13 1.13: Spiritual Master (1/2)

Daybreak came and the rooster perched itself on a post and crowed with its majestic voice...

”Cock-adoodle-dooooo! .....Cock-adoodle-dooooo!! ..... Errkk!!”

I guess the rooster chocked on its saliva or maybe a grain that got stuck along the way in its throat.

I stirred myself and found that somewhere during the night Ani had shifted her position and now she was sleeping with her face buried in my chest. I slowly removed my arm and found that it had gotten stiff by not moving for a few hours. Her wraparound 'sarong' was also hitched up and exposed her thigh that was sprawled across mine. I slowly moved her thighs out of the way in order not to make too much movement.

I find it all strange. She was my 'sister' after all. When I sat up I started to discover from the first day that this place had not been influenced by religion or any faith and the acceptance of the residents here were hillbilly type where cousins can marry their cousins and sisters can marry their own brothers as well. I shook my head to rid off the wildest imagination and rubbed my eyes. Ani stirred and sat up. ”Abang, you want coffee and bread?”.

”Sure if it's not too much trouble for you, ”I replied. We both stood up and I went ahead for my morning affairs. The rain last night had left massive puddles and children were awaken one by one. Upon seeing the puddles of water, some of them ran and laughed gleefully and jumped in feet first; making splashes around them while laughing and running about from one puddle to another.

I looked at the simple joys in life. If the children were from my time, I am sure their mothers would have fainted at the sight of their children dirtying themselves with the puddles of water. God knows what kind of contamination those puddles held.

In a few moments, I was back at the house enjoying a cup of black coffee and a freshly baked bread. Ani was quite efficient to whip up the bread and coffee even though when I was gone for about less than 15minutes. Its as if her 'dirty kitchen' was equipped with a gas stove!

From a distance, I saw the three brothers approaching and was walking about to avoid the puddles of water. All three of them were wearing their 'sarongs' that they had halved and tied at their waist till the height above their knees instead of slinging it diagonally from their shoulders.

I chugged my coffee and bread down hurriedly; took the keris and slipped it at the small of my back; called out to Ani that I was leaving. Ani sent me off from the front of the house at the top of the stairs. Soon, the four of us were walking out of the settlement towards the path that led towards the small trail.

About roughly walking about close to two hours, we reached a clearing of another settlement. This time, it had circular houses made from stones and clay with a thatched roof made from the long grass that grew in abundance around the village. Upon reaching the center courtyard, I could see the similar long sticks and mortar that was used to pound the grains.

A small open furnace was in the middle of three mortars; presumably to make baked bread by the masses. Closeby I could see a small shelter where there were a few men sitting on a log and was tinkering with spears and other hunting tools.

A granary and a small shed for sheltered animals was also nearby. I counted and discovered that there were about 12 circular rock and clay houses which were big enough to fit 4 adults.

We waved and nodded to the residents that were about performing their usual daily affairs before we reached the end of the clearing before we met with another path. I saw children emerging from the outskirts and were carrying firewood in their arms;while some were ferrying stones and meat presumably from accompanying the hunters.

One child was holding up a dead rabbit in triumphant and was smiling gleefully as we walked towards them.I felt as though I had stepped into another dimension altogether.

”What is this settlement called again?” I asked and uses the term 'again' under the pretense that I had forgotten its name before. ”Oh....this is called Stone Village” replied Cheng as we walked on the path heading towards our destined settlement. ”What's their main trade?” I asked curiously since the settlement was a tad too far away from the beach and was surely not the same trade as the brothers'.

”Furs and tanned leather,” replied Dong nonchalantly.