Chapter 7

Lucy still felt awkward after her sex talk with Rual. The rain kept coming down hard. It lasted for hours, and wouldn't let up. Lucy heard people yelling her name. She went outside, and found 15 people including Semal and Risha, drenched in the rain.

"What's going on," Lucy asked.

"The river is flooding," Semal stated, "Half of our homes are gone, and 7 people are missing."

"Where is Mala," Lucy asked while looking for her in the crowd.

"Mala and her family are fine," Risha said.

"Everyone is opening their home to people that lost theirs. We came to ask for your help," Semal said.

'How will I fit all these people in my house,' Lucy thought to herself.

"I'll need help making room," Lucy waved the people to help empty the drying pottery from her house.

All of the uncooked pottery that was taken out would be ruined by the rain, but it made room for people to sit inside Lucy's brick dome house. Everyone had to sit with their knees tucked into their chest. Even the fire was put out to make extra room for another person. Semal and Risha returned to the main village to check on the other people. Lucy didn't know if they also lost their home, or were just helping the survivors. Everyone in the house was quietly listening to the rain fall. Lightning struck close enough to the house make it shake. Everyone jumped in their skin.

"Why are the spirits angry," a small boy asked his mother.

"This is just a natural storm," Lucy told Rual to help him stay calm, "No one is angry."

"The spirits do everything for a reason," the mother told her child.

There was a slight conflict of disagreement building in the air. Lucy and the mother stared at each other with an "I'm right," look on their face.

"Why are you fighting," Rual asked Lucy.

"We're not fighting," they both replied.

It was uncomfortably hot and humid in the cramped house. Their nerves were frayed.

'I wonder how many homes were destroyed,' Lucy thought.

Lucy planned to help them build brick homes, but it would require mass production of bricks. She would have to turn her home into a kiln sooner than she expected.

"Does the river flood often," Lucy asked the group.

"This happens every 10 or 20 years," Someone said.

"I've seen in happen 3 other times," a woman with gray hair spoke.

"We can only pray to the spirits to not take too many of us away," the mother said.

"You could do more than pray," Lucy lost her temper, "Y'all could have moved further away from the river."

"Our village is a sacred spot chosen by our ancestors," the gray hair woman stated.

"People have died," Lucy responded.

"May their spirits be guided by the other spirits to better lives," the old woman prayed.

Lucy wanted to pull out her hair.

"Why would you let bad things happen, when you can stop them," Lucy asked.

"It's out of our hands," someone from the group spoke.

"No it's not, it's completely in your control," Lucy responded.

"You do not listen to the spirits, so you wouldn't know," The old woman spoke.

Lucy's face froze in the "are you fucking kidding me," pose.

Everyone in Lucy's home didn't sleep well, because they couldn't get comfortable. The skies were clear the next day. The whole village was moving to process mud. Grass cut with stone knives were trampled into the mud to make cobb. The plant fibers reinforced the mud, and added extra strength. Lucy expected to be asked to make bricks for their homes, but she learned about production time costs through the villagers. Grass and mud could be made into cobb, and built into walls much easier and faster than she can process clay bricks.

Cobb walls would lose their structural integrity during a flood, and fired clay bricks would remain strong, but these people needed homes to live in. They couldn't wait for Lucy to spend weeks making bricks for each house. The village needed their homes as soon as possible. Lucy and Rual had their home to themselves after 5 days. The 7 missing people were never found. The dead were mourned by the villagers through song. It felt like more of a celebration in Lucy's perspective, because song and dance was involved.

"Why do you look angry," Rual asked Lucy.

"7 people needlessly died," Lucy responded.

"It was time for their lives to stop," Rual spoke.

"That can't be true," Lucy disagreed.

"How do you know," Rual asked.

Lucy stared at the people singing and dancing, and said, "We have more control over our lives than we think."

Lucy nearly had a heart attack when she saw a baby being tossed over a bonfire. Christian grabbed her wrist before she could confront the adults tossing the baby around.

"I can't let this keep happening," Lucy spoke.

"It's a ritual to signify life and death living close together," Christian spoke, "The baby is mostly fine."

'This is not okay, Lucy thought, then processed his words, and thought, 'What do you mean by mostly fine?'

"Humans are never 100%."

'That sounds like an insult,' Lucy scowled in her mind, 'Is there something I should know about?'

"How do you like your brick form," Christian asked.

Rual left to play with Mala.

"I wouldn't know," Lucy spoke with irritation, "We've been busy rebuilding our destroyed homes, and dealing with the loss of life caused by flash floods. Did you cause that to happen?"

"We didn't not cause it," Christian responded.

"What the hell is this "We" stuff?"

"You wanted something from me, and we made a trade."

'A wooden box shouldn't cost homes and lives,' Lucy screamed in her mind to not be heard.

"I'm not the one focused on fair trade," Christian spoke.

"How is what happened fair?"

"Their time was coming to an end, and the village saw how helpful you can be during a disaster."

"Life is always coming towards an end, but we never know when, and if we did and could change it, we would," Lucy responded, "If you really have that knowledge, you could of done something to save those lives."

"I can tell this appreciation doesn't go around," Christian spoke, "I get people to see the good in you, and you disregard me."

'Life has value, and you threw it away like trash,' Lucy thought.

"They could've moved away from the river earlier."

Lucy pointed at Christian with her words stuck in her throat, and waved her finger at him.

"I value life," Christian spoke while dancing around.

Lucy was so angry, she didn't know what to say, and she started dancing to match Christian's moves. Lucy was getting her frustration out through moving her body around.

"We lose things faster, the harder we hold onto them," Christian spoke.

"It's not fair," Lucy responded.

"I know," Christian spun Lucy around, and they danced to exhaustion.

"I'm tired," Rual said to Lucy laying on the ground out of breath.

"Let's go home," Lucy responded.

Christian had disappeared.

"Who are you looking for," Rual asked as Lucy looked for Christian.

"A bad spirit," Lucy answered.

"Do you see any," Rual asked.

"Not right now."

"Good."

Lucy told Rual the story of the dancing disease as they walked home.

"They danced for days and nights, and died of exhaustion," Lucy spoke.

Rual looked nervous, and asked, "Am I going to dance to death?"

"Do you feel that," Lucy asked.

"Feel what?"

"Oh no, I think I got it," Lucy started waving her arms, and shaking her body.

Rual started crying, "I don't want you to die."

Lucy stopped dancing and said, "It's okay. I'm fine. I was just being funny."

"It's not funny," Rual wiped his eyes.

"It's okay to laugh at bad things sometimes," Lucy stated.

"Why," Rual asked.

"I don't know," Lucy responded honestly, "It's just a way of dealing with stress and worry."

"You have a spider in your hair," Rual told her.

"Oh shit, get it off. Get it off me," Lucy froze and started freaking out.

Rual started laughing while sniffling snot.

"There is no spider. Is there?"

"I was being funny," Rual told her.

"That's not funny," Lucy responded, "I'll race you home."

Lucy let Rual run ahead, but he was also faster than her. Lucy saw a large black creature laying by a tree. It was the size of an alligator, and Rual was running right towards it.

"Rual!" Lucy screamed.

Rual stopped within striking distance of the creature, and turned around confused.

"What?"

"Get away from that thing," Lucy pointed.

Rual looked at what Lucy was pointing at, and jumped towards it, and stood on it.

"Rual, no!"

Lucy ran towards him, and he started dancing on the thing. It was a rotting dead tree. Rual started laughing.

"Don't you ever do that to me!" Lucy raised her hand to hit Rual.

It was something Lucy's parents did to her, and a natural reaction to anger Lucy was taught as being okay for adults to do. Rual cowered. He was used to being hit in Hess village by the women. Lucy dropped her hand when she realized what she was about to do.

"Rual, I'm-," Lucy stuttered on her apology.

Rual ran away from Lucy, but fortunately it was towards their home. Lucy walked home with guilt drowning her heart. She did something she swore to never do to her children with instinct. An unspoken trust between Lucy and Rual had been broken by her temper. Lucy found Rual sitting next to the fire in their home. Lucy sat across from him.

"I thought you were going to die, and I lost my mind," Lucy admitted.

"I told you I don't want to get hit anymore," Rual spoke in a low voice.

"I know. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have reacted that way."

"I want pickle food," Rual mumbled.

"You never even tried pickled food," Lucy responded, "How would you know if you like it?"

"You said it tastes good."

"It does taste good."

"I want it," Rual spoke with his eyes fixated on the fire.

Lucy thought about how difficult the task would be, and said, "If you want pickled food, then I'll make you pickled food."

The next day, Lucy asked Mala's parents to watch after Rual while she traveled to the ocean. Lucy carried a large water pot on each shoulder. It took 90 minutes to walk to the ocean with the extra weight, and 120 minutes for Lucy to walk back with water pots filled with sea water. She took frequent breaks to rest during her trip. The full water pots weighed over 45 pounds each, or 20+ kilos each. Lucy didn't have the strength to carry them both at once, and made a series of 5 minute round trips to get the 2 water pots home.

Lucy boiled half of the water out of the pots to raise the brine salinity to around 7%, and kill any creatures still living in the sea water. Then fennel was added, and Lucy used large pieces of broken pottery that fit in the pots to weigh down the fennel below the water line. Lucy placed the pots of soon to be fermented pickled fennel halfway in the stream to stay cool. A plate was tied over the tops to keep out bugs and animals, but let built up pressure escape. Lucy made Rual wait 2 months for the fennel to ferment.

"It's ready," Lucy said.

"What is ready," Rual asked, forgetting about the pickled food after 2 months.

"I made pickled fennel."

"I don't really like fennel."

"But you eat it with me all the time," Lucy responded.

"I eat it because I'm hungry," Rual stated.

"What don't you like about it?"

"The taste."

Fennel has a licorice taste that some people don't like, but Lucy knew fermenting it would change the flavor.

"I promise it will taste different," Lucy said, and left the house.

Lucy returned with a 50 pound/22 kilo pot of pickled fennel, and said, "This will taste like nothing you ever had before."

Lucy pulled out a whole fennel plant, and broke off a stick for Rual to try. Rual was unsure of the taste when he first bit into it, but the flavor was different from raw fennel. It was sour. Subtle flavors of the plant were brought out by the lactic acid produced by the bacteria.

"What do you think of it," Lucy asked.

"I don't know," Rual stated as he pulled out a whole fennel plant to eat.

"I think you like it," Lucy laughed, "I think we should share this with the rest of the village."

"No," Rual responded quickly, "Then it will be all gone."

"We can keep this pot of pickled fennel," Lucy spoke, "I have another pot of it, the same size. We can give that one to village leader Semal, and he can share it with the village."

Rual nodded. It was proper respect to give gifts to a village leader. Lucy got the other pot of pickled fennel from the stream. It was fermented in the stream to keep the pot cooler than 80 degrees Fahrenheit, or 26 Celsius. If the food pickled above that temperature, it would have lost its crispness. Lucy didn't want to eat soggy pickled fennel. She brought the pickled fennel to Semal.

"What is this," he asked.

"It's a gift," Lucy said as she placed the pot on the ground, "It's pickled fennel."

"What is pickled?"

"It's a way of saving food, so it lasts longer."

"How long have you had this," Semal asked.

"2 months," Lucy answered.

"What is a month?"

"Uh," Lucy thought aloud, "It took five five and five five and two five days to make."

'This is way to complicated a way to count,' Lucy thought to herself.

"I don't want it. The food is bad," Semal stated.

"Why are you arguing with this child," Risha asked her husband.

"She is giving me bad food," Semal responded.

"Why are you giving us bad food," Risha asked Lucy.

"It's not bad, it's fermented," Lucy sighed.

"You said it was pickled," Semal responded.

"Fermenting is a way of pickling food," Lucy spoke slowly to contain her temper.

"It is many many days old," Semal told Risha.

"The food has gone rotten. Throw it out," Risha told Lucy.

Lucy covered her face with her hands, and spoke, "I promise it's okay. Just try it. I'll eat some to prove it's okay."

Lucy untied the lid, and was instantly hit with a foul odor when she lifted it. Lucy dry heaved as she turned away from the smell.

"Take it away," Semal and Risha demanded.

Lucy had made the mistake of not checking on her fermenting pickled food. The first pot fermented okay, but the 2nd pot got a hairline fracture near the top. The liquid leaked out the hairline crack, and the fennel inside the pot got exposed to air, which let mold grow on it, and turned it into a foul rotting mess. Lucy put the lid back on like it was Pandora's box. She tied the lid tight, and carried out her dying pride with the pot of rotten food.

Lucy threw the pot into the river, which caused an alligator to investigate. It quickly lost interest in it, when it realized it wasn't food to eat.

"You win some, you lose some. Am I right?"

"This is not a good time, Christian," Lucy stated.

He imitated her dry heaving, and laughed.

"Get off my dick, I don't feel well."

"You don't even have a dick," Christian responded.

"It's a phrase of speech!"

"Why don't you feel well," he asked.

"My tits hurt," Lucy gritted her teeth.

"I wouldn't know about that," Christian spoke, "That sounds like a woman problem to me."

"Well, it fucking sucks."

Lucy had come off her period recently. The higher levels of estrogen in her body around this time swelled her breasts, and made them sore.

"Why didn't you make me skinny and beautiful, when you brought me here," Lucy asked.

"Skinny isn't the only way to be pretty," Christian responded.

"I'm fat. I have acne. And I need to be touched by a fucking woman," Lucy complained.

"There are a few women in the village that find you attractive, but most of them are married to men."

"I'm not polyamorous. Who's left," Lucy asked.

"Isla, she's 16, and thinks you're hot," Christian spoke.

"I can't date a person under 18," Lucy responded.

"There's no law stopping you."

"Laws existing or being absent don't prove the existence of things being moral," Lucy stated, "It would be morally wrong to take advantage of such a young person."

"2 years is such a small amount," Christian argued, "How much can she mature?"

"2 years ago, I wasn't a murderer, and my parents accepted me," Lucy responded, "A lot can happen in 2 years. If 2 years is so short, why can't perverts like you wait?"

"Isla isn't my type," Christian stated.

"I don't want to know what gets your sick rocks off," Lucy said.

"You treat me like a pervert," he lamented.

"How many people have been hurt as a result of something you done?"

Christian started counting on his fingers, and hands reached out of the ground to help him keep counting. Soon there were thousands of arms raising from the ground, as far as Lucy's eyes could see.

"What we do today, shouldn't reflect on what we can do tomorrow," Christian stated, "I effected a few lives today. The number isn't important. My intent was good."

Lucy was stunned those hands represented only today, and said, "Those numbers represent people. You can't treat us like a heartless statistic. What the hell makes your intentions good?"

"They're good for me," Christian shrugged.

"You're a selfish bastard," Lucy accused him.

Lucy found Rual laying on the ground in their house, when she returned. He had stuffed himself with pickled fennel. Besides the taste, his body also craved the salt it was missing. Lucy ate some pickled fennel, and tied the lid shut on the pot. She imagined how Rual would be mistreated, if he was still living in Hess village, and how people were still suffering there.

'The only thing that changes a person's mind is something that effects their personal profit,' Lucy thought to herself.

If she couldn't threaten destroying the value of life in Hess village to make them change their ways, Lucy would have to improve things in Semal village. A few simple tricks wouldn't be enough. It would have to be a leap in technology that makes other people want to join Semal village's way of life, and Semal village would need to be strong enough to protect itself from jealous attackers.

"Devaluing life is the same as destroying the value of it," Christian stated.

Lucy's eyes were opened. She realized even though life doesn't change for some people directly, when the lives of other people improve, those lives that don't improve are left to suffer more. Making things easier for one person, means it's harder for everyone else who don't have access to those resources. Lucy was being ableist to justify her way of thinking, and wanting to use totalitarian injustice.

'How do I help people, without hurting them,' Lucy asked in her mind.

"We can't save everyone from being hurt," Christian said.

Rual looked at Lucy start to cry, and asked, "What's wrong?"

"People are suffering, and I haven't done anything to stop it," Lucy told Rual.

"Are we going to help Hess village," Rual asked.

Lucy nodded her head, and said, "We'll find a way to help them, and help everyone."

"You can't please everyone," Christian told Lucy.

"I can try to make it better for everyone," Lucy stated.

"What did village leader Semal think of the pickle food," Rual asked.

Lucy started laughing, and told them the story of what happened with the rotten food. It was quite embarrassing for her pride. Christian ate pickled fennel behind Rual's back as Lucy spoke. Lucy told them she threw the pot of rot into the river for the alligators to suffer with.

"Maybe it will chase the alligators away," Lucy said.

"I want to use fishing traps again," Rual stated, "I want more craw fish soup."

"Your cooking needs some work," Christian stated.

"Is my cooking not good enough," Lucy asked.