Chapter 41
A very aunty-like woman was shaking her b.u.t.t to a Punjabi song that she opened on her smartphone while arranging her grocery items according to category on her newly made DIY shelf. The song went viral a few years back from a funny English-dubbed version which didn't conform to the real meaning of the song. Once she heard it, she had painstakingly searched the real version and downloaded it for safekeeping in her smartphone as she had been smitten with the energy driven song.
"Tututu..tututu..dadada.." As she danced through and twirled once a while following the upbeat song by a funny looking Punjabi uncle, a small black snake was trying hard to follow her steps by wriggling along at her side. A white fox was watching their every move while sighing exasperatedly. The song was amplified by the cave's echoey characteristic, making the atmosphere more enjoyable. The lady only knew to sing the chorus of the song happily because it really sounded like 'omelette' in Malay (1).
Of course, who else could it be, other than our lovely and lovable (okay don't puke here okay, I'm just joking) main protagonist, Hana. She was in an extremely good mood currently.
She only took a few moments to arrange her stuff while continuously tapping her foot to the song. At the same time, she had gone through her list in her notepad and updated her inventory, for the n-th time. There were so many scribbles on the present notepad, but she kept on using the same page again and again. She can't afford to waste new papers. She had used nearly all of her sc.r.a.p paper receipts to practice on fire building a few days ago.
Perishable time
Within one week
Chicken sausage (2)
Within one month
Eggs (2)
Bird egg (1)
Tausa biscuits (5)
Potatoes (4)
Within a year
Rice (1kg)
Instant noodles (4)
Wheat flour (1kg)
Bihun (500g)
Teh tarik (10)
Chicken stock (11)
Curry powder (400g)
Salt - in use
Twisties
Never expires
Belacan (1)
Adabi herb pouch (1)
Foraged Items
Asam gelugor (4)
Ironweed (3)
Turmeric leaves (a lot!)
Turmeric tubers (a bit)
Bamboo shoot (1)
Catfish (not sure) - so many!
Items
1.5 L water bottle (2)
clingwrap (1)
diaper (1)
mini wetwipes (1) - in use
baby napkin/towel
chisel (for digging soil) (1) - left beside stream
Tava/hotplate (1) - the flowery pink ceramic
Mini kitchen knife (1) - s.h.i.+ro's claw
Bamboo poles (∞ nos)
Labu sayong/calabash gourd water container - unfired (1)
Cooking pot - unfired (1)
Pannikin (1)
Hana checked on her pots, especially the calabash-shaped water container and the cooking pot. They were finally bone dry. She didn't have time to burnish the potteries she made. There were simply so many things to do. Gently, she carried the pots and placed them just beside the still-burning fire. Hana used a stick to drag piles of burning coals and woods and arranged them around the pots carefully. She then added a lot of dried leaves and twigs directly on top by the heapful! Fire roared high inside the cave as the intense heat stung Hana's face while making her eyes watered. She quickly backed off and continued her previous work while moving her shoulders a little cheerily.
Looking at the 'infinity' symbol representing the number of bamboo poles present, Hana stopped for a short while to ponder. Should she really count?
[Nahhh...] The cincai aunty was too lazy to count how many bamboo poles were present. However, she had so many ideas to try on the bamboo poles until it was quite hard for her to contain her excitement. Such was how a good knife changed her aversion towards labor work. She now saw those works as 'crafting sessions'.
What else should she checked on?
Twiggies were finished. Banana already hit zero.
Hana was unafraid since she already found wild banana trees en route from the stream she frequented every day. She only took the large leaves to cover the bed of smaller leaves she used when she slept on the cave floor. She was just waiting for them to ripen
Instant noodles...hmmm...her mouth started to water; only four is left. Then she turned to look at the small bag of rice. Saliva threatened to spill out.
[d.a.m.n you rice, why did you look so tempting today?] T__T It was already the fourth day Hana didn't eat rice. It was the longest time in her life. She was forcing herself not to touch it since she was scared that she couldn't stop herself from finis.h.i.+ng it too quickly.
Hana sniffed the last of the chicken sausages. Ewwww...It smelled funny.
Hana sighed sadly. Obviously, they were turning bad since she didn't keep them in the fridge. The temperature in the cave was not low enough to slow down bacterial contamination. In fact, with the high moisture content in the air, mold would easily thrive too. She knew if she continues to eat those, she might get a stomach ache. Should she grill it a little and toss it to her pets?
She sighed again defeatedly and put aside that notion. She was afraid the kids would get sick too. Hana had forgotten her condition didn't apply to her pets. They were wild animals localized to the present environment, hence won't get sick easily. After a moment of contemplation, she decided to use to final sausages as fish bait. Her last catch was significant. Maybe it was partly due to the novel taste of the sausage pieces apart from how dumb the fishes were. She cling wrapped the sausages and tied them up on the highest level of the shelf.
Next, she checked for her short term and yesterday's goal and made a few remarks;
Short term goals (Day 3)
1. Scout surroundings for information and geographical location - half done
2. Find water source - done!
3. Find tinders, twigs and logs for fire making - done!
4. Find things for defense - done (sharpened burned shaft)
5. Make water filter - done!
6. Make water container - done!
7. Make a cooking pot with clay - done!
8. Forage rattans to make baskets - errr..wait a sec okay
9. Make fish trap at river - haha, already got fis.h.!.+
What to do today (Day 3)
1. make water filters using bamboo canisters - done!
2. make a fish trap - done!
3. forage some lianas/rattans - done by Kuro:)
4. find clay sand for pottery making - done!
5. forage for tinders/twigs/log - already done!
Hana beamed with delight! She truly had come far in her rainforest adventure. It turned out 90% of her objectives were done. She had never done so much male-oriented brawny work such as these all her life. It's time to turn to a new page and make new objectives to strive ahead to lead a better life, at least during her stay in this cave, before her beloved save her for good.
She slowed down the volume of the fun Punjab song and focused on her task at hand in front of the burning potteries, letting her snake pet having fun dancing at the side. She sat with a cross-legged and scribbled on her notepad seriously. From her interaction with her hubby and her family, she could make out that they didn't have the slightest clue where she was as of now. She knew she had to stay put in this place longer than antic.i.p.ated. Hence, she needed to upgrade her living conditions to maintain her health and wellbeing. After all, it could be weeks or months before they find her. If she just stayed in and finishes her supplies, what will happen when everything finishes in a few weeks' time? Rationing her current supplies carefully without finding a way to multiply her food source was not the way to go.
For food, she needed vegetables or fruits, which she could get from foraging. Protein sources was not a problem since she could get from the fishes by the stream and eggs gifted by Kuro. How about carbohydrates? She currently didn't have a steady supply of carbs. In her inventory, she had plenty of carbs in the form of rice, instant noodles, bihun, wheat flour and potatoes. It could last her most probably around one to two months if she rationed them wisely. But following the trend of feeding the little ones, she felt that it was impossible. Someone like her who ate a lot won't felt full just eating a meager amount of meat and vegetables. She needed carbs to compensate!
"We need to start planting!" Hana stood up abruptly, startling Kuro who had stealthily crept to snuggle in her lap after enough dancing. Regardless of whether she would leave the place earlier or later, it was good to have a contingency plan to fall back to. She observed her foodstuff and found that only potatoes could be planted. Instant noodles and wheat flour were totally out since they have been processed totally. Bihun was a vermicelli made from rice, while the rice itself was not suitable for planting. It has gone through de-husking and polis.h.i.+ng, it was practically impossible to grow once the seed itself was altered that much from its original form.
Like this, she had found a new target to achieve; planting her first ever cash crop in a little personal garden. Well before that, she needed to make the garden first.
New Short Term Goal! (Day 4)
1. Survey a suitable location to make a garden
2. Clear the garden
3. Make a fence circling the garden
4. Make a water source for the garden
5. Plant potatoes
6. Transfer a variety of herb plants from stream to garden
It'll be her first time dabbling in hardcore agriculture such as this. But Hana won't give up. She needed to work towards her goals rather than wallowing in negativity while waiting for her family to rescue her. Rather than walking everywhere and make herself lost in an even worse condition, it was much better to stay put and establish a base with ample amount of food and water around.
Hana spend the next few minutes finis.h.i.+ng up her plan. She needed to start prepping the bamboo shoot before anything else. Tomorrow will be a feast!
Author's Note:
1) "..really sounded like 'omelette' in Malay" = yep, in Malay, omelette is known as 'telur dadar', locally spoken as 'te-low-dda'
After a while, did you start shaking your shoulders to the beat? (laughing) It's infectious, I tell you!