I begin to string shells together to decorate the tree. I’m much better with a bone sliver as a needle now, just as I am better with flint tools. Though I still break a lot of them, it’s not too long before I have a strand to hang on the branches. I hum “Silent Night” as I finish decorating.
Ehd comes up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist. I turn to him, take his face in my hands, and smile.
“We have the whole family together now,” I say brightly as he leans over and briefly presses his lips to mine. “Christmas means family, and we’re going to have Christmas. I don’t even care if it’s actually December or not.”
Ehd ignores my words and nuzzles my neck. A moment later, his hands are gripping my butt, and he’s trying to direct me back to the sleeping furs. The babies are both napping, and to Ehd, that means sex.
“Not now.” I giggle and grab his hands. “I still have Christmas preparations to finish!”
Ehd looks at the floor and his face drops. I quickly pull him close to me and touch his nose with mine.
“Beh loves Ehd.”
“Luffs!” He clearly isn’t pleased by the lack of intimacy, but he does follow me as I leave the cave again. With the children asleep inside, we don’t go far. Though they are both blessedly sound sleepers, there are many dangers for a baby, and it’s not as if the cave is childproofed.
When the tree is decorated, I start thinking about suitable presents for everyone. I find some very pretty fungi around the base of a tree near the edge of the ravine and think one of them would be pretty on top of the tree, but when I try to grab for one, Ehd stops me.
“I know you can’t eat them,” I say, “but they have bright colors and might look nice.”
Ehd pulls me back from the poisonous fungus.
“Fine. You are probably right. It could fall off, and Lee is definitely at that stage of putting everything in his mouth. I’m still not sure what to do about gifts for the kids. All they really care about is milk. They are both old enough to start trying other things, though.”
My mind begins to wander.
“I don’t think there’s anything around here that counts as citrus. I wonder why you never got scurvy. Since Dad gave me the vitamins, it isn’t a problem now, but what about before you met me? I think that might have been a real problem. I know there are some vegetables with vitamin C in them, but I don’t think I know of anything around here. Maybe the berries. I don’t know for sure. Even then, they are only around in the late summer. What about getting through the winter? How quickly can you get scurvy?”
I glance over at Ehd. He’s rubbing his temple and shaking his head slightly as he glances at me sideways. He doesn’t like it when I talk to myself a lot.
“Tough shit,” I say to him. “I’ve got no one else to talk to, so I am my own best company. I just hope Lah and Lee continue making sounds and eventually start using words, or I just might go crazy after a few years.”
Near the cave, I find a pile of driftwood under the snow. I clear the ice off a couple of pieces, determining that they are smooth enough and large enough not to be a danger.
“I think the kids would like these,” I say. “Then again, they are also perfectly happy playing with an old piece of leather, so they’ll probably just entertain themselves with the wrapper. Ha!”
“Ha!” Ehd grins as he repeats the sound.
“Really?” I reach up and tap him on the lips. “Are you going to start repeating sounds just like the babies?”
Ehd leans down and kisses me without another sound.
“Ha!” I say again, but he just stares at me. “Fine. Let’s head back to the cave.”
I hold Ehd’s hand as we return. Once inside, he focuses on building up the fire, and I start our midday meal. I try to add as much as I can to make the stew flavorful so it will count as Christmas dinner.
“I guess there aren’t any turkeys around here,” I say. “You never try to catch birds, do you? I wonder how you would. I don’t think a spear would work. Hmm.”
I look down at the mat on the floor and wonder if I could weave bits of sinew into a net to catch birds. It would be nice to have more variety in our diet.
“A net could be useful in general. I wonder what else it could be used for?”
With dinner cooking, I start collecting long strands of sinew and lacing them together into something vaguely net-like. I’m not successful.
“I sucked at mats in the beginning, too,” I say. “Maybe I’ll figure it out with some practice.”
Lee wakes and begins to babble immediately, which wakes up Lah. She begins to cry, and Ehd picks her up to comfort her.
“There is some benefit to silence.” I nod to myself as I pick up Lee and take him to sit by the tree. Ehd joins me with Lah on his lap.