A Glibertarians Exclusive: Setting Suns, Part III
The plain – 28,000 years ago
Eba was amazed at the vastness of ‘above.’
She had been up the trail from the beach-side cave to ‘above’, of course, many times, to gather wood and forage. But she had always stayed close to the trail that led to the beach in front of the cave, having had no need to go any farther. Now, after moving for half a day at the slow trot the men set, the small group was farther from the cave than Eba had been since they clan had crossed the mountains. They had passed through a small band of trees a short time ago, and now were moving up a long, gentle slope covered in knee-high grass that waved gently in a mild breeze. Hoo kept their progress oriented by watching the sun, moving them northwest, a direction in which he hadn’t explored with any thoroughness. “If we are to find any other of the People,” he explained, “this is the best direction to look.”
As they neared the crest of the slope, Eba detected some movement in the grass a few paces to her left. Drawing a flint blade, she pounced, struck several times with the blade, and came up laughing, a fat marmot in each hand. Hoo clapped his hands together. “We will eat well today,” he said. “Let’s get over this ridge. We will find a good place to start a fire and have fresh meat.” Hoo carried an auroch horn filled with ashes mixed with mammoth dung, in the middle of which were some live coals from the clan’s communal fire. Not only did this allow him to start cooking and warming fires quickly, but it was important to carry that coal from the clan’s communal fire, to have that piece of home with them. Bad luck would surely befall them were Hoo to allow it to go out.
Eba smiled at her father. Working quickly, she used her flint blade to eviscerate the rodents, then put the blade back in her pouch. She took a long leather thong, tied the marmots’ back feet together, then tied a loop in the end and slung the rodents over her shoulder. The four travelers moved on. But when they reached the top of the slope, Hoo, in the lead, held up a hand. “Hold,” he said. He raised his head and held up a hand.
“Come up,” he said. “Let them see you all.”
Eba walked to the crest. Gula and Tep were already there, looking down the other side of the slope. Eba followed their gaze to a narrow band of trees along a creek bottom, and saw them: Runners.
How many of them there are, Eba thought. She could, with difficulty, count to ten. Quantities above that faded into “many,” and that described the flock of Runners below. One of the Runners let out a shout, having seen the People. That one motioned to the flock, then trotted up the rise towards the People, moving swiftly on his long legs. Surprisingly, he could talk, after a fashion.
“Greet you,” the tall, gangly Runner said, grinning disarmingly. Eba saw that it was a man; above his high, straight forehead, his hair, black as a crow’s wing, had some gray streaks in it, as did his scruffy black beard. His skin was different, darker than the People’s, almost the color of the bare earth around the cave, and his face, as Eba had heard, was different: Flat, almost like a child’s, with small eyes and a ridiculously small nose. “You hungry are?” the Runner asked.
Hoo looked at the others. The Runner was polite, at least. “We have food,” Hoo told the Runner, indicating the marmots Eba carried. “We will make fire, cook our meat there.” Knowing the Runner didn’t talk very well, Hoo tried to keep his statements simple.
“Use our fire,” the Runner said. He motioned down the slope to the narrow band of trees, where a small column of wood-smoke rose. The Runners were all gathered, loosely, around the fire. “All good. Friendly,” the Runner slapped his chest. “All friendly.”
Hoo nodded. “We will come to your fire.”
They went to the fire. The Runner man who had invited them proved to be the only one who could speak. Hoo, Gula and Tep squatted at the fire while Eba skinned the marmots and spitted them to cook. The other Runners gathered and chattered like squirrels while Hoo sought to engage the first male in conversation.
“We seek more of the People,” Hoo told the man. When the Runner looked confused, Hoo touched his brow ridges, then slapped his chest. “The People,” he said again.
The Runner frowned again. He touched his forehead, then looked keenly at Hoo, then at Gula and Tep, then finally at Eba. He touched his forehead again, then suddenly smiled, revealing small, yellow teeth. He held up one finger in an unmistakable gesture: Wait here. Then he stalked off to confer with the other Runners.
Much chattering later, the man returned. “North,” he said. “One day run. White cliff, cave at bottom. Two…” He struggled for a word, then failed. Finally he reached out and tapped Hoo’s brow ridges. “Two.”
“Two of the People,” Hoo said. “I thank you,” he told the Runner man, who grinned again in reply. Hoo turned to the others. “He said one day’s run. That will probably be two days for us. We will eat, then leave.”
When the marmots were barely cooked, the four People ate, tearing at the tough meat with strong teeth. Then, after wiping their hands with bunches of grass, they nodded politely to the runners and left, bound north.
***
As the four wanderers walked away into the grass, the man Hoo had spoken to stood and watched them go. A tall woman, black-haired, slim, and strong, came up to him and took his hand. “Are the Old Ones going, Wolf?”
“They are, Raven, my dear. They seek their own kind, it seems. It is sad. Every year there are fewer of the Old Ones about. Father says there used to be families of them in almost every valley, but now, one rarely sees them, even west of the mountains. He always said they were a gentle people. Good neighbors.”
“I hope they find what they are looking for,” the woman said.
Wolf nodded. “They should be glad the Diggers haven’t yet come this far. At least they don’t have that worry.”
The Runner couple stood, holding hands, and watched the short, stocky forms disappear into the tall grass.
***
Hoo’s guess as to the distance proved accurate. Towards evening on their second day of walking, they came within sight of a low, white cliff, protruding from a small cove of birch and maple trees. Faintly, they heard the throbbing of a drum, and a faint voice raised in song.
“Someone speaks to the spirits,” Gula said.
“One of the People,” Eba agreed.
“Let’s find them,” Hoo urged the others on.
It was growing dark when they found the cave, drawn there by the faint light of a fire. Seated on a flat stone by the fire, still tapping on a wooden drum, was a man of the People – an old, old man. On a bed of furs nearby lay an old, old woman, her eyes closed. Neither of the elders had noticed the four People approaching. Eba knew that, in the very old, the vision and hearing would begin to fail. So as not to startle the old People, the four travelers began to sing as they approached, matching the old man’s song – it was a song of sadness and grieving, one the People had sang in bad times since before living memory. The song was meant to rise on the wind, to carry the troubles away, but something in the old man’s tone added hopelessness to the dirge.
“Grandfather,” Hoo said as they finally walked up to the fire. The old man stopped drumming and looked up. “Are you and Grandmother here alone?”
The old man let his leather wrap fall open, to reveal his skinny chest. Ribs protruded. “We are alone,” he said. “The young ones were taken by sickness. The bad spirits somehow left us old ones alone and took only the young. I am too old to hunt. We have been living on leaves and rats. We starve.”
“No longer,” Hoo said. He went to the old man and laid a hand on his shoulder. “Eba, see to Grandmother. Tomorrow, we will hunt. We will bring meat for you and Grandmother. You will have hot soup, rich with fat from the belly of the kill. Then we will talk about you returning home with us.”
“I am Podo,” the old man said. “She is Gra. We cannot walk far.”
“Grandfather,” Tep said, tears running down his face, “we will carry you.”
Eba felt ashamed at her thought: No mate for me here. Maybe no mate for me anywhere. I think the sun will never rise on the day when I will have children. But she knelt by the old woman and gently stroked her brow ridges. The old woman’s eyes opened, rheumy and yellow. “Oda,” she whispered. “You came back. Or have I finally walked the Star-Path to find you?”
Eba could only think of one reply. “Yes, Grandmother. I am here.”
***
He hums.
There are drums.
Four winds,
Rising suns,
We are singing and playing.
I hear what he’s saying.
Note: This one isn’t a Bob Dylan creation but was in fact written by The Grateful Dead’s Donna Jean Godchaux. You can hear the original here.
This is a sad but great series, Animal.
Crossover!
Excellent, as usual. Nice crossover with Wolf and the Diggers.
*waggles eyebrows*
As long as it isn’t a multiverse created by Flashpoint, I’m happy.
Great chapter. Thanks, Animal!
Sad and lonely life being one of the people. Great chapter, Animal.
Tell me about it.
Thanks Animal! An excellent story, once again!
Well… she leads a lonely life…
Thanks Animal.
I had to catch up on last week first. Great story line.
Do we learn how Wolf knows the language of the old people?
Duo Lingo, stone tablet edition.
What you didn’t see 1984’s “Iceman”?
I didn’t. Was it like this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AzAFqrxfeY
More like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_BEJmY911s
No, it won’t come up again. He just does. He only had a brief appearance, and someone from the Runners groups had to be able to speak to the Neandertals.
Pure plot device.
We need this story next then. 😉
So… Wolf is your Fizban… or was that Zifnab?
Very sad indeed, great work Animal, thanks.
Fed Gov — the world’s largest loan shark
David Wise, 61, has $236,485 in student debt after making about $175,000 in payments over four decades. His original balance started at just around $79,000.
Americans with student debt are probably all too familiar with interest, and its ability to make their balances grow far larger than the amount they signed on to borrow. It’s a process known as interest capitalization, in which accrued interest is added to the original loan balance, and future interest grows based on that higher amount.
Stupid is as stupid does.
What.
In.
The.
Everflipping.
Fuck?
I’m no financial wizard — but you should damned well make sure your payment covers the interest and at least a little principal, dumbass. They’re seriously trying to tell us over 40 years he “kept up with the payments” but added on $330k in interest? My butt he did. Even just paying the interest would have kept him below $100k… More likely he’s either lying (or the reporter is lying) or he’s been pushing “forgiveness” because he feels entitled since day one.
Agreed. I never in a million years got penalties and interest that high. Did he finance on a credit card or something? My wife took forever to pay hers off – she also never had this issue. I call progressive bullshit.
David is Wise but not smart
It’s a lesson I learned the hard way when I was young. I borrowed money from a consumer loan company. I struggled to make the payments. So they offered to refinance the loan. They add the accrued interest to the principle on the refi. So you principle goes up. The interest on the loan now applies to the new principle (accruing new interest on old interest)
Wash, rinse, repeat.
Soon your principle far exceeds what you originally borrowed.
I was dealing with “small” balances. And after I figured out the scam, I felt no remorse when I wiped out that debt in bankruptcy court.
Fed Gov is running that same scam on loans which cannot be written off.
Also part of the scam are “interest only” payments that don’t reduce the principal. Sometimes, these are less than the interest due, so interest piles up on the principal while the person is making low payments.
I’ll re-post the basic take I’ve had on this before: I’d like to know how all these people have been managing their finances. It is possible that this guy really did get screwed over by the system.
But I have quite a number of academic friends who just made minimum payments on their student loans while taking family vacations overseas, buying new cars, etc. I know this because they all started posting their zero balances on social media when their loans were forgiven because they had taken “public service” positions.
I couldn’t find where the article described his field – that would have been interesting to know.
Because who gets $79K in debt in 1983 for a career (and a series of life choices) that spends 40 years getting deeper in a hole? Seriously, what the heck?
He took a life break to find himself.
My mother? She racked up loans going to grad school after divorce. Skipped payments for years. Paid minimal once on a repayment plan.
Someone didn’t pay attention in high school accounting.
Great story Animal. I am enjoying this. The Diggers must be bad mofo if the Runners don’t like them.
Prior story — Maggie’s farm. Wolf had a fling with a Digger as I recall.
Wait until they crossbreed with the Duggers People and start blowing up all the wildlife with little bicycle pumps.
David Wise, 61, has $236,485 in student debt after making about $175,000 in payments over four decades. His original balance started at just around $79,000.
He should go on Oprah.
How would peeing on Oprah help?
Make him feel better?
It would make me feel better.
“And you get a smack upside the head… and YOU get a smack upside the head..!”
Something is missing from this payment story. Millions of students , making regular on time payments, have paid off their student loans in far less than four decades
National Holiday thought. I divide the current crop of work free/salary full days for public employees into four groups:
Group 1 are Holidays that celebrate the unique American Republic: Memorial Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving
Group 2 are Holidays that mimic what much of the world recognizes: Christmas, New Years, Veteran’s Day*
Group 3 are Holidays that are pay offs to specific groups in an attempt to buy votes: MLK Day, Juneteenth, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day*
Group 4 is an anti-republican principles day and should be abolished first: President’s Day
*Veteran’s Day is both a buy off and at the same time as Armistice Day observances in Europe and elsewhere.
I advocate for the abolition of the Group 2,3, and 4 holidays. My life is short and that of the State is long so I know none will be ever abolished and the list will only grow. How long until Congress votes on an Indigenous Peoples Day, Crushing the January 6th Coup Day, and QUILTBAG Day? My bet is the next time the Dems have the House, Senate, and White House.
I had an employee as if he was getting time and a half for today, since it’s a Fed holiday.
>.>
“No.”
*ask
Soon to be former employee?
Nah. Not over something like that.
I’m really only in favor of Group 1 in principle.
Could come off that a bit for Group 2 on historicity/artifact reasons.
And that’s it.
I wish some of these Juneteenth celebrations would recognize that 2 million Union soldiers and sailors — 90 percent of whom were white, and many of whom were recent immigrants – fought, bled, and died before the yoke of slavery could be lifted.
You mean the ones that couldn’t afford the $300?
Mind you my relatives volunteered. One after the first was killed.
I have team members all over. India has 3 times the holidays America does.
Does India still have one of the remnants of imperialism, the Bank Holiday?
I don’t see it. But I do see two labor days, one on 05/01 and another on 09/04. Nineteen Holidays honored by my company for India. And the Philippines has 23. We need to step it up!
I just need a week off for Diwali, no big deal.
Try getting in touch with someone in Zurich – “City Holiday”, “Cantonal Holiday”, “Federal Holiday”, “Everyone takes the whole month of August off”, “December?! Nobody is here.”
I had people in Italy and Germany. We pretty much gave up getting anything accomplished during the summer.
“We must go and take a 6-week holiday, somewhere by water”
Well, there’s apparently this white cliff with a cave at the base….
We had a factory in England when I worked in manufacturing. I gave up trying to get anything accomplished at any time of the year.
*British car industry has a sad
Japan has a bunch because post war it was the only way people could get time off. Not being able to take vacation was the norm despite multiple laws and regulations requiring it.
I had to look up the Columbus day one, because to me that has always been a feature of America.
” in 1942, Franklin Roosevelt had the removal of the designation of Italian Americans as “enemy aliens” announced on Columbus Day”
This guy has a good sense of humor
Columbus Day is in Group 1. Thanksgiving is in Group 2. As is Labor Day.
I’d rollback Memorial to Decoration Day and Veterans to Armistice (as it was here also and my MiL still called it). Despite Armistice being a Group 2, I think there an American aspect to it that deserves continued recognition.
MLK’s Bday and Washington’s Bday are in Group 4, which is no kings or nobility in this country. I’ll give Columbus a pass as he wasn’t American.
Juneteenth in an ungrammatical abomination that doesn’t actually commemorating what it purports to. Or a perfect American holiday for the modern era celebrating uneducated ignorance.
Unbeliever! Outcast! Unclean!
I suppose I should be thankful for the TikTok loonies who sincerely believe in Manifestation and Astrology. Relatively harmless way to fill the void in their lives organized religion used to function in compared to these loons.
“They should be glad the Diggers haven’t yet come this far.”
I have it on good authority that the diggers are kinda ugly, but firecrackers in bed.
https://youtu.be/7SdIJimk-w8?t=212
Hard to argue with that logic.
May need to repost later. Sitting in Richmond airport waiting for my flight to Denver to visit some relatives in Boulder for a week of leave. Partly in town before spending some days at a cabin in WY and hopefully getting a little feel for some real estate on the ground.
Already located 3 breweries within a 3 mile walk from their house – so that gives me a few options to look at too…. Trying to keep things simple and cheap since I’m not getting a rental this trip.
Which part of Wyoming? I am a former resident of Pinedale and love that state. Fewer people live there today than when it received statehood, all the apex predators are in place with growing populations, and LARGE tracts of land. What’s not to like? (I will grant you the Cheney clan.)
Probably SE corner closer to town but I could be wrong. I’ve been looking at stuff all Ober but not getting any closer to buying yet. Maybe if I can go back on active status for a yr or 2 before I retire.
Have you looked up the historical census figures for Wyoming?
There was a good YT vid comparing WY and CO historically – where they paralleled and diverged.
I’m just south of Boulder. Shoot me an email if you want to try and meet up!
minnetundra@geemail
I’ll send you a note tonight after I get settled.
Roger that.
Good story Animal, those folks are some of my neighbors.