For the next three days, Ham and Walt and June and even Martin taught the six from Lost how to survive on their own. More importantly, though, they taught them how to learn.
When they were done, Lyle asked “Can I go with you?”
Lorna, Larry, and Lynn each said “Me, too?”
Link and Lonny said “We’re going back to Lost.”
And so Ham’s group grew from four to eight, while the things they’d shared made their way back to the village of Lost.
After pulling some of their food out of their packs to share with the other Huddlers, Ham said to the leader, “Follow me.”
Ham led the other Huddler to the apple tree, and showed him how to pick an apple. With apparent fear and unease, the other Huddler reached up and pulled loosed a rich, ripe apple. Ham bit into his own apple, and the other Huddler did the same. With the first bite, the other Huddler’s eyebrows rose a bit, a small smile showed at the corners of his mouth, and he ate the whole apple in a rush.
After finishing his own apple, Ham asked “What’s your name?”
“Lyle,” said the other Huddler.
“And where do you come from, Lyle?” asked Ham.
“Lost,” said Lyle.
After his experience with the village of Wait, Ham asked “Your village is named Lost?”
“Yup,” said Lyle.
“And are those other people with you all from Lost?”
“Yup,” said Lyle. “Lorna, Link, Larry, Lonny, and Lynn.”
As they were asking and answering, Ham led Lyle back toward the others. He found the whole group sitting quietly, eating and watching each other.
“Lyle,” said Ham, “why don’t you show your friends how to pick apples?”
Lyle looked confused, for a minute. “Apple pickers pick apples.”
“Yes,” said Ham. “I guess now you’re an apple picker.”
Lyle considered, looked around the group sitting in the dirt, and gave a small smile. “Apple pickers.”
With that, he led Lorna, Link, Larry, Lonny, and Lynn to the apple tree, and Ham and Martin and Walt and June could see him showing the others how to pick apples. They could hear muttering and mumbling and chewing sounds from where they sat.
When the group of Huddlers from Lost returned, Ham asked “What did you do in Lost?”
“Woodcutter,” said Lyle.
“Water carrier,” said Lorna.
“Tool maker,” said Link.
“Fire maker,” said Larry.
“House builder,” said Lonny.
“Clothing maker,” said Lynn.
Ham looked at them in silence for a time. He realized that none of them knew anything about growing, gathering, or preparing food. Somehow, they had left Lost, and had no idea how to survive.
And then he looked at his traveling companions and realized how much each of them had learned, and how much each of them could teach.
Ham made a decision. He decided that they would spend several days right where they were, with no villages in sight, with a small stream meandering nearby and a tree full of rich, ripe apples to eat. He and his companions would teach these six Huddlers how to do things that only others had ever done. He would help them to teach each other, as well, since each could learn the others’ skills.
First, he gathered his traveling companions and explained what he intended. Each responded in his or her own unique way, each agreeing.
Ham then turned to the six Huddlers from Lost, and told them what he intended.
Lyle looked as if the sky had fallen on his head.
Lorna started crying.
Link turned around and faced the other way, sitting with his knees drawn up and his arms wrapped around his knees.
Larry just stared at Ham.
Lonny said “Why?”
Lynn said “Okay.”
And Ham began. “You’ve already learned how to be an apple picker. Had any of you ever been an apple picker before?”
They looked at each other, shook their heads, and sat silently. Except for Link, who was still looking the other way.
“Walt and June were just like you. They did what they learned from their parents and nothing else. Until they decided to travel with me. Then they learned to make walking stick and water bags and prepare food and more.”
The six from Lost looked at each other again (even Link this time, who turned around). They still looked scared. They still looked confused. But they looked and listened.
The other Huddler standing almost directly in front of Ham, maybe two paces away, said “We’re hungry. Give us food.”
This caught Ham completely by surprise. After all, there was food all around – hanging from trees, growing in the ground. In fact, not ten paces from where they stood was an apple tree, with ripe apples hanging.
Ham said “There are apples on that tree right there.”
“We don’t know how to get apples. Give us food.” said the Huddler who was, apparently, the “leader” of this group.
“You just pick them,” said Ham.
“We’re hungry. Give us food.” And the leader and the other Huddlers took a small, shuffling step forward.
For the first time in quite a while, Ham began to feel afraid. Why couldn’t these Huddlers feed themselves?
“Ham?” asked June. “How did you learn about apples and trees?” in a small, frightened voice.
Ham thought. He remembered his life in his village of Dusk. There was one person there who was an apple gatherer, and another who was a water carrier, and another who was a potato grower. In fact, before he decided to leave Dusk, Ham never thought about apple trees and picking apples!
Ham realized he had a choice at this moment. He could deal with the other Huddlers trying to take their food – for that’s what it felt like right then and there – or he could try to teach them how to feed themselves. And he wondered how they had managed to feed themselves thus far, if they didn’t know how to pick apples from a tree right in front of them.
Ham looked at Martin and Walt and June and said “Let’s feed them.”
For the first couple of days, the small group found the traveling to be pretty much the same as what Ham and Martin had found before. Much of it was new to Walt and June, but quickly they adjusted to being outside their village of Wait and to seeing new things. They all slept under the stars in their sleeping rolls, made fires in the evening, gasped at the beauty and wonder of the stars (when they could see them), bathed in streams, and enjoyed the activity of walking and talking.
On the third day, something entirely new and strange and frightening happened.
For the first time, they met some Huddlers outside of a village!
This was strange for so many reasons. After many days of traveling alone and with others, Ham had never before met any Huddlers outside of a village. All of the Huddlers he had met had been too fearful to leave their homes, except for Hal and Walt and June. And since he was the first Huddler he’d ever met who could do the many things and make the many objects he needed for traveling, this wasn’t at all surprising.
Meeting Huddlers outside of a village was surprising.
“Hello!” said Ham, waving his stick back and forth in greeting.
The Huddlers up ahead seemed to hunch together and move a few steps forward, towards Ham and his friends.
“Hello!” said Ham again, taking a step forward and smiling a bit tentatively.
The Huddlers up ahead started to separate, and moving forward, sort of moved around Ham and Martin and Walt and June. Ham looked to his left, and saw that Martin looked thoughtful. He looked to his right, and saw that Walt and June were edging towards him. He looked around, and saw that there were six of the other Huddlers in a half-circle from his left to his right.
The other Huddlers had empty hands, were extremely dirty, were hunched and tense, and were sort of leaning toward Ham and his friends.
“Hello?” Ham said, inviting, asking, testing…
The morning came, the travelers met at the center of the village, and Hal and Rachel joined them.
Hal cocked his head to the left, looked at Ham, cocked his head to the right, said “…thanks” and, smiling sadly, brought his head back to the center.
Rachel, in her now-usual position leaning against Hal, shrugged her right shoulder, shrugged her left shoulder, and said “…me, too.”
Much to Ham’s surprise, Hal and Rachel came and hugged him. And Hal handed him a new walking stick. This stick, unlike Ham’s own roughly-carved one, was smoother and had some pictures carved along its length. As Ham looked closely, he realized that the rough pictures were of him and Hal and Martin walking down the road!
With a sniff and a tear, Ham said “Thanks, Hal.”
With that, Ham and Martin and Walt and June set off through the far side of Wait.
They sat in companionable silence for a time. Rachel sat close to Hal, shoulders touching. Ham noticed that Rachel was carrying a staff in one hand, and was pretty sure that it was new. Hal cocked his head to the left, looked at Ham, smiled briefly, cocked his head to the right, looked at Rachel, and smiled again before bringing his head to the center.
Walt looked at Ham and said “I don’t know for sure why you’re here, even though you’ve told us your story. I mean, sure I understand that you’re looking for the Lightbringer, but why here? Why Wait?”
“I really don’t know,” said Ham. “Each step of this journey has been as much a mystery to me as it is to you. I never really decided to learn the things I’ve learned. It just seemed the right thing to do at the time. Just like meeting Hal and having him come along just seemed right. I just know that I’ve got to keep going. And if I learn new things and meet new people along the way, maybe that’s part of the journey’s purpose.”
Martin smiled his knowing smile and leaned back a bit, as if satisfied with something.
Hal said “…learned lots, now I’m sharing.”
And they sat on, in companionable silence.
That night, Ham had a new dream about the Lightbringer. In the dream, Ham saw the Lightbringer coming toward him. That was pretty much the same as before. But this time, he saw that there were people coming along behind the Lightbringer!
When Ham woke up in the morning, he was smiling. He didn’t know quite why, but he felt good. As he splashed some cool water over his face and dressed, the good feeling continued. It was like a small warm glow in his body, like every ache and discomfort was gone and everything felt just right.
Throughout the day, Ham found himself smiling for no reason. Not big, huge, joy-eating smiles; just small, savoring, happy smiles. Of course, the people of Wait walked wide around him, since the smiles made them nervous.
Several times during the day, Ham found Hal and Walt and June making preparations. Sometimes Rachel was with them. It seemed like when Rachel was with Hal, she leaned toward him. It wasn’t so much something you could see, so much as something you could feel. Like her energy was more on the side where Hal was.
Walt and June were carrying sacks and packs, and seemed to be getting things done. A couple of times, they asked Ham for help, or asked him to explain something that Hal could do but not explain. By the end of the day, Walt and June said they were ready. Ham went through their sacks and packs, and he, too, said they were ready.
The new group – Ham, Martin, Walt, and June – were ready to set out the next morning. That evening, Hal and Walt and June came to visit with Ham and Martin. It was a bit too snug in the hut, so the group sat outside, under the murky sky, and talked. Rachel joined them after a bit, and sat close by Hal.
