This year the gods are already coming to select students among us. To be honest, I wished it very much. Ai and I dreamed of becoming gods together. Well, that is, if you translate it into the language of my parents. Mine didn't want to let me go, and said I was too young, but I was tired of being here. I wanted to see the world, I wanted to travel. I mean, I'm a hitchhiker, I must have a piano. I want to get to the top of the world.
I'm six years old now. The interesting thing here is that they don't celebrate the birthday. So the kid was born on this day, so what? Everywhere has its own traditions, it's not up to me to decide what to do and how to do it, and I have not seen any money in the village. When I asked how they exchange or sell things, they said that they bargain, for example, here the most valuable things are meat and grains, the richest people here are those who eat a lot of meat and rice. For example, a hunter who kills a boar or a tiger can earn good money on it. The meat can be exchanged for a bag of rice, and the skin can be used to make clothes or something else, but hunters do not live long here. There are animals that are bigger than humans, and much faster by several times. I've only seen one tiger or something, but that's not the point. They say it's as fast as lightning. It is impossible to catch or kill it. They are faster than you and they kill you right away and you won't even feel it. That tiger was caught by a few hunters and they lost two men. But that wasn't all, they caught it by chance, when he himself was accidentally caught in a boar's trap. And even wounded he killed two. I'm afraid to even imagine what they are capable of when healthy.
But the main reason why I want to leave with these gods is that my mother is sick. I found that out recently, I happened to see her coughing up blood. I guess some people wouldn't care. I mean, they're almost strangers to me and my parents are in the past, but I can't do that. I'm used to them, I call them father and mother. What else could it be? They raised me, clothed me, fed me, and give me everything I need in life. So if the gods can cure her, I would be more than happy to go with them.
Today everything was as usual, I helped my mother at home and in the garden. And my father was out hunting. I fetched water from the lake and watered her vegetable garden until Ai came running in.
- Ho? Hoo?
- What is it?
- The gods have flown in!
- What do you mean, they flew in?
- They came on a big bird"-she started pointing at the birds-"they're big. Let's go see them, and the gods will take us too.
- I don't think so, they'll check on us first when they arrive, they've only just arrived, Ai, so calm down. They won't start screening today, that's for sure.
- Come on, Ho, don't be a drag!
- I'm not boring, can't you see there's a lot of work to do?
- You water your garden every day, and you don't see gods every day, and I haven't seen birds like that either. Let's go.
- All right, let's go. Only after that, you'll help me carry the water.
- Whatever you say!
We went to the center of the village. That's where the elders live, as the parents said. Well, as the elders, it's just that their children have always been taken by the gods, and their children say they come here to get new children. And they bring something to their parents. I did not understand what it was, but they said it was some kind of round pills. There are different pills, they sell them for a few boars or the same tigers. One pill a few boars or one tiger. What-so-ever, they live very well. For example, our family eats meat, but not that often. My father can't go hunting every day, at this rate he would die very soon. He goes hunting a few times a month and that is enough for us, what is left he exchanges for rice. I heard from my parents that they wanted to buy a cough medicine pill and they demanded 3 boars for it. Expensive of course, but who knows how much those pills cost. That's why they are seniors. They have pills, meat, rice, and they live well. And their children, frankly, are pigs. I heard that they take several women as wives, and if they like them, they also take children. There was even a story told here that one of the older ones fell in love with a hunter's wife. He tried to buy her from him. But he refused, and the older man, for that matter, still took the woman to himself a week later, and the hunter is said to have died. The most interesting thing is that the woman poisoned her husband, as I heard. People are the same everywhere. Everyone wants the best
We were running towards the center of the village, when I looked up I saw a few birds. What the hell birds? It's a Tyrannosaurus in its purest form. Not so much a Tyrannosaurus, but man, those birds are like a huge truck. And their faces are weird, like from an eagle and something else, but more like an eagle. I wonder where I ended up.