Scoga and The Island In The Waters Of Time: Part 2

Scoga and The Island In The Waters Of Time

Part 2: Scoga speaks English

“Aaaahhhh!” I screamed, and ran for the nearest tree. But the human said: “Wait! Do you speak English? I mean no harm.” Deep down inside me, I had thought he was either a ghost or a cannibal, but all thoughts of that had to be put aside. I turned around. “I-I-I d-do s-s-p-peak English, y-y-yes,” I said, stuttering with fear. “Good.” he said “We can converse with ease. I am Scoga of the village on this island.” A village? My hopes lifted. Food. No more thimbleberries. Roast beef and mashed potatoes, with maybe some butter. Or bacon... Scoga then continued “I was the one sent to retrieve you. We saw you the day you rowed ashore from the...” he paused with dramatically, and said, with a hushed voice, “the outside.”

Then this Scoga changed the subject. “I was sent here because they think I am about your age. I am ten.” I told him I was short for my age but I didn't mind hanging out with a ten-year old. In fact, I did it quite frequently. I also mentioned that I wouldn't mind something to eat other than thimbleberries. I had quite lost my fear by now. He laughed. “Come with me and we shall have some delicious”- It sounded like- “kiplohfga.” I have never been one to try things that sound like “kiplohfga”, but at the time I was so hungry anything would do, even celery. After I had gotten some answers to a few questions, Scoga said “Let's go!” And off he ran. I followed.

After perhaps an hour we came panting into a clearing. “I'm thirsty,” Scoga said, “There is a brook around here with a”- again, a weird name- “nintool agy” We found, and drank from, the brook, and I found that the “nintool agy”-actually spelled Nintùl Oghî on the cover- was a fridge, cooled by brook water, covered with a stone lid, and set deep into the bank. You put food that will otherwise spoil when you are out and about, and you usually come back and have it for your noonday meal.

There was the -spelled like this, apparently- k'plafga, a cut of meat rapped in a leaf. The leaf was also edible, and it tasted like lettuce. There was also a clay bowl in the Nintùl Oghî full of wild rice. I told him that where we live we also eat wild rice. “From what you tell me this island has never seen any people from the rest of the world?” I said. He looked at me. “There is more land in this world, in the outside?” I dropped the subject after answering his questions.

We then set off, rejuvenated by the k'plafga. The island was larger than I thought. There was a range of hills in the middle, and over it we went stopping at the top to look down. I could see the shore where I had landed in the distance. Scoga pointed. I looked over to the other side and saw smoke rising far away, closer to the other shore. “How did you find me?” I asked. “We have a patrol that goes around the island. A patroller spotted you.” He said,“The only other land that we know of is the land over there.” He pointed to a speck on the horizon. “From there come our enemies, known in this land as the Numeri. They have always wanted to capture our island, but they have never succeeded.

We keep a patrol just in case.”

It was getting late and apparently we still had two miles to cover, though we had come a long way form the hills. It had taken Scoga all morning to get here and no one expected hime to get back in time. So we climbed a tree, where there was a sleeping platform for occasions like this. It was near the shore and also used for the patrols. But it would do.