Things Change

Teerak glided across the lake’s still water like he had done hundreds of times before. “Our people have been here since the beginning. We were strong, and this place gave us life. Why has the change taken so many,” asked the Lupin.

The people of the lake were proud of their race. They had fought off every outsider who tried to take what the gods had given long ago.

“We shall remain strong and defeat this darkness too,” said the chef before he fell ill and died soon after.

Only ten remain, and Teerak wonders who the darkness will take next. “Perhaps everything ends the same as the seasons, and from their death, new life is reborn,” the Lupin remarked, climbing from his boat.

Teerak carried the basket filled with fish and pond weed into the main hut, where Sherra would prepare it for the midday meal. “Hello, husband,” called the female, “I see the gods favor you as always. We shall feast and give thanks for another wonderful day,” Sherra said with a smile.

After the meal, the clan sat, discussing the changes and whether they could do anything. “We should leave and search for a new home. The gods are no longer happy with us,” said the weaver Klutar.

Many bowed their heads, fearing to meet the eyes of others and be judged on how they truly felt about leaving. Everyone was terrified; only tradition and the Lupins’ attachment to their ancestors kept them here.

That night, Memaw, the clan’s wise woman, became sick. “If we lose her, we are sure to die. I will tell the other to prepare to leave at first light while Memaw can still travel,” Teerak told his wife.

The Lupin loaded their possessions into the boats, carefully carried the wise woman to the largest, and placed her on a makeshift bed.

Each Lupin bowed in turn, and then Teerak asked the ancestors for forgiveness for leaving the village which so many generations had called home. “Should we burn it?” asked the weaver.

“No,” came the group’s reply.

“Let the gods be reminded that it was they who abandoned us. Let them see its slow death as we have suffered slowly from their neglect,” said Teerak bitterly.

As the group slowly paddled away, each looked back one last time to a world they would never know again and silently asked, “Why must things change?.”