Soleil

Soleil was anxiously combing through the lush undergrowth for one kind of scarce herb which could cure her son of fever when she noticed the sun being blotted out by masses of clouds and a gathering gloom that presaged an imminent storm ahead. With much reluctance, she decided to stop the futile search for now and turned to make for their cottage located in the secluded depth of the jungle. Yet the rain started pelting down almost immediately.

She scurried along with Dodo resting comatose in her arms, his head reposed lethargically on her shoulder. The little boy’s cheeks were flushed by the severe illness which further withered the garland he was wearing over time. Kasa, his twin brother, had to do a double shuffle to keep pace with Soleil, holding in his hands one rattan basket, still empty of the grass they were keenly looking for.

Suddenly, a bolt of lightening flashed across the overcast sky. The thought of having faintly discerned several monstrous shapes looming in the darkness sent a thrill of alarm through her being. She came to an abrupt halt, pricking up her ears in growing unease, but only for a short while. Thereafter she turned sharp on her heels, took up Kasa’s hand in firm clasp and scuttled off in a hurry, seconds before the thunder rumbling above was overwhelmed by a torrent of blood-curdling roar.

They darted through the dusky rainforest, aware of the jaguars lurking around and chasing after. Soleil was impressed upon the ferocity of these hideous predators when she barely escaped from their kill by a hair’s breadth last time, at the expense of her mate’s life. With the scene of that nightmarish moment multiplied endlessly in her mind, she was stirred into a frenzy of anguish and fear, with the wild hope that these murderers had not meant to destroy the fragile happiness of her family this time. They threaded their way through tangled roots and stems of creepers, ended up totally drained of energy. Badly scratched, they also found their clothes soaked in the dark, damp heat, but the instinct for survival urged them on.

Yet now she paused on some shattered rocks, wiping off the sweat on her face. Kasa stood by her, breathless. On either side of them there was a broad stretch of river cliff, below which the muddy water surged. They were stopped from proceeding: by no means might anyone manage to swim across such treacherous currents. Soleil bent down to give Kasa’s arm a reassuring squeeze as he whimpered in anxiety, before she looked back with downcast eyes at Dodo, still lying in her arms in feverish stupor, and adjusted the garland on his head, the special ornament that she had woven for him only.

The forest slightly vibrated. She looked up abruptly when she heard the rustle, instantly realising that the jaguars had been trailing them. Her eyes scanned desperately in all directions, until they focused on a granite outcrop ten metres away where branches of liana stems dangled. Without wasting any words, Soleil took up Kasa's arm and clambered up the huge rock, on top of which she fetched two tough vines, deftly fastening them around her and her son's waists respectively.

Hardly had she finished doing this when the underbrush parted as the beasts' gross shapes emerged. They dashed ravenously towards the outcrop, and their claws would have hurt her heels had she not jumped off the cliff with her sons in the nick of time. With a gasp of relief, Soleil was swiftly swinging towards the opposite river bank, until all of a sudden, she heard something snapping over her head. She looked up sharply. Too late. The vine broke off right away, dropping its two holders into the turbulent waves below, and thereupon they were forcefully pushed apart. Intuitively, Soleil stretched her arms in the hope of seizing Dodo, but only managed to grab his garland before losing her consciousness.

The rain ceased. The breeze blew cool on the taunt face of Kasa’s, who painfully watched her mum lying on the blood-stained sandy bank, hair unkempt and features twisted, himself having landed safe and sound. She had just been washed onshore, still breathing intermittently. But from her agonising appearance, it was not difficult to speculate about the worse things to come, though he tried hard to dismiss such frightful thoughts. Now sitting restlessly beside her, all his sensibilities had been roused to catch and respond to her slightest movements.

”Do... Dodo...” mumbled Soleil as she finally widened her eyes in a golden sheen of sunset glow. Kasa’s nose twitched at the thought of his ill-fated brother, but his outward calmness belied the quickening emotion underneath, “He’s all right, mum... Just a minute, I’m bringing him here.” After saying such consoling words, he watched straight out of her sight, only to let his tears flow freely but silently down his cool cheeks in pangs of grief.

Soleil’s eyes lit up with joy on noticing her son approaching, “Dodo it had to be”, even though her impaired vision deprived her of the bless to distinguish his lovely features clearly. She could not say anything, but conveying a great deal by the troubled sadness and maternal solicitude in her eyes. “We both love you, mum,” said he in a tone of subdued sadness, before squatting down to kiss her sun-tanned cheek with all his affection.

”Gar... Garland,” she forced this word out of her throat with great pains, which lent a bit awkwardness to the situation for he could not find a good response to it, but not for long. With a genial smile, she gathered her feeble energies to take the rattan garland out of her clothes, putting it carefully on her son’s head, caressing him fondly. He was only able to exert all his effort to refrain from tear, not wanting to hurt her any further.

The last trace of warmth dissipated when the sun bade the world farewell, taking Soleil as his companion. Stunned into immobility, Kasa watched this in wide-eyed misery, holding the wilted garland on his head, until the rising tides of sorrow culminated into his flinging himself upon her yet warm body, dissolved into tears all over again.