Tchink and Eden (Chapter 3)

Tcheb, Yovec and didn’t see each other that day after the morning’s episode but Yovec’s words couldn’t find their way out of my head. I rolled the thought over and over in my head and tried desperately to make meaning of it.

What if a lome had come back from exploring other parts of the world?

But then, Yovec said that it didn’t look like any of us. Maybe it was a lome but it looked different because Yovec was flying above it.

What exactly did she see?

I want to believe without doubt that Yovec saw a lome and thought it to be something else but I know it wasn’t

It wasn’t.

“Tchink, boy!”

I jumped off from the spot I had been sitting on. Mama Tchaek had asked me to fetch her a fresh drum of decon for the meeting Papa Tchlan was going to have with the older lomes at our home. I hurriedly grabbed my pail and dunked it into the lake. Somehow, I managed to dunk myself into the lake along with the pail.

I came up spluttering but triumphant with a full pail of decon. I practically ran towards our house and towards Mama Tchaek.

She was standing arms akimbo in front of the house but instead of the disapproving look I expected to find on her face, I found she was amused and she was trying so hard not to break into a fit of laughter.

“I fetched a fresh pail, Mama” Some decon from my head had found its way down my face and a puddle of decon began to form at the spot where I stood.

“Did a foul spirit push you into the lake, Tchink?”

“No, Mama. I dinna look-”

Mama Tchaek finally burst out laughing. She fell on the front porch laughing. She laughed hard, holding her sides.

My lips curled up in a smile, I must be a sight for Mama Tchaek to laugh so hard. I ran past her and poured the decon into the drum and ran back out to the lake to fetch some more so I could move on to other chores.

The path to the lake was narrow and windy but opened up into a small circle of lush grass around the lake. I am the only one at the lake at this time. I wonder what Yovec and Tcheb are doing and I hope that Yovec isn’t still in shock about what she saw. I couldn’t wait till afternoon when we would finally see each other to talk properly about what Yovec saw. Excitement rushed through me as the Sun shone brighter, drying off the decon on my body.

I’m fetching my last pail of decon now and I stop for a minute to admire the lamb that wandered towards the lake. It had come from amidst the bushes and I made a mental note to tell Yovec and Tcheb about the new path I had discovered. For now, I’ll concern myself with finishing my chores before noon.

 

I listened in on the elder lomes’ meeting. They were talking about boring affairs like home boundaries and constructing a new home for Chief Kerst. Noon came soon after and I rushed off to the meadow; that’s where we meet during the day. Yovec was already there waiting.

“Yovec!” She smiled and offered me her hand as I made to sit on the rock beside her.

“Tchink, where’s Tcheb?”

“I dinna know. He should be here soon. Tell me about the thing you saw this morning, Yovec. I’ve been dying to hear all day.”

“What do you want to hear, Tchink?”

“I want to hear what it looked like.”

Yovec jumped off the rock, fell on her knees and began to yank some grass out of the earth.

“What are you doing?”

She ignored me and continued plucking grass. When she had two handfuls she sat on what was left of the grass and piled the grass on her head. Then she reached for two big leaves and put one at her chest level before placing the other at the point where her legs began.

“Are you alright, Yovec?” I heard Tcheb say from behind me.

“She had something like this on top of her head and it was the color of decon. Then she had something to cover her body. That’s how I knew she wasn’t like us.”

“But she could’ve been carrying some things on her back, Yovec. You probably mistook what she was carrying for all this you’re describing, Yovec.” Tcheb explained.

“She looked at me! That’s why I fell.” Yovec was standing now. I could see frustration in her eyes. “She didn’t have our eyes. Her eyes were smaller…like the size of seeds and they had the colour of the sky in the afternoon.”

Tchink and Eden (Chapter 2)

It’s a little before dawn and I’m out with Yovec and Tcheb sitting on a large rock close to the edge of the village. This is where we spend our early hours before we unwillingly return to the village to do chores. The sun is one of the most beautiful things Tchink Village owns.

Yovec is number one of course.

“Tchink, do you think there is another village like ours somewhere?” Yovec turns to ask me.

I stare into her dark, wide eyes for a second before I say “Of course not, Yovec, we are the only lomes in the world.”

“But have you ever stopped to wonder maybe…”

“Papa Tchlan says that the lomes that have tried to explore the rest of the world never came back. He says that they were killed by wild animals. We are the only lomes there are, Yovec.”

Tcheb throws a rock into the lake of decon and three of us turn to watch the ripples in silence.

Dawn is almost here…

Tcheb stands up and starts walking towards the narrow path to the village. Yovec follows but I linger for a moment to stare at the ripples of decon before I jog towards my friends.

“RACE YOU TO THE VILLAGE!” Tcheb shrieks as he whizzes past Yovec. Yovec and I break into a run, laughing as our wings spread and we soar over the trees and towards Tchink Village. When I’m flying I wish I can keep my wings forever but they’ll disappear completely by the time I become a full grown lome. I twirl twice in the air as I close in on Tcheb.

“Eh! I dinna ever see a cheat like you, Tchink!” He yells.

“Yovec knows I dinna cheat haha!”

We both await Yovec’s witty response but all we hear is the sound of our wings flapping.

My heart stops inside me as I turn around to find that Yovec is nowhere in sight.

“Yovec!” I call

Tcheb hovers towards me. I can feel the fear he brings with him and the unspeakable thought in his head echoes in mine:

Did Yovec fly into a tree?

We descend into the forest and thankfully find Yovec not too far from the spot we landed.

“What happened, Yovec?”

She’s out of breath and her dark eyes seem wider than ever.

She saw something.

“What did you see, Yovec?” Tcheb asks her, checking her left wing. She has a few scratches.

“Tell us, Yovec” I kneel in front of her and gaze into the depths of her eyes.

“I saw…” there’s a thin sheath of sweat on her face and her cheeks are a bright, excited shade of pink.

“What did you see, Yovec?” Tcheb shakes her shoulders gently, turning her towards him. His lower lip trembles a little. He is thinking what I’m thinking.

Yovec finally voices our thought “I saw a…a…thing.”

“What thing?!” I am getting impatient. The sun is shining in all of its glory now and Mama and Papa will be awake and about soon.

“A lome but not really a lome. It dinna look anything like us, Tcheb! And it’s not an animal either!”

“Are you sure of what you saw, Yovec?” I turn her face towards me now and I see the truth in her eyes.

“Let’s go home,” Tcheb helps Yovec to her feet “and don’t tell anybody what you saw, Yovec. We aren’t supposed to be here in the first place…”

“You dinna see anything, Yovec.” I say this to convince myself more than I say it to convince my friends.

There are creatures out there that we are not aware of.