Mecora’s stomach gurgled, sounding loud in the little space. She stretched, convincing herself to get up, out of the soft warm blankets her mother had allowed her to take. But it was a small space, not even as big as her own bedroom back ‘home’, so ‘getting up’ was a relative term. Spreak still slept, but her stomach growled some more. She’d have to get Spreak to teach her how to treesing, so she wouldn’t have to wake him to get breakfast.
She touched his shoulder. “Spreak, wake up. I’m hungry!”
He roused a little, but didn’t wake.
“Spreak! My stomach’s about to eat itself! Wake up and let me out!”
This time, his eyes opened to slits. “Mmmph. Okay.” Groggily, he sang a few notes, as in tune as always. And as always, the hole opened just enough for Mecora to squeeze out.
She blinked in the sunlight. It was later in the morning than she had thought. Or, maybe it was in fact afternoon. She sighed. If she’d only planned ahead, she wouldn’t have to be making this daylight trip.
She wouldn’t have to risk meeting her mother....
But at least it was work time. The seamstress’ work never ends, right?
The sounds of town grew as she rounded the tree and crossed the platform. At first it seemed as though everyone was ignoring her, until she noticed they were actually trying to look as though she was not an important part of their lives. They knew about Spreak, she knew, though she didn’t yet know if they’d figured out their hiding spot yet.
She plunged on through the crowd. Past the statue, around this tree, up a level, climb the stairs and enter the corner door.
She was so intent on her raid she didn’t even notice her mother there in the chair, back to the door. “Nice of you to come back once in a while,” said her mother.
Mecora didn’t know exactly how to respond to that biting comment.
“Did you know you took the last of the bread the other night? Your brothers and I had nothing to eat yesterday. Nothing!!! I told you I’m not making as much now, didn’t you believe me? No! You just went right on ahead, took a litie in, and stole our food to give to him! And you know what hurts most? The fact that you were doing it behind my back! The fact that you don’t respect us enough to think of our needs before your own, holier-than-the-king opinions!!”
“If you think this guilt-trip is going to make me want to stay home, you’d better think again,” accused Mecora.
Her mother stood up. “I’d better think?! No, I think it’s you that has to think, Mecora! You and your friends spent so much of your time trying to grow up with your drinking and dressing up, but lemme tell you, it’s thinking about others that makes you grown-up! Now, with that in mind, are you going to stay here and eat, or are you going to leave hungry?”
“Mom, you have no right to make me choose like—”
“I have every right because I’m your mother!!!”
“Well, not anymore!” And Mecora left.
Her stomach growled all the way back to the hole in the tree.
She whistled the signal, and the hole grew, but she didn’t step in right away. “I didn’t get any food. Mom was there.”
“Isn’t she supposed to be at work?”
“Yeah. I don’t know if she was just waiting for me, or what. I never got the chance to ask what was up! She just went off on me! And now I can’t go home anymore.”
“I find it hard to believe you mother kicked you out.”
“Well, she did! She said I could stay home and eat, or I could leave and starve.”
“Whoa. I guess she didn’t appreciate your nighttime visits.”
“No, I suppose not.”
“Did they actually run out?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry!”
“Yeah, well, I’m not sure I am.”
“Mecora...”
“Okay, okay, I am sorry.”
“I thought so. Well, since we have to fend for ourselves, we might as well start.”
“What, right now?”
“Mecora, your stomach has hardly stopped growling since you got back! Let’s go.”
“But how can we go through town in the middle of the day?!”
“Mecora, I can sing our way down the tree.”
“Oh. I didn’t think of that.” She stepped in, and Spreak began to sing. First, the hole closed, and then the melody changed. The wood around them moved, twisted, whirled, but there was no sensation of actual physical movement. Finally, Spreak began to concentrate harder, as if listening and watching at the same time, as he tempo of his music slowed. Another melody changed, and the hole opened again. They had reached the ground. “Come on!” urged Spreak in a whisper, and they ran out and to the nearest underbrush before any curious eyes above could happen to notice.
Mecora followed Spreak through the brush long after she began to think they’d never find their way back. That’s what the paths were for, after all— since it was impossible to see for any distance in the thick foliage. And it was very difficult to see any predators!
“Spreak? How... long are we going to be out here?”
“Until we have enough to eat. I just didn’t want our movements to be seen from above, and I wanted to find a low spot. Fruit is easier to find down here. So is game.”
“Game? But, how would we cook it? We don’t have a stove.”
“But we can find rocks, and clear an area, and gather some sticks...”
“You mean, make a fire? Won’t the smoke be seen?”
“That’s another reason to be so far away.”
“So, we’ll have to come all this way from now on just to eat?”
“Who says we have to go back?”
“I do.”
“You’re not ready to leave town, just your Mom.”
“Yeah.”
“I understand. Then, yeah, we’ll walk this far for meals from now on.”
Mecora accepted that.
“Now, let’s see if we can find something to eat. If it’s a berry, pick it; just don’t eat it until I say we can. Take my satchel to put them in.”
“How do you know all this?”
“Well, I don’t know much. I’m just hoping we find something I recognize. Oh, and, if you need me, just holler. I’ll find you.”
“Okay.”
Spreak set off into the brush, quietly as he could, while Mecora just began searching the bushes near where she stood. There wasn’t much at first, but she began to notice more and more. And eventually, she found a tree with some nice, large, pale yellow fruits. She didn’t recognize them, but she picked a few.
She heard a whistle behind her, the one she’d used as a signal to open the hole in the tree. “Coming,” she said, and hefted the satchel. It had been a good hunt, she decided. Was Spreak as successful?
It took a few more whistles for her to find her way to him, but eventually she did, to see him working hard at starting a fire. Beside him was a pair of rabbits. All of a sudden, waiting for the fire to get started seemed impossible.
But it did start soon after she got there, and he came over to look at what she had. “Hmmm,” he said, “looks like you did really well! These flooms look really good.... and the thaleberries.... But, I don’t recognize anything else. We’d better not chance it.”
“Does that leave us with enough?”
He nodded. “Plenty.”
So they sat down to a hearty meal of rabbits, flooms and thaleberries.
They searched the forest for more before going back, but they had to hurry— the sun was going down, and the forest was getting dark very quickly. It was almost by feel that they returned to Kelwom’s clearing. They crawled in the hole in ‘their’ tree, and Spreak didn’t even bother to raise them. They simply covered themselves with the blankets and fell asleep.
