Raising A Human

Transitioning their living arrangement to the cave requires six trips back and forth from the tent. Now with one last trip to transport the last of their supplies, they stop for a lunch break. They have labored all morning and have worked up an appetite. The berries and fruit are satisfying.

Mohag is still eating. Moshe takes a small stick and begins drawing in the sand. “My little Mohag, come look at this.”

The child walks over to stand behind Moshe and views what he is doing in the sand. “What is this, Moshe? It looks like a face.”

“It is, see here are the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. It is you! Ha-ha! But I am not a very good artist.”

The child is excited about the drawing in the sand. He stops eating. “Can I do it also?”

Moshe locates another stick and gives it to Mohag. The boy makes circles and lines in the sand. He laughs, “Moshe, I like doing this!”

“I noticed how you crafted the toys from sticks. You are artistically inclined.” Moshe watches how Mohag’s drawings are becoming more complicated and detailed. The boy is drawing geometric shapes in the sand. He decides that the child is a savant, at least.

The two of them walk to the cave with their last load. Moshe gives several instructions to Mohag, at one time. He wants to test the boy. “I will put away our food and the tools. I need you to gather firewood and some medium size rocks. We will build a small fire pit outside of our cave’s entrance. And then I would like you to store pieces of wood in the smaller cave. We will have two fires tonight. Mohag, do you think that you can do that?”

The child smiles and nods his head. He exits the cave. Moshe calls out, “And be careful!”

The boy replies with a happy shout, “I will be careful, Moshe!”

He watches Mohag descend the cliff and enter the forest. He is tempted to follow the boy, to make sure he stays safe, but decides against it and begins rearranging their supplies in the cave. He must trust that Mohag is intelligent enough to take care of himself.

Moshe travels to the bird trap and is delighted to see that it contains a bird. Though smaller than a farm chicken, the bird will easily supply them with their evening meal. After he thanks the bird for its gift and blesses its kind, he cleans and prepares it in Mohag’s absence. He decides that if they catch another, he will need to show the boy how to prepare it for cooking.

Approaching the cave, Moshe sees Mohag leaving, he is headed back to the forest. The boy has placed firewood and some stones just outside of the tent. Moshe begins building a small fire pit beside the main cave’s entrance.

Mohag performed his appointed task, exactly. Moshe takes the boy with him to the smaller cave. With his instructions, Mohag begins to build the fire. Moshe had already started one in the small pit. The small pit is for having light after the sun goes down. With the cooking fire built, Moshe hangs the bird high above the flames. “We will let it slow cook for a while.”

The two of them travel to the pond and fill their water containers. They decide to go for a swim. The boy needs a bath anyway, he is dusty from all his work in the forest. The child swims like a fish. Moshe notices that Mohag can stay under the water for a longer amount of time than he.

He prepares to head back to the cave, but Mohag is still swimming. “Come on, you little fish, get out of the water. We need to go and check on our dinner.”

Mohag laughs as he crawls from the pond and onto the land. “You called me, little fish?”

“Yes, because you are a natural swimmer, just like a fish. Little Mohag, little fish!” They laugh together.

The Island Chicken Special is flavorful. Moshe serves a leaf platter full of the feast to Mohag. The meat is seasoned with plants and herbs that Moshe had gathered. Sliced fruits, berries, and a few small fish adorn the platter, as well.

The two begin eating and conversing. To Moshe’s amazement, the child’s questions are about nature, and the light and dark changes of each day. Questions about the moon and stars, and is the sun on fire? The child wants to know how the world works. Mohag’s mind may be maturing faster than his physical body.

The meal and conversation are enjoyable and enlightening. The sun has set, the fire has burned low, and both are stretched out upon their beds, attempting to fall asleep.

Mohag moves to the edge of his bed. “Moshe, did you see the light lines in the sky?”

Moshe rises from his mat. He looks out beyond the cave’s opening, “There is a storm coming in. The lines you speak of are lightning strikes. The storm looks fierce. You should try to sleep. I will watch the sky. I will keep us safe.”

The wind and rain come. Moshe keeps watch. After a few hours of mild chaos, the storm has subsided. Moshe falls asleep and joins Mohag, in the world of dreams.

Moshe dreams and his ancestors speak. He does not want to hear what they are saying. He runs from them, but they continue to shout out. They are warning him of a great darkness that is coming. Their screaming is so loud that Moshe awakens from the dream. He is awake and can still hear someone screaming. Someone is in terror!

He stands and can hear Mohag. He is screaming, far away. He grabs the spear as he exits the cave, rushing into the night. He begins to move towards the sound of the boy’s voice.

He runs down the pathway that their footprints have been carving out of the cliff. He suddenly notices the falling rain. Dark clouds fill the sky, making ground rumbling sounds, as they light up with smokey glows from lightning pulses.

Moshe has reached the forest and calls out to the boy, “Mohag, where are you? I am coming for you?”

“I am here Moshe! I am here! Help me! There is a creature attacking me!”

Moshe runs with all his strength. He enters the clearing and finds Mohag, kneeling next to a tree. The child is crying and is frightened of the wild cat. It stands within striking distance, showing its teeth with hisses and low growls.

Moshe yells, “No!” as he runs forward raising the spear in his right hand. The world seems to move in slow motion. With every step closer, he can see the cat moving into an attack position. As he hurries to place himself between the cat and the boy, he understands the entire scene.

Regardless of the storm, the blue lights had called to him, just as they do each night. He may have already communed with them and was returning to the cave. The storm drove the cat down from the higher cliffs. And now, he must stop the cat from attacking Mohag. He will protect the boy.

She is jumping and senses the being from the pond. As her claws reach for that wrong thing, she feels the need to push away. This other scent is familiar and confuses her. But she is already attacking, she cannot regard the scent of this being, which left food by the pond. She jumps towards the wrong thing.

Moshe is a split second ahead of the cat, He steps in front of Mohag, gripping the spear with both hands now. He sees the majestic creature leaping. He is holding the spear directly in front of himself. He is prepared to defend from any direction.

Even as she strikes out, she wants to pull back, but thousands of years of evolution scream at her. The sharp object enters her chest and exits through her back. Her world becomes black. Moshes pushes the animal to the ground.

He kneels and embraces Mohag. “Are you hurt?” He begins checking the child’s arms and legs, looking for wounds or cuts. Mohag has rips and scratches on his right shoulder. He is bleeding. He had pushed his body against the tree, trying to escape the cat, and wounded his shoulder.

Moshe carries the boy back to the cave. The rain has slowed, and he is able to restart the fire pit. He brings forth the first aid kit and begins cleaning and treating Mohag’s wounds.

As he is bandaging Mohag, he sees that the child has tears from the pain of the wound. Mohag reaches and touches his tears. He rubs the liquid through his fingers. With a wavering voice the boy asks, “Why does water come from my eyes?”

“That is your body responding biologically to your pain. That unpleasant feeling, in your shoulder. All humans can produce tears, the water that comes from the eyes. Pain, joy, excitement, physical or emotional, all these states can produce tears in any human. It is our human nature.”

Moshe pats Mohag on the head. The boy shakes his head, satisfied with the given answer. Moshe looks at the child. “You are a human, are you not?”

Mohag smiles. “I am as you are, Moshe.”

He prepares their morning meal but feels the heaviness of the day’s task. Moshe must honor his friend, the cat, and offer a proper ceremony. Mohag seems to be afraid as they approach the dead carcass.

“The cat has joined her ancestors. It can harm you no more. I will carry her body to the northern cliff. We will honor the cat by giving her back to the island. We should honor those who have shared this life with us.”

Moshe wraps the cat’s body with palm leaves and forest twine. “Here, you carry this, and I will carry the cat.” He hands the spear to the boy and places the cat over his shoulder.

They journey to the top of the cliff. The cat is placed upon a large boulder that is jutting up from the ground. The leaves and twine are removed. “Cat, my dear friend, may your kind continue on the earth and may you rest in peace.” He gives Mohag a hug before they leave the cat.

On the way down the cliff, the child is thinking about Moshe’s embrace. It seemed different than before. Moshe had embraced him as he was learning to speak. Moshe seems different now. “Moshe, did you like the cat?”

“Yes, the cat was the first friend that I met here on the island.” With a sad sigh Moshe says, “I will miss the cat.”

“You seem different now. You are not happy. Losing the cat makes you feel...uh...not happy.”

Moshe adds some warmth to his words, “You are very observant my Little Mohag. I feel sad about the cat. I could not let it harm you, but I did not want to kill it.”

“You did it because I called to you, Moshe.”

“I did it because I care about you Mohag, and do not want to see you harmed.”

The evening meal tonight was prepared by Mohag. At his request, Moshe allowed him to retrieve the fish trap, build the fire and cook their meal. Moshe has performed meal making in front of the boy several times. He thinks the boy has a photographic memory.

While Mohag was working on their meal, Moshe had been working on a new set of clothes. The boy is growing more each day. He created a grass skirt for himself, he wears it over his under garment.

He will have Mohag wear his pants and under shirt. The now sleeveless outer shirt, he converted into an under garment for Mohag. He will need to roll up the pants legs and use his waist belt. But the child is taller now. The pants and undershirt may last until he becomes an adult, he can only hope.

“Oh, the worries of parenthood.” He pauses, as a painful memory rolls over him. He remembers his daughter.

During their meal conversation, Moshe begins to understand how advanced Mohag’s understanding has become. The child speaks of building food bags from weaved grass and converting a thermal blanket into more suitable clothing for Moshe.

Moshe asks, “So, you do not like my grass skirt?” They both laugh.

The two of them sit beside the cave’s entrance, watching the fire burn in the small rock pit. The sky has turned to twilight, and the western breeze smells of salt. The meal and their conversation are satisfying and comforting. They are experiencing a peaceful and relaxing evening.

Mohag speaks, “Moshe, can I ask you a question?”

“Certainly, Mohag, what do you want to know?”

“What is ‘family’. I heard you speak it when you sleep.”

“What, do mean that I am talking in my sleep?”

“You are not talking, but I think that I hear you thinking. Mohag gazes into Moshe’s eyes. “You think about ‘family’ and ‘Mary Elizabeth.’

“How could know this name, Mohag? Are you physic? Are you reading my mind?”

“I hear you when you sleep. Sometimes, your thoughts are loud.”

“I continue to be astonished by you, Mohag. Okay, so you ask about my family and my daughter.”

Moshe takes on a calm demeanor and begins to tell the boy about his life. He describes the tribal life that he knew as a child. He speaks of how his family left the desert life and attempted to fit in to the world of modern humans. He told of how the modern lifestyle had broken his father. He had become an abusive alcoholic.

He received his education at the University, where he met the woman that he fell in love with. They had married before they both had earned their degrees. Shortly after their joining, they became pregnant. It was a troubled pregnancy. When their daughter was born, she only lived for three hours.

They had named their daughter Mary Elizabeth, after his wife’s grandmother. Her family had converted to Catholicism several generations ago. Moshe practiced the spiritual beliefs of his tribe for most of his life. When he began studying at the University, he began to question such superstitious beliefs. Now that he is older, he finds comfort in remembering the beliefs of his people. He holds their ways in his heart.

The loss of their child brought a dark cloud over their marriage. Within a few years, his wife had left their home. They have never divorced. He has spoken with her by telephone, a few times since then. Moshe remarks, “It’s been so long since we have had contact, she may not know that I am missing from society.”

After speaking for a few minutes, Moshe becomes silent. Mohag can sense Moshe’s pain. The child reaches out to Moshe and hugs him. “You have lost your family, Moshe. You will not lose me.”

Moshe squeezes the boy in a return hug, “You are a kind child, thank you. I hope to never lose you!”

Later in the evening, Mohag rises to join the lights on the beach. Moshe follows him. He will make sure the boy stays safe.