Shel'dam and Pene' take notice of each other. Who knew watching water fowl could be so hot? Thanks for all of your reviews, follows and favorites!
Day 4
Shel'dam's Mentalog© Day 4: Spent night with Woman at base camp. Talked incessantly about the "pretty" beasts and the "gorgeous" jungle. Talking didn't stop when she fell asleep. Hummed incoherently all night long. Worst night so far. Somehow ended up within three feet of my Spot by morning. As if we didn't have a whole garden to sleep in.
Miss Woman has gone to find food to break our fast. Obviously didn't pay attention to Tree of Life orientation. Will have to train her in the field on all the proper procedures. Father, give me strength!
The woman's stomach was growling. She knew she could have easily went to the Tree of Life to eat again, but she had seen some interesting fruits and vegetables during the previous day's exploration, but not wanting to upset Shel'dam, who only ate when he absolutely had to, she had refrained from plucking anything out in the field. Now, her hunger was driving her straight to a medium-sized tree with long yellow fruit with thick skin. The color and shape had intrigued her, but her interest turned into delight when she peeled them to reveal soft, sweet flesh that seemed to melt in her mouth. The first bite was so delicious that she devoured an entire fruit in the second bite, then stuffed another whole one on top of that. "Buh-nuh-nuh!" she exclaimed, the gooey goodness filling her cheeks and squishing out of her lips. The silly word meant nothing, but it seemed fitting for no other reason than the banana's yummy pleasure made her giddy.
She would've eaten the entire tree's crop right there, but with so much to taste and see, she decided to restrain herself, grabbing four of the fruits and cradling them in her arm as she set off for a berry bush with plump red globs of sweetness just waited to be plucked…and eaten!
Shel'dam chewed the fruit of the Tree of Life slowly. It was quite satisfying, and the flavor, though now becoming familiar, was still quite good, and besides, he couldn't wait for the woman any longer, as his stomach was protesting its empty state. It was bad enough that she had to go gallivanting off into the jungle in search of wild fruit, but now the sun had moved a whole handbreadth up in the sky, which was completely decimating his already tight schedule. They were going to go sort the water fowl today, as well as separate the four-legged creatures with fur from the four-legged ones with scales, and…
The sound of groaning broke him out of his mental list-checking and led him around toward the base camp, where the woman was slowly walking, her arms laden with all kinds of fruits and vegetables. Her face was smeared with all colors of fruit juice and pulp, and she was moaning in discomfort.
"You've been gone longer than I expected," Shel'dam snapped, furrowing his brow in disapproval. "Now look at you, covered with goop and waddling like one of those feathered fowl. I hope you enjoyed yourself."
"Oooh…" she groaned, dropping her load of food in a pile near his Spot. "Ooh, I enjoyed myself too much…ugh!" She rubbed her hands over her swollen stomach, then released a loud guttural noise from her mouth that sounded like one of the rhino's grunts. She plopped down on her back next to the pile, and lay down, huffing and puffing from her long journey.
"Well, you look like you had a good breakfast. But this is no time for taking a rest. We have many things we need to do today and we're already running behind…"
"Oh, please, Shel'dam," she pleaded, her eyes wide with discomfort. "I just need to let my stomach settle, and then I'll freshen up and be ready to explore…uuhh…" She squirmed about, trying to find some comfortable position.
"Well, you're useless in your present state, so I will start out for the lake, and you can meet me there when you feel the urge to start the day!" He was incensed by what he perceived as her foolishness, and stomped over to the walking stick he had hewn from a branch, and headed out, leaving the woman sprawled on the ground.
"Good morning, Daughter." The Creator's voice was near, even though he was unseen. "How are you feeling?"
It had been some time since Shel'dam had set out for the lake, and the woman was now sitting up, her stomach no longer aching, but she still felt a little winded from her morning activities. She was a little upset because he had left her in such a poor state, even if it was of her own doing. She wanted so much to show Shel'dam that she was a good mate and helper. And yet, she also wanted to go out on her own and make her own discoveries and adventures. She perked up when she heard the Father speak to her in his strong but gentle voice.
"Oh, Father, much better, thank you," she said somewhat sheepishly. "I think I did a little too much breakfasting this morning," she said, sitting up and leaning back on her hands.
"Too much of a good thing is still too much," He said lovingly. "You have the same tendency as Shel'dam; you try to do too much too quickly, and you get little pleasure out of your effort."
"I'm not as bad as he is," she protested, then realized her impertinence and changed her tone. "I mean, he's not bad, he's just so…"
"Punctilious? Fastidious? Supercilious? Persnickety?" the Father answered.
"Uh, I don't know those words…I was going to say he was a stick in the mud."
The Maker laughed so hard the trees shook and the sky grew bright, making the sun blush with envy. "Oh, how you bless Me, My beloved one. I know he is hard to understand, but I have made him this way in order to compliment you as much as you compliment him."
"So, he's kind of my helper, too?" she said, a sneaky smile playing at her lips.
"You will help each other, because you are flesh of the other's flesh, and bone of the other's bone. You fit together to make a complete unit. He is strong where you are weak, and you are strong where he is weak. And there are some places where you may both be strong or weak, but one will rise to lift up the other. I am pleased so far with how you are both doing, but these things take time. He has chosen to focus on the task rather than the prize. But do not be discouraged, My lovely one. He will find the way soon enough, and then you will be one in flesh and spirit."
She smiled demurely, because she liked it when He called her "beloved" and "lovely." "I want to be the best mate I can be for him. How can I make him see that I respect him and want to make him happy?"
"You can't make him see anything," the Father answered. "But if you are true and faithful to Me and who I made you to be, you will reveal it to him in your own special way, and he will be captivated by what he sees."
"I understand, I think," she said, smiling at her God's loving wisdom. "I love you, Papa."
"I love you too, sweet Pene'." ***
She wondered what he had meant by calling her that, but he had moved through the trees and did not explain its meaning. But she loved the sound of it all the same.
Shel'dam crouched in the rushes, watching the two water fowl intently, trying to see what they would do next. They had been circling each other for a while now, and it seemed like one was waiting for the other to make a move. They weren't going to fight, were they? Aside from the loud coupling he had seen amongst the animals, they otherwise had been marvelously well behaved: He even saw a giant feline eating grass alongside a sheep on the way to the lake. I swear, if the bright one mounts the dark one, I'm going to have to speak to the Maker about this, he thought to himself. He was about to adjust his weight on the stick to stabilize himself when he heard a loud splashing from across the lake.
He turned to see the woman on the opposite shore. He shook his head and sighed testily as he watched her step into the water. She couldn't even join me in the field without fooling around, he groused silently. Then he noticed her walking out into the deeper water, slowly submerging herself. She was washing all the mess from the morning off her bare body. He had been studying her physical features since she had arrived the day before, and analyzed the similarities and differences between them, noting that her figure did seem pleasing to the eye, but overall she was essentially a weaker version of himself.
But there was something different now. She had risen back up out of the water and was back in the shallows, her body glistening in the mid-day sun, her hair matted on her back and breasts. He had not seen her like this before, and suddenly the features that he once observed critically now appealed to him on an entirely different level. She bent at the waist, then shook the water from her hair, its long tendrils darkened and tousled by the moisture, and moving in the air like the ruffled feathers of the birds. She stood up, throwing her hair back, and he immediately noticed her enlarged nipples, and his eyes were transfixed. As if she knew where his eyes were falling, she rubbed the stains from her breasts, and seemed equally as impressed by the change in their shape, squeezing them with her hands. He found himself licking his lips as he watched her stroke her undulating stomach, marveling at the fluid way it contracted and expanded. He blinked his drying eyes as she rubbed her arms and legs slowly, making sure all of the grime from the past day was gone.
Then, she suddenly stopped and looked right at him, and Shel'dam fell back, losing his balance.
"Shel'dam?" she cried out, and he turned to run, but instead stumbled sideways as he fell into the water. He began flailing wildly, sending the fowl flapping away over the surface of the waves. The woman immediately ran into the water and dove forward, instinctive paddling her arms and legs across the lake. Shel'dam continued to struggle, and feared he would drown, but then his feet found the muddy floor of the shallows, and he stood up, submerged to his waist.
By this time, the woman had made it across the narrow cove, and now paddling in place, about ten yards from the man. She looked at his wet body, the wetness clinging to the hairs on his chest, his muscles seemingly more defined by the water drops tricking down their surface. His hair had been disheveled, and now wet strands dangled in his eyes, and water dripped from his prominent chin. But what she really had wanted to see was hidden beneath the surface. Maybe she could chase him out?
But other ideas appeared in her whirling mind. "You look so silly," she said, spitting water from her mouth. "It's really nice in the water. You should join me."
Even she was surprised by the forwardness of her invitation. Shel'dam squirmed a little and then stuck his chin out proudly. "We have no time for playing in the water like birds," he said firmly. "We have many animals to catalog, and I've lost half a day already." He turned so that his pale profile was against the green trees. She watched as he ascended from the waters, observing the front and back of his waist, thighs, and buttocks, and then saw his ample private. Now he had her attention, as she swallowed the spittle in her suddenly dry mouth.
"Come along, Miss Woman," he said, standing on the shore. "I've completed my obligatory near-drowning exercise for the day."
She sighed, then walked up out of the water. He now had a full frontal view of her flesh as it rose from the water, and all of the things he had noticed before suddenly seemed ten times larger and more real.
Pene'. The word entered his mind unbidden, filling his mind with a pleasure that only magnified the feast his eyes were gorging on. What does it even mean, he asked silently.
Pene'. The word fit her, seemed to encompass all the things about her that drove him mad, made him blush, that made him lie awake at night and think. Or was it even a thought at all? Was it a sensation, a feeling, like the cold air on his wet skin, or the tingle that moved through him as he looked at her now. Whatever it was, he knew that from this day forward it would the name by which he called her.
She walked up to him, about five feet away, and then wildly shook her head side to side, sending huge drops of lake water flying into his face. He held his hands up defensively, as if she had really attacked him, and she laughed at his cowering.
"You're as wet as I am, so stop being so sheepish!" she snickered, putting her hands on her hips.
But it wasn't the drops of water coming off of her hair and body that made him recoil. It was the images his eyes would seize upon and replay in his dreams that made him seek whatever meager protection his hands could provide.
The night sky twinkled with a thousand lights, and the swelling moon was rising in the heavens. The man and the woman sat cross-legged, he in his usual Spot, she now only a few feet away, arranging a circle of flowers around a pile of palm fronds. She seemed to take great care in attending to her place, and then moved over to Sheldon to place some fronds by him. He looked at her quizzically, though not with the same condescension as earlier.
"What are you doing?" was his simple question.
"Just brightening up our beds," she said, brushing the palm leaves down by him.
"Beds?" he questioned, for once not understanding her meaning.
"Yes, our beds. It's where we sleep, you know." She looked up at him with a sarcastic smile.
"No, it's where I thrash about all night long while you and every other creature in the garden snore, growl, howl, and murmur the night away."
"I do not snore!" she protested, throwing a palm leaf at him.
"You most certainly do! Why, it sounded like one of the large cats growling!" He folded his arms and leaned back on the palms. He noticed an apple to the right of his head, snatched it and took a bite.
"I didn't think you liked my wild fruit," she said, reaching for a bunch of red grapes.
"Well, it's certainly not as good as the Life fruit," he said, swallowing a bit of apple. "But it's alright for an evening snack."
She smiled with a surly look as she popped a grape in her mouth. "Oh, okay, well, that's a great idea."
"I detect a note of sharpness to that statement. You were not being genuine when you said that."
"Of course I was Shel'dam. I am, after all, your helpmate.
"No matter, Pene', I will still finish my fruit."
She dropped her grapes and looked at him slack-jawed. "How…why…who….where did you hear that name?" She leaned over to him on her hands and knees.
"It's my new name for you. As I stated, Woman does not have a ring to it. It's not, as you would say, a "pretty" name. Do you like it?"
She dared not tell him about the Father calling her that name. He dared not tell her it had invaded his thoughts as he watched her naked body climb out of the lake. Each was sure the other would not understand. But he was right, it did sound a lot nicer than "Miss Woman." It sounded like a term of endearment, like what a man would call his mate.
"I like it," she said, leaning back on the ground. "I like it a lot."
"Very well Pene'," he said, also leaning back. "Now let's try to get some rest. I have something special planned for tomorrow."
"Oh really? Are we taking a vacation? Going on a trip to other side of the jungle?" she asked eagerly.
"Not quite. But we'll talk about it in the morning, Pene'."
Pene' looked up the sky hopefully. She couldn't imagine tomorrow being more revealing than today.
***Pene' comes from the Hebrew word for "face".