Cave Dwellers (17 page)

   As it drew close to dinner time, Zaac decided he would try to catch a fish. He went to the rock pile and chose a relatively small flat rock to place on one of the small bowls. Until his bug pot was ready, this would have to do.

   He picked a small slender bone from the bone pile, about three feet long. It looked like it might be part of a leg bone, but whatever it used to be, he was nominating it for a fishing pole.

   He then returned to the cave and tied the string around one end of the bone and the bone fishing hook to the end of the string. He and Ramira caught five bugs.

   “Where do you think would be the best spot?” Ramira asked.

   “The cave with the clay, I think. All of the ones out here seem to be fair game for the birds.” Zaac looked up at the ledge where the megapetomeinon lived. “We don’t want to mess with their fishing hole.”

   “Yes, they might be possessive of their food.”

   Taking his makeshift fishing pole and bugs, they headed to the small cavern on the far side.

   Zaac baited his hook, tossed it in the water and waited for the jerk on the line that signalled you had hooked a fish. The wait was short lived. Within a minute, he felt a strong pull on his bone. He pleaded silently for the line to hold.

   Zaac began to back up, slowly drawing the fish towards shore. He reeled the string in hand over hand. How he wished that he had a real fishing line and reel. Still, so far, so good. The fish seemed to stay on the hook.

   Finally the last pull was done and Zaac held a three to four pound fish in his hand.

   “Wow!” Ramira exclaimed with delight. “That’s a big fish.”

   Zaac’s grin spread from ear to ear. “It is the biggest fish I’ve ever caught!”

   He took it off the hook and headed for the cave.

   “Aren’t you going to try for another one?”

   “There’s no need. This is more than we’ll be able to eat tonight.”

   Zaac scaled and cleaned the fish while Ramira gathered some herbs. She didn’t have a lot of experience with herbs. She selected a couple, washed them off and went to start a fire.

   While it was heating up, she peeled and sliced a couple of potatoes and an onion to cook on the side. Zaac arrived with the filleted fish and they placed it on the flat rock. They were using the rock as a person would use a griddle. Setting the potatoes with onions on the side, she placed the herbs on top of the fish.

   They both waited in anticipation as it was cooking. They could not wait to taste it.

   Ramira flipped the fish over when it was done on one side and Zaac managed the potatoes. Finally, they scooped it onto plates and went out to the boulder to enjoy their feast.

   When they placed the first bite in their mouths, their moans of pleasure were audible. Neither spoke throughout the meal. When they were finished, they sat back in ecstasy, completely satisfied.

   “That was truly delicious,” Zaac said.

   “They say that food cooked on an open fire tastes a lot better. I have to agree. I don’t think that I’ve ever tasted better fish.”

   They sat for an hour talking quietly about their lives and which tunnel they would choose tomorrow to explore. During that time, the megapetomeinon put on their usual show.

   When they got up, Zaac went to get some more lichen while Ramira cleaned up the plates and washed off the rock griddle.

   When he returned, Ramira asked him, “Are you ready for your next lesson?”

   “I guess I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” he replied, not sure if he really was ready after that nice meal.

   They went through the warm ups and Ramira repeated the kihon that she had taught him the other day. Next she went through the kata again
adding the second half this time. Correcting him as needed, she watched him as he performed it several times.

   Then she had him work on his jujitju again. He went through forward and backward falls and flipping.

   They finished off the lesson with fifteen minutes of basic sparring.

   When they were back at the boulder drinking water, she asked him, “Do you remember how to count from one to ten in Japanese?”

   “Ichi, ni, san, shi, go, roku, shichi, hachi, kyu, and ju,” Zaac replied.

   “You’re my star student. You’ll have your yellow belt in no time.”

   Zaac smiled at her. “Does the yellow belt come with a kiss?”

  
“Hmmmm. I don’t know. I’ll have to talk with the birds and see if I can find one that might be willing to kiss you.”

   “I wasn’t referring to the birds.”

   “Oh! You mean me! I think a kiss comes after a person earns the blue belt.”

   “I believe a kiss should be offered now as an incentive to work harder.” He reached for her.

   She rolled away from him and started to run. “If you want a kiss for an incentive, you need to catch me.”

   Ramira didn’t run all that fast. Within a few steps, Zaac caught her and she didn’t put up much of a struggle.

   The next day they got their supplies together, started off on their expedition, choosing the tunnel on the upper ledge where they had escaped from the megapetomeinon. Once more, they failed to find a way out. They were gone for more than three days and the only uneventful thing that happened was that Zaac stumped his toe. He limped for a while and even lost his usual gentlemanly composure. He complained about Ramira’s leading and blamed her for his injury. They returned back to the cavern in mid-afternoon. Zaac planned to get some bugs and catch another fish for dinner.

   Sometimes, though, our best laid plans can be disrupted.

19

   Zaac and Ramira were eating a fish Zaac caught when the megapetomeinon flew off of the ledge. Two of the adults caught a fish and flew back up. The two younger ones also caught a fish and landed again on Zaac and Ramira’s side of the lake. After eating, the two birds started their play time. The smaller of the two was the female. She poked the male with her beak and took off running. Just before he caught her, she launched into flight. She tried to make a quick turn in the air but he managed to catch her, now it was her turn to catch him.

   Zaac and Ramira watched in amazement. Dinner and a show. What a show, too. Who would ever imagine that prehistoric pterosaurs were still in existence?

   The male megapetomeinon darted this way and that, trying to elude the female. She let out a squawk of glee as she was just about to catch the male. He turned his head, to see her position, but he had flown too close to the cavern wall. Suddenly his head and wing crashed against the wall knocking him unconscious and sending him down into the lake where he landed with his head in the water, not moving.

   The female megapetomeinon let out a loud squawk of alarm and fear. She flew down and circled around him but couldn’t land. The megapetomeinon couldn’t swim. They could swoop down above the water or stand in the shallow areas with their long legs, but they did not have the ability to swim. The two adults flew down above him, but they were at a loss too.

   Zaac acted without even thinking. He rushed down to the shore along with Ramira and kicked off his shoes. Wading out to knee deep level, he quickly dove in and swam out to the male. When he reached him, he lifted his head above the water hooking his arm around the neck. Holding his head up, he swam back to shore pulling the bird with him. It did not
take long until Zaac had reached the shallow water and was able to stand. He lifted the bird out of the water and carried him to shore.

   Zaac laid the megapetomeinon down on his stomach at the edge of the shore. He tilted his head to the side making sure his airway was not blocked.

   Immediately the female landed at their side making sharp squawking noises and poking the male gently with her beak.

   The adult megapetomeinon landed a few feet away. Their first reaction was to get the strange intruder away from their young one. They let out a loud screeching sound and started to rush toward him, their large wings flapping fiercely. The claws on the forefront looked very threatening.

   Ramira, afraid of being attacked by the birds, rushed behind Zaac and squatted down. They both knelt on the opposite side of the younger male away from the adult megapetomeinon.

   All of the commotion drew the attention of the other two adults and they quickly flew down in defence of their young. Now Zaac and Ramira had four angry adult megapetomeinon coming toward them. Two came around the head of the younger male with their wings stretched out, getting ready to attack.

   One came over the male with its wings folded inward getting ready to use its claws on Zaac. The other adult was angling around the tail of the male coming up behind them.

   The only avenue of escape was to jump into the water and swim out to the deep. Zaac and Ramira were just starting to move backward when something very strange happened.

   Suddenly the younger female megapetomeinon turned on the adults. She must have sensed that Zaac was trying to help and meant no harm to the male. Without Zaac, the male would have drowned.

   She extended her wings and let out a loud squawk of defiance, jumped across the head of the male and blocked the attack of the two adults.

   The adults quickly realized that if they pursued Zaac, they would have to come through the younger female. They stepped back in an apparent moment of indecision.

   During their brief withdrawal and indecision, the young female jumped back across the male to protect Zaac and Ramira from the two remaining adults. She quickly countered their plans of attack and they, too, withdrew.

   While all four were trying to decide what to do, she jumped back across in front of Zaac and Ramira with her back to them. She stretched out her wings completely shielding them from any possible attack from the shore. She let out several loud high pitched squawks which left no question about her intentions.

   This was the first show of defiance that the younger female had ever shown to her parents or the parents of the male. But this act of defiance was real and if they sought to harm Zaac and Ramira, it would be over her protesting body. She had decided to protect them with her life.

   Megapetomeinon mate for life and this younger male was hers. They had not mated yet but would in another couple of years. In her world, he was everything to her and now he was hurt. She could do nothing to help him. Somehow she was looking to Zaac and Ramira and depending on them.

   Zaac and Ramira on the other hand were uncertain what to do. They were still suspicious of the adults’ intentions so they stayed behind the younger female.

   Her protection gave the adults time to adapt to the situation. They could sense that the intruders were not threatening their young, so they withdrew from their offensive mode.

   Even though they were very much aware of Zaac and Ramira’s presence, they focused their attention on the fallen younger male and went over to his body. He laid there lifeless as far as they could see. They did not know that he was suffering only from a mild concussion. His parents made small squeaking
sounds, poking him with their beaks. It was almost like they were trying to rouse him from slumber.

   When the younger female felt like she no longer needed to protect Zaac and Ramira, she joined them in trying to bring life back to the male. She made the same sounds of concern and affection, poking him with her beak as well.

   Zaac stood up, not sure what to do. He did not know how the adults would react if he went toward the male. Hesitantly, he slowly advanced forward one step at a time with Ramira close behind him.

   When he reached the younger male again, he knelt down by his head. The bird was still breathing steadily. Zaac saw the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest. Taking his hand, he ran it slowly over the head locating the spot that the male collided against the rock wall. He could feel small fragments of rock all around the abrasion site. He noticed small drops of blood on his hand as he lifted it from the cuts.

   Looking over the body of the male, Zaac could not find any apparent damage. He took the left wing and stretched it out where he could examine it more closely.

   The wings did not have feathers like most birds do. It had a covering of skin over the bony structure with a layer of fine hairs next to the skin. Over the fine hairs was another section of coarser hairs. At
the top of the wing there was a claw with four curved appendages protruding from it. Each appendage had a nail at the end that was extremely sharp.

   The claws were used to cling to surfaces or for defense or offense, depending on need. Zaac and Ramira had seen the megopetomeinon sharpen their claws on the rock surfaces.