‘All right, that’s enough,’ Kel said, ‘it should be hard enough now.’ The two sprayers moved back, while Kel removed his lesser cutting knife from its pouch and bent over the man on the trackway who was now being held down by the arms and legs following Kel’s shouted instructions.
‘All of you gather around, watch, listen and remember what I’m about to do,’ Kel said with a ring of authority in his voice, ‘it’s important that you remember this, and tell all the others who go out to gather staves.’ There was dead silence, and all eyes were on him as if he had just made the greatest pronouncement of all time.
‘I’m going to cut the lump of congealed juice free from the hair on his chest and then try to pull it off. At worst, he will have a bald patch where the juice has reached the skin and stuck, and a very sore chest for a few days, but at least he won’t be dead.’
With that, Kel began to cut the hair surrounding the now hardened juice, and eventually managed to prise up one corner so that he could get a firm grip on it.
‘This is going to hurt a little, perhaps a lot, but you will still live and it will heal in time.’
For the recumbent figure on the trackway seeing the lesser cutting knife, Kel with a determined look on his face and the thought of immediate surgery on his chest, it was too much, and renewed his yelling.
‘Hold him down tightly.’ Kel shouted, trying to make himself heard above the din, and a pile of bodies descended on the prospective patient, pinning him flat to the path.
Kel took a firm grip on the patch of hardened resin, and with one swift jerk ripped it free of the man’s chest, taking with it a goodly portion of skin and the attached hair.
The ensuing scream rent the otherwise quiet forest air, sending the remainder of the local creatures scurrying for cover at a speed they weren’t used to, several missing their footing and subsequently dropping to the depths below.
The patient had now passed out, and was lying still and peaceful on the branch, a red patch of raw skin oozing blood and trickling down the side of his chest. Kel went over to one of the side branches and rummaged about for a while, returning with a bunch of a soft moss like growth, and thrust it between the top of the patient’s legs.
‘Wet this.’ he said to the whimpering creature on the trackway, who had now regained some degree of consciousness, but his bladder had emptied when the patch of solidified resin had been pulled off, and it didn’t look as if there was any left.
The patient finally found the strength to sit up and begin complaining, he wanted to wash off the copious amounts of urine contributed so generously by his companions. The stave collecting party broke up, most carrying the harvested staves back to the main group, while three joined Kel and his irate patient, who set off looking for a large water plant.
Apart from the odd complaint from the one with the sore chest, the group plodded on in relative silence, the slap slap of their feet on the smooth bark of the pathway being the only sound. Kel wondered how long it would be before the whole incident would be forgotten, and little, if anything, learnt from the experience.
A sharp plop broke the otherwise stillness of the forest, as a large yellow wobbly fruit fell from above, and burst open just ahead of the little band of travellers. With one accord all heads looked up to find the source of the gift, for the wobbly fruit was not abundant in this part of the forest, and was greatly prized by all.
The vine from which the fruit had dropped was suspended from a branch high up in the canopy, and well out of their reach. Normally, only fruit actually picked from the vine was eaten, as when it had matured enough to fall of its own accord, it had fermented to the degree that two of them would put the average consumer into a state of euphoria, and reduce leg stability to a level that was down right dangerous, hence its name.
There was no way they could reach the suspended fruits without a tedious climb up into the higher canopy, but a few of the over ripe fruits had fallen onto patches of thick moss which was growing on the side of the trackway, and these hadn’t burst open.
The temptation was too much for them, and all hurried forward, eager to secure a helping of one of the most pleasant flavours provided by nature.
‘Only one fruit each.’ Kel called out, knowing full well he was wasting his breath, but felt he should make the effort anyway.
The patient had consumed four of the delicious yellow fruits, and had ceased to complain about his chest as the joyous little band helped to support him on their way to the nearest large water plant.
By the time they had located a plant big enough to dunk their companion in, the fruit had taken full effect, and Kel had great difficulty in preventing the other three from heaving the patient straight into the huge bowl like pool of water without first fishing out the snapper.
‘Oh come on,’ cried Kel, ‘remember the drill for water plants. You must remove the Snapper before you drink, let alone dump our friend in the pool.’ The other three abandoned their attempts
