Free The Empty Hammock by Brenda Barrett Page A

mother?”
    Clara shrugged, hiding her smile. “I had no idea that your name had an animal meaning. But you can search the Internet. I'm sure some other culture has you listed as a strong warrior or doctor.”
     
    ******
     
    Ana stared at the handsome profile of her husband. She could not believe that he was hers, at least for the time when she would be in this place. He was beginning to trust her; she could see the effort it cost him to admit that he believed her, and she admired him for it.
    “I'm hungry, let’s eat and then talk,” she told him.
    He relaxed a little and walked to the front of the hut.
    Basila stood outside, holding a flat plank of wood with two calabashes on the top. The sweet aroma that was drifting to Ana from inside the hut made her belly growl.
    “Basila, how long have you been there?” Ana asked as Orocobix took the breakfast from her.
    “Not long,” Basila said lowly. “Can I speak to you?”
    Ana nodded and followed Basila outside. The day was gloriously bright, the blue of the sky almost blinding. Birds were flying everywhere, their lithe multicolored bodies and the unique sounds that they made added to the atmosphere of peace.
    “What is it Basila?”
    “I wanted you to have this.” Basila lifted a pouch from around her neck and placed it on Ana’s.
    “What is it?” Ana asked curiously, the little bag had a drawstring, which was long enough to reach the top of her breast.
    “That is pomegranate seeds with pennyroyal.”
    Ana looked in the bag and saw the dried seeds and some pale blue flowers almost dried, they were losing their color.
    “What are they for?”
    Basila looked slightly impatient. “If you were really my Ana, you would know. Those are to prevent babies. Take a little bit in your food every day. If you want to have the Chief’s sons then you don’t have to take them.” She turned and walked away, “let me not keep you.”
    Ana looked up and saw Orocobix at the doorway staring at her, an expression of longing and frustration creeping over his face.
    She followed him into the hut and they ate in silence.
    “I know what that is,” he pointed to the pouch. “I don’t want you to take it.”
    “I have to. I'm not the Ana you want children with. I don’t belong in your time.”
    “Why not?”
    “Because as much as the future is not perfect, with crime, unscrupulous politicians and depletion of the ozone layer. I can’t leave my brother and my mother; I would miss them too much. I have an apartment, modern conveniences, a job, and my computer. I could not stay here and plant food all day, or weave hammocks. I would go crazy. I have never been the domesticated type, although I believe Hilma, my brother’s wife, would adore it here. Sorry, I digress,” she said and inhaled. “No fast-food restaurants or chocolate cake.” She slightly shuddered. “A perfect life would be to have you and chocolate cake.”
    Orocobix looked confused. “Talk to me slowly, Ana. I want to know what you are saying, some of your words are strange.”
    She looked squarely at Orocobix, “I do not want to stay, because I know what the future will bring. This paradise and this way of life, will soon end. You are just a lost figure in a history book. I can’t get involved.”
    “Last night you were involved.” Orocobix grabbed her to him. “And I don’t care who you are professing to be, you are the one I love.”

    CHAPTER TEN
     
    They woke up much later in the day; Ana was snuggled in the body heat of Orocobix—he smelled like jasmines. His strong sweet smell assailed her nostrils, as it did on the first day she saw him. He was so strong and handsome, not the weak, one-dimensional man on the pages of her history book.
    What year is this?  How much longer before Christopher Columbus paid them a visit?
    She shuddered as she thought that all the people in this little settlement would be lost, eventually. They would be overworked, starved, killed and raped.
    Could she stop that?