Wah-Wah's cry made Dum turn to find Yum was writhing on the ground. He pulled Wah-Wah baby off seeing Yum vomiting and delirius with some berries in her hand. He strapped Wah-Wah to his own back, picked Yum up and took her to the sea to put some salt water in her mouth. This made her vomit explosively. He repeated the treatment until she pushed him away. He carefully carried them both back to the cave.
Dum knew he must ask someone there to help feed Wah-Wah, So he walked around the cave looking for a mother still nursing her child. He found one near the entrance whose baby was clearly eating other things. He asked if she could help, telling her what Yum had done. She nodded nervously but as her husband wasn' there she settled back to feed Wah-Wah, told Dum to leave lest her man came home. So Dum sat by the entrance of the cave.
Dong finally called for Dum and handed Wah-Wah back and told him not to tell. But Dum said he would tell her man something himself. Dong looked frightened but finally agreed.
All day Dum wondered what to give him, then just as the sun was setting and Wah-Wah had two more feeds he saw Grunt the husband coming home with two rabbits over his shoulder. So he decided to give him a basket he had made so Grunt's wife would still feed Wah-Wah.
He took Wah-Wah back to Yum to hold and grabbed a basket and met Grunt at the entrance. He beckoned Grunt to follow him to see that Yum was ill and that Wah-Wah needed food and then asked if Dong could feed their baby.
Grunt looked closely at Yum and saw that she was falling asleep again and not holding Wah-Wah properly. Then looked back at wife Dong who was giving her child water and skinning the rabbits he'd caught. Dong would chew up the rabbit meat and put in the baby's mouth. So he looked at the basket and tested its strength then pointed to Dong and shook his fist at Dum not to touch her.
Dum just nodded and touched Yum's face tenderly which was enough for Grunt to laugh at the thought of wife Dong wanting Dum with only one eye.
Word count 389
A great story You had to be inventive in that time to survive. Love the names haha especially grunt Had to laugh at the last line
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of waiting for a child to show some characteristics before naming them, permanently. And this is a beautiful story of survival that also demonstrates that caring or raising a child takes a village; a case of wet nursing.
ReplyDeleteThis continues fascinating and believable.I look forward to more episodes.
ReplyDeleteThank you Rosemary. The Dum and Yum series was posted on a small blogging site many years ago. Of necessity I had to shorten each episode I use in order to come under the word count. As for believable I had to imagine what the social action was likely to be between the cave's residents and the wild world. Needless to say Dum manages to cope with each crisis they encounter.
DeleteThanks for continuing the story. This was highly entertaining.
ReplyDeleteNot so dum? One eye? Will she live?
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed your prehistoric story.
ReplyDeletewill there be more episodes? :)
Perfect.. every baby should be Wah-Wah until new characteristics show :) :)
ReplyDeleteLet's hope Dong and Grunt, Dum, Yum and Wah-Wah lived happily ever after. Too bad about Dum's eye!
ReplyDelete