……..the fire crackled as Shell and Keith finished off the fish they just roasted. Keith gazed into the fire as if mesmerized by the dancing flames. Shell cleaned up their mess quickly and then pulled out the leather they had tanned from various kills and continued to work on stitching the pieces together for future clothing and blankets.
Looking up from the leatherwork, Shell glanced at the intent look on Keith’s face, “Keith, are you deep in thought?”
“Kinda”, his eyes never left the fire.
Shell dropped her hands to her slightly swollen lap and kept her eyes locked on him. Keith kept silent for a few minutes more, then began without every taking his eyes away from the fire, “We need to build an Inipi, a sweat lodge. Before the baby comes. I need to prepare the way for our child and you.”
Blinking once, then twice, Shell gave way to a small sincere smile. She knew he was right. “Well, I suppose we will gather willow down by the river first thing tomorrow morning.” She picked up the leather and began sewing again with a needle made from a animal bone, humming the familiar
flute tune that came to her and Stone earlier.
After a few minutes, she stopped and said, “We also need to have more skin, to cover an inipi, yet alone our bed for winter. Time you went hunting for big game.”
Keith looked up from the fire at Shell. He replied, “You know you are about the prettiest woman there ever was to step foot on this Earth!”
They both began to gently laugh, as the sun set down upon their day.