The Dawn of Sam (vol. 2)

Samuel tied on his new loincloth and admired it, indulging in a satisfied grunt. It was a little tight. He carried on through the woods with his spear over his shoulder—swinging the recently killed squirrel in his free hand. As he reached his cave he looked around and realized how empty it was.

There was the floor there, and a small impression he’d dug out with his hands to identify the fire pit from the rest of the floor, which was all for sitting and sleeping. Oh, he had several nice rocks. And look at that, two more spears propped up near the cave entrance.

As Samuel stood there at his front door, scratching his rump and admiring the splendor of his abode, there was a cough behind him.

“WHA!” Samuel heard and embarrassingly little-girl-like whoop and, as he spun around, he realized the noise had come from his own mouth.

“Richard!” Samuel cried as he recognized his neighbor from two streams west. “Good to see you, old man! How’re things west?”

Richard grunted noncommittally.

“Come to borrow a cup of sugar, then, have you?” Samuel ventured.

“What?”

“Sorry,” Samuel said, somewhat baffled. “I have no idea why I said that. Listen! I’ve just had a new discovery!”

“Really?” Richard asked, becoming interested. “Is it sugar? Or cups?” New discoveries were profoundly important in this day and age.

“What? No, no. This is fantastic. I call it,” Samuel paused dramatically, “Looking-Out-For-Resources-From-Elsewhere.”

Richard nodded uncertainly.

“Doesn’t that sound great?” Samuel prompted.

“Can I see it?” Richard asked.

“No, no, no. It’s not something you see. It’s something you do!”

“Do?” Richard still wasn’t getting it.

“Exactly!” Samuel was getting caught up in his own excitement. “You find things that other people are good at doing and you get it from them.”

“You poke ‘em with sticks and take it?” Richard nodded, as this seemed perfectly reasonable and acceptable to him.

“What? Sticks? No, Richard! You…” Samuel faltered. He knew many words, and fished around for one that fit, “compensate them. That’s what you do. You give them something in return for their work.”

“A strong elbow to the kidneys!” Richard exclaimed—completely on board with the idea at this point.

“Richard! What are you… That wouldn’t work!” Samuel was getting exasperated.

“I bet it would!” said Richard, emphatically.

“Well, we aren’t talking about beating people into submission,” Samuel said, a little disgustedly. “They ought to want to do it. Or at least give the appearance of being cooperative about it.”

“What’ll you give ‘em, then?” Richard wanted to know.

“How about this squirrel?” Samuel suggested.

“Ech. Who’d want that?”

“Hm. Good point. But, this morning, I met a woman at the stream washing a mountain of laundry…”

“Was it all hers?”

“Yes, yes,” Samuel continued. “I wondered about that. But she gave me this fantastic loin cloth and I compensated her with a rabbit I’d just killed.”

“Oh, I’d wondered where you got that baggy old thing. I didn’t want to be insensitive about it.” Richard offered.

“It’s very snug, actually!’ Samuel retorted, with more defensiveness than he’d meant to.

“Well,” Richard sounded doubtful, “Now you don’t have a rabbit.”

“Right. But I am a very skilled hunter! I can kill plenty of rabbits and use them to compensate people for lots of things”

“You’re a skilled hunter?” Richard asked, his face screwed into a sour expression.

“Of course I am! Isn’t there something you don’t like doing, Richard? Something you’d like to have someone else do?” Samuel asked.

To his credit, Richard gave this question a considerable amount of thought.

“I really don’t like to do anything,” was his reply.

“Then, you’ve got to admit, this seems like a pretty incredible discovery. But you’re going to have a problem if you don’t have anything to compensate people with. I know you’ll think of something, though. You are nothing if not resourceful, Richard!”

“Huh?” Richard wondered how he’d been dragged into this discovery business. He’d completely forgotten why he’d even wandered by Samuel’s cave in the first place.

It was obvious that Samuel had big idea that reached far, by jungle standards. Still, the idea of not having to do everything for himself was appealing, Richard admitted. The possibilities were pretty huge. Richard excused himself, scratched his head, and went home to think about it.

Cassandra Hall
Contributing Editor

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