing one last time and giving Eku another chance to think he might catch her, only to turn on the speed again.
When the beautiful Bwana female darted behind a patch of papyrus, Eku jumped in thinking she had also, but she had disappeared, leaving him sweaty and panting, thinking only of the wonderful sound of her laughter.
***
The following morning, Eku’s first thought was of the beautiful Bwana female.
Despite how the exhilarating chase ended, he felt confidence.
Instead of hunting down Tiuti or throwing his ula-konto, Eku paced out of the area of pruned trees and familial shelters to the food preparation area, passing racks of skins and sinew, walking circles around fire pits covered by palm leaf tepees under which strips of flesh cured.
Followed the path from the Abantu encampment to iliwi-kelele.
Hiked over the rocks to the work area, currently uninhabited.
Headed for the dock just as a linwelewana ambled across the same spot where he had seen the beautiful Bwana female the day before.
Eku stopped.
The beast held one of the excellent Bwana gourds securely against a hip, fingers long and curled around the neck, while the other hairy forearm swung palm-out in its silly way.
The linwelewana’s walk was stiff and reminded Eku of a recently weaned Abantu, almost, but not quite ready for long distance.
The linwelewana ambled down the boardwalk, glancing back when Eku followed, but continuing to the end to kneel and shove the gourd into the water so fluid began to gurgle in.
Eku stepped slowly, feeling the rough logs beneath his feet, making sure the footing was secure. Stopped at what he felt was a considerate distance, figuring that if the linwelewana showed any agitation, he could quickly retreat down the log walkway.
The beast paid Eku no heed and seemed content to watch water spill into the container, one hand clenched around the neck of the gourd, the other set on the log-walkway, long, strong fingers splayed out.
Eku studied the beast.
Where an Abantu’s head was squarish and sat vertically on a slender neck, the linwelewana’s head was egg-shaped and sat as though tilted back on a short, thick neck.
The skin was dark and shiny, with a hint of laza, like a palm nut left in the sun with oil oozing.
The body hair was brown and black with areas around the face and groin tinted red.
The jaw thrust forward, thicker and more robust than an Abantu’s.
A heavy brow ridge encircled each eye and extended down the cheekbone.
The nose was flat with nostrils angled down, like a monkey’s.
The beast had strong looking shoulders, muscular arms and a round, hairless belly.
The legs were thin and shaped similar to his own, but the feet were hairy with the toes splayed out for grasping as well as walking.
The linwelewana was hairless across the upper legs and most of the torso. Reddish hair grew along the spine; though, each round butt cheek shone naked and smooth, just like an Abantu’s.
Eku noted finer hair circling the head, providing a soft look that made him realize why Yat said she thought they were pretty and felt a strange urge to pet them.
As if detecting his interest, the beast turned its body to look directly at Eku, who was taken aback by how much the deep set eyes looked like his own.
The linwelewana set the full water gourd on the walkway and stood. An adult male, full grown and a bit shorter than Eku.
The beast raised one of its extra-large hands and made a sing-song greeting with repeated sounds, almost like grunts.
Eku said hello in Bwana and smiled nervously—aghast when the beast grimaced horribly, revealing large yellow teeth; though, he quickly realized the beast was merely smiling back.
The linwelewana nodded its head and said perfectly clear, “ata”, which was the Abantu and Bwana word for freshwater, then emitted a torrent of squeaks and grunts, bent to lift the full gourd with its two strong hands and slipped past Eku to trudge back down the boardwalk, balancing the container against its chest and belly.
***
Over time, the linwelewana developed a commensalistic relationship with the humans of ichi-Bwana.
For generations, the two species knew of each other, particularly along the western-most enclaves of the salted sea.
They recognized their commonality and got along just fine—from a distance.
While food sources occasionally overlapped, it was never in a way that led to competition.
Humans were much larger and more aggressive and therefore avoided; in fact, the secretive linwelewana attempted to avoid contact with all large beasts.
The linwelewana thrived on the fruits and plants of the sprawling freshwater delta west of the salt lake, a humid mix of swamps and streams, with sporadic and hard to find dry forested islands, where they sheltered.
The linwelewana ate a robust diet including roots and fruit, eggs, birds, small animals and fish, but were not hunters and did not use fire.
Most large beasts and therefore most predators dared not venture into the wetlands where the linwelewana lived; though, water-tolerating leopards occasionally preyed upon them.
And then one day, like so many other days in the midst of sika-yaka, the earth shook violently; soon after, water levels began to diminish, even as the rains continued.
When lobo-yaka arrived and the rain stopped, a calamity unfolded as huge portions of the vast wetlands turned arid and all of the plant life began to die.
The linwelewana were already starving when the bubinzwana descended from the northern plateau and began hunting them voraciously.
In desperation, a last surviving clan fled ancestral lands to hide in the forests to the north of the salt lake, watching from a distance the clash of two mighty species.
The linwelewana saw how the humans of the salt lake coalesced and forced the fearsome bubinzwana away, beasts the linwelewana considered all but invincible, far more terrible than even the leopards.
The linwelewana saw the Bwana as saviors.
The last surviving familial groups threw themselves at the mercy of the humans of the salt lake, a desperate act of survival in a world that had changed so dramatically.
The linwelewana proved to be excellent helpers.
They procured and shared food with the humans and obeyed orders without protest, knowing that to remain near a Bwana encampment was to remain alive.
When Uta led the new tribe east, a group of linwelewana tagged along.
***
Eku told Yathi all about the beautiful Bwana female with the laza pendant.
Of course, Yathi already knew who she was, having identified ALL of the Bwana females of an age similar to their own, at least by sight.
“She is tall and beautiful,” he agreed. “But I do not see her talking a lot. Not like Yat and Tar.”
“She does not talk much,” Eku agreed. “She is like Maz. More watching than talking.”
Yathi smacked Eku’s arm. “I have seen the way you look at her.”
Eyes narrowing defensively, he said, “What do you mean?”
Yathi let his jaw go slack and lolled his tongue out of his mouth. Moaned and said, “How can she be so beautiful.”
Eku snapped, “You are silly.” Looked at Yathi crossly and said in an irritated tone, “I do not do that. With the tongue, especially.”
The two wandered across the rocks of iliwi-kelele, close to where the miniature cliff began to rise so all they had to do was hop down.
Eku checked the area by the water first, including the dock and swimming area. Then he scanned the grounds around the big hut.
Was disappointed not to see any Bwana, especially the beautiful female with the laza pendant.
Yathi, desperate to venture further down the main path to see the Bwana encampment, said, “Maybe if we walk down to see the big huts, you will see her. Find out who the female with the laza pendant is.”
Eku was gazing down the length of iliwi-kelele, toward the forest, as though still looking for someone and said nothing.
Yathi, in a feisty mood, smacked him in the arm again.
“Ouch! What?”
Yathi arched his eyebrows and said, “You said you saw them!”
“What?”
“The big huts. I want to see them!”
Eku clicked yes and no. “I did not get a good look. The female with the laza pendant was running too fast.”
Yathi looked surprised and said, “You are fast.”
Eku shrugged. “She is faster.”
“But you must have seen something.”
“They are big. I did not look inside. I almost fell over in their cooking area. I was just trying to not let her get away.”
Fortuitously, at that moment, Dala and Yongo came wandering down the path from the Bwana encampment.
Yathi let out a happy squeal and said, “Maybe they can show us the hut and the beautiful Bwana female with the laza necklace you keep talking about.”
Eku protested, “I do not keep talking….”
But Yathi was already hustling away, leaving Eku no choice but to follow.
***
Dala and Longo have become regular fishing pals with Eku, Yathi, Goguk and Kolo.
They both wore the usual zebra loincloths.
Dala was built slim along the lines of Eku, while Longo was a bruiser, like Yathi, though short, like Goguk.
Both of them previously had long hair that was now short.
After greeting each other, Yathi blurted, “You cut your hair!”
“Many people are doing it,” Longo said. “Especially with your sharp blades. And especially after Uta cut his hair.”
Yathi said excitedly, “Can you take us to see the big huts?”
Eku quickly added, “If it is okay?”
Dala and Longo, who like Eku and Yathi, were simply wandering and looking for something to do, quickly began nodding their heads.
Eku warily asked, “If it is okay?”
Dala said, “People go in the big huts all the time. Everybody does. People walk in and out. That is why Kafila only puts up skins for the inner chamber. So the people can come and go.”
Yathi said, “What about Uta?”
Longo said, “Sometimes Uta is there. Sometimes he is with the nesibindi.”
Dala noted, “If Uta is in the big Hut and you are afraid—like most people, we can stand outside and still see everything.”
Longo said, “You can still walk right up to the edge and look inside and see everything.”
“The big huts belong to the tribe,” Dala said. “You must be respectful, that is all.” He shrugged, adding as if it explained everything, “Uta and Kafila are our chieftains.”
Yathi said, “He scares me.”
“He is stern,” Dala agreed. “But at this time, he is likely in the forest, with the hunters or nesibindi.”
Yathi asked eagerly, “Can we go see?”
Dala and Yongo nodded and they headed away from iliwi-kelele.
The trail was wide and they walked four abreast, adult Bwana and Abantu occasionally going in the opposite direction.
Walking past the papyrus patch where the beautiful Bwana girl disappeared at the conclusion of their chase, Eku said, “There is a female from your camp”, which immediately got the attention of the other Bwana males, while Yathi clicked in approval.
“Yes?” Dala said.
“She is our age. This tall,” and Eku held his hand slightly above his head.
Longo asked, “What does she look like?”
Eku pondered a moment, then shrugged and blushed.
Smiling, Longo said, “Oh! So she is beautiful.”
Eku nodded emphatically. “Yes. She wears a laza necklace.”
Dala and Longo exchanged a glance, then looked at Eku as though amused.
Longo said, “A polished rock with a color like a clear sky before nightfall?”
Nodding eagerly, Eku said, “Yes.”
The four paused as young ones are prone to do, suddenly, in the center of the path, people weaving around them in both directions, some with zebra loincloths, some wearing other skins. Above them, in a lone palm, green parakeets were having an animated discussion.
Dala and Longo looked at each other again and shrugged, as if sharing a secret; unnoticed by Eku, Yathi began to look worried.
The four resumed walking.
Feeling unsure of himself, Eku asked, “Do you know her name?”
“She is Ingwe,” Yongo said in a matter of fact kind of way.
Eku blurted, “Ingwe is a fast runner,” and the Bwana burst into laughter.
Seeing Eku’s look of embarrassment, Dala said, “Yes, Ingwe is the fastest. But that is not all. If you dare to chase her, good luck. You will need it.”
The four paced the river path to reach the Bwana communal area.
Dala and Yongo led Yathi and Eku past fire pits, adults working skins, simmering stew, shooing flies away from strips of drying meat and fish.
Eku and Yathi felt conspicuous in their loincloths of springhare, but none of the Bwana paid them any heed.
The young Abantu males began to strut with youthful exuberance, Eku and Yathi gawking as the big huts grew larger.
While observing the encampment, Eku frantically tried to spot the female with the laza pendant, but she was nowhere to be seen.
Soon, all he could do was gawk at the big huts.
Yathi was grinning ear to ear.
The big huts were simply enormous, with many sections, which was confusing, at first.
Neither Eku or Yathi had ever seen a hut or any kind of shelter that had more than one room.
From a distance, the huts gave the impression of a spiraling conch shell, but up close, Eku saw the design was more like the web of a spider, where the main trees acted as mooring, with bamboo and hardwood poles serving as spiral and radial beams covered with layered palm or river grass.
Where the distance between mooring trees was far, sturdy poles of hardwood were buried into the ground to rise in support of the beams that connected the tree trunks.
Skins of zebra, kudu and other antelope hung from rafters to create the different sections.
There was an area before them with cleverly built shelves, holding more clay pots than Eku had ever seen.
Yongo asked, “What do you think?”
“This is the best hut ever,” Yathi said, eyes wide.
The interior appeared deserted and all four stepped inside.
Eku gazed up, fascinated by the lattice-like structure of support beams.
Yathi poked Eku and pointed at a zebra skin set upon a platform, upon which rested the enormous tusk of a bull elephant.
Eku let out a soft gasp. The tusk was in the process of being carved. Much of the shapes were indecipherable, but Eku thought he saw the outline of birds, snakes and a leopard.
The Abantu males shuffled further inside.
Eku and Yathi gaped at many skins, beautifully cured, some dyed in different colors.
There were carvings of wood masks made to look like elephants, hippos and baboons. Decorations of woven grass and woven pine needles hung from ropes attached to the bamboo rafters, upon which parakeets and pigeons strutted about, occasionally dropping to fly out with audible flapping.
A lone vervet monkey swung across rafters along the highest reaches of the ceiling, eying Yathi and Eku curiously, as though recognizing them as strangers.
Eku made a face and the vervet monkey showed its fangs. He smacked Yathi on the arm and looked at him crossed-eyed, while curling his mouth—a look they both called the no-lip monkey face.
Yathi giggled and enthusiastically said, “Do it. Show Dala and Longo. Do it!”
The Bwana looked curious.
“This is funny,” Yathi said, motioning at Eku, who wore a silly smile, slightly embarrassed, but eager.
Eku was an expert at mimicking vervet monkeys.
Dala and Longo looked at him expectantly.
“Go ahead,” Yathi encouraged.
Eku began moving his head with quick jerks.
Settled into a crouch with his knees splayed and pranced about like a juvenile monkey trying to escape its mother, whining and twisting his body while holding one arm out as though tethered in the grip of another.
Yathi, who has seen this act before, nevertheless bellows every time.
Eku’s impression was so perfect that the Dala and Longo instantly recognized what he was doing and joined Yathi in laughter.
Energized, Eku continued a well rehearsed routine. With so much noise from people outside, he figured that no one else would be paying attention.
While performing, he continued to gaze around the enclosure. Pointed and screamed shrilly at three zebra pelts hung slightly overlapping.
Yathi, Dala and Longo bellowed laughter.
Eku made high-pitched chattering noises; spun, waved his arms and, observing a stack of grass baskets like those used for harvest, pointed, hooting loudly as a vervet mother does when warning a little one.
Yathi, Dala and Longo held their stomachs and howled.
Eku stamped his feet, hooted and made squeaking noises and shuffled for a closer look at hanging kudu pelts and there, below the skins, previously hidden from view was the beautiful Bwana female with the laza pendant.
Ingwe lay on a grass mat, cheek rested on a palm, arm propped up by the elbow, waiting for Eku to see her.
And of course Eku froze, stuck in his silliest monkey face.
Ingwe sat up and made a face back; stood, and walked past the young males to exit for the community area, head held high.
Shocked, Eku remained where he was standing, but turned to watch her go as Yathi stared at him worriedly and Dala and Longo held hands over their mouths and tried to contain their laughter.
Perhaps, Eku might have been more embarrassed were it not for the combination of two things: first, being so thrilled to see her; second, having just learned that the father of the beautiful female with the laza pendant was Uta, the tall and fierce and scarred nesibindi, leader of the Bwana tribe.