Madmen and Others

Madmen and Others

by: Dennis R. Humphreys

Why is it, since time memorable, that governments can't figure how to solve an economic, social, or educational problem, yet they easily find creative ways to make their citizens suffer? Time and time again, governments in the name of doing what's best for their citizens, destroy them in the name of progress. Often their future is in the hands of madmen but isn't the population just as mad giving into such madmen? Our future isn't in their hands, it's in ours and letting others gain the necessary control to accomplish their madness we have created our own future. We have condemned, not just ourselves but our children's and succeeding generations, to the madness for which the Creator exiled Satan from heaven.

Manduk was born and raised on the plain that extended before him for twenty two years. His parents before him and those before them lived here. The game was plentiful and the soil rich to raise vegetables. Manduk had taken a wife, Sharnon, four years earlier when she was thirteen. They had two children, one boy and one girl, called Banon and Tong. He belonged to a small tribe of twenty-one people that lived well on the plain of Ashitar. However, things were changing drastically. Someone in the tribe had committed a sin against the Creator and the rains stopped six months ago. It was getting hotter and the winds began a constant reminder they had not conquered nature. Someone had sinned. That's what their leader told them. They were responsible for the change in the weather that now exiled them from their homes. To stay alive they needed to move someplace where the animals had not already migrated from and where there was water for their plantings. The tribe's oral history told them this happened before many generations ago and the leader, then as now, chastised the people for their failures.

The leader of the small tribe, Sentaur, made the decision it was time to move. They prayed and burnt offerings, including the woman the leader told them sinned against the Creator. She needed to be punished and offered as a sacrifice. Whether or not she was the one that sinned didn't matter...someone needed to be blamed and someone needed to be sacrificed for the welfare of the tribe. The Creator was someone who needed to be appeased.

It was a hot dry day when the tribe broke camp and began to head southwest. The leader had a dream the lands there were available, rich with good water, containing multitudes of animals too plentiful to even imagine. They took what meager food they had collected and the little water accumulated in animal skins for the trip, knowing all too well a few of them would still succumb to the hardships of the journey. The one thing their leader did not tell them was how far this promised land was. He would guide them, day by day, until he recognized the spot. But then if you traveled far enough and long enough you might 'recognize' several such spots along the way. Manduk wondered if the leader really knew or if he counted on blind luck to find the right spot he could tell the tribe, 'this is what I saw in my dream'.

Perhaps Manduk was born skeptical. Perhaps he was in the habit of watching and listening too closely and when things didn't make sense he'd ask questions...the type of questions omniscient leaders didn't like. It wasn't because they didn't want to take the time to explain, it was because they didn't know the answers any more than the rest of the people they led.

For eight days the tribe moved slowly along, hunting for the meager fresh meat they could find. This was ninety percent of their diet. In the warm months they supplemented it with the foraging and from the harvest from their land. But with no way to store their plant stuffs for very long and with the many rodents feasting on it, they ate meat. Animals were always available and meat cooked and dried without varmints bothering with it. Those animals that came to attempt to eat it, ended up as food themselves.

The tribe found a few sources of water along the way but the moving sand in the wind was covering plant life and water. The dehydrating winds and heat left shallow reservoirs where lakes and ponds had been. The land was changing. Manduk wondered if the crime of one woman had caused the changes where they lived why the changes were also happening in this place far from where they had come from. Maybe she had nothing to do with it. Was her sacrifice in vain?

Manduk found himself walking ahead of the others. He was becoming worried for his tribe but most of all for his family. Food was running out and so was the water. In two days the tribe might find itself in peril. It was nineteen days since they began their journey and Manduk stopped to rest. When he looked back his tribe was a distant group, barely noticeable. He was tired and new his family was too. He sat there jabbing at the dry earth with a stick he picked up. Suddenly a shadow crossed his doodles in the earth. It startled him so he looked up, not quite being able to see very well because he was looking into the sun.

“Your tribe becomes weary,” a booming voice commented almost shaking the land.

Manduk, strained to see the stranger but answered.

“Yes...I fear for them. We are not a large tribe but we brought limited resources with us because we waited too long in a land that shared little with us. We have traveled for days and everywhere the land looks the same,” Manduk shared their plight with the stranger. “I am Manduk.”

“I am Tonka. If you continue to go this path you will die surely. If you go towards that mountain,” he pointed with his walking stick,” you will come across that for which you are searching.”

“But we follow our leader in this direction,” Manduk answered.

“If you continue he will lead you to your final breath. Others will follow you. They are getting tired of his lies and blaming everyone else for their actions that have caused all this. The earth is in a constant state of change. Man can't control it. It's arrogant to think you can. The Earth is a living breathing entity. It has it's own mind and way of thinking and will make fools of those who think differently.

As the tribe came closer to where Manduk sat, they stopped to watch.

“Look at Manduk,” cried Golta to Sentaur, “he speaks to someone who isn't there. The heat and lack of nourishment must be taking its toll.”

The tribe looked on wondering what he was doing and who he was talking to. Sentaur looked on as Sharnon, Manduk's wife went to him.

“Manduk, the others are watching and wondering who you are speaking with,” she asked.

Manduk glanced away for a moment to address his wife and introduce the stranger, Tonka, but when he looked back at Tonka, he was gone. Manduk looked around and didn't see him. The mind plays strange games when you're desperate for food and water and in conditions like these. But it felt real. Perhaps it was a message from the Creator. It happens sometimes.

“Manduk...are you capable of continuing this journey?” Sentaur asked.

“Yes but if we continue the way you are telling us, we will all perish,” Manduk told him, loud enough for the others to hear. The others in turn began talking among themselves.

“What! You disobey me? My dreams from the Creator told me this way and this is the way we go,” Sentaur argued pointing his walking stick in the direction everyone was heading.

“And the messenger I just spoke to sent from the Creator told me to go there,” Manduk stood pointing in a different direction with his stick. The tribe murmured loudly at Manduk's disobedience.

“It is this way,” Sentaur stuck to his direction.

“In all respect, leader, I was told differently. I will take my family and anyone else who wishes to follow, that way. If I am wrong I will bow my head and offer myself in sacrifice for misleading those that follow,” Manduk replied.

This was a brave and tumultuous offer from the tribesman. It was one Sentaur could not counter nor did he want to. He continued walking in his direction, then his wife and two sons followed leaving seventeen that stood their grounds. As Manduk began walking, he was followed by his wife and two children., while the others followed behind them.

For two days they walked. They had to ration what they had and a few of the people began grumbling about Manduk...that he was crazy and they were just as bad to follow him. On the third day an older woman did not awaken from her sleep but succumbed to the elements and her age. Many of the others took this is a bad omen... a sign of displeasure from the Creator for failing to follow Sentaur, their leader He appointed.

“It was your choice to follow me. I did not bend your arms nor do I ridicule you like Sentaur does. Sentaur would have you do everything he says without question. I gave you a choice. If you don't like it go that way,” he pointed, “in about one and a half days you should catch up with Sentaur. The choice is yours.”

Wearily they fell in behind Manduk and his family. Sharnon stepped next to her husband.

“What happens, Manduk, if we don't find a place soon we can make home. If something happens to you what am I to do about Banon and Tong. I am afraid they'll take this displeasure out on the children and myself?” his wife worried.

“I don't think these people will do anything. They're just pleased being away from Sentaur's ramblings,” he placated her, but still worried about the same thing. Illogical superstitions had been reinforced in his tribe by Sentaur and in trying times like these, people are anything but logical and are willing to do anything to survive.

The next day as the tribe arose and finished the last of their food stuffs, with little water left, they followed their new leader. Mid morning the air changed and was cooler. There seemed to be moisture in the air as well. Perhaps a storm was coming. One could only hope. Water was more essential than food here, but without food the tribe would have difficulty in their exodus. With sixteen people left they had to find something soon.

Manduk walked ahead. He felt it was his responsibility now for those that followed him to be the leader. He was walking towards a mountain where he could see the top of a great ravine opening to the sky. He couldn't see the bottom of it because of the hill he was ascending. The others were showing their ability to not keep up and were falling behind quickly. He looked down the hill at his wife and children. He smiled at them as he continued to the top of the hill. When he reached it he was ecstatic. The bottom of the ravine opened into a small valley below where a lake was. A river cascaded from inside the mountain down the last two hundred feet or so of the ravine. The river continued down the valley and lush green forest was everywhere on either side of it and up into the ravine. It was an oasis. Already, standing on the top of the hill, he saw deer running deeper into the forest.

He turned and shouted at the others and it invigorated them. They ran as best they could up the hill as the sand and earth below them gave way, making their ascension harder.

The group descended on their new home, more energetic than earlier that morning. Everyone stripped naked and jumped into the waters of the cool lake. Everywhere you looked were fish of every kind. Fresh water mussels were abundant and birds fished the edges.

“Manduk,” one of the tribe addressed the leader,” I'm sorry I doubted you. I can speak for the others too. You are our new leader. Sentaur is gone and we wish to follow you.”

Everyone was happy and after cooling off and drinking their fill of water...a few fished for the tribes' dinner that night. Others began looking for things with which to build shelters. Still others began to explore the area for anything they might find for their settlement including edible vegetation.

The place abounded in plant and animal life, enough to sustain several tribes their size. The land was rich and moist from underground streams and the river that came from the mountain. This was their promised land. Manduk could see living his life out in this place.

The tribe was busy with a renewed energy that food, water and rest brings. They began building huts from sunup to sundown and by the fourth day there they had made great strides. The tribe ate as a whole. Dinners were a community affair. All food was collected by everyone and a few of the women prepared the meals for everyone who sat down at the same time to eat. It was a social gathering where everyone talked about everything imaginable...adults and children alike.

One of the women, Akul, was sitting across from Manduk the one afternoon when she alerted everyone that she saw someone approaching. Manduk had to turn to see. It was Sentaur and his family. They could hardly walk to the camp so several, including Manduk, went to help them.

They seated them at the food where they were eating. Sentaur and his family devoured what they could. The vision of abundant food, water and greenery was a false one as they faced miles of barren land ahead of them where they had gone. They knew they couldn't survive so they turned back towards the place Manduk pointed to, hoping they had enough supplies to make it where his vision told him to go.

“You're more than welcome to stay here,” Manduk offered. “As you can see, there is a lot to share here.”

At the end of the meal Sentaur sat back patting his stomach.

“That was the best meal I've had in ages. Now that I'm back, Manduk, I'll take over. You've done well watching over everyone but you don't want to be leader. You aren't the right kind of man to lead,” Sentaur recommended to Manduk but loud for everyone to hear.

The tribe looked at each other not wanting to disagree with the old leader, he still carried a degree of intimidation. They looked to Manduk for his leadership. Manduk wasn't one to tell people what to do or how to do it. He believed in a person's doing their responsibility once it was outlined and given to them. Everyone knew what was required, you shouldn't have to demand the obvious.

“First things first,” began Sentaur. “I need to rule, not work. Ruling is full time. Beginning tomorrow you will give me part of what you collect in food. I need a team of five to build a large house for myself and my family. I will direct you for what I want and I want it done in one week. Leave what you're doing and get me under roof first. After all, I am the most important of the group. You people don't know how to come in out of the rain.

Manduk thought to himself, 'It's true, they don't, keeping their mouths shut and not speaking up. They have their families to take care of as well. They needn't drop everything to take care of this egotistical idiot'.

“With due respect, sir, I will help you with whatever I can but after I take care of my family,” Manduk promised. The answer sent a shudder throughout the crowd.

“You insolent ass. I see a few days of leadership went to your head. You'll do what I tell you to and when,” he shouted at Manduk.

“If there are others to wish to drop what they're doing for their families to help you that is their decision. Mine is to help my family first. If you were any kind of a leader you'd understand the priority,” Manduk said standing firm.

“Get out of my sight your insolent turd,” Sentaur yelled.

Manduk walked away and went back to work on a shelter for his wife and children. Sentaur looked after him with rage and motioned for his right hand man, that wouldn't even follow him before, to approach him. He was ready to start kissing ass again...a job he did well looking at the brown stains on his face.

“We have to do something about that man or I will lose control over the tribe. I think a sacrifice is in order for the Creator bringing us here and assuring the longevity of the tribe,” he told Agar.

“Good idea sir. Maybe you should announce something in the morning at sunup...a messenger was sent to you in a dream you had during the night requesting a sign of thankfulness for our deliverance,” Agar told the leader.

“Yes...a good idea. I'm so glad I had it,” Sentaur smugly whispered. “My divine inspiration is assured as well as my leadership.”

That night as Manduk prepared for sleep he heard something in the bushes at the edge of the forest where he was building a house for his family. He went to see what it was and there was the stranger, Tonka, that lead him this way.

“Hello Manduk. I see you found this place without trouble,” Tonka commented.

“Yes, thank you. You probably saved all of us in my tribe. Even our old leader, Sentaur, changed his course and came here to join us,” Manduk told the man.

“That's because he had not other choice and he expects things to go on the way they were,” Tonka told him.

“I know. He has already assumed the role of leader after having left all of us before,” Manduk told the man.

“Men like that never change because they want what's best for themselves. Looking to help others demands a willingness to change, openness and dedication to help others grow. You cannot have that in the kind of environment your leader demands,” Tonka reasoned with Manduk.

“What choice have I?” Manduk asked the man feeling he had an ancient wisdom that might help.

“You have a choice to stay and die, or leave and live. In the morning Sentaur will demand a sacrifice to thank the Creator for bringing everyone here. He has already planned for you and your family to be the blood sacrifice and the others will listen to him because they are afraid not to. I suggest you leave now and follow these hills northwest. You will find another valley better than this one and others you will meet, along the way who will follow you as their leader. Sentaur's home will not last long and will meet the same fate as your previous home giving way for starvation and disease. His punishment will be the expulsion from this place,” Tonka enlightened Manduk.

“Why are you telling me this? ”he asked.

“You are a just man who does not blindly follow those that demand unquestioning allegiance. You follow the footsteps of the Creator. You have been chosen to lead others and become the father of a nation that understands the true basis of the universe,” Tonka informed him and stepped back into the shadows.

So Marduk went into his wife who was lying with the children and got her up, waking the children as he did so.

“We must leave this place right away, quickly and quietly for I have been told our lives are in danger. Sentaur wishes to make us a sacrifice tomorrow but there is another place, better than here, we can go there he told his wife.

So they packed what they could to sustain them on the way.

They traveled for two days and on the third came across a small group of people, two families who fled the slaughter of their tribe by another wanting their land and resources, as their' s had dwindled in the changing weather. Manduk led the group of fourteen further along the mountain and within a day came across campfires of some twenty who left their land to seek something better. Manduk spoke with them and invited them to where they were going. He promised a land of green with sweet water and plenty to eat. It was a place they would have to fight for eventually but well worth it because they would be free to do what they wish and how they wished it. They would work together to build a great city for their families with plenty to feed their families. Others would hear of them and want to join with them. They would be welcomed with open arms but those wishing to take it from them would meet with deadly resistance and with the help of the Creator send them to Hell.

It was true what Tonka had promised. One of the travelers who had gone ahead came running back to Manduk excitedly. He saw a great valley from the mountain just ahead. There were two great rivers running through it that intersected with two other rivers running north and south. In the middle of them all was a great jungle alive with animals and their sounds. The soil was dark and rich with fall manner of fruit growing wild. It would be easy to farm such a land so they descended to their new home. They gave thanks and were happy their numbers had grown to almost fifty and the Creator was looking down at them. They were prepared to fight for this land if they had to.

Some years went by and their colony grew to seventy two with the birth of Sharnon and Manduk's youngest boy, Adum. Both Sharnon and Manduk knew this would probably be their last child since they were getting older so they heaped special attention on him. Banon and Tong played with him incessantly and taught him the ways of the jungle. Sharnon's sister, Adapa, also gave birth on the same day to woman child twins, which she named Lileth and Evyn. They were born three days after Adapa's husband, Ren, was killed by a large buffalo while hunting. It was a good and bad time.

One day Manduk left the house to work. He and others were in the field tilling the soil when a loud noise issued from the skies so they all stopped to look. It was accompanied by great lightning bolts. They were numerous as were the sounds of thunder claps that shook the earth under them. It lasted for three days but failed to rain. They all wondered if this was a portent of something worse. They all hoped they wouldn't have to move again so they watched the skies closely for clues. On the third day while working in the fields, someone shouted and pointed to the skies. In the distance they could see objects, too far away to distinguish, falling to earth.

“Should we go see what had fallen,?” one of the workers asked Manduk.

“No...it it's good we'll know soon enough; is it's bad let's not invite it into our city,” Manduk warned.

However, nothing happened. Manduk did notice other people had moved into the center of the jungle. They didn't bother his people so Manduk's tribe stayed away from them. Manduk wondered who they were and where they had come from...and were they good.

“Hello, Manduk,” a familiar voice said, recognized but not forgotten after not having seen him in some time.

“Tonka...where have you been ?” asked Manduk pleased to see his old guardian.

“I've been around. Just because you didn't see me doesn't mean I haven't been watching over you and your people. You are prospering well,” Tonka observed.

“Very well. My people are happy here. We have plenty and we are all close,” Manduk told the old man though he seemed the same even after all these years.

“The Creator is pleased. He looks down on your son, Adum with pride. He is about to give him something special where he will have a special connection with him, something he will have that no other person has,” Tonka confided to Manduk, as he stepped aside for Adum, Lileth and Evyn went running by chasing each other. He watched after them smiling.

“He's giving him a soul. He also gives one to Evyn there for the same reason,” Tonka shared as he nodded towards the child throwing a dirt clod at Adum.

“How about Lileth? What of her?” Manduk asked the man. “They are cousins.”

“He does not approve her. There is something wrong and He cannot accept her. Though those twins share the same mother, they share different fathers. The Creator will not sanction Lileth. There is one other thing I must warn you about before I go. There are a people who have settled in the middle of your jungle. They are evil and you should stay away from them and anything they are growing in their fields for they have tainted the soil and anything that grows there is tainted,” Tonka told him not going into any depth of explanation. But Tonka, he knew, had him and his tribe's best interests at heart so he didn't inquire further.

“I have another question,” Manduk asked but realized then he was alone. Tonka was gone, disappearing as quickly as he came, as he always did.

Manduk warned the tribe of the other people in the middle of the jungle. He told them not to associate with them or trade with them. If they approached anyone in the tribe to act civil but deny companionship.

As time went on, it was plain to see Adum and Lileth were growing close to each other. Manduk tried to discourage it but it was difficult having grown up together and thus, close. One night Adum took Lileth for his wife much to the consternation of Manduk and his wife. It was clear Evyn was upset as well. Her feelings for Adum were clear. However, Lileth seduced Manduk, who was a willing participant since he had never been with a woman child.. She wanted a child and for two years they tried but couldn't. Clearly she was cursed and unable to have children. One day she left the tribe. She had evidently disobeyed Manduk's instructions and would go into the jungle alone and meet with people of the tribe there. One day she came back to her and Adum's home, with child. Manduk's family turned their backs on her and cast her from the tribe. She was unclean and had fraternized with the unclean.

Adum in his loneliness and sadness moped about for days. No one could console him but Evyn stayed with him and talked to him softly, making him feel better. It was three weeks after Lileth was cast from the tribe that Adum took Evyn for his wife. Manduk and Sharnon were happy with the coupling for it was ordained in the heavens. They were the first humans with 'souls'. The Creator shared with them His soul, making them in his image. Manduk and Sharnon felt that special connection with them. The tribe felt it too as it grew and prospered both in numbers and quality of life.

There came a time when Sharnon grew too old to have children but nonetheless, she was with child. It was a difficult time as well as the delivery of the child as the child was born dead and in the process, Sharnon delivered her life to the heavens. In loneliness and depression, Manduk lived the remainder of his life, which was three moon cycles, before he joined Sharnon.

“I am soon to pass from this existence. I want to bless both you and Evyn and your family you will one day have. You, Adum, will become leader of this tribe...lead it with wisdom, steadfastness, and most of all, love. Turn your back on no one or their problems. Always lend an ear and do what's right for the tribe without thinking of yourself. If you do those things leadership will be effortless and you will be repaid in boundless love and adoration,” he said as his chest heaved in one large movement and he expelled his last breath.

Adum left his parent's home and went outside, where Evyn came to him and consoled him for his loss. He looked into the air at the skies and felt a change coming.

“I fear the winds of change are coming. It's what my father described that brought them here to this place. Rain has slowed and the air becomes hotter...drier. Do you notice, Evyn? He asked his wife.

“Now that you mention it, I do,” she replied looking up at the skies.

And changes did come. The jungle began experiencing a drought and leaves turned yellow, then brown. The underground stream stopped flowing and the earth became dry as the rivers were reduced to trickles. The mountainside was no longer a green but became more yellow brown in appearance. It was becoming more difficult to supply enough food for the tribe but they were not yet starving. What they grew changed. The hardier things, needing less water grew fine, it was the other things that perished.

Evyn wanted children now she was fifteen but Adum didn't want to since the things were getting tighter for the tribe. Another mouth to feed would just add pressure. Evyn begged her husband for children but he objected and became distant because of it and his worry for the city.

One day Evyn was foraging for food without any luck. She had gone towards the center of the jungle where the tribe had been forbidden to go, because it was unaffected like the outskirts. The fruit and other vegetables were abundant there. She was hungry when she spotted a fruit grove whose trees were abundant with fruit. With the morning dew, the fruit glistened in the sun as it hung from the branches, welcoming her.

She sat in the shade of one of the trees because the sun had become so intense over the last several months. As she ate one of the people from the interior tribe approached her.

“Hello there. I see you like the fruit I raise here,” the man commented to Evyn.

“I hope you don't mind. I was hot and hungry. Your fruit looked so good I picked a couple of them,” she apologized.

“I don't mind at all for someone so beautiful. You could hardly make a difference in the abundance I have,” he told her. She blushed from the compliment and the attention his intense stare poured on her.

“My name is Evyn. I live that way,” she pointed out to the man who she found interesting and attractive. He was dark and tall...very muscular, as he was shirtless wearing only a small wrap around his mid section. She found herself staring as well, looking at him from top to bottom and back again.

“Mine is Satenus. I am head of my tribe here,” he told her.

“And how did you come to settle here?” she asked him flirting as she did so. The flirtation did not go unnoticed as the man found the woman attractive. He had not been with a woman for some time and she was growing quickly on him.

“We were exiled because of a dispute with our leader. We did not wish to follow his laws, instead we wanted to live minute by minute without them. We saw no reason for laws as we were promised free will and saw no reason for them. We felt we could do whatever pleased us,” he educated the wife of Adum.

In the distance she heard someone calling her name and so she stood.

“I have to go. I think my husband calls,” she told Satenus.

“Do you always run when your husband calls?” he asked her.

“He worries about me and fears I might be harmed going into the jungle alone,” she told her new friend.

“Come again...anytime. I would like to see you again. Eat your fill while here,” the man told her.

Evyn ran through the jungle and realized as she got closer to the voice calling her, it was Adum.

“Where have you been? I was worried. You didn't go into the center of the jungle did you? That is forbidden,” he reminded her.

“No, of course not. I only went towards it because the food seems to be more plentiful,” she told him.

Evyn foraged on a regular basis then by the spot she met Satenus. The first two times she went back she didn't see him but spent the day under a tree eating his fruit. Then the third day she was sitting in the shade eating fruit that dripped an abundance of its nectar down her chin. She was startled by a voice over her. It was Satenus lying back in the crotch of the large peach tree there.

“I didn't see you there,” Evyn commented to Satenus.

“Obviously...but I saw you and I've enjoyed watching you,” he told her climbing down from the tree exposing himself and what was under his wrap as he jumped down. Evyn found herself getting excited. She had never been with anyone other than Adum and lately he had been stand offish.

He stood in front of her a minute talking, knowing she was looking. He was getting excited too from the attention. Finally, he sat down next to her.

“You have much nectar rolling down her chin. It needs to be cleaned off or it will dry sticky. Allow me,” he told her as he bent towards her and took her chin in his right hand. He proceeded to lick her clean following the flow of the sweet juices that had flowed down her chin, her neck and stomach and between her legs.

Evyn found herself falling backwards to the ground and opening herself to his attention. She couldn't imagine having that much juice on her for him to spend that much time cleaning her but it didn't matter. She enjoyed what he was doing and the way he was doing it. Soon she found herself wrapped around him as he seduced her and filled her with what she wanted. Her breathing became more pronounced and deeper as her satisfaction reached its limit and Satenus reached his. She was satisfied. He was larger and much more intense than Adum. While she loved Adum she wanted the physical attention from this man who depleted her needs for the moment.

After that day, she found herself going to the same spot in the middle of the jungle to be satisfied by this man. Every day he gave her what she wanted, satisfying her lust. For three weeks this went on, and Adum became suspicious for she had gone to forage alone each time to a place she said was abundant in food, but she brought little back.

Evyn left one day to go into the jungle and Adum followed her. Somehow he lost track of her and looked for signs on the ground of her passing. Finally he found them and followed. When he came to the clearing where the fruit grove grew he saw Evyn in the shade of a fruit tree lying with a stranger. He was angry and excited watching her as this man took her on the ground. He watched and found himself growing in desire for his woman. Soon they were finished and still Adum remained hidden. He finally left quietly to go back to their tribe. A couple of hours later Evyn returned with a few items she had foraged. Adum said nothing of what he saw but planned to follow her again the next time she went into the jungle.

As the sun rose higher the next day, Evyn announced her departure into the jungle to forage.

“You shouldn't go there alone. With food becoming more scarce you might become something's meal,” Adum warned his wife.

“I can take care of myself. I go into the jungle all the time and haven't had a problem yet. The animals know we hunt them and have become wary of our people. I'll be fine husband,” she told him kissing him on the cheek.

Adum watched her disappear into the jungle. He let her go further this time knowing where she was going now and not wanting to alert her to his following. When she was far enough, he put down his tools and went into the jungle after her.

Adum took his seat behind a tree at the edge of the clearing and watched as the stranger and his wife played. He was surprised how excited he became watching the two of them engaged in what only he and Evyn had done. Her screams of passion were loud as he increased his momentum to bring both of them to the heights of completion. Still he said nothing but instead went home.

Again, he stayed quiet as his wife came in time for dinner. He looked at her across the table and found he desired her like he had never wanted her before...his passions were amplified as he imagined her with the other man in the jungle. When dinner was finished he took Evyn's hand and lead her into the jungle away from their settlement. There he took her like he never did before and she was ecstatic as her desires rose to new heights and her satisfaction was complete.

Adum felt complete too as they walked hand in hand back to their home. Now, things were awakened in Evyn she hadn't imagined. Her knowledge had been expanded along with her need for more than she had ever imagined. Her appetites were awakened and she wanted more...she wanted to learn more and feel even better walking that new path.

Feeling fulfilled, as a new opening was created, Evyn entered the jungle the next day and was followed by Adum.

He watched from his normal place as the two of them played. Adum could take no more but walked towards them and made himself known. Evyn looked startled when Adum approached while Satenus acted unconcerned.

“Adum! The man I love. Come join us and I will take care of both of you as you quench my desires for you both,” Evyn proclaimed. Adum, his desire beyond his capacity to control, disrobed and joined the two. They spent the afternoon fulfilling their desires and were tired. The three of them dozed under the tree dreaming in the coolness of its shade. They were awakened by a voice. It was Tonka's.

“What have you done?” he commanded accusingly in a loud voice.

The three awoke and Satenus just laughed as Adum and Evyn ran behind the fruit tree, ashamed that anyone else saw them.

“This day you have cursed yourselves and your tribe and all your descendants. You are with child as of this moment,” Tonka announced.

Evyn was happy when she heard his proclamation since she wanted children.

“Your children, as your mother, will have two fathers. They will be at odds with each other and there will be nothing but hardship that comes of this. The winds of change are upon you and they will blow stronger, sending you from this place and you will fight to survive,” he revealed to them. Then he turned on the smug, Satenus lying under the tree without regard or respect, naked.

“And you! You were thrown from your home before because of your disobedience and thus you will leave here too as the winds of change pass over this land. You are marked by the Creator deep inside you with the same mark as when you were cast from you former home. It is the mark that will pass from you to your children and your children's children for all time. And anyone who procreates with you shall succumb to that same mark and be cursed by it. In the end you will be destroyed for you and your kind are abominations.

Tonka left never to be seen again by Adum or any of his tribe. The winds of change continued to blow and became stronger over time. The sands of the desert encroached on the land and soon the greenery became buried under mounds of the stuff. It became harder to grow vegetables and water again became scarce as two of the four rivers there, dried, the other two unfit for drinking. Adum and his people once again found themselves leaving their land to live. He and Evyn took their two children and led their people to someplace better than what they finally left but they were bound to wander with the constant change the Earth inflicted.