The House

By Dawn Natelle

I am not going to be able to keep this chapter a day pace going, but enjoy it while it lasts: Dawn.

Chapter 5 – Mooz

The cow moose lay at rest a few miles from the camp. It had mated with a bull in September, at the start of the mating season. It was now early March, and she was almost six months into an eight-month pregnancy. The bull had left her to mate with as many others as possible. Daddy moose does not do anything to help Momma during her time with a developing baby.

In the last two months of pregnancy, a cow is especially vulnerable. She is less mobile than normally, and spends a lot of time lying on the cold ground. She has to get up to eat and drink. Drink is especially a problem. The river is frozen over and even her weight and big hooves can not break through two-inch (or thicker) ice. In the past she had come near a little spring for her pregnancies, but this year there was a man-smell at the spring, so she had stopped a mile further away. When there was snow she would eat that for water, but eventually she had to go to the spring at time and slowly got used to the man-smell. No man ever came near when she came to drink in early morning or late night. She would browse on the trees as she came and went.

Today as she lay basking in the noon-day sun she heard singing. It went on for hours, and she closed her eyes for a nap. Suddenly, her senses alerted her to danger and her eyes popped open. The singing was close, and the man making the noise was close. When he saw she was awake, and struggling to get up, he tossed something near her, and started to back away, still facing her, and still singing. She got to her feet, but didn’t dart away. He kept going further and further back. She saw that he didn’t carry air-sticks. And if he had a knife, he could have used it when he was close and she was defenseless on the ground.

When he was a long distance away, but still watching her, she relaxed a bit. She looked down at what he had thrown. It was a bundle of cedar branches, from higher up in a tree, beyond her normal reach. There were fresh spring buds forming on the branches, especially tasty at this time of year. She nibbled a few, keeping her eye on the man, and then gorged herself, only looking up occasionally to watch the man. Halfway through her meal she saw the man was gone.

Then, when she finished eating, she saw that the man was back, carrying a shiny thing on a handle. It looked heavy. He approached slowly, always singing. She was standing this time, and could back away if needed. But she was curious. What was the silver thing? It smelled like water: the good kind from the spring, not river water.

When the man was five feet away, she stepped back two feet. The man did not follow, but instead set the shiny thing down, and then backed away. When he was 30 feet away, the cow stepped up to the shiny thing. It held water, and she realized she was thirsty. Her whole snout fit into the shiny thing, and she was able to drink deeply. She lifted her head and found that the shiny thing tipped over, and the remaining half of the water spilled out. She had enough water, although she wished there was some more. It was a good end to her feast of cedar buds.

The man walked up, focusing his attention on the shiny thing and not her. That calmed her, and she stood less than three feet away until he reached down and took the shiny thing away. He walked away backwards again, and then turned and headed off to where he had set up a small tent.

The cow nestled down again while the man was gone out of sight. When he came back, he was carrying the shiny thing again. But he set it down near his tent. The cow was a little upset. She didn’t want to go all the way over there, near all the man things, to get some more water.

But then the man had bent down and picked up another bundle of cedar. He carried it over to her. She didn’t try to get up this time, and he placed the bundle in front of her, where she could nibble on it without rising. He went back again, still singing to her. She decided she liked the singing, and trusted the man: a little.

She ate for another hour, cleaning off all the best buds and sprouts from the cedar branches. The rest was not as tasty, but would make a meal if necessary. Then she saw the man approaching again, carrying the shiny thing. This time she let him bring it close, and allowed him to hold it as she drank from it while still lying down. It didn’t tip this time, so she was able to drink the entire bucket of water. When she was done, the man backed away and she napped for a while.

It was dusk when she woke. She was surprised that she had slept so long, but realized that the man had been singing the whole time. The sound was faint when she fell asleep, as the man had gone for more water. But as she slept the singing told her there was no danger nearby.

When she woke, he brought another bunch of cedar, and she browsed slowly on it. When she felt full, for the first time in months, she snorted out a short blast, and the man picked up the shiny thing and brought it to her so she could drink again, this time only taking three-quarters of the pail. The man then backed off.

Normally at this time she would go to the spring for water, but there was no need tonight. She did scramble up to her feet, and walked a few dozen yards from her nest, and peed. Then she went a bit further and defecated. She normally did this while walking to the spring, but there seemed no need. She went back to her nest, lying down close to her cedar. It would make a good breakfast.

She didn’t hear singing during the night, but when the eastern horizon started to lighten, she heard it again as she saw the man coming out of a copse, fiddling with the strings at his crotch. She nibbled at the remainder of the cedar, and then she bleated again so he would bring her water. He had a small fire going, and he quickly went back to it. She could smell man-food sizzling as the man burned some deer meet. She was happy he ate deer, and not moose. After he finished eating, he brought another bundle of cedar, and then walked away from his tent carrying the empty shiny thing. He returned, and she could see it was full. She knew that he would bring her the water when she called for it.

---- ----- ------

Grey had been on his mission for three days now. Flint had been hopeless in coming up with a way to harvest the urine. Everything he suggested ended up with the moose dead and it’s meat being taken to feed the tribe. Except that the tribe was only two people, and one of them dearly needed moose urine, not moose steak.

It was Mimiha who came up with the idea of making friends with the Mooz, as the people called it. She suggested he sing to her, and bring her food and water. Red Oak and Flint scoffed at the idea, but when Grey made big progress on the first day, Red Oak relented. Flint never did.

By now Grey was able to go right up to the moose. She especially liked it when he scratched her haunches. Last night she had allowed him to walk with her to her urination spot, and allowed him to stand nearby as she peed. He had named her Daria, after a cartoon he once watched. Her big eyes reminded him of Daria’s glasses.

This morning he was doing the same thing, except he was carrying a deerskin bag that he had sewn last month. Sun had been bemused by the shape of it: about a foot long with a four-inch circular base. The top was about 10 inches in diameter. Grey finally told her it was for catching chipmunks. She left it at that, although she did wonder what they were going to do with the tiny animals if he caught any.

Now Grey carried the water-proof bag along, and when Daria started to tinkle, he reached it down and tried to catch the fluid. Daria was skittish about this new thing, and more of the liquid hit his hand than went into the bag. But when she was finished he took the bag back to camp and poured it into one of the 12 one-quart sealing jars that he had brought from the store last month. It was barely an inch of liquid. Then he ran to the river and used his axe to chop through the ice. He then plunged his wet hand, the axe handle, and the bag into the water to clean them.

Just then Daria bellowed. She wanted breakfast. He took her another bunch of cedar, noting that the pile was getting low. After giving Daria her water, he brought up the last of the cedar, and then headed out into the bush to cut more down. He chopped three trees down, and dragged the first back to camp, where he barely started trimming the branches off when Daria bugled for her water. Then, when he got back, he cleaned the tree, which would be useful for making snowshoes. The branches from them seemed to be enough for a day’s feed for the moose. One tree a day, he reckoned.

Through the day he dragged the other trees back to camp, stripped them down, and ran back and forth with food and water for Daria. Finally, at the end of the day he hustled to catch up with her as she moved to her pee-place. He managed to get the bag into place just before she started. This time she wasn’t fidgety, and he got most of the urine into the bag. At least none landed on his hands this time.

Back in the tent he poured the liquid into the jar containing the pee from the morning, and found that the jar was now half full. He washed the bag out, and then settled Daria down for the night.

----- ------- ------

«Danger, danger. Wolves attacking.» Flint shouted, waking Grey from his sleep several nights later. He grabbed his bow and arrows, and two knives, and rushed out. Daria was awake, and trying to get to her feet as three wolves closed in around her. Grey shot four arrows over the next 50 seconds, and at the end of it all three wolves lay dead or dying around Daria, who was in a panic.

Grey went to her, and for a second she was skittish, but then allowed him to comfort her. Slowly her heartbeat lessened, as she realized she had an ally against the wolves, and she and her calf might survive.

«There, on the rise,» Flint said. «That is the Alpha male. He is just within your range. No, not that one, she is the Alpha female. Yes, that one.» Flint could see which wolf Grey was looking at, and they adjusted accordingly.

«No, aim higher. Higher. Hig … That’s perfect. There is a slight wind, so aim a foot and a half to the left. Now shoot!»

The arrow, to Grey’s surprise, curved on an arc that led it right to the wolf, striking it in the chest. It toppled, and fell. For several minutes nothing happened until one of the other larger wolves leapt at the carcass and started to tear. The wolves were hungry at the end of winter, and if moose meat were not available they would eat their own kind.

«Good shot,» Flint told him. «Without an Alpha male they will spend at least a few hours working out a new Alpha. They will be back though. They need food. You must gather up the carcasses. Wolf meat will make you some good meals. It is cold enough to freeze in your tent if you keep it away from the fire. And you need to recover your arrows. Not the one on the rise. Consider it lost.»

Grey pulled the three carcasses back to the tent, and started to skin them. Three wolf hides should help keep Sun warm through the next winter, unless she found other uses for them. She had begun getting proficient with her sewing. Grey was wearing deerskin trousers and a shirt that kept him warm when he was moving about, and a bear cape to wear at the fire to keep his back warm. Sun had killed the bear: a larger one than Grey had gotten earlier.

When the skinning was done, Grey took a bucket of water to Daria. She was skittish at first: he smelled of wolf. But her eyes told her that he was alone. She could hear the wolves off in the distance ‘electing’ a new Alpha male.

«Sunflower is coming,» Mimiha said. «I told her you needed help, and to bring her bow and arrows.»

That was good, Grey thought as he planned for the next attack. He only had 11 arrows left, three already blooded. But there seemed to be over 20 wolves in the pack. If they all came at once, they would get Daria, and probably him too.

Sun trotted into the camp and called for Grey. Daria jumped at the sound, fearing another attack.

Grey answered softly: “I am over here. Put down your arrows and any knives. Then walk very carefully, and stop if I tell you.”

“He’s beautiful,” Sun said as she started walking towards them.

“He is a she. A very pregnant she,” Grey clarified.

“Oh, I thought he, I mean she, just had a pot belly. That makes way more sense.”

It took nearly 20 minutes for Sun to approach the moose, with Grey calling for her to stop whenever Daria got too jittery. Eventually the moose realized that Grey had some control over the newcomer, and that she too was a friend. And a bigger one at that.

“Scratch her hindquarters,” Grey told Sun. Daria relaxed completely at that.

With Daria watered they went to get their bows. Daria no longer was afraid of the ‘air sticks’ since they had saved her from the wolves. And now it was completely quiet out on the plain. The moose faced into the danger, more confident now that she was standing, although she knew that she couldn’t kick as well due to her calf.

Sun stood on the right of the moose, with a quiver holding 24 arrows. She had also brought another dozen of Grey’s so they were both well equipped.

As Grey feared, most of the pack attacked at once. Sun fired at the ones to the right, and he shot the ones to the left. One wolf got to within 10 feet of Sun before Grey shot him, but the others were killed further out. Sun actually shot one fleeing wolf 200 yards away as the last five wolves ran for their new Alpha pair.

The second longest wolf lay only 60 yards out and Sun went out to claim the pelt while Grey covered her. “One of mine,” she crowed as she held up the arrow. “That’s two for me, counting him.” She pointed at the distant kill, which now had the remaining six wolves approaching it for a final meal.

In the end it was no contest. Sun had shot 12 wolves and Grey got seven. “But you got the most important one,” Sun told him. She pointed at the nearest wolf, which had been preparing to jump at the girl.

They gathered in the 18 carcasses, dragging them in a large arc to keep them away from Daria. Sun put Grey to shame by often dragging two. He tried to match her, but couldn’t. The wolves were just too heavy. For him.

This time they took turns at skinning and gutting the animals. The one not with the wolf skins would be with Daria, placating and calming her. She had seen the wolves trotting off to the northeast, away from them, and eventually calmed down enough to lay down again,

«You can tell Sunflower,» Red Oak said. «About why you are out here. There is enough urine now to make a first batch of the potion. I’ll have her start it back at camp after she finishes moving all these pelts back.»

“Not a chance,” Grey said. “If I know Sun she will scream and dance about, and Daria is just too fragile for all that right now. You tell her when she is in camp.”

An hour later Sun headed back to camp carrying 8 wolf pelts, which was a heavy load even for her. A few minutes after she left Grey heard a gleeful distant shout and knew that Sun knew what was in the picture for her.

She was back at the tent twenty minutes later, towing a small sled. She ran up to Grey and lifted him from the ground in a mighty hug.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she crowed. “You are the best brother ever, to do this for me. Red Oak told me that there is enough for two months of potion now, and that you should be able to get another 10 jars before Daria gives birth. He says that by this time next year I will have my own boobies, and will start looking like a woman. A big woman, but like a woman. So where is it? I want to start mixing the potion today.”

She piled the rest of the pelts on the sled, which she had made while Grey was with Daria. It was narrow enough to go through the bush trails, yet allowed her to pull much more than she could otherwise. She took one of the full sealing jars, and with it nestled in her arms, and the deer hide harness around her chest, she slowly pulled the loaded sled back to the camp.

She had told Grey that Red Oak said it would take three days to brew the potion, and Grey told her that he wanted her to come back to let him see her take the first drink. Actually, he wanted to be near in case something went wrong.

------ -- -- ----

It was actually four days later when Sun arrived again, holding the sealer jar, which was only a quarter full of a darkish paste. Grey was between runs on feeding and watering Daria, and had two fresh cedars to trim down, but went right to her.

“Is that it?” he said, looking at the gooey substance within.

“Yes, It smells horrid, and Red Oak says it will taste as bad. “Do you have drinking water here? I can wash it down right away.”

“I have my canteen,” Grey said.

“You will have to make me one of those,” Sun said. “I have tried three times, and they always leak.”

“Yeah, it took me about that many tries to get it right,” Grey said. “I’ll show you the trick when we get back settled. So, are you ready to try?”

“I was ready when it was still bubbling in the pot,” she said. “If it wasn’t my promise to you, I would already have done it. Red Oak says to take as much as will fit on my finger, but I think I should use my pinky finger, because my hands are so big. This has to last for a month if I am able to get through the year.”

She tried to stick her hand into the jar, and found she couldn’t fit it in.

“Should I get a finger full for you?”

«Not unless you are hoping to get boobies too,» Red Oak warned. «But if she uses a clean stick it will work.»

Grey went to his cedar pile, and shaved off an eight-inch long stick, then cleaned the bark from the end. Meanwhile Sunflower was dancing from foot to foot like someone needing to go to the bathroom. She grabbed the stick from him and got a dollop on the end, and then plunged it into her mouth.

She could have swallowed poop and her face would not have looked worse. She grabbed the canteen out of Grey’s hand, and took a long swig. She grimaced again, and then took another long drink.

“That is the most horrid stuff I’ve ever put in my mouth, and I used to eat in the Mac cafeteria,” she finally said. “But I don’t care. I will take a dose every day for the rest of my life if it does what it is supposed to.”

“Red Oak,” Grey said. “Isn’t there something we can do to make it less horrid tasting?”

“But not less effective,” Sun added in.

«The only thing I know of is a tree we call the sweetwater tree. In the spring you can get the sweetwater out of it, and if you boil it for two days, it gets to be a syrup. Some of that added to the potion is easier to swallow, but it still tastes bad.»

“Sugar maple trees,” Grey guessed. “If we find some, we could tap them.”

«There are 50 sweetwater trees just on the other side of the river,» Flint informed them.

“Great. I can order some spouts and buckets through the store, and they will get here in three weeks,” Grey said excitedly. Then his enthusiasm died. “And that will be too late for the season, or most of it. I guess I can buy some syrup in bottles from the store. They have a big display. Frank says that all the tourists want it.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Sun said. “I’m willing to drink it without.”

“For a couple days, I guess,” Grey said. “If you are willing to look after Daria for me for a few days I will snowshoe down to the store and buy some.”

For the next two days the pair stayed with the moose cow as Sun learned the routine and Daria got familiar with her. Each day at noon Sun took another dose of the potion, and every time it was as bad as the last.

On the third day Grey was up as the eastern skies were lightening, and he headed down the riverbank towards the store. He arrived just before noon, and only chatted for a minute with Frank.

“I need Maple Syrup,” Grey said, taking five of the smallish bottles from the display. The sign read “Real Maple Syrup. $19.95.”

“Those will only be $10 each to you,” Frank said as he wrapped up the package. “I mark them up high because tourists will pay anything for them. My cost is only $4 a bottle by the case.”

Grey hurried away, saying that they had one birch bark canoe, and one cedar strip coming down once the ice was off the river. He sped back to the tent as fast as he could, which is not that fast on snowshoes.

He found that Daria had bonded well with Sun, but the cow moose let out a bellow of delight when she saw her man-friend approaching. Grey went to the animal immediately, after hugging Sun, and scratched her haunches. He could almost swear he could hear her purr.

The next day Sun took her potion, and used a knife to scrape it onto a spoon half full of syrup. She swallowed it, and then her water. “That is still yuck, but it is only a quarter as bad as the old yuck. Thanks for getting me the syrup, Grey.”

“You are worth it, big sister,” Grey said. “So it’s been a week. Any effects?”

“I feel a tingling in my boobies,” Sun said. “Red Oak says that is mostly just in my brain. He says it will be nearly a month before I can feel anything up there, and two months after that before you can see anything. It will still be yarn until then.”

------- - -------

The pair spent most of their time at the tent for the rest of the month and into April. The rains were starting to wash away the snow, and they kept busy tending to Daria, and working on snowshoes when it was dry enough.

Before the ice on the river went out, Flint led Grey across the river to see the ‘sweetwater trees’. Grey recognized them as maples. But the odd thing was that they were planted in five neat rows of 10 trees each, spaced evenly apart. Many maple saplings grew in between but it was as if the mature trees had been planted.

Then they looked around, and found five other groves planted in rows. Closest to the river were beautiful mature Black Walnut trees, then 50 White Oak, 50 elm, and after the Maples 50 Chestnut and finally 50 Red Oak. In the surrounding forest it was the same as the other side of the river, a random mixture of cedar, birch, pine and spruce.

Grey headed back to camp. The trees were definitely farmed. He couldn’t tap the maples without permission. Perhaps the house near the road?

When they got back to camp Sun was in a tizzy. They had filled the last sealer jar a week earlier, but were keeping an eye on Daria until she gave birth. And now apparently Red Oak was sure the time was near. He couldn’t promise, just saying that the little girl moose inside would decide herself when she would meet the world.

Neither Grey or Sun got much sleep that night. And just as the eastern skies lightened, Daria bugled a call. First the head came out, and a minute later the tiny body followed. Daria immediately started licking the calf, stopping occasional to proudly look at Grey and Sun as if to say ‘look what I made.’

The two didn’t leave until the little thing got to her wobbly feet. She almost immediately found a teat, and didn’t leave it for some time. Grey went and got a bucket of water for Daria.

“Sorry old girl,” he said as she drank. “This is the last one. You’ll have to get your own water now. You are a little big to become our camp puppy, as much as Sun here is starting to fall in love with your daughter.”

“Jane,” Sun said. “You got to name the momma so I get to name her little one. Jane: Daria’s best friend in the TV show.”

“Hi Jane,” Grey said, then turned to look at Sun, who was weeping.

“What’s wrong, sis?”

“Oh, it is just me being a girl. I mean: I will never be able to do that.”

“What, pass a baby moose through your vagina?” Grey said with a smile.

“No silly,” Sun said, smiling at his ridiculousness. “Having a baby. I want so to the a mother, Grey.”

He hugged here gently. “Maybe you will, sis. This is a weird world and anything can happen.”