Long before RPGs, before D&D, before gaming captured so many minds.  Back before the internet, before laptops, before the home computer – when typewriters ruled, and manual ones at that.  Back when the printed word was still printed, and expensive apart from the library, and some movies were in Technicolor, but most were still in black and white.  Back when televisions were just making their way into homes and there was not much to see yet on those gritty, flipping, black and white screens; there was a boy of six or seven years who grabbed pencils, colored pencils, crayons and paper and went to sit in his room like a hermit – and he told himself stories.

The boy told about reality and things beyond reality.  He charted the stars in dreams and visions and whole worlds and universes got put on that paper.  At first it was more pictures than words, but it was all words in a sense, and the more the boy grew the more the words took over.  He could perceive things unknown by normal people, and communicate them through the most powerful invention ever devised – words.

With words, this young boy could create new life and new civilizations and boldly go – years before Star Trek ever found its way to the small screen.  He could travel anywhere in space and time years before Doctor Who stole the TARDIS.  In his mind and heart, his perception could expand into infinity, but it was the words – words and pictures – that made it all real.

Perception and Communication.  Perception is the root of all science, and communication is the root of all understanding.  These are the two keys to storytelling, and storytelling is the essence of what makes us human, above all.  Perception and communication are the essence of what defines reality in the human mind and separates us from the animals and all the rest of creation.  It is not alone that we can perceive reality in a kind of self-awareness.  All animals perceive.  But it is the fact that we can put our perceptions into words.  It is the words that are all powerful.

John was brilliant when he said, In the beginning was the Word… and the Word was God.  All things were made by the Word, when God said, Let there be light.  And God showed grace from the beginning when he told Adam to name all of the animals.  Those human words from a human mind defined the reality God made.

The Baptist came to Witness: to perceive the reality of the Word made flesh, and he came to Testify to it, to put it into words so others could understand what he witnessed.

The Word made flesh was the true Light, that is the true light of God who said the first word, Let there be light.

Many people do not understand this.  It may be too basic, too simple in a way.  To Receive him is to receive the light (the light of understanding) – to be filled with light.  It is to be able to see (perceive reality) clearly for the first time, wherein there is no darkness.  Then it is up to us to Believe in the reality we perceive which is underlined for us in the Word spoken, the Word written, the Word made flesh. 

Those who believe understand that Grace is the way of God, even as it was from the beginning with Adam.  This we know through the Truth, spoken.  What is truth?  It is the Word.  It is not A word of truth.  It is THE Word of truth, the same that was in the beginning.

Perception:  No one has seen God, but the Word has seen God.  The Word is God.  And no one can make God known.  Communication: but the Word can make him known.

Christmas is:

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us… full of Grace and Truth.

This is what the little boy perceived when he was just a little boy, and now he has told you the story.

Merry Christmas, or as my friends across the water say, Happy Christmas.  For me, this is the time of year when I  begin to set goals and resolutions for the coming year.  (Why wait until New Year’s Eve)? 

So I review the year, and if you are like me I tend to see every mistake, accident, slip of the tongue, nasty moment…  I hope my random acts of kindness somehow balance that ledger… 

But seriously, I review my last year’s goals and resolutions and count my successes and failures, my additions and adjustments throughout the year and my cross-offs (because what sounded great last December turned out to be stupid in July).  I first see what is carry-over, like something that should have made it into a five year plan.  Then I add before I subtract. 

I always over expect.  That might just be me, but I figure if I set my goals and resolutions too low I’ll have a lazy year.  As long as I understand there is deliberately more than I can possibly do so I don’t stress over it, my time won’t be wasted (and I will never have the excuse of saying I’m bored with nothing to do).

There are already several resolutions for 2012.  Focusing on marketing my work is a big one.  I’ll be working with a friend somewhere between the last of December and first weeks of January to zero in.  He does this kind of “game planning” for a living and consults for Wall Street types.  I don’t know if he got occupied.  I’ll have to ask when I see him.

Meanwhile, have you thought about 2012?  Is it going to be the greatest year ever?  Oh?  How so? 

After 4176 BC on Malta.  Kairos:  Odelion 

Recording…

            “I think it is ugly.”  Boston rarely minced her words.

            “It’s artistic,” Lincoln tried to give the benefit of the doubt.  He had his pad and pencil out to make a rendering. 

            “It looks like it has been here for a long time.  Let me see.”  Katie Harper finally pulled out one of the mysterious bits of technology from of her backpack.  She examined the carving by scanning it and checking the readout.   It was a flat faced carving on a stone, not really a statue, and it was set all alone in a clearing in the jungle.

            “A representation of some demon-god,” Boston suggested. 

            “No.  A true rendering of a spiritual reality, I would say.”  Mingus touched it carefully.  “I would call it a greater spirit of the night.” 

            “Call it a dream spirit,” Alexis suggested.

            Lincoln amended that.  “A nightmare spirit.”  It had a flat head with high brows like a Neanderthal, eyes that glared and were far bigger than necessary, fangs for teeth, and four arms that ended in claws and looked to be reaching for the onlookers.

            Katie spoke again.  “According to my best estimate, this carving is about three thousand years old.”

            “Let me see.”  Boston stepped over to look at Katie’s equipment.  “The amulet also has a temporal setting.  It says thirty four hundred years.”  She showed Katie so they could compare.

            “But you said, or rather Lincoln read from the database that we have only traveled three hundred and fifty years since the beginning.”  Captain Decker did the math.  “You are saying this is older than the Kairos.”

            “I would say three thousand plus years older.”  Katie nodded.  “That would make it pre-flood.”

            “Gott-Druk,” Mingus said.

            “Neanderthal,” Lockhart translated for those who did not know. 

            People nodded.  “I had forgotten,” Alexis admitted.

            “This is Malta,” Katie said.  “There should be some old temples around here as well, though they may be ruins already after the flood.  It would be a good way to check the readings.”

            “Quiet.”  Roland’s word was sharp.  His hunter senses were on alert since they climbed down the mountain and entered the jungle and he was presently the only one who was paying attention to the wilderness.  People looked up and he waved quickly to one side of the clearing.  Everyone scattered, hid and did their best to remain perfectly quiet.

            They heard the strangers before they saw them.  There were three, and they clearly looked Neanderthal.  They all had on orange jumps suits of a sort that looked technologically way beyond what the humans imagined the Gott-Druk should have.  Lieutenant Harper and Captain Decker in particular were looking for classic cavemen.

            “But the locals are resistant, our ancient cousins are behaving stupidly and there are Elenar reported in the area.”  One of the Gott-Druk complained as he counted off his fingers.

            A second Gott-Druk, the evident leader of the group quieted his fellow.  He held up a device of some kind.  He pressed some buttons and looked into a screen.  “An ancient Ankaron Battleship.  I don’t think we even have one of those in a museum.”  He turned his device off and reassured his comrade.  “You could take it down with a handgun.”

            “Still, there is the one favored by the powers of the earth.  He has already cost our cousins dearly.”  The Gott-Druk counted a fourth finger.

            “Yes,” the leader said.  “But if we can eliminate him and take down the Elenar, the first plan may yet go forth as conceived.”

            The third one spoke.  “But if the first plan succeeds, we may never be born.”

            “Worth the risk,” the leader said as he lifted his device and punched some more buttons.  He lowered it and scanned 180 degrees of the forest where the travelers were hiding.  “But come.  Too many eyes and ears here.”

            The others looked.  “I see nothing,” one said, but the leader moved off and the others were obliged to follow.

            Captain Decker and Roland cautioned everyone to remain silent.  They led them through the trees, and not in a straight line.  Roland scouted up front to pick out the trail and Captain Decker watched the rear.  They were a mile beyond the carving in the clearing before Roland let anyone speak.

            “What were they on about?”  Katie Harper wanted to know.

            “I met the Elenar in the future – back home.  They are like Cro-Mangon and if not the enemies of the Gott-Druk, they are watchers at least determined to make sure the Neanderthals don’t come back and try to retake the earth.”

            “I see,” Boston said.  “But where would the human race fit, if the Neanderthals were successful, I mean in retaking the earth?”

            “We would not fit,” Lockhart said.

            “Or become a permanent slave underclass,” Mingus suggested.

            “Well, one thing.”  Lincoln spoke up.  “I suspect the favored of the gods is the Kairos and if the Gott-Druk plan is to eliminate him it might be a good idea if we find him first.”

            “Right.”  Boston spoke with some vigor.  “This way.”  She had the amulet out and pointed.  Roland joined her at the front. 

            It was hardly another mile before they came to the sea.  It was not the best beach.  In fact, the jungle marched right down to the water in several places where there was a ledge.  They could see where the waves were digging the dirt out from beneath the trees and imagine there might be a beach some day, but not yet.

            “I thought we might find a village,” Alexis said.  Lincoln shrugged.  Roland, Mingus and the marines kept quiet.  Boston, though, shook the amulet the way Doctor Procter used to shake it.

            “What?”  Lockhart asked.

            “The amulet points straight out to sea, twenty miles.”

            “Nautical miles?” Captain Decker asked.

            “Let me see,” Lockhart imitated Boston’s curious attitude and she showed him.  “But it is a little to the south.  Let’s try this way.  Maybe there is a peninsula or something.

            “Not on Malta,” Katie shook her head.

            “Another island?”  Boston turned to face the marine.

            “No,” Lincoln answered.  “There are two or so other islands in the Malta group, but they are north, not south.”

            “The woods!”  Roland spoke sharply again and everyone jumped.  An airship of some sort came into view.  It was noisy, like is was driven by an internal combustion engine, and it flew low and slow across the water.  Lockhart and Lincoln agreed it was a shuttle, probably four to six passengers plus crew. 

            “Surgical strike,” Captain Decker suggested.

            “Hurry!”  Lockhart said, and they hurried south in the wake of that ship.

            Everyone had plenty to eat and plenty of beef as things got back to normal, except Risah sat with the children for the rest of the evening which was unheard of.  There was even some beef left over from the tables which the cooks promptly worked to preserve for lunch on the following day, but Dantu would not let Risah get up and help.

            At the head table, the travelers were fascinated by the entertainment.  Anenki sat between Bashte and Gagrena and had a hard time staying straight in the middle.  He wanted to lean in Bashte’s direction and away from the woman who would not leave him alone.

            Gagrena focused all her attention on Anenki.  She spoke cold and civil words to Lili, clearly despised Niudim and ignored Nanna because Nanna was not hers.  The rest might as well have been invisible.  The woman fawned on Anenki.  She kept touching him, his hand, his arm, like they were lovers of old.  Everyone figured she wanted the best deal she could get for her city, Uruk, and she was using her looks and sex to get it. 

            Anenki tried to be polite but he could not always help himself.  Gagrena’s ego appeared boundless, so perhaps she did not notice that whenever she touched him, Anenki turned up his nose.  When asked, Gagrena admitted she had not dedicated her city to any particular god.  She was a woman who believed that the purpose of everyone in the world was to serve her so after that it did not really matter.  Boston was surprised she had not built a temple to herself and later regretted that she put the idea in the woman’s mind. 

            “Nanna.”  Bashte finally spoke into the void.  Nanna was yawning again.  “Let’s go check and see that the children are in bed.”  Anenki grabbed Bashte’s hand, but Bashte  simply said, “You will be fine,” and she let go.  Everyone paused to watch them go and then Gagrena spoke.

            “We finally got rid of the nursemaid.”

            “Not at all,” Anenki responded.  He had just about reached his limit of politeness.  “She is my good wife, my living wife as opposed to my dead one.”  Back when Gagrena first left Anenki, he counted her as dead.  He had not mentioned it in many years but just then he could not help himself.  Gagrena was not put off.

            “Anenki, I worry about you.  You are not as strong as you think.  You need a woman beside you, a real woman.”

            “I have one, thank you.”

            Gagrena frowned ever so slightly as she took his hand and tried to catch his eyes.  “I just wanted you to know that I am here for you, just like we were meant to be from the beginning.  I would hate to see you all alone, I mean if something should ever happen to young Bashte.”

            Lincoln, Lockhart, Katie and Mingus all sat up straight.  Anenki looked at them, looked at Gagrena and jumped out of his chair.  “Bashte!”  He ran for the stairs.  The others followed.  Lockhart pulled the pistol he wore at his side.  Captain Decker brought the rifle that was never out of his reach.  Lincoln grabbed the wicked looking knife with which he had cut the big servings of beef.  Roland pulled his sword as they ran.

            The children were huddled in one bed, crying.  Gagrena’s little army of seven men were all there in the big room.  Bashte was there too, down on the floor.  She was not bleeding or unconscious, but her hand went to the back of her head where she was struck.  Nanna had her hands up, and that made a small shield against the men.  She could easily deflect a spear, but she had no confidence of holding the men if they decided to rush her all at once.   No one said, wait or what are you doing, or let’s talk about this.  Lockhart and Captain Decker simply fired.  Lincoln threw his knife and put his man down,  It was a talent no one knew he had.  Roland also put his man down easily with the sword.  The other five went down just as fast.  Captain Decker got three to Lockhart’s two.

            The children screamed at the noise.  Nanna dropped her hands and her jaw.  Doctor Mishka spoke up from the floor because Anenki had gone away and the good Doctor had taken his place to make sure Bashte did not have a concussion.

            “Men and guns.  How sick I am of such things,” Mishka said.  “Nanna, help your Mama to walk over to the children.”

            “Yes, Doctor,” Nanna said to what was obviously a familiar face.  She helped Bashte stand as the rest of the crew piled into the room which suddenly did not seem so big.  Doctor Mishka immediately took Alexis to see which of the men might be saved.  She instructed Boston and Katie to staunch the bleeding on the two who only looked wounded while she quickly checked the two who were clearly dead.  They saved the other five, though the one with the shattered knee would never walk well again.

            “Anenki?”  Gagrena straggled in at the end of the line.  It took her a moment to realize what happened. 

            “Here,” Mishka said.  She did not have time to play games.

            “Where?”  Gagrena wondered, before she looked twice at the Doctor.  This was not the first time she had seen Anenki become a different person and not even the first time she saw him become a woman.  “I am glad you are alright.”

            “Bull.”  Mishka got in her face.  “Anenki is too polite.  Let me tell you something.  On your own, you are a danger to yourself and to others.  You know, in the Soviet days we lock up people like you for your own protection and for ours.”

            “What if she had someone to watch over her?”  A voice spoke up near the bed where the children were quieted in Bashte and Nanna’s arms.  It was a woman’s voice that spoke, one that could only be described as perfect, and it turned every head in the room.  Most that could, including the travelers went straight to their knees at this vision of holy beauty.  Gagrena became terribly frightened and fell to her face.

            “Inmama.”  Little Nippur called and reached out, and Innan picked up the child, kissed her, and held her for a moment on her hip.

            “Someone to watch over her might work,” Mishka said.  “It would be a headache though.”  She went straight back to work on the wounded.  It was what she was there for.

            Innan appeared to shrug.  She raised her free hand and the bullets all extracted themselves.  “I believe these are yours,” she said, as the bullets set themselves in front of Lockhart and Captain Decker.

            “Yes, er, thank you.”

            “That was remarkable to watch.”  Innan looked over the dead and wounded and clicked her tongue.

              “Yes,”  Mishka poked her head up once more.  “You can tell Enki and Enlil that in the future, the human race becomes very efficient at war and killing.  That should help them since they have now been given oversight for war.  And you.  But it is too early in the game for a rogue city and maybe a war.  Let us get closer to a dozen cities, get trade going and all that first, I think.”

            “Wise as always,” Innan said.  She handed Nippur back to her Mama, gave Bashte a sisterly kiss on the cheek and stepped up to Gagrena who was trembling and dared not look up from the floor.  Mishka noticed before she went back to work.  It was sometimes hard for the Kairos to remember just what the fear of the gods could do to a person.  It could transform them, though she doubted anything would transform Gagrena in the long term.

            “I will take your city of Uruk,” Innan said.  “I am sure Anenki will help us get things on the right foot.  Meanwhile, a temple would be nice.  Enlil and Enki both say there is nothing like it.”  Innan put her finger to her cheek to think.  “And now I have to ask.”  She stepped up to Lockhart.  “Why are you here?  You don’t belong here.”

            Lockhart’s tongue refused to work in the presence of the goddess of desire.  Fortunately, Mingus and Roland were most respectful, but being spiritual creatures themselves, they were not affected by the goddess in the same way as the humans.

            “We are travelers through time,” Roland offered a more thorough description than Lockhart usually offered.  “We will be moving on in a day or two.”

            “And this one?”  Innan snapped her finger and a ghoul appeared beside her.  The ghoul’s face was expressionless.  It looked unable to move or speak.  “He also does not belong.  I don’t suppose this is one of yours.”

            “Not ours, Lady” Mingus answered.  “But I believe he may have been the source of the poison, earlier.”

            Innan smiled which just about caused several people to faint from her beauty.  “The elder elf is wise.  I think we need not retain this one.”  She waved in the ghoul’s direction and the ghoul skipped the dying part.  He turned straight to a misty green smoke and left only a green smudge on the floor.  “And now, my children.”  Innan clapped her hands and she, Gagrena and the seven dead and wounded from the floor all vanished.

            “Hey!”  Only Doctor Mishka protested.  “I wasn’t finished with that one yet.”

            “A ghoul scout.”  Mingus shook his head.  “That means there are nine more out there.”

            “Eighty-nine,” Boston corrected. 

            The travelers gathered early for supper, full of guarded praise for Anenki’s little city.  “A bit too communal for my tastes,” Captain Decker summed up the consensus of the freedom loving Americans.

            “Of necessity,” Anenki responded.  “Before we began it was anarchy.  I mean, most people were nice and helped their neighbors when they could, but ultimately it was every man for himself.  Now, in order to make the kind of division of labor a city needs, it has to be communal.  You want a man to spend his days working in clay, not soil.  But he is thinking he has to grow crops and hunt and fish and tend to his goats and oxen to feed his family and have some to trade.  That way very little time can be spent on the clay.  So we guarantee, as well as we can, that he will receive the food he needs for his family, and the cloth or clothing and whatever else may be necessary so he can concentrate on the clay.  We have to be communal to do that.  You might call it excessively high taxes.”

            “I understand,” Katie Harper spoke up.  “It makes sense to me, at least.  Sumer was marked with a more communal kind of living than later civilizations.”

            “Remember, we are transitioning,” Anenki added.  “To be honest, I think Marx got it completely backwards.  Communism was really the first step, not the last.  Capitalism only developed with a money economy, but that won’t happen for, what, three thousand and some years.” 

            Several women interrupted by placing trays of fruit and vegetables on all of the tables.  Some of the people began to come into the banquet hall as well, talking and laughing in their own little groups.

            “So tell me about our guest, if you don’t mind.”  Lockhart finally asked the question everyone had been avoiding.  Anenki glanced at Bashte who encouraged him without a word.

            “Alright,” he said, and set himself to hold nothing back.  “About twelve years ago when we were first starting out, some of the motivation to build a city where people could live safe and secure was because of one man.  Nogao had convinced a number of people it was easier to take the labor of others than do the work themselves.”

            “Thief,” Lockhart said quietly.  Anenki nodded.

            “Well, we just got things going and he showed up with more than a hundred followers to try and take over the whole work.”

            “Don’t tell me, egged on by Gagrena,” Alexis said.

            “Sweetheart,” Lincoln reached for her hand.  He imagined she was wrong accusing the woman.

            “Sorry, she just reminds me of the type of personality that I despise in women.”

            “You have very good insights,” Bashte said to confirm that the accusation was accurate.

            “Yeah, they give all women a bad name,” Boston added.

            Anenki nodded the whole time, but then they all paused again as two men carried in half a bull for the main table.  There were roasts brought in for the other tables as well and the room was filling up.

            “Where is Gagrena?”  Bashte asked.

            “Fashionably late?” Alexis suggested.

            “Wanting to make a grand entrance,” Anenki nodded again.

            “Anyway,”  Lockhart wanted back to the story.

            “Anyway, Nogao was killed.  I killed him, and his people were left leaderless.  It was my brother Agur who took them with some well trained experts in the various disciplines and went north, back to the Tigris where we found him.  He started a second city, One that Enlil named after our baby, Nippur.”

            “We chiefly worship Enki in Eridu,” Bashte said.

            Anenki cut off the questions with a simple word.  “I flipped a coin.  Besides, Agur had met Enlil and the god was always associated more with the Tigris and Enki with the Euphrates so it all worked out.”

            “Except for Gagrena,” Katie pointed out.  “I take it she did not follow your brother.”

            “No,” Anenki said the word with an underline.  “She was not about to have any man rule over her.  Not even Enlil.  She took about a third of the group and broke away to build her own place.  She calls it Uruk.  It is on the Euphrates, but up river approaching half-way between Eridu and Nippur.”  Anenki’s voice trailed off and there was silence only interrupted by Lincoln tapping his knife gently on the table.

            “Where is that woman?”  Lincoln asked.

            “Hungry?”

            “That beef smells great.”

            “Why not cut yourself a steak?”  Captain Decker offered.

            “Wait,” Anenki held up his hand.  “It is polite to wait.  Though maybe I should eat before she gets here.  She will just give me indigestion.”

            “You don’t like her much,” Boston understated the case.

            Anenki countered.  “Actually, I feel sorry for her.  She has been at me all afternoon about how she misses me and we really had a good thing and she foolishly let me get away.  I would say she is trying to put the moves on me, and she is still rather nice to look at.  But you know, now that I am not a teenager with hormones ruining my brain I can see that she does not lie very well at all.”

            “Father,” Lili spoke up.  “Maybe I should fetch Mother.”

            Anenki did not have time to answer because his sister Dantu came in with Risah in her arms.  “Anenki!”  She shouted.  “Don’t eat the roast!”  Risah collapsed to the ground.

            Everyone moved, but it was Alexis who got there first.  She laid her hands over Risah and that familiar glow appeared for those who could see it.  “She has been poisoned,” Alexis announced in the sudden silence of that big room.

            “Keep back, give them room.”  Captain Decker and Lockhart had to play policemen.

            “Maybe I can draw it out of her,”  Alexis suggested.  She began to work with her hands.  No one saw Gagrena come into the room, but when she realized what was going on, they all heard her.

            “You are trying to kill me!”

            Bashte jumped.  “You are not stupid.  If we wanted to harm you we would not test it out on Anenki’s sister first.”

            There was a sudden flash of darkness and Alexis got knocked back on her rump.  “Magically protected,” she managed to say as she rushed her hand to her head to fight the dizzy feeling.

            “Nanna!”  Anenki immediately called for his daughter, the daughter of the goddess Innan.

            “Me?  Daddy?”

            “You can do it.  I’m right here, but right now you are the only one who can do it.”

            “Daddy?”

            “Hurry, please,” Dantu pleaded.

            Anenki brought Nanna to Risah and had her kneel.  When he let go, Nanna closed her eyes and put her hands out like Alexis.  Nanna’s glow was much richer, much fuller and more golden in color.  They saw the darkness come up and push against her hands.  Nanna shrieked, but Anenki laid a hand on her shoulder and encouraged her.

            “You can do this.  You are stronger than any darkness.  Get angry.”

            Nanna got angry and the darkness cracked and broke and blew away on the wind.

            “Son, your hand,” Mingus said, and Roland gave it.  “Concentrate,” Mingus added as he reached down and snatched Alexis’ bone wand.  He waved it slowly in the air, twice and then gave it a sharp jerk.  There was a pale blue light that popped from the wand, like a globe.  It began to float around the room, slowly at first before it got up a good head of steam.  It went from table to table, separated twice and came back together before it finally lighted on the roast at the head table.  The whole roast fairly glowed soft blue before the darkness came out of the roast and swallowed the light.

            “Only our roast is poisoned,” Roland said as Mingus paused to catch his breath. 

            By then, Alexis was up and coaching Nanna.  “There it is,” Alexis said.  “All gathered in one place.  Now raise your hands, slowly.”  Nanna did, and a small drop of something came right out of Risah’s body.  It followed Nanna’s hands into the air.  Nanna squealed.

            “I did it.  I did it.”

            Anenki handed Alexis a cup in which she caught the drop while Bashte hugged Nanna.

            “Mama, I did it!”  Nanna hugged her back.

            “I’m so proud of you,” Bashte added.

            As Risah began to come around, Lili, who had knelt beside Dantu and held Dantu’s hand, looked up at Bashte.  Bashte put her other arm around Lili and kissed her cheek as well.  “I’m proud of all my children,”  she said before she apologized to Dantu.  “I’m sorry I don’t have another arm for you.”  Dantu looked up and nodded, but her eyes were full of tears and she had no words.

            “And you too,”  Bashte let go of Nanna and Lili to give Niudim a big hug.  The young man understood enough to know he almost lost his aunt Risah and he was near tears as well.  Nanna and Lili also went to him and joined in a kind of group hug.

            “Ah, the power of love,” Anenki said and turned to face Gagrena.  “True love conquers all.”  Anenki paused.  “Did I just say that?”

            “Yes you did,” Lockhart responded from the table where he and Captain Decker were lifting the roast on its tray.  Lincoln and several of the men were there to help.  They intended to bury the beast somewhere out of town.

            “But I hate clichés,” Anenki finished.

            “But father,” Roland turned to Mingus.  “Who would do such a thing?”  In answer they heard an angry moan come from beneath their feet.  Lockhart and Decker had to shuffle their hands to keep from dropping the roast.  It sounded like someone was very frustrated.

            Their stuff, as Lincoln called it, turned out to be in place, dry and the technology all functioned normally.  Their tents were amazingly still up, and the fire was relit.  “Enki went to great lengths to be thorough,” Lincoln commented.

            “Yes, thanks,” Lockhart said with a look to the sky.  He explained to Boston’s curious face.  “It never hurts to be polite.”

            “Exactly,” Lincoln agreed.  “Thank you.  I recall from the stick people what it means to get on the wrong side of the gods.”

            “Oh, Lincoln,” Alexis protested and dragged him off.  “I was trying to forget about all that.”

            Everyone slept well after that.  They felt that if they were being watched, they were also being watched over by someone far more capable than a cockroach.  When the morning came, they felt refreshed and after some fake coffee, they trooped down to the cooking fires.

            Risah was already up working, preparing a luncheon for their coming guest.  Lili was there with Nanna and Niudim, but Lili was presently talking with a young man.  When Alexis and Boston walked up, Lili introduced Gordon who said he was pleased to meet them and promptly decided he had better get to work.  Alexis and Boston both watched Lili as Lili watched Gordon leave.

            “He seems very nice,” Alexis said as they went to join the others.  Lili only smiled and nodded.  Her tongue seemed tied.

            Nanna, though, had no trouble talking.  “Gordon, Gordon.  It is all I hear.”

            “Oh?”  Boston got nosey.  “A boyfriend, or maybe more?”  Lili turned a little red.

            “No way,”  Nanna shook her head.  “At least not until Gordon finds the courage to speak to Daddy.”

            “Nanna!”  Lili scolded her little sister, but Nanna thought it was funny so Lili stomped off to help Aunt Risah with the mush.

            “Careful,” Alexis spoke wisely.  “It will be your turn one day.”  Nanna paused, but shook her head.  That day seemed an eternity away.  That was the way teenagers always thought.

            They all ate the mush.  It was not grits or oatmeal or cream of wheat, exactly.  It was just mush, helped with a little fruit on top, but not helped much.  Lockhart was glad to set his aside when he saw Anenki and Bashte arrive.  They were cooing at each other like they were the only two people in the world.  Alexis and Boston sighed to see them, but Nanna thought it was gaggy.

            “I mean, they are so old,” Nanna said.

            “Good morning.” Niudim said and waved like they were far away.  Actually, nothing in Eridu was that far away as the morning proved.  Anenki gave the travelers the grand tour, as he called it.  They were done in an hour and ended up at the irrigation camp.

            “Kiluk,” Anenki pointed.  “He is the chief of the irrigation project.  Presently he and his staff are setting the minimum standards for plowing new fields.  As the city grows we will need to cultivate more and more land.”

            “Standards?”  Katie asked.

            “Sure,” Anenki smiled for her and waited for Lincoln to catch up in his notes.  “Right now innovation is highly prized.  We are all trying new things and looking for ways to improve.  But in a generation, standards will become rules and innovation will be harder.  Then rules will become regulation as we give birth to inspectors.  By three generations, regulations will become traditions, and then innovation will be very difficult.”

            “As quick as that?”  Lincoln asked.

            Anenki nodded.  “About a hundred years or so.”

            Kiluk waved to the visitors and limped over to talk to a man.  Alexis noticed and was more concerned with the limp.  “Crippled?”

            “Since birth,” Anenki confirmed.  “People like Kiluk and Niudim are one of the main reasons I agreed to build the first city.  Normally, I don’t interfere like this.  It isn’t safe, given all I know about the future.  But in this case, I have innovated nothing.  I just made it possible.”

            “I suppose in the old days the life expectancy for someone like Kiluk would not be good,” Katie suggested.

            “Or Niudim, or anyone who got old,”  Anenki confirmed.  “Now, at least they have a chance – for a few generations anyway.”

            “I understand,” Lockhart said, and as they wandered over to the temple, Anenki heard all about the river in the night.

            Anenki looked at the temple.  Some of the bricks crumbled and several looked more like mush than bricks.  “But hey, Duban is still working on the formula.  Innovation, remember?”   

###

            Gagrena arrived close to three in the afternoon.  She came into town seated in a plush chair carried on the shoulders of four rather large men.  Seven men followed her carrying spears like a kind of honor guard.  Another dozen people came after that, women mostly to attend to Gagrena’s needs.

            “Welcome to Eridu.”  Bashte had to say it.  Anenki wanted to say some other things.  To be sure, Gagrena was a beautiful girl who had become a stunning woman, especially with all the pampering.  But she had the personality of a snake and she had a bad attitude about everyone.  In short, she thought about herself and believed everyone else should think about her, too.

            “Anenki.”  Gagrena smiled at him.  “Put me down, put me down.”  As soon as her feet touched she rushed up and threw herself into Anenki’s arms.  He gave her a hug before he extracted himself from her bear-like grasp.  He drew a line at the kiss.  He did not want her kissing even his cheek in a friendly greeting.

            “Welcome to Eridu,” Bashte tried again.

            “Yes you.”  Gagrena acknowledged her at last.  “The nursemaid.  And how are the children?”

            “They are wonderful,” Bashte answered with a friendly smile.  “I am sure they would love to see you.  Why don’t we visit them.  We could spend the afternoon in playtime.”

            The look of horror that crossed Gagrena’s face was priceless.  Anenki was impressed.  Bashte did not have to do anything except tell the truth and be sincere.

            “I did not come here to play with the children,” Gagrena responded.  “That is your job, isn’t it?”

            “Oh it’s not a job.  It’s fun.”  Bashte stepped up and kissed Anenki, and there was some passion in that kiss.  Anenki responded with his whole heart, which made it worse for Gagrena.  Then Bashte wandered off slowly toward where the children were playing.

            “So, what brings you to Eridu?  I thought you and Pak were going to build your own city?”

            Gagrena watched Bashte and steamed.  She looked at the sky and offered a suggestion.  “Can we go inside where it is more private?”

            “Of course,” Anenki was gracious.  “But your people will have to stay out here.”  He shrugged.  “We have a nice place for you to spend the night.  It is right beside the rooms for the children.”  Gagrena paused.  “Of course if you would rather stay out here where you could be attended by your people, I will understand.”

            Gagrena frowned and waved Anenki to go with her to the door.  “Pak is an idiot,” she said.  “I have to do everything myself.”  Anenki knew that meant she made all the decisions.  He well remembered their few years together.  He was sure that did not mean she did actual work.   She would never lift a finger.  “I am going to need some of your chief men for a while – just to teach my own people or my city will never be more than a big village.”  Anenki understood.  Eridu pioneered most of what was needed to build and maintain a successful city.  His only fear was once Gagrena got her hands on his experts, he might never get them back, alive.

            Supper was held in a big, banquet hall with plenty of columns to hold up the bedrooms on the second floor.  The hall was next to the outdoor kitchen area so the food could be good and hot.  Altogether, there were some fifty adults on a staff which acted something like a government, though the people had no concept of government.  These were simply the experts in their various fields.  They were the chief carpenters, brick makers and builders, workers in clay, soft metals, and cloth.  There were chiefs among the herdsmen and chief farmers who oversaw the irrigation system, and there were hunters, of course.

            The children had their own tables out by the kitchen.  They were under an awning in case it rained.  The children from all the families ate together, but sometimes they were allowed in the big room to eat with their families.  Anenki’s young children were presently out by the kitchen so his family at the adult table included his little sister, Dantu and her husband, Risah and hers if Risah ever sat down to actually eat something, Bashte with Niudim beside her and Anenki with Lili and Nanna beside him.  Nanna was just making the leap from the children’s tables so this was still special for her.

            Over supper, Anenki convinced his guests to stay a couple of days and rest.  They looked worn and they knew it so it did not take much convincing.  After that was settled, there were the questions and Anenki, and Bashte who took the travelers to her heart as she took everyone, did their best to answer.

            “Actually, Bashte and I function more like a High Priest and High Priestess than King and Queen.  We got caught talking with the Gods, you see, like we were old chums.”

            “I’m the chum part,” Bashte admitted.  “I grew up with Innan except for a couple of years when Dantu became my best friend.”

            Anenki leaned over and gave Bashte a kiss on the cheek.  “She is friends with them all, too.  I’m just the old part.”

            “Anenki!  That’s not true.”

            “True enough.  Okay, but some of them don’t like me very much.”

            “Varuna seemed to like you well enough,” Lockhart pointed out.

            “And Astarte liked Saphira pretty well,” Alexis added.

            “I know Asarte,” Bashte said, “But who is Varuna?  Is she nice?”

            “He,” Anenki corrected.  “And yes, he is very nice.”

            “Nagi and Shengi, too,” Boston added.

            Anenki thought about it, but he shook his head.  “That was just because Dayus, Tiamut and the Shang-Di didn’t like me at all, and still don’t, I might add.  Anyway, something much worse is coming here tomorrow morning.”               

            “What?”  Lincoln had to ask.

            “My ex-wife.  Lili and Niudim’s mother.”  Niudim turned up his nose.  Lili simply turned to Nanna who was determined to stay up.

            “I would rather have Mother Innan,” she said.  Nanna nodded in mid-yawn but could not respond.

            Anenki smiled at his daughters before he turned to Captain Decker.  “You are very quiet tonight.  What’s up?”

            Captain Decker appeared to pull his mind back into the room.  “Sorry.  I can’t help it.  I feel we are being watched, but I don’t see anything.”

            “Maybe it is just being in the midst of over two-thousand people, sir” Katie suggested.  “That is a lot compared to what we have been through.”  Decker shook his head while Roland added his thoughts. 

            “I feel it, too.”  He spun his head around but there was nothing there.

###

            The travelers slept around the campfire that night.  No one said anything in particular or suggested it, but everyone felt the same.  It was that feeling that they were being watched and that feeling would not go away easily.  They all felt the need for company and the need to watch each other’s backs.

            It was late when Boston woke up feeling antsy.  She felt like she was missing something, but her hand went straight to the amulet and found it hanging around her neck where she had vowed to always keep it.  She thought that perhaps she was missing something in her backpack, so she got up as quietly as she could and inched to her tent.  The flap was closed, and when she opened it, she screamed.  Two dog-yellow eyes peered back at her.

            Everyone woke and hurried to her.  But she watched as the eyes darted to the side.  Boston almost looked in the same direction though there was nothing to see apart from the tent.  Then the eyes sank into the ground.  Lockhart and Katie arrived in time to see the last bit of the eyes before they vanished in the dirt.  Then they heard the sound of thunder.

            “That’s the river!” Lincoln shouted, drawing on some memory from his years in the C. I. A. before he came to work for the Men in Black.

            “Make for higher ground!”  Alexis shouted, and they started for the temple they had seen earlier in the day.  Boston tried for the palace, but Lockhart and Roland combined to drag her to the temple steps.

            “Someone has to warn Anenki,” Boston protested.

            “Can’t worry about that now,” Lockhart said as he shoved her up the lowest set of steps.  The temple was actually five terrace layers of solid bricks.  Each layer was a man’s height and set back a man’s height in distance from the lower level.  The fifth and topmost level was actually about the size of a house.  It was in fact temple where priests sacrificed the animals on a stone slab and dedicated the fruits in season to Enki, god of Eridu.

            When everyone got to the temple, they saw the water.  It looked like a black snake against the ground.  Curiously, it kept its shape even driven out of its banks.  it curved and ran right over their camp.  It extinguished the fire there and came on to the temple.  It crashed against the bricks and shook the structure, but the temple was too much for it and the travelers were too high up to reach.

            A man came out of the building when the water arrived.  After one good crash against the bottom most layers of the step pyramid, the man waved his hand.  The waters obeyed some imperative and turned away.  They rushed right past the front door of the palace and reentered the riverbed.  No further water came from the river after that.

            “Looks like you have a bug problem,” the man said.  “Like a cockroach, you know.”  He pushed his glasses up on his face and smiled.  That was when the ones close raised their collective eyebrows.  What was a Neolithic man doing with glasses.

            “A present from Anenki,” the man answered their unasked question and vanished.

            “What?”  Boston wondered.

            “Enki, I presume,” Lockhart responded.

            “I think he means the bokarus,” Roland responded differently.  “The cockroach, I mean.”

            “Darn.”  Lincoln walked up to join the group.  “And for once I was having a good dream.  Now all of our stuff is going to be soaked.

After 4233 BC in Eridu, along the Euphrates River.  Kairos:  Anenki

Recording…

            Anenki woke just before dawn.  He felt a chill in the air.  That did not feel right.  There was rarely, if ever a chill in the air along the Euphrates and as close as they were to the Persian Gulf.  By the time he came fully awake, though, the feeling passed.  There was nothing to see in the room so he shrugged it off and pulled Bashte from her back to her side so she could face him.  She responded in her sleep by slinging her lovely arm around his waist.  He wanted to kiss that arm – to kiss her, but he did not want to wake her.  He could just make out her beauty in the dim light before dawn and he contented himself with that vision.  How could he be so blessed?  He stared and thought he might catch a nap before the sun brought him fully awake.

###

            Anenki cupped Bashte’s perfect breast in his hand.  She was still asleep, but warm and inched closer at his attention.  Her breasts were full and firm and terribly unfair, he thought.  He just turned forty, and looked it and felt it.  Granted, she was only thirty-three, but she still had the look of someone who was twenty-three.  She still had the energy, too.

            Anenki shifted his hand to her back and inched closer himself.  Then again, perhaps it was just as well that one of them had the energy.  Niudim was twenty-one and still a special needs child.  Lili was eighteen and always a help with her brother, but she was presently garnering the attention of every eligible bachelor in the city so she did not have much time to spare.  And they were just the two from his first unfortunate marriage.

            Anenki shifted his weight to a more comfortable position and Bashte responded with a sigh.  Then there was Nanna, the daughter of Anenki and the goddess Innan whom he called the goddess of desire.  And Innan was desire itself – far more than a simple love goddess.  Nanna was birthed by Bashte who served as a surrogate mother almost from inception.  Nanna called Bashte Mama, like the other children.  She called Innan Mother.  And at fourteen, she was beginning to garner some real attention from the boys herself.  Takes after her Mother, Anenki thought.

            Bashte peeped, a sweet sound and pulled up tight against him.  That turned Anenki’s thoughts to the five children he and Bashte had.  Annie was twelve.  The boys Erech and Kish were ten and eight, and the girls, Larsa and little Nippur were five and just three.  He ran his finger down Bashte’s side to her slim waist and then let it rise up her hip.  No way she bore six children, he thought.  With that, he let his hand slide to her backside.

            “Anenki.”  Bashte opened her big, brown sparkling eyes and looked up at him.  “What are you thinking?”

            “I was just thinking about the children,” he answered honestly enough.

            Bashte giggled, a sound of pure joy that reverberated down to Anenki’s soul.  “I can feel what you are thinking.”

            “That?  Oh that is just an automatic reflex every time I am near you.”

            Bashte said nothing.  She backed up just a smidgin to pull her hands up and then counted on her fingers.  “Niudim, Lili, Nanna, Annie, Erech, Kish, Larsa, Nippur,” she stopped and looked up at him again.  “I still have two finger’s left.”

            “What are you suggesting?”

            “What you are thinking.”  She grinned again so Anenki had to grin with her .  “We could try anyway,” she said shyly in a most alluring way.

            “And for how long?”  Anenki asked.  He was thinking of the years, but she took it differently.

            “I wouldn’t mind forever, or until your reflexes give out.”

            Anenki wondered what he ever did to be so blessed even as his sister Risah came running into the room.  The woman was hot and sweaty, but that was from the cooking fires where she and her best friend Nephat loved to be.  They cooked for the palace, such as it was.

            “Anenki.  There are strangers at the gate, and they are strangers like I have never seen before.  One has yellow hair.  One has red hair.  One is darker than a herd follower and two of them are your elves.  I noticed them right off.”

            “Risah.”  Anenki said her name to quiet her.  “Tell the Captain to treat them with his best and I will be right there.”  He gave Bashte a peck on the lips, got right up and quickly got dressed.  “Hold that thought,” he suggested.

            Before Bashte could say anything, Nippur came toddling in at her fastest speed.  “Mama.  Mama.”  She crawled right up on the bed and pulled the covers over her head.  Nurse Hannah came in a moment later dragging Larsa by the hand.  Bashte finally said something.

            “What did they break?”

###    

            By the time Anenki arrived, he saw Nanna was there ahead of him.  She had wandered down from the market along with a couple dozen other people.  The people mostly just stared at these very strange travelers, but Nanna got in the middle of them.  She had Katie Harper stand next to Lockhart.  Alexis and Lincoln of course went together, being married.  She had Roland stand next to Boston, which made Mingus very uncomfortable, and she was presently apologizing to Mingus and Captain Decker.

            “I’m sorry, gentlemen.  I seem to have run out of playmates.”

            Mingus spoke first.  “I am married already.  I have a son and a daughter.”  He pointed to Roland and Alexis.  “And that is quite enough.”

            “I’m married, too,” Captain Decker said to everyone’s surprise.  He looked surprised that they looked surprised.  “Why do you think I am so quick to volunteer for hazard pay?”  He asked with a perfectly straight face.

            “Captain!”  Alexis protested with just the word while Katie and Roland stepped slowly away from their designated places.  Captain Decker stared back at her without expression.  He meant what he said and felt no need to apologize.

            “Nanna.”  Anenki called and she turned at the sound of his voice.  Niudim, her watcher also turned and it was Niudim who spoke first.

            “I tried to stop her.”  Apparently Nanna’s watcher had been watching.

            “Father.”  Nanna stepped toward him and planted a kiss on his cheek.  She only called him Father when she was pretending to be all grown up.

            Anenki responded to Niudim first.  “That’s okay, son.  No harm done.  You can smile.”  And Niudim did while Anenki turned to his daughter.  “I think your Mama needs your help, unless you would rather help your aunt Risah in the kitchen.”

            Nanna made a face at the thought of helping in the kitchen, but Risah jumped.  “Oh, the roast.”  She shouted and rushed off.

            Nanna looked back once.

            “You can get to know them over supper,” Anenki said.

            Nanna smiled, and it was a smile hard to resist.  It came from being the daughter of desire.  “I think Mama needs me with the little scamps.”

            “Not the boys?”  Anenki asked.  Erech and Kish were notorious for getting into trouble.

            Nanna shook her head.  “No, father.  Larsa and Nippur have been bad, I think.”  She started to walk off, but as she walked by, Anenki let his hand give her a soft spank on the rump.  Nanna wheeled.

            “Daddy!”  So now he was Daddy again.

            “Don’t forget Niudim.  Take his hand.”

            “Come along big brother,”  Nanna said and Niudim took her hand and went willingly.  Anenki finally turned to the travelers.

            “Welcome to the beautiful city of Eridu, population two thousand and something and growing.  The biggest and best city in the world.”

            “City?”  Boston wondered.

            “I see they learned to put some straw in their bricks,” Katie noticed.

            “Anenki?”  Lincoln had the database out.

As you should know if you have read these posts, I finished my NaNo book (near 80,000 words) on October 25^th after 39 days because I couldn’t wait.  Shame on me, but then I faced National Novel Writing Month with nothing to do. 

Aha! I thought.  (well, maybe my brain did not actually go, Aha!, but)… Let me see what I can get done on my ongoing stories. 

Anatomy of a Storyteller is being presented on my Word & Sprit blog in digestible bits every Monday.  In the first two weeks of Nano month I wrote three new chapters totaling 12,830 words (roughly 10-12 posts).  The story is getting good, but I reached a breathing point (not exactly a stopping point) and concentrated on the other story.

Avalon, the series (season 1) is being presented on my Storyteller blog, again in easily digestible bits as a Monday / Friday story.  We are currently up to episode 8 (13 per season), but you can always go back in the archives and read from the pilot on if you wish… though I feel that is not necessary to get into the stories… but anyway, season two started to really kick and the four episodes I wrote in the first three weeks totaled 26,621 words.

So at the start of the last week I was at 39, 451 words counting Anatomy and Avalon together.  I thought I was on the good track to break 50,000 by the end of the month until someone said I could only count one or the other.  NaNo is supposed to be only one storyline.

Picky…

Well, Avalon 2.4, the story around Zoe at the start of the Amazon nation and 2.5, the story around Huyana (and her seven dwarf followers to which she warned the travelers not to make any wisecracks) were already in the works.  When finished, they added another 15,297 words to the Avalon total.  You see, counting the work done on my Anatomy story made the total word output for November 54,748, but if I was only allowed to count the Avalon work I stood at 41,918 words as of Saturday night. 

Lucky for me, Avalon 2.6 was hot on my fingertips on Saturday eve.  I preached Sunday, drove my son back to college (3+ hours each way) also on Sunday, and worked the old job Monday, yesterday and today… but I still managed to finish 2.6 this bleary-eyed, yawning morning.  It is a great story about a war in northern France in 3617 BC with gods fighting gods, spirits fighting spirits (you know, the elves versus orcs type), men fighting men, and for good measure, two groups of space aliens who take sides as well.  The travelers have a hard time running that gauntlet and getting out with their skins intact, let me tell you. 

The result of all this is I did get 2.6 finished (so I am willing to count it) and it came out 12,621 words which, as you might expect, is a long episode and twice the length of some other episodes.  When I then combine that word count with my Avalon total, the grand total for the book is 54,539 words.  WooHoo!  (seven episodes written, six to go).

Then, if I don’t want to be a fanatic and I am willing to count my anatomy work as well, that makes for 67,369 words of fiction written in the thirty days of November.  (Huzzah!)

That is my report, and my final report on this NaNo madness.  December for me will be rewrites and sales (and possibly January as well).  Sadly, reality kicks in every now and then and we all need to work in order to be able to… work, if you know what I mean. 

So now, don’t be shy.  How did you do?  Did you NaNew?  Or did you NaNOoooo…