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Kaikare’s lips curl up, and I’m glad our photo gave her some joy.
A warm feeling sweeps down my neck and spine to my abdomen. Shit, I have to pee again.
I push up and point to the forest.
Something in Kaikare’s expression changes, and there’s now a seriousness in her eyes that concerns me. She shoves the photographs to me as though the reminiscing session is over. I wrap them in the waterproof packaging and hand them to her.“Amäre.”You.They are here for her when she’s ready.
A few steps before I reach the jungle, water gushes down my legs.
I gasp and spin to Kaikare.
She strides to me and assesses the small area of wet dirt between my feet. I’m mortified at the thought of peeing myself only I know I didn’t. “No,” I wail. “It can’t be. Not yet,” I beg to the universe.
Kaikare takes my hand and leads me through the village. My thoughts are in overdrive. I can’t have my baby here. In a moment of panic, I assess how to get to the nearest hospital. While my mind unravels, I allow her to guide me, assuming she’s taking me to find Samuel.
When we reach the village center, Kaikare speaks to the women cooking over the fires. Three elders stand and gather sticks and leaves in a pile before speaking to Kaikare in calm words. I spin toward the shaman and chief’s huts, only they look deserted, and there’s an eerie silence descending over the village.
She holds up a hand, and I know I’m to wait. She rushes to her hut and returns without the photographs. Taking my hand, she leads me in the direction of a stream. Not to Samuel. The three women push the wayward branches and fronds aside to make a path for us to follow.
“Kaikare, I need to find Samuel,” I blurt. “Väi Uarati Kún-imá,” I say his Ularan name.Sun man with long leg.
The women ahead of me shout something over their shoulder while Kaikare remains tight-lipped. Oh God, I can’t have my baby alone out here and not without Samuel.
“Argh.” Wrenching my hand from Kaikare’s, I stop and grab my stomach as a contraction rips over my abdomen. Shit, this is real. The practice is over. “Väi Uarati Kún-imá,” I repeat with a sob.Sun man with long leg.
Kaikare places a hand on my shoulder. She smiles and moves aside and points to a tree where the women are busying themselves. The tree is enormous with a massive hole cut out of the base, making it appear like a wooden cave.
“I’m not going in there,” I tell her.
The women have already created a smoking fire, placing long branches with a mass of leaves around it. Woven twine dangles from a branch as a noose.
What the hell?
“Awarö,” I say sternly and bring my hand down in a fast swat.Bad.
“Ahh,” I cry out again with another contraction. I’m not well-educated on the matter. I thought I had more time. I thought contractions started slowly, like thirty minutes apart. This one is a couple of minutes from the last. I grab my stomach and hobble over toward the ladies because right now, they are my only help.
If ever I have agreed to some stupid things in my life, this has to be the dumbest.
Two of the women disappear while the other has a sheet of bark. She waves the bark over the little fire sending smoky clouds toward me, causing me to splutter and cough.
This can’t be good.
“Samuel,” I call out, only it’s more of a croaky sob. Where is he? I’m so bloody scared something will go wrong, and he’s not here to help me. I stare through the smoke with more clarity. These women have aided birth without medical help or assistance from the outside world, but Samuel has told me repeatedly that I’m not like them.
Kaikare cares for me. I have to trust she’d do everything in her power not to allow harm, physical or spiritual, to come to me. She lifts the beads over my head and places them on the ground. Then she unties my skirt and lays it alongside the beads.
Here I am, in the middle of the bloody jungle, butt naked in front of three strange women about to smoke my baby out of me.
My heart is pounding against my ribcage. I can’t think straight.
I have gone mad.
Kaikare takes my hand and leads me closer to the fire. She pushes up on her toes and kisses my cheek, left then right. She wipes the tears from my eyes. Reaching up, I grab her hands and give a gentle squeeze.
“I trust you,” I whisper. “I’m bloody scared, but I trustyou.”
Kaikare stands with her legs wide apart and points for me to do the same.
