Chapter 10: The Promised Land
"So, the mountain is high. The Valley is low. You're confused on which to go?" concludes Cave-Katie.
"You could say that," concedes her companion. Cave-Katie's counterpart eyes Cave-Katie's other companion, Lok.
From a mountain ledge, Lok overlooks the landscape near and far. He looks upon the Black Lagoon two leagues distant and the Great Swamp some lengths beyond that. Leaf-eating Maleeg, the Brontosaurus, lunches in some low country, and Konga chases Takos on the grassy campo. Licking his beard, Lok leans back his face into the sunlight. Lovely larks and lapwings linger on alpine updrafts, but they lack any interesting company, such as Pterodactyls and such. Lowering his chin, Lok's look fixes at his feet where a Zaba rat lazily lugs a locust to a lodge in the limestone. Suddenly, a lizard lunges from camouflage and clamps the rat, but then loess lets loose, and the reptile rolls and bounces down the leeward mountainside, lacerating itself all the way. Such is life in a savage land; be not lugubrious. Lok looks down the slope at the two ladies. The two Katies would love to learn Greg's fate. Lok would too. But, no luck so far.
Lok looms and leers intensely from above, but Dr. Kate keeps her coffee-colored orbs on him. Her female gaze likes his sweltering look and the luminous sweat on his skin. She fancies that loverboy smells pungent like a leek and feels like a lumberjack. She looks over his lean physique from fair locks to loin cloth to legs like lathed logs. Good Lord, Lok unlocks her libi . . . her liberated self. Looping her hair blithely, Katie sighs and laughs. Lok looks laterally and breaks eye contact with the loony newcomer acting like a lamia.
The search and rescue party must determine where Greg is. And, so far, they have had lousy luck. But, they have learned some things. For instance, Greg is not lying along the Black Lagoon's shores, as almost expected. And, there are no odd tracks anywhere leading to anywhere. Also, there are no new lean-tos in the immediate area, nor are there new locals in any of the caves. The group found no leaf-covered living lumps on the loam of the lemon tree grove, and the lilac bushes were likewise lonely of lying lodgers. Furthermore, Greg had not wandered into the main caveman camp in the eleven days since Katie's arrival.
Other tribespeople assisted initially. But, they are now lackadaisical in their search. Most hunters must hunt other things, and gatherers must gather grapes, gourds and other good grub. If anyone sees Greg, their lips will sound a horn. Just listen to the wind. Katie, Lok, and Cave-Katie are the hard-core crowd. Of course, good old Gorak and Gara would help, but they are lethargic for being long in the tooth (of which two cavepeople only have one, LOL).
Cave-Katie dislodges a large bug and eats it, "If you quit ogling Lok, we can determine where to search next. I would like to reunite with a grown-up Greg too."
Katie comes back, "I can't help it. Lok is gorgeous."
"I know," the twins mutually relate.
Scholar Butler ceases acting like a schoolgirl. She concentrates, "Obviously, we three have explored the immediate area. We need to look elsewhere."
"Hopefully, not in dinosaur stomachs and scat," quips Cave-Katie. Of course, under such circumstances, Greg could be gone like Cave-Katie's family, so a certain severe chord is struck secretly in her psyche.
"Scat isn't something that you would mention on a kids' show," Katie corrects her comrade. Within, the concerned congenial woman also hopes that no Creature returned.
The sister from another myster-ious timeline says, "Well, I'm here to lend you a hand and lead you into the promised land. Where are we going?" She last heard those lyrics twenty years ago, but a mind sometimes holds onto the thought of a free ride no matter what the body's fate over two decades.
"I figure that we can be methodic," communicates Katie, "We could visit the Three Giants mountain range [E3]. If necessary, we could consult the Sky-People [E12], Gondor's gang [E11], the Tamurs [E16], or even the Jebos [E5]. None of them live that far, and they are parties who might take a lost man in."
"Otherwise, we go long. We search Neebra's Smilodon country and the canyon cleft, through which you claim to have escaped, sixty-five miles from here," Cave-Katie completes her complement's thought.
Katie compliments, "You got it, C.K."
Cave-Katie cutely questions, "Que? No comprehendo C.K."
"Cave-Katie," Katie contributes.
"Don't call me that," Cave-Katie comments and, kind of, commands.
"Apologies. I can be kooky sometimes," one woman admits.
"Ain't that the truth," the other Katie clutches her own chest. Simultaneously, the two sigh and shake their simpering heads.
Lok surprises them by silently stalking up. He joins their conference. Scratching his side, he suggests that the Katies visit his sister Tana too. Long ago, some lunar years back, she eloped with leather-maker Yoko and left the Valley. Tana the tanner and Yoko the yokel live by their lonely, separate from other settlements that come-lately Katie mentioned. Lok could lead the way to his sister and the lout if the ladies wish.
"Honey, I know the way," Cave-Katie confesses.
"But, I forbade you to visit them!" Lok blurts.
"Don't be a brute," C.K. encourages.
"She is my sister, my family. My kin, Katie! You stay out of it!" Lok straightens his lumbar and glares.
"Aye, aye, Captain Caveman," his Katie condescendingly salutes.
Quietly, current Katie is curious. Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels came out in 1977. How does someone "living under a rock" know about it? Maybe, a transmission leaked and licensed material lit-up a magnetite lode.
Brow low and lips pursed, Lok looks like he could lob a lethal rock at his lovely. Such is Cave-Katie's lot in life. In late '74, she decided to stay in the Valley of the Dinosaurs so that she might "live deliberately", as literature puts it. However, humanity is alike whether in Brooklyn, St. Paul, Brazil, or some savage land. People are both of the Lord's likeness and Lucifer's legions. Having lived a few years, one finds that life is both fairy lore and forlorn moments. A woman can linger on this or relax about that. As she has since adolescence, she can laugh at adversity, or she can let a (briefly) loud loved one get to her. Where does her pride lead her?
Primal Lok knows where he would lead her! "Let's go" signals he. Striding off, Lok lops some wild lettuce loose (with a lockblade that Katie designed for him) and wishes that he had some lima beans to go with the succulent loot. The crank assumes that he has leverage as he stomps away. Surely, Katie is lamb-like following behind him.
"Hmph," Katie-94 chortles to herself. Aw Christ, what could have been! She considers her story if she had stayed.
Although, she still thinks Lok is hot—even when he is hot-headed. Our birth and constructed selves are curious critters who are both corrupt and correct in where they lead us. Either way, either Katie cannot resist yon character—except when she confidently can.
"He's being crumby," kens Cave-Katie, "Thus, he can go kick dirt or go fly a kite for a while. He can calm down while we more courteously converse."
"I'll always have a crush on him," modern Katie confesses smirking.
"I know," archaic Katie concedes stolidly, "We should plan our remaining course for today."
"How far is the Valley of Katara?" queries the professor, "Greg visited that canyon once and antagonized an Iguanodon [E13]. The adventure could be stuck in his amnesiac memory."
"Why would you think that Greg has amnesia?" the primitive probes, "And, don't say 'I forget'."
Katie charms herself, "You caught me. I conjecture that Greg is confused somewhere. He should have contacted the Valley's village by now. So, he likely has a quality concussion or something."
"He could be . . . missing," Cave-Katie curtails her thought. She has not seen her parents, or brother, in two decades, so she necessarily contemplates the cruel worst.
Katie claps consecutively in her companion's countenance, "Greg is around. He could be collecting arok fruit like he did when we first arrived in the Valley [E1]."
"He did pursue that stuff to the point of endangering us with a Brontosaurus," Cave-Katie recalls, "One arok orchard stands near Gorak's grounds. However, the seed has spread to several other locations. We could look."
Our Katie certifies the scheme with a cutesy curtsy. The other Katie cackles and offers a hug. She loves herself.
