ABSTRACT
Here, in the safety of the high rocks, with your belly full, you lie back in the nook of a low branch and rest. Above the forest below and in the distance, you can see the white clouds darkening. You sniff the air and smell rain before it begins to fall. You shift for comfort, and the breeze and the play of sunlight through the leaves lull you near to sleep — more like a daydream trance. In your semiconscious dream state, you see the rain and you dream of the youth of your clan playing in the rain, and the red-clay mud left in puddles in front of the caves. They scoop up handfuls of mud and sling them at one another. They roll in the puddles and slap each other with hands full of clay, leaving momentary red handprints on each other’s backs and stomachs. Though seen only in your mind’s eye, your dream vision is as real to you as the waking.
