Washing Day

Checkers slept like a rock that night, despite her headache. She saw the cowpens as protection against the elements, and against enemies among the bulky, flightless men that infested this part of the world. The fact that Benjamin and Mary were also bulky and flightless, yet apparently not evil, was difficult for the Glider to reconcile. Perhaps they were older Gliders who could blend in with the angliderim, that is, the flightless animals. That seemed to be the most likely explanation to the mystery. Or perhaps there were partly civilized people among the angliderim that had absorbed the higher ideals. Although this was less likely, Checkers could not dismiss the idea as she might have before she was sent out. Neither Benjamin nor Mary seemed to be overtly hostile to her; if they had been, they could have killed her yesterday. Checkers, while wary, decided to wait and see what the farmers had in mind for her.

Mary came in the morning with a small pail of a warm stew and a spoon. The stew consisted of some tough meat, stock, vegatables, and some odd herbs. Mary had left the potatoes out, which was thoughtful of her. The little bit of potato that she had eaten felt like a brick in her stomach, and she was worried that she was going to feel sick. Checkers consumed the little pail of stew within five minutes.

Mary threw a coarse blanket over Checkers' shoulders. "If anyone asks, you are a servant of one of the hired men, and you are not going to be here long. Do not show your wings." Checkers had to agree with Mary's advice, although the heavy blanket felt uncomfortable. The two women walked back toward the small creek. In between two cottonwoods was a clothesline, and near the creek was a small iron kettle hung over a smouldering group of coals, containing some hot water and a large soggy mass of linen clothing. Mary carried a pail of some foul-smelling substance. Checkers wrinkled her face as she caught a whiff of the reeking liquid.

"What is that, Mary? It smells terrible."

"Yes, it does," Mary replied, dumping the contents of the pail into the hot water. "But it does wonders against the vapours that carry plagues and fevers, and gets clothes especially clean. They may not have it where you come from."

"It smells like a dead animal."

"Well, it is mostly old horse piss*, but there are some other, less savoury things in there that you may not want to know about."

"And I am going to be washing clothes in that?"

"Yes."

Checkers, not having a choice in the matter, took a large wooden stick and stirred the kettle of clothes. Mary, with her better developed muscles and her years of experience, was much more suited to this task than Checkers, but the Glider did as well as she could, never complaining. The vapours from the foul- smelling liquid caused her eyes to form tears, and she started to cough. Still, she did not want to appear to be weak, so she continued stirring the kettle. Mary would lift out a linen shirt or pair of breeches from time to time, and place them on the clothesline. She would then add another article of clothing, and encourage Checkers to keep stirring.

After about a half hour, Checkers could stir no more, and she reluctantly admitted that she did not have the strength to continue. Mary nodded her head, and then asked Checkers to hand her items from a pile of clothes while she stirred the wooden stick. Mary kept Checkers busy, asking her to take items out of the kettle while she inspected them. Checkers then hung them on the clothesline. While stirring, Mary talked.

"So Checkers, do your people wash clothes in the same way?"

"No, ma'am. We do use products of an animal, but we have not yet thought of using that. We use make a sort of soap from the fat of the game that we kill. Bear fat makes the best soap, but it is hard to get. We also use the action of the rapids of a stream or creek to do the work that you are doing in stirring."

"I would think that it would not get the dirt out."

"It does, or at least, does so enough. We wear leather jackets and leggings, and they pick up a lot of the dirt."

"I was noticing that. Whoever put together your jerkin did a good job. Is your family rich?"

"Nobody in Electric Pass is what you would call rich. We have enough to eat, most years. This jerkin is standard Glider clothing for my age group," Checkers replied. Answering this question made Cherckers feel uncomfortable. Mary was inadvertently dredging up bad memories - her full training jacket had been much nicer, but of course she was stripped of that when she was expelled from the community.

"So everyone gets one? How many people were in your age group?"

"Thirty-four, when the last Glider came of age. I think that there were twenty-eight when I left. (Five dead from sickness and accident, and one expelled, Checkers chose not to say.) One of our age groups actually consists of a four- year cycles, and the group gets named after the first stage of training. We were the Group of Thirty-Two, so called because we had killed a boar within 32 minutes of setting out one time. The previous group was called the Golden Trackers, as they were especially good at tracking down quarry."

"So all you do is hunt?"

"Oh, no. Hunting is important, as that is how we get food, but it also teaches us lessons that allow us to approach the Glider ideal. That is why we have guides. But the lessons that will make us citizens of the town, if we live long enough, are conveyed in other ways as well. Learning the signs of the woods and mountains, performing household chores, observing our community songs and plays - all these are part of our training. We all learn the exercises as well." Checkers stopped. She was talking too much. What interest would Mary have? If she were a Glider, she should know all this. If she were not, then this information could be used against her people.

"Go on, Checkers. It was just getting interesting. What are some of the songs, and what are some of the exercises that you were talking about?"

"You would probably be bored, ma'am. If you are not a Glider, you would not understand."

*Note: Urine decomposes into ammonia, which is effective in removing dirt. I had read somewhere that boiling dirty clothes in stale urine was one way that peasants would clean their work clothes in medieval times.

1. Mary put down the stick, and looked sternly at Checkers. (Mary's view)
2. Mary put down the stick, and looked sternly at Checkers. (Checkers' view)
3. A flashback to the night before...

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