The First Jumper (first draft version)

The First Jumper 36: The Three Year Winter

When he had wrapped the briar around Cave Bear’s arm, Little Bear had nibbled on one of the little fruits that was on it.  A couple of days later, he realized that whatever was in the rabbit meat was also in that little fruit.  It would help him stay healthier.

He went over to where Apple was tending Cave Bear, and looked at the briar, but it had no more of the fruits on it.  When he asked Apple, she said that she had eaten them all.

“It didn’t make you sick?” he said.

She shook her head.  “That was two days ago,” she said.  “I bit one, and it tasted so good, I couldn’t stop myself, and I ate them all.”

Little Bear thanked her, and went out into the forest by himself.  He looked along the hillside where the snow had blown clear, and found more briars.  They had no flowers on them in the dead of winter, but he did find many of the little fruits, under the snow.

He picked all he could find, ate two, and brought the rest into the cave.  He still waited a few hours to make sure the two he ate weren’t going to bother him, but then he went around to the rest of the tribe, and asked them each to eat two of the fruits.  Some did, and some didn’t, but when the ones who did were feeling better a couple of days later, the rest came to Little Bear and asked for the fruit.

That and Blueberry were his only bright spots in a long period of darkness.  Blueberry came to be a good partner for him, and they took to going to the little cave where the bearskin lay, instead of laying out by the fire with the rest of the tribe.  They were warm enough, wrapped up in the bear fur, and it gave them privacy.

The mammoth bull was skinned and hauled into the cave.  Again, they packed in snow what they couldn’t eat or smoke, giving them food for the entire tribe, for months.

There was no spring, nor summer.  They went outside as much as they could, but there was nothing but more snow.  Then the weather turned colder again, and they knew they were in for another long winter.

The last time the tribe had experienced a multi-year winter, it had been over a hundred strong.  Eighteen had survived, and they were all very sick, before they moved south of the big water in the second year of the winter.  They had fights with many other tribes in that time, and Cave Bear had taken over when his father was killed, halfway through it.  

Since then, the tribe had gotten healthier, but it was still small, in numbers of warriors in particular.  If they moved south and had to fight for their place, they were going to be wiped out.

On the other hand, if they didn’t get a summer where they were, their cave would become a death trap.  It was already hard to find game, even for Little Bear, and they needed to eat other things to stay healthy, too.  Those things had to be free from snow to bloom and grow.

Their limiting factor that first year was Cave Bear.  They were back in deep winter before he could get around, even with help.

Little Bear finally had to face the wisdom in what his father and the others had said.  There was no scenario he could imagine in which Cave Bear would live more than a few weeks or months, once they left the cave.  Sooner or later, he would encounter either another human or a wild animal or an infection, and he would die.  All Little Bear had done was fill his Chief's last days with pain and shame.

This time, there was no lessening of the winter.  During the supposed summer of their first year in the cave, winter never ceased, but there were days outside in which the temperature was actually pleasant.  The whole tribe, from infants to oldsters of thirty, enjoyed the sun for as much as they could, until, shivering, they retreated to the fire in the cave.