NOTES: WAT IS DIE DINGE=WHAT IS THAT THING?

Cornelia Jansen was hanging up washing outside her wagon, when she saw her husband, Johan, and his friend, Piet, lower a green creature into the cooking pot over the fire. What is that, she wondered to herself? Going to the campfire, she studied the creature. Its eyes were shut and her heart went out to it. It suddenly opened its golden eyes and whispered, "Help me." Cornelia's mother had been English, so she understood English well.

"I will," she said. Her husband, his friend, and the other men had gone off. Probably to find food. Cornelia yelled in her mother tongue to her friends to come and help her. They did and they lifted Raphael out just before the water started to bubble, dropping him onto the ground.

Raphael sighed in relief and crossed his arms over their plastrons, studying them. "Thank ya," he said. "Wat is die dinge?" one of her friends asked.

"I don't know Illse," Cornelia said. "Maybe a tortoise? Whatever it is, it's scared."
"Will it bite us?" Illse asked.
"Doubt it. What are you?"

Raphael looked at her, his jaw dropping. "Ya speak English?"
Cornelia nodded and said, "My mother was English. Now, what are you and where do you come from?"
"I want my brothers first and then I'll talk. They're in that wagon over there," Raphael said, pointing to where his brothers were locked up. Cornelia agreed and she, Raphael and her friends went to the wagon.

Unlocking the door, Cornelia said, "Here are your brothers?"
"Yeah," Raphael said, going inside and flinging himself into Leo's arms.

"Oh, Raph," Leo said, sobbing and smothering him with kisses. "You're all right."
Raphael pulled apart and hooked a thumb at Cornelia. "She and her friends saved me."

"Group hug," Mikey said, pulling the four brothers close. Then they disengaged.

Leo looked at Cornelia and said, "I don't know if you understand me, but thank for you saving him."
"You're welcome," Cornelia said. "Now can you please tell me what you are and where you come from?"

"You speak English?" Don said in surprise.
"Yes," Cornelia said. "My mother was English and my name is Cornelia Jansen. These are my friends, Illse and Laura. Laura also had English relatives. Now please can you answer my questions?"

"We are turtles," Leo said. "My name is Leonardo. Those are my brothers, Raph, Don, and Mikey. And we come from the United States. In the future. It's very difficult to explain, but we ended up here and got captured. Then men took Raph, who is also my mate, and tried to boil him for dinner. Raph's not biologically my brother. We were raised as such."
"Yes, that was my husband and his friend," Cornelia said. "I apologise for his actions. You do not look like bad people and I felt bad seeing your mate in the pot, but do you work for the English? I have to ask."

"No," Raphael said. "Like my mate said, we ended up here. We never wanted ta come here. Believe me. I miss home. I want ta go home. We have no interest in war or fighting."
"Yes," Don said. "We are peace-loving people. All we want is to go home, but until our machine works again, we are trapped here."

"I see," Cornelia said. "I sense I can trust you, but you will have to wait here while I talk to my husband. He is the leader of our group. If he agrees with me that you are no threat, you will be welcome here as our guests. If he doesn't agree, I'm afraid my husband will slaughter you. He is not a very easy man to convince, but I will do my best. Also if he does agree, you will have to fight. All the men fight."

"What about the women, Cornelia?" Raphael asked.
"The men are in charge. We cook, clean, have babies and make sure our husbands are happy. We are happy with that life. It is what we know. But it doesn't mean our husbands are not good men. They are and they love us very much. Excuse me. I hear my husband. I'll be back now." Cornelia locked the wagon door and went off with her friends.

"Now what?" Raphael said, taking Leo's hand in his. "What do we do, Fearless?"
"Sit and wait," Leo said. "And hope for the best."
"I wish I'd never messed around with Don's machine!"

"You and us all, dude," Mikey said. "This place sucks and I'm so hungry!"
"I can feed ya a knuckle sandwich if ya like," Raphael snapped.
"Buzz off, dude. I haven't eaten in hours."

"None of us have, Mikey," Don said. "Be patient."
"But my tummy's rumbling and that food by the campfire smells so good."
"Let's all meditate. It'll take our mind off food as well as calm us."

Sitting down, they linked hands and began to meditate.

A couple of hours later, Cornelia returned with her husband, Johan, and said, "My husband has listened to my story and he has agreed that you are probably not a threat. You are to have supper with us by the campfire and you are now part of our group."
Johan nudged his wife and said in his mother tongue, "You will fight the Zulus with us tomorrow."
"My husband said that you will fight the Zulus tomorrow with the other men. It is now time for dinner. Please come with us."

"I don't like this," Leo said, as the brothers followed the Dutch to the campfire. "I don't want to fight."
"If we refuse, they might kill us, Leo. I don't want ta be food for them," Raphael said. "We have ta listen ta them."

"I don't like it either," Don said. "But as Raph said, we have no choice."
"Food!" Mikey squealed, seeing the women dish up from a large pot onto plates.

Raphael elbowed him hard. "Dork. All ya care 'bout is food!"
"Ouch, Raphie. That hurt. But I do think better on a full stomach."

The brothers joined the Dutch and sat down. Steaming plates of food were passed to them and they hungrily tucked in, uttering their thanks. "This is delicious. What is it?" Mikey asked. "Tripe," Cornelia said. "Tripe stew and bread. We call it pot brood, which means bread cooked on a stick and cooked over on the fire. "
"What is that?"

Raphael gagged and pulled a face, realizing what it was. "I can't, Leo," he said.
"You don't, you will insult them. Eat up, Raph."
Raphael groaned and ate his food, but when he was offered seconds, he smiled and said, "No, thanks. Full."

"So what is tripe?" Mikey asked.
"I'll tell you later," Don said.

After dinner, they spoke for a long time to Johan and his friends, talking about where they'd come from. When Johan and Piet had retired to bed, Cornelia brought the brothers coffee. It was very sweet and milky and none of them liked it much, but they drank it to be polite.

Then Cornelia showed them to their wagon and brought blankets and pillows. "Good night," she said. "I will be here in the morning early with coffee. Sleep well."
"What time?" Leo asked.
"About three. I hope you can help us defeat the Zulus. They murder and slaughter us and our families and we are tired of it."
"We will do our best. Thank you for everything."

As the brothers huddled together on the floor, Mikey said, "So what is tripe?"
"Ya really want ta know?" Raphael asked, smirking. "It's…."

"Chicken," Don supplied. "A kind of chicken." Don hoped Mikey bought the lie.
"Then why was Raph disgusted?"
"He's sick of chicken. We ate it a lot before we got here."
"Oh. I liked it a lot, dude. I had thirds."

"I noticed," Raphael said, and chuckled. "Mikey, ya can have my seconds tomorrow, okay?"
"You're the best, Raph!
"I know."

Leo whispered into Raph's ear slit. "You're so bad, Raph!"
"Yeah, but ya love me."
"I always will. I thought I'd lost you."
"Nah. Not so lucky," Raphael said, licking and biting Leo's neck, causing him to churr. "Yer stuck with me, Fearless. Forever."
"You'll always be mine, Raph. I love you."
"Love ya, too," Raphael said. They kissed each other, linked hands and snuggled up close. Leo fell asleep first and as Raphael watched him sleep, he shuddered. I nearly died today. I want ta go home. Please let us go home, so me and Leo can be safe and sound and so can our baby. Raphael rubbed his belly protectively. He wasn't showing yet, but he knew he would soon and he hoped it wouldn't be in the middle of a war.