Ember of a New World Read Online Free PDF Page B

women, the older boys wore w o ven reed wraps around their waists, though some opted for thin animal skins wrapped in the same manner. The boys were hoping to catch the eye of women with their fishing skills, each trying to outdo the next.
    Like the boys, Ember also tended to spend the rare warm days in the deeper water fishing for larger fish. Most of the time it was too cold and she would have to rely on a fishing spear, with a tether to retrieve it from the bank. Luckily, the water was warmer than normal from the warm temperatures of late.
    After a moment's scan of the river, Ember’s eyes settled upon her mother, East. East sat upon the ground cleaning a fish not ten lengths of a man from the path where Ember stood. East looked up and smiled at her daughter. Ember walked over and knelt beside her mother, who was using a thin and very small flint blade to clean a large catfish. The blade was probably a small shard from a flint kna p per, someone skilled at the craft of creating tools from flint or chert. Such shards were kept and tooled using firm pressure to shape them into tiny but useful knives, of a sort. Today, the flint was being used to dress a Catfish. Catfish were a favorite catch because they were easier to prepare than many fish. This was because they bore no real scales and required only gutting, a messy job.
    Gutting was required for any animal before it could be cooked and eaten. The entrails would first be removed a nd discarded. Eating entrails or allowing any of their “poisons” into the body would make you very ill. This was common wisdom passed down from mother to daughter. However, many of the organs were kept and eaten for their nutritional value. Great care was required when removing and sep a rating these organs from entrails and other discarded pieces. This was a task at which East was quite proficient.
    “It’s always nice when you awaken merely to see how the rest of us do our work , ” she said sarcastically. Ember shrugged and let the comment roll off of her. She had been guilty of sleeping late many times in her life and she wasn’t about to let her mother get to her.
    “You will have to be more considerate of others when you b e come a woman, Ember. Or do you plan to remain a girl for your entire life? You could even start by sitting down beside your tired mother and helping her with these fish. They don't gut themselves, you know ,” she said gesturing to several fish of different sorts beside her. Ember held back a smile as she thought of a self-gutting fish, causing East to frown. Often, the older women gutted and cleaned the fish while the younger folk caught them. With that opening, Ember took out the small reed basket and set it beside her mother.
    “You're right, I should be more considerate. I picked some sour berries for you on my way over be cause I know how hard you work.” Smiling to herself, Ember’s smug expression drew an incredulous look from her mother who was not fooled a bit by her daughter’s e x planation.
    “Well, at least you always know how to talk your way out of any situation , ” her mother said, eying the delicious gift. “Here, make yourself useful and carry these fish back to the village for the fest i val ,” East said, indicating a reed mat-wrapped bundle of small cleaned catfish and organs. Catfish is normally a rather large fish; though these were small fish, each being no longer than Ember’s arm in length and the width of her l eg.
    “I’ll get right to it, but first, the water calls!” Ember said as she broke into a run towards the river giving her mother no time to come back. East merely sat there shaking her head as she flicked an other fish into the pile.
    When will that fool girl ever take anything seriously? She's just like her father was , East wondered.
    As she ran, Ember stripped her clothing leaving her flax skirt, doe skin shirt, and leather wrap handled flint knife in a small line headed to the water. With a great leap Ember