Raising A Human

Moshe gasps awake, fighting a dream. The nightmare leaves him with a fearful urgency. It is still dark outside of the tent, and probably a few hours before daybreak. He feels as if something has awakened him, on purpose. He rises and stands outside of the tent. The wind is cool, so he reaches for his outer shirt. He wishes he had built a fire earlier.

The stars are out, the moon has disappeared, and the sky appears magnificent. There is fog, just now, rolling in from the sea. The stars will all be hidden soon. Strangely, he feels wide awake and is compelled to travel down towards the water’s edge.

The cool breeze is stronger here, beside the lapping waves. He is thinking of returning to his bed and blanket, but he sees a movement out across the waters. He moves closer to the sea. He sees lights moving across the water. There are two, no, maybe three of them. All have the same bluish glow. His heart is pounding. Moshe begins shouting out, “Over here! I am here! Come over here!”

But the lights keep dancing around in the same area, which appears to be at least a quarter of a kilometer away. He feels foolish thinking someone could hear him shouting from such a distance, and over the roar of the wind and waves.

But what are they? Vessels? Submarines? It is possible that the lights are caused by natural forces, by something with bioluminescence abilities, but they appear to move with purpose, with intention, like something with intelligence.

Moshe watches them and believes that the lights are under the surface of the water. After several minutes, one by one, the lights disappear. He stands there for a few more minutes, hoping they will reappear. When they do not, he walks back to the warmth of his shelter. He will try to sleep.

He wakes up and discovers that the sun has been up for several hours. The warmth of his bed now makes him feel hot. He rises, eats the last of the peanuts, and drinks half a bottle of water. He feels sticky and dirty. He was so tired at the end of yesterday’s activity. He didn’t even think of bathing.

He pulls a piece of his shirt towards his nose and sniffs. “Whew!” He strips off his clothes, and travels towards the ocean, holding his garments in his arms. Not only is he overdue for a bath, his clothing needs cleaning as well.

He reaches the waves and looks out hopefully, towards the area where the lights swam last night. There is nothing there now except the movement of the ocean. He enters the sea to bathe himself, and to scrub his clothing in the salty water. The water is refreshing. He leaves the sea and heads back to camp.

Near a group of rocks, he notices movement across the sand. Two crabs are in battle. He wonders how long it has been since he has eaten crab meat. His stomach growls and his mouth waters at the thought. His hunger, which he has been denying, now demands to be satisfied.

He drops his clothes on the ground and retrieves his outer shirt. He spreads the fabric as wide as possible and drops it upon the small warriors. He scoops up his shirt net, wraps the crabs in several layers and ties both ends. That should hold them, until he can build a fire.

The crab meat satisfies his hunger. He adds a few more broken branches to the pit, as he plans to keep the fire going until nightfall. Moshe gathers the empty containers to fill at the pond. He has just a small bit of his meal left. He wraps it in a piece of palm leaf for easy carrying and begins the short trek to the pond. The left-over crab meat is an offering for his neighbor, the cat.

All is quiet at the pond. After filling the containers, Moshe walks to the other side of the pond, to the place where the cat came through the grass. He unfolds the leaf and places it on the ground. Considering the number of tracks in this area, he is sure the creature will find his offering.

The day’s first task is to move enough firewood to the beach to have a signal fire, for at least a few nights in a row. The lights he saw under the water have made him hopeful. He puts several hours into the project, making numerous trips from the forest’s edge to the beach. He finally stops for a lunch break of fruit and water.

On his last trip to the forest, he had brought back several strong and sturdy tree branches. He places the ends of each of the three into the fire. The wood is still green, as he has broken these off from living trees. He chose them because of their straightness. The fire will make the branches manageable. He had located some rocks with jagged and sharp edges. With the rocks as his tools, he can shape the branches’ ends into points. If he is going to be here for a while, he will need proper hunting utensils.

The next task for Moshe, he hopes, will improve his daily diet. He starts tearing apart one of the life jackets. He constructs a crude cloth pouch. The pouch is for a fishing attempt. Moshe’s not sure it will work but he plans to cast the pouch into the sea.

For over an hour, he has been stringing, wrapping, and tying forest vines into a rope. He places a few medium size rocks in the pouch, to allow it to sink. He plans to cast the pouch out as far as he can into the ocean. The rope will be secured to the shore. He will check the pouch every few hours and see if the waters might offer him a meal.

After he casts the pouch into the sea, he gazes at the coastline to the south. It seems to stretch on forever. He will explore it today, but first he returns to his camp, to check on his spears-to-be.

Moshe removes the pieces from the fire. He will work on them later. He adds branches to the pit and picks up his walking stick. The sun’s position tells him that he has a few hours of daylight left to explore. Towards the south beach he travels.

Moshe follows the shoreline for several kilometers. He encounters a few interesting items and some curious island features. Further up from the water he finds the remains of a dead animal. It has mostly been ravaged by scavengers, and what is left is quite rotted. Moshe thinks it is a pig type creature. He also spots some rocky cliffs that may host a cave or two. That area will be a future exploration trip.

Further down the beach, to the south, he sees them at the water’s edge. Immediately Moshe recognizes the corpses of his friends from the raft. He feels a physical pain in his gut. He kneels and bows his head. “Oh no, no! My dear brother and sister!” The two had connected their life jackets together, in probably a last-ditch effort to keep each other alive. They had died as heroes.

He moves closer to the dead bodies on the beach. The waves lap at their feet. It is as if the sea just now brought them forth, and laid them here, for him to find. Moshe stands over them and weeps. The stench of their rotting flesh is overwhelming. He moves away, to find relief from the foul odor and to decide what needs to be done.

A part of Moshe wishes to hurry from this sad place of death, to run away, back to the security of his camp. But he cannot. He considers his situation and already knows what he must do. His friends are worthy of respect and honor. He must do the right thing, for them.

He scans the area. Up further on the beach is a collection of lava rocks. Some of the rocks appear to be loose. He can cover their bodies with the rocks and offer them a burial beside the sea. He begins dragging their bodies up the sandy hill towards their rocky, burial grounds.

Moshe grips the cloth material strap that connects the life jackets, and holds the bodies close to each other. With one arm, he pulls his shirt up and covers his nose and mouth. His other arm drags his friends across the sand. This funeral march is not graceful, but he is carrying their memory in his heart. He takes each step with reverence.

He speaks a few words of grace and gratitude aloud to his buried friends and begins to travel towards his camp. There will be no more exploring today. This journey has cast a dark shadow over his thoughts. Moshe weeps. He weeps for his lost friends. He weeps because he feels so alone and there is no one to share his sorrow. There is no one to weep with him.

He reaches his camp just in time to catch the last few embers in the fire pit. He gathers fuel from the pile of broken branches. The fire pit comes alive, so he moves the larger pieces away from the burning center to preserve fuel for cooking. He sets his stir stick to the side of the pit and heads towards the beach, to check his fish trap.

Moshe pulls in the pouch and is delighted to find some crabs and a few small fish. He will eat well tonight. He wraps the sea creatures in his outer shirt. Once his catch is secure, he throws the pouch back into the ocean. He will check it in the morning.

He remembers his grandmother and her practices of living with the land, on the sands of the challenging Sahara. She had taught him to be grateful for the gifts that the land provides. He bows his head to the sea in thankfulness for the provisions it has bestowed. His grandmother had also taught him, “Nature will always reward those who are humble and thankful.”

Moshe feels very grateful for the catch, for the nourishment, for the protein that his body needs, and the knowledge that he can now have more than fruit and water, for his sustenance. Besides, the peanuts are all gone.

After the meal, he fills the fire pit with fuel from the branch pile. The sun will pass below the horizon soon, and he wants a blazing fire by nightfall. He has already constructed the bonfire pile. Once it is fully dark, he will light the beach beacon.

Moshe enjoys the warmth and blaze of the bonfire. He tends to it for over an hour, with no response from the sea. He keeps his sights on the area where the blue lights appeared, but tonight the view is dark, and only filled with the sound of breaking waves.

He finally grows weary of watching the waves and of not seeing the dancing lights. He walks back to his camp. He adds fuel to the fire pit. He hopes to keep it burning until morning. He gathers the remains of his dinner meal and wraps it in a palm leaf. He places the small food bundle on the ground across from the fire pit. He will transport the left-over sea food to the pond in the morning. As he retires from the day, he smiles thinking of the new ritual that he has begun, feeding the cat.

Moshe lies upon his bed. He thinks of his friends, whom he has buried today. Despite his current situation, he feels comfortable and safe, here on the island. With just a little effort, his time here could be like a long-needed vacation. His mind has been so busy preparing his island living arrangements, that he has not thought once about the fast-moving modern world, that has been his career-long experience.

The physical work that he has performed since he has been on the island has been refreshing, compared to the rapid paced schedule of his official duties. As he closes his eyes, sleep comes quickly. His breathing is peaceful, with a steady rhythm, and his sleep is deep.

Unknown to the sleeping vacationer, a silent visitor moves about in the shadows of the camp. The fire still burns, casting some light. The moon’s dim glow spreads across all the open spaces of sand, so the creature moves slowly, staying in the shadows, moving from rock to tree, drawing closer to the smoky fragrance of cooked fish.

She locates it there near the fire, and decides it is not safe to retrieve the meal. She does not like the sight or smell of the fire. She sniffs the ground and recognizes the scent of the creature at the pond. The creature had later returned to the pond. It left food beside the water. She forgets about the creature and moves on to the beach, perhaps she will find a meal there.

The cat senses a change in the air. It detects a vibration, then her keen eyesight catches the moving lights in the water. Her instincts sense danger. She retreats to the shadow of the large black rock. The cat crouches low and watches the lights swimming closer to the shore.

Something washes up on the beach, the cat hisses and then growls. The feline senses that danger is near! The thing is unlike anything that the cat has ever experienced. It has no form, no color, and an unearthly smell. It is a slimy thing, and it is moving further up the beach. The cat feels threatened and confronts the invading thing.

The sea creature moves forward on the sand, like a worm. It stops its movement in response to the cat’s advances. The cat growls and shows its teeth, but the thing just stays there, its slimy body glistening in the moon light. The cat knows that this thing is wrong. It is a threat. The cat escapes towards the shadows of the forest, far away from this wrong thing that came from the water.

The thing continues its motion, moving up the beach in a snake-like manner. It is traveling towards the tent, where the man sleeps. It enters the tent and begins to raise its form upwards. It is upright in front of the sleeping man. The creature stretches its body out wide and thin. It lowers itself onto the man’s body. Beginning at his feet, it moves up his legs towards the upper part of his torso.

Moshe is awakened by a pressure that is hurting him. He tries to raise his arms, to move his legs, but something is holding him down. He can feel it now on his body. It covers him from his feet all the way up to his neck. He can feel the thing at his neck slowly creeping up the sides of his face.

He is terrified. He tries with all his strength to break free from the thing, but to no avail. The thing is pushing into his ears. Moshe screams, and the thing begins to fill his mouth. “So, this is how I will die,” is his last thought, as he slips into unconsciousness.