Guernsey Tom's Strong Team Build Saga

Chapter 23

Day 156
Tom and Eustache were fighting on board Eustache's old pirate ship.
Eustache: Every enemy I've met, I've annihilated!
Tom: With your breath, I'm sure they all sure they all suffocated!
Tom: I've met apes more polite than you!
Eustache: I'm glad to hear you attended your family reunion!
Eustache: I got these two scars on my face in a mighty struggle!
Tom: I hope you've stopped picking your nose.
Tom: I hope you have a rowboat for a quick escape!
Eustache: Why? Do you want to borrow one?
Eustache: You can't match my witty repartée!
Tom: I could if you would use some breath spray!
Tom: When your father first saw you, he must have been mortified!
Eustache: At least MINE can be identified!
Eustache: My sword is famous all the way down the West European Coast!
Tom: Then you'd better stop waving it around like a feather duster!
Tom: -
As Richard Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries started playing in Tom's head, Blodeuwedd ropeswings from nowhere sideways across the ship and sends Eustache into the sea.
Tom: Thanks, Elaine! Erm...I mean Blod.
Blod: I didn't do it for you!
The song in Tom's head grew louder and more pronounce. She strides to the hold and unlocks it. Kari flies out, enraged and sword in hand.
Kari: You'll regret stealing my girlfriend!
Tom: Maybe you should have thought about that before you slept with Ingrid. And beside your aunt. Eww.
Kari: You'll bring her nothing but misery!
Tom: That's where you're wrong. She was very upset when she came crying to me. She's happy now. I won't let her down like you did.
Kari: You have some nerve!
Tom: Yup. Why don't you put that rage to good use by training with Knut to knock out our real enemy?
Kari: MY enemy is standing right here!
Tom: I'm sure we can work this out!
Kari: How? You stole my girlfriend!
Tom: Your dad leaves Eustache alone, despite what he did to your poor mum. Sure, they still exchange the odd harsh word, but still.
Kari: My dad...don't bring him into this!
Tom: He even considered getting you and me together at one point!
Kari: Not funny!
Tom: Hadn't we better get Captain Pugwash out of the water?
Blod: Don't let him hear you say that.
Tom woke, disappointed that the sea breeze had left him. He began to hum the Ride of the Valkyries.

Tom: *whispers* Psst. Shanaw!
Shanaw: *grouchily* What?
Tom: *whispers* If you go on the logging team this morning, you will end up gathering bat and bird poo in the afternoon.
Shanaw: *whispers* Shanaw no poop scoop! Stay in tower.
Tom: *whispers* I hoped you'd say that.

In the camp towers...
Tom: First piece of advice - every time you say 'Shanaw' at or near the beginning of a sentence, exclamation or question, say 'I' instead. Every time 'Shanaw' is near the end of a sentence, exclamation or question, replace 'Shanaw' with 'me'.
Shanaw: Shanaw not understand.
Tom: Okay, as an example, you should have said "I not understand". It's still not quite right but it's a good start.
Shanaw: Okay, I understand.
Tom: Perfect! Now where is the shelter?
Shanaw: There! *points*
Tom: Or, put another way, it's behind...
Shanaw: Towers.
Tom: Who are in the towers?
Shanaw: Tom and Shanaw.
Tom: Yes. But instead of "the shelter is behind Tom and Shanaw", you can say "the shelter is behind Tom and me".
Shanaw: Why I and me different?
Tom: Because you say 'I' when it's about you. You say 'me' when it's about something else, like the shelter. Another example - I like eating a lot of cheese but eating a lot of cheese doesn't agree with me. I need to use the toilet. The toilet is not pleased to see me.
Shanaw laughed.
Shanaw: So I like to hunt but the animals are not pleased to see me?
Tom: Perfect! You're doing very well!
Shanaw: Teach me something else!
Tom: Okay. When you refer to the person you're speaking to, don't say their name if it's just the two of you. Say 'you'. This goes for at the beginning or the end.
Shanaw: I not understand.
Tom: Say something about me.
Shanaw: Tom patient teacher.
Tom: Now say "You are a patient teacher."
Shanaw: You are a patient teacher and Eustache hates you.
Tom: Perfect!
Shanaw: I learn enough for now. Hug and talk.
They made their way to between the wall and the towers.
Shanaw: Why you and I get on so well?
Tom: We are not that different, you and me. We both feel like we don't fit in here. We both have trouble communicating with other people sometimes. We are both underestimated by people a lot because of things we have not picked up in life at the same time as other people. We both prefer talking with only one person. We both don't like being in groups. We both value our independence and often prefer to be alone. We both have our interests and hobbies but fall behind the average in everything else. We both refuse to do things just because everybody else does them. We both find it hard to relax around and trust those who we live with and spend time with. We both don't like people touching us unless we are in control of the interaction. We both do odd things sometimes (odd to other people, I mean). We both often don't realise how much time is passing. I would go as far as to say you have autistic traits. You may even be mildly autistic.
Shanaw: What that mean?
Tom: Your brain is a lot like mine.
Shanaw: But you know what happened before, how the world works, music, future things... I know how to hunt, fish and explore...
Tom: That is true but you take the sheep up there. They all have sheep brains, but the old one has that strange twitch and that young one always knocks over its trough. Did you ever have identical twins where you grew up?
Shanaw: Yes. They look the same but they different people.
Tom: Exactly. They look the same, have the same mother and father, same age, same brain configuration, same upbringing, mostly same experiences but one could be a very outgoing person who likes trading while the other is a loner who likes animals. You see?
Shanaw: I think so. You and I have nearly same brain but grew up differently and have different abilities and interests, but are somehow the same?
Tom: Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. We'd better get back up there soon.
Shanaw: *pulls Tom closer* Do you and I have to? I wish you and I could tell others you and I together...
Tom: I wish for that too but Kari would kill me. Blod and Eirik would probably come after me too, possibly Knut and Solveig because you are still a teenager. I think I'm about fifteen years older than you, although because I'm so behind in many ways, it shouldn't matter. Back home, I'm expected to date girls aged 25-30 but they are often looking for more in a man than I can provide.
Shanaw: But you clever, nice, care about others, use your power to help others...
Tom: But that's not enough for women aged twenty-five years or older in the 21st century. They want someone who is capable of earning more money than the average, someone who can raise a family, provide security. Women under 25 mainly want a good-looking person who will respect them. Most women of any age want someone who has been through what they have been through.
Shanaw: But this not your time...
Tom: If you ask Blod or Solveig what they would look for in a man if they were single, they would say a kind, strong man who can do a respected job, raise a family and protect them. Blod and Solveig are about my age, believe it or not. So is Eustache. Tomoe, Knut and Eirik are slightly older. Moira and Yaghoub are in their early forties and Cissé is in his fifties, but I digress. They all treat me as someone younger than them because I think and act younger and went through rites of passage much later than them, if at all. It's exactly the same in my time.
Shanaw: But you have me now, so stop feeling sorry for yourself!
Tom: You're right. I'm sorry. I'm very happy with you. We'd better move.
They shared a kiss and went back up the towers.
This was just as well because the logging team then filed back into camp. Cissé was with them, with a cute self-satisfied grin on his face from having planted new saplings. He took 4 wood out of a sack.
Cissé: Shanaw, you're fairly strong and very quick on your feet. Please take this wood to our allies and bring back our share of the resources they have. If you get any trouble from our enemies, forget the resources and come back here.
Knut joined the away team and they went off toward the volcano. Cissé manned Shanaw's tower.
Cissé: Is everything okay here?
Tom: Yes. I've been giving Shanaw speech lessons.
Cissé: Well done. How is she doing?
Tom: First lesson today. We covered first and second person pronouns. She's doing very well. I think she'll breeze through third person pronouns but struggle with auxiliary verbs.
Cissé: That's good news. Let's hope we don't get any bad news this afternoon.
Tom: Yes, let's hope.

That evening...
Knut: They were watching us like ravens. There was no sign that they were going to attack but they clearly wanted to keep an eye on what we were up to.
Cissé: What would they have seen?
Knut: That we were mining a bright yellow soft stone and gathering poop.
Tom: Bugger. That's one cat out of the bag.
They looked at him quizzically.
Tom: Sorry, I meant that's one secret out in the open.
Cissé: So what can we do?
Knut: There's nothing we can do. Now they have their intel, they won't come back unless they want to raid.
Tom: So, plans for tomorrow...Moira has distilling to do, leaving Gudrun free. I suggest Gudrun and I go to Freyja with the beads we do have. If I'm right, we won't need more than 8. If I'm right, then Gudrun and I should be the ones to go.
Cissé: I'll go on watch duty with Shanaw. I might be able to work on her speech more.

Gudrun: I don't have long left.
Moira: How long, exactly?
Gudrun: A week, ten days most.
Moira was too stunned to speak.
Tom: Gudrun, could we have a word?
Moira: Oh, fine! You don't want me anymore but you'll take a dying old woman!
Tom: No hard feelings?
Moira: That you haven't spoken to me for days? No, none at all.
Cissé: Tom!
Tom: Coming!