A06 - Entor

     The next morning, Simon awoke to an annoyed Entor staring him down.  Her eyes narrowed as she said, "You made your sleeping noise all night.  I tried to wake you up so many times, but you sleep like a boulder - a heavy, noisy boulder."

    Simon rubbed his eyes and smiled at Entor, "I'm sorry? I slept better than I have in weeks, if that makes it any better."

    Entor looked out of the corner of her eyes, "Fine.  But don't keep me up like that ever again or I'll have to cut you loose.  I can't have you slowing me down by keeping me up at night."

    "So, what is your plan?"

    Entor's eyes darted in every direction like she was searching her head for something, "I -uh. Well..."

    "You don't have a plan?"

    "Not exactly.  I finished the original plan.  And I just haven't developed the next one.  So, I hunt bog nuts and stay here."

    "How long have you been here?"  Simon straightened, not sure that this was better than the desert, especially given the taste of the bog nuts.

    She turned to the wall next to her and pulled out a knife.  She made a mark on the wall next to some other marks.  Then she counted them.  "15 days.  I've been here fifteen days."

    Simon looked down and whispered, "That's longer than she said."  He let out a sigh.

    "Who? Who said what?"

    Simon felt ashamed that he let it slip.  "Nothing, no one.  I just heard that someone usually comes by here once a week or so.  You've been here longer than two weeks."

    Entor looked at him, "Honestly, it doesn't look like anyone's been by here in months.  There was a thick layer of dust when I got here.  The food had been ransacked.  There were bugs crawling everywhere.  I cleaned it up as much as a I could, but I sure wasn't expecting anyone to come here.  You were a total surprise.  Nobody comes here, not even the Ain; probably because of the ghosts."

    "Ghosts?"

    "That's what all the stories say.  I haven't seen any. I think it's just the excuse that adults use to keep their kids from going in the Swamp of Ix.  Not that anyone in their right mind would want to go to the swamps anyway.  Have you seen those trees?  And the snakes and other creatures that live there?  Well, I haven't actually seen the creatures.  Just heard the stories, you know? Your parents didn't warn you about it?"

    "Nope." He thought about trying to explain further, but didn't know how and couldn't respond with more than a word anyway.  Entor continued talking quickly and with very little respite.

    "That's all I ever heard from my parents: 'Don't go to the swamps, those Ix are the magical dead and will turn you into a toad or a newt or a snail.' I'm none of those and I haven't even seen an Ix in fifteen days. Liars."  Entor rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. "Not that I'm surprised.  They lied about everything."

    "Is that why you left?"

    "Among other things.  They treated me like some stupid servant while they did nothing.  They'd pull my hair if I didn't sweep the floor right.  They'd smack my hand if I got too close to them or their precious possessions.  They're the ones that are stupid.  Who's going to cook your dinners now, fools? What about your parents?  Are they total morons too?"

    "Not at all.  I loved my parents.  They were kind and funny."

    "Were?"

    Simon felt the water welling up in his eyes, "They died." He braced himself for the feigned sadness and compassion that always came from people when they first found out that he was an orphan.

    "Why is it that good parents die and poop parents live long, horrible lives?"  It wasn't the response that Simon expected and it caused him to smile with the left corner of his mouth. "I mean my neighbor, Yuntor, lost her mom in a logging accident a couple of years ago and she was awesome.  Her mom would make cookies on our birthdays.  My parents would forget my birthday altogether."

    "I'm sorry.  When is your birthday?" Simon remembered the way that his parents would fill his room with balloons the night before his birthday while he slept and at precisely 5:31 am (when he was born), they would start jumping on the balloons to pop them and yell "Happy Birthday!" in a dozen different languages.  Simon would jump out of bed in shock but then join in popping a few balloons that remained.  He can't imagine his parents ever forgetting or ignoring his birthday.

    "It was sixteen days ago." The hardness in Entor's face gave way to sadness and resignation, which led to silence from the young girl.

    "Well.  Happy birthday, a little late." Simon shrugged, wishing he could do more.  He reached his hand in his pocket and pulled out the extra bog nuts from last night.  He held them out to Entor.

    She laughed, slightly, "It's more than I ever got from my parents.  So thank you." She looked down at the belated birthday gift in her hand and smiled with tears in her eyes.

    Simon noticed some bog nut shells on the ground of the hut, so he stood to his feet.  He stomped on a shell and thankfully it made a small crunching noise.  It wasn't as loud or as pop-like as he'd hoped, but it would suffice. Then he yelled, "Happy Birthday!"  He stomped on another and yelled, "Feliz Cumpleanos!" He stomped on another and yelled, "Alles Gute zum Geburtstag!"  Entor's eyes brightened.  She really didn't understand what Simon was doing, but she knew it was for her.  As Simon was about to stomp on the next unfortunate shell, they heard a stick break under the weight of someone's foot just beyond the door.  They froze and looked at each other with wide eyes.