Chapter Seven: Part One
As Dom led Kate into the maloca, they entered a space filled with colour, movement, and three overlapping groups of joyous people. The tables were covered in bright fabrics and topped with baskets of ripe fruit.
Carrie was with the group closest to the cooking area, and talking animatedly with the three women who had been tending the food earlier, as well as a number of new faces. Kate watched as each of them took turns to smell and taste the different bundles of herbs passing between them. She smiled fondly, knowing that Carrie had obviously found some kindred culinary spirits.
Dee was naturally in the centre of the largest and noisiest group, along with Edison, Juanita and Juan-Carlos. Edison was singing a fast chanting song as everyone clapped in time whilst doing their best to make him lose track. Dee looked up at Kate and they shared a moment of deep bliss. Their reverie was broken when, with a start, Dee realised a decorated stick had been pushed into her hands. It was her turn to take up the song where Edison had left off, and the laughter and teasing got louder when she made up her own words, barely missing a beat.
Dom led Kate to a group centred on an elderly woman who Kate immediately felt to be the oldest soul she had ever encountered. Mason, Madison and Rick were in close attendance together with a number of others Kate had not yet met. Dom led her over and spoke to the matriarch in a language Kate didn’t recognise. Then he spoke again in English. ‘Grandmother, this is Catherine.’
When Grandmother looked up at her, Kate found herself locked in a tunnel that ended with the matriarch’s clear eyes. Her intense stare made Kate feel as if she were in contact with something alien and oddly familiar at the same time, something timeless and very big. Grandmother jumped to her feet and held Kate’s face gently with her weathered hands before examining her closely.
With a clear voice and sounding more like a young television reporter than a wizened old woman, she said, ‘I recognise you, Catherine. Welcome home.’ She laughed as Kate stared in shock both at her words, and at the clarity with which she spoke. Leaning in, Grandmother let her shoulders hunch and croaked in a faux elderly whisper, ‘Gotcha, you young whipper-snapper.’
The whole maloca had been quiet for this meeting, and when Kate laughed in surprise, everyone laughed with her. Happiness and acceptance wrapped the entire group in a sense of unity that was wonderfully overwhelming for the newcomers and residents alike. When the matriarch placed her hands on either side of Kate’s face again, the group fell respectfully quiet and listened intently to her words.
‘Catherine, you are my granddaughter. It is correct and right that you call me Grandmother. I am daughter of the stony mountain, counsel to my people. Welcome, granddaughter.’ She turned to the waiting faces and announced, ‘Come and recognise my granddaughter, Catherine, now returned to us,’ presenting Kate to the crowd.
A young man stood and came to her. He said, ‘I am Pedro, son of the Race,’ and whilst holding her shoulders in both hands for ten or fifteen seconds, he memorised her face before embracing her. ‘I am a fisherman and provider for my people. Welcome to Alegria, Catherine, granddaughter of my grandmother. Welcome home.’
Kate’s mind raced to process the pattern of speech before she said, ‘I am Catherine, daughter of a great builder. Thank you for your welcome, Pedro, son of the Race, grandson of my grandmother.’ A murmur of appreciation ran through the crowd at her words, and Kate saw Grandmother and Dom smiling at her in approval.
One by one, they came to her. Dom was second last to greet her, and then there was one. ‘I am Ricardo. Son of the Pumas.’ He smiled as he studied her face, even blushing slightly. ‘I am a builder for my people. You are very, very welcome to Alegria, Catherine, granddaughter of my grandmother. Welcome home.’ He leaned in close and whispered, ‘Pace yourself, this will not break up until near midnight.’ When he kissed her cheeks on both sides, the whole room exploded into noise and laughter. Within a few minutes, the revellers had picked up almost exactly where they’d left off before Grandmother’s proclamation of welcome.
Kate took a few moments to look at each face, re-associating each person’s name and organising folks into their own proclaimed groupings. As she quietly recited each person’s name, Rick affirmed her recall. She started seeing familial traits within those groups. The ritualised greetings seemed as old as time and filled with meanings that she knew went far deeper than she could understand at that moment.
Kate did not know of any indigenous group in the area that looked anything like these happy and vital people. The groups soon merged into one and picked up the singing game that Dee, Nita and Edison had been playing earlier. Hysterics broke out when Grandmother grabbed the singing stick on the way past and added her own ribald and teasing lyrics.
Most of the children were on the lawn kicking a soccer ball about, and the adults would step outside for a few minutes at a time to join in. When Maria started doing tricks with the ball, bouncing it from foot to foot in increasingly complex patterns that included her knees, head and shoulders, the kids cheered loudly and the amigas looked on in amazement at her skill.
The celebration was organic and natural. Food and drink seemed to find its way out in copious amounts without any specific pattern or organisation. Music, dancing, and laughter filled the hours, along with some good-natured teasing when someone did something especially silly. Kate found the people’s accepting and joyful dynamic wonderfully different to her city conditioning. Nobody seemed particularly drunk or loud, and everyone remained respectful and inclusive of all in the group. Most unusually, none of the teasing, jokes or banter had a sharp edge to it.
Late in the evening, as yawns started and conversations slowed, Uncle brought silence with three raps of his long staff on the concrete floor. Following the cue of those around them, the girls joined the circle that was forming around the room, everyone with their neighbour’s arms over shoulders or around waists. In her clear voice, Grandmother said to the group, ‘I offer my thanks to each of you for sharing your acceptance with me this day.’
All responded, ‘We accept your love in gratitude, and return it twice over.’
Dee and Carrie caught Kate’s eye from the other side of the circle as they felt themselves drawn in by their neighbours until in a tight group embrace. ‘Can you believe this?’ was the clear message on Dee’s grinning face. Carrie was in tears with a silly smile, and Kate realised she was not alone in those tears; her own eyes were moist and stinging. As the group broke up into individual hugs, many others also had moist smiles on their faces.
Everyone pitched in and the cleaning up was done in minutes. Kate stifled a yawn before she realised that Rick and his parents were standing next to her. Madison asked, ‘May we walk you back to your cabin, Kate?’
‘Thank you, I’d like that. Is it like this every time?’
Mason laughed. ‘No, sometimes things get loud.’
Madison playfully slapped her husband’s shoulder. ‘You know that isn’t what Kate meant.’ Turning to Kate, she said, ‘Acceptance and gratitude are the central and enduring themes of Alegria.’
‘I have so many questions, but they can all keep for later. Bed sounds like an incredibly good idea.’
With the rest of their goodnights already said, Madison negated any potentially awkward moments by taking Kate’s arm in her own as they walked out into the night. The four passed two glowing posts marking the start of the eastern spoke path. A short way along, Kate paused to examine the discreet down-facing lights that illuminated the path with just enough light to walk safely.
Rick said, ‘The path lights are all concealed LEDs, and will stay on for seven minutes from your last movement. The buttons on the back of any of the lights or markers will automatically summon help if you need it.’
Their walk was relaxed and comfortable as they enjoyed the light breeze that carried the clean scents of the sleeping woods and the noises of the night. At the clearing, they paused to gaze up between the trees at the moonless sky above them, splashed with bright stars. Walking Kate onto the ring road and approaching her cabin, Madison said to her, ‘Sleep as long as you like. We don’t do much before lunch time after our first night back.’ Then she added, ‘The dark jar with a royal-blue ribbon, two heaped teaspoons with just a little honey, no milk, and leave it drawing until it’s lukewarm. It will make sure you get a clean and deep sleep.’ Kate squeezed Madison’s arm as she thanked her.
Arriving at the steps of Kate’s cabin, Mason and Madison hugged Kate in turn, saying a simple and fond goodnight before stepping back a little. Rick’s goodnight and embrace was the most formal, but he held her the tightest too. Old fashioned, Kate’s mind narrated, but that’s really nice as well.
After a quick shower to freshen up, Kate discovered that the suggested tea was delicious and reminded her of a number of different flowers, none of which she could quite manage to identify. A deep, dreamless sleep carried her to nearly mid-morning the following day.
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