The Jaguar Versus the Wolf
Chapter 33 – Baskets
Orbiting Satellites Book Two, Chapter 33 - Negative after Negative companion
You have got to be kidding me. The dog was sterile!
I wanted to be angry that Renesmee had chosen that infertile dog over me, (I had no doubt would be able to easily impregnate her) but it was too hilarious. I couldn't stop laughing. He and Renesmee had been humping for months with nothing to show for it. Now as a last-ditch effort her parents had sent them away, hoping a change in scenery would do something to encourage her fertility.
A small part of me wondered if I had misheard my sister and gotten her fertility timeline wrong. Maybe hybrids could only get pregnant until they were six years old, and not seven. Who knows, maybe Joham screwed it up, not me. I was beyond caring at this point about those two, I had my own problems.
I didn't think a future career as a composer was going to happen.
Music wasn't something I had ever intentionally tried to create before. It was just something that was always around that I would listen to, whether other people recognized it as a song or not. When Edward suggested I try it as something to do it was an interesting idea at first, but the more I tried, the less it seemed to be something that was going to happen. He offered to help, to write down the notes for me as I hummed them.
He showed me the music sheets he would use when learning a new song, or writing one. It has lots of lines, and was covered in these funny little dots and squiggles. It didn't really mean anything to me until he explained it a few times and I guess it made sense. Dots for high notes went up, ones for low notes were down, but beyond that...
But there was no music in my head for him to write down. It wasn't mine, it was something that was just all around me that I listened to. I wasn't the one who made it.
"What do you make?" Edward then asked me.
Before I came here I was making things all the time - clothes, belts, jewelry, baskets with my Aunt. In the jungle we had to make everything.
"Was there any of those that you particularly enjoyed making?"
That was an interesting question. I liked the results of some of my efforts, but the process of actually making something... I wasn't sure. I'd never really thought about it.
"Think about it," he suggested before taking off to go to class.
I did more than just think about it. I started making things and some of the things I made, for the first time ever, I started paying attention to not just what I made, but how I made it. For the first time ever I asked myself not only if I enjoyed making it, but if I intentionally wanted to make it again. And if I did would I want to make it over, and over, and over again. For some things the answer was no!
I didn't enjoy sewing clothes like Alice did. When I was in the rainforest and I needed a new pair of pants I would make a new pair of pants, but I didn't have a stack of extra ones lying around, just in case. And I certainly didn't have closet, after closet, after closet filled up with "designer couture ensembles" to wear a different outfit every day of the next decade.
"So it's true," Alice said as she happily skipped up to me a few days later.
I was in the woods preparing some reeds to weave into baskets. I needed something after abandoning my short lived fashion excursion. It was a long process. Reeds had to be harvested and dried; some sliced thin, others kept wider and to different thicknesses. I wanted the baskets to have a certain looked to them so I put a lot of effort into finding materials of certain colors and shades, just to add a little bit of dimension and flare to the baskets. Not that it was my design. I was just going to recreate ones that I'd seen my Aunt make. Maybe once I got going and got a little bit more confident I'd branch out and create some of my own.
"What's true?" I asked her
"That you've found something to do," she said as her eyes swept over the dozens of piles of reeds I had prepared.
"I'm not sure yet, but the process is very relaxing." Once I get to the actual basket weaving I'm not sure if I'll still be as enthusiastic.
"Well, make sure you save one for me, I already have the perfect place for it in mind." She turned to go but it looked like she must have remembered something and turned back around. "Oh and I'm supposed to remind you that Joham could still be out here, and if you're going to do this, please say closer to the house for your own protection."
"Of course," I said as I started gathering a few of the bundles in my arms to bring closer to the house. Not wanting to prematurely bend any of the reeds I needed to be gentle and would have to make several trips.
I'd thought I only had to be within Edward's three mile range, and this distance wouldn't have been an issue, but was also comforted at the same time knowing that they were looking out for me.
A.N. Sorry I wasn't able to post this chapter yesterday. (And that it's so short) But to make up for it I'm going to also post Chapter 34, and possibly 35.
