Peter and Mara

Another failed hunt.  And that meant no food for the family.  He wondered how Mara had fared, and secretly hoped he hadn’t done any better.  He didn’t have to wait long, he could hear Mara’s feeble cough long before he ever saw him.  With that troubled breathing Peter was confident there was little chance Mara had caught anything.

Their father came running when he heard the coughing.  He dropped one of his grandchildren, dropped everything to tend to his precious Mara.  Peter clenched his jaws as he swallowed his pride – again.  One of his older siblings picked up the grandchild father had deserted and shared a knowing glance with Peter.  They didn’t need to say anything, they’d said it all before and nothing ever changed.  Nothing was more important to father than Mara.

Peter shifted his stance in an attempt to watch.  Mara dropped his pack from his shoulder and handed it to father as he leaned on him through another coughing fit.  Father steadied him and comforted him as the coughing subsided.  Then he reached into Mara’s pack and pulled out several prairie rabbits – just enough for father, mother and himself.  Peter chuckled, cursed and then chided himself for being surprised.  He couldn’t count how many times that had happened before.

Father turned to look around and the older children scattered, avoiding contact and scooping up children and chores to attend to.  Before Peter figured it out, father motioned him over.  “Quickly,” he hissed as Peter lumbered towards them.  “Take these to your mother.”  He handed the rabbits to Peter as more coughs wracked Mara’s frame.

Peter bit his tongue before criticizing Mara’s obvious attempts to win father’s favor.  He was too easy a target right now, and couldn’t even defend himself.  Leaning in for a closer look, he was sure Mara was somehow faking it.  Realizing he’d taken too long to follow father’s orders, he turned and started to hurry away, but stopped when he heard Mara’s feeble voice hacking through his coughs.

“Wait,” Mara croaked.  “These are for you and your family.”  He pulled two bags from his belt and handed them to Peter.  “It isn’t much,” he couldn’t finish through more coughs.

Peter couldn’t believe it.  Of course father didn’t have any idea what was going through his mind.  He doubted if even Mara knew how much he hated him.  Peter just smiled and accepted the offering.  His wife had doubted he would bring anything home for them; game had been so scarce lately.  Peter knew he’d enjoy watching her apologize for her taunting earlier that day.  She didn’t need to know the food was coming from Mara.

WRITTEN AS A RESULT OF A WRITING PROMPT:

3 AM EPIPHANY:  #105 REVISIONIST HISTORY

INSPIRED BY CAIN AND ABEL

(AKA PETER AND MARA)

"Years Forgotten"

[Added 12/29/11]: A project is born -- my "magnum opus" because it'll be so cool. At first it's dubbed SPACE BATTLES. Why? Because I can't use STAR WARS, that's why. I will (someday) upload the "awesome" cover artwork I drew in 5th grade.

The cast of characters was vast. And inventive. I still remember (almost) all of them: Kirk Hannon, Jeff Phillips, Robert Larson, 4th guy, 5th guy. Plus two token women for "romance." And never forget the coolest villian of all time -- The Headhunter. And his evil minions.

Jeff Phillips got raped and pillaged for GUNS (as did, thankfully, "The Headhunter"), and now they live on. But Kirk Hannon, my favorite, has been "saved" for the opus. His name is an omage (of course, though not quite so "subtle" as I'd congratulated myself on in 5th grade) to the two great sci-fi epics. The Headhunter, a more subtle, less stereotypical and less maniacal bad-guy is also saved. Over time I learned more about them -- like his defeat at the hands of the Headhunter (which remains), and their eventual tenuous friendship. In high school I decided some things about KH I didn't know before. After talks with my dad about theories on time travel, and reading HG Wells' TIME MACHINE, ... AND... after hearing Midnight Oil's FORGOTTEN YEARS, I decided that he was a historian and would be the only one aware of humanity's "forgotten years" before the Headhunter and his alien brood intruded. And, his mission was to ensure that "these will not be forgotten years." Hence the title change in the past decade.

And yet... the story continues to sit. Though outline work was completed. Updates will come when they do. My King muse is unforgiving about not working. Perhaps today...