ELSU SOON HEALED and was enjoying being outside with his friends again. He searched for Angie, but she avoided him whenever he came near her. He decided to wait until she was older before he would pursue her any further.
Angie was working on a new basket by her teepee when Kimana came running up to her.
“Angie, come!” Kimana yelled excitedly, “Takhi is having her baby!”
Halona, who was sitting nearby, just shook her head.
Angie jumped to her feet and ran behind Kimana until they reached the menstrual tent.
There were dozens of women and a few other girls waiting outside the tent. Dyami was not there. He was back at camp with the men waiting for the news of his first child.
Angie was taken aback by Takhi’s screams of pain and it frightened her. She knew other women who had their babies while she had been at the village, but this was the closest to childbirth she had ever been. She looked at the other women’s faces and they all seemed calm and some were even smiling. Women were quietly talking among themselves and others were chanting softly, almost like a song.
Almost an hour passed before Takhi’s screams stopped and silence engulfed the entire area. A very weak cry could then be heard inside the tent, the cry of a newborn baby.
It was minutes more before Takhi’s mother emerged from the tent and announced, “Dyami has a son!”
A roar of approval rose into the air. Kimana smiled broadly with the news. She looked proudly at Angie, almost like she had borne the child herself.
The word reached Dyami and he came walking quickly up to see this miracle of life. Angie recognized him from seeing him around the camp. Kimana had meant to introduce Angie to Dyami, but he had been away for days hunting with his friends. Now he had returned just in time for the birth of his baby.
Takhi’s mother went back inside the tent and emerged again with a tiny baby wrapped in skins to keep him warm. She handed the baby to Dyami and he proudly held the boy up for all to see. The baby was so small, so very small. Tiny little cries came from under the wrapping.
The women all seemed to share his excitement and then began to disperse back to their camps.
“I have a new son!” Kimana celebrated as they walked back to the camp. “Did you see how handsome he is?”
“He is Takhi’s son,” Angie gently reminded her.
“He will be my son next spring when I marry Dyami,” Kimana explained, “and I will love him as my own.”
Angie understood what Kimana was trying to say, but the idea seemed unnatural to Angie, regardless.
The next morning the Medicine Man was summoned to Dyami and Takhi’s teepee. Cries of anguish came from the tent and people began to gather once again. Dyami stormed from the teepee, mounted his horse, and rode off through the trees.
Angie found Kimana on her knees, rocking back and forth, tears streaming down her face, wailing along with her mother. Angie knelt down next to Kimana and said, “What has happened Kimana?”
Kimana cried, “He has died, he was too weak, too small.”
“I am sorry, Kimana,” Angie said as she placed her hand on Kimana’s shoulder.
“Go away,” Kimana said to Angie through her sobs and then laid her head against her mother’s chest.
Waneta looked sympathetically at Angie and then nodded that she should go.
Angie slowly rose to her feet and walked quietly away.