The others fell silent. He could not help opening his eyes to see what washappening.
The biggest man he'd ever seen was fumbling with the lock on the cage door.
Behind him were two women with a shelved cart about six feet long. The shelveswere burdened with deep, covered dishes. He smelled it then. Food. Hot food.
It smelled good. He was hungry.
He sat up without considering what he was doing. He looked around. Hissurroundings surprised him. They were not nearly as awful as he had imaginedlast night. By the light of day he 'saw that the cage was huge. The children, while spread out, were all near the entrance. The cage was at least a hundredfeet across and fifty feet high. There were all kinds of trees and bushes andstuff in it. And birds in the trees, up high, almost to where the sunlightcame in through giant windows.
Down lower, he saw the curious faces of several rock apes peeking out of thebushes. The apes were as big as some of the kids. Maybe they were hungry, too.
The giant man got the door open. He came inside, started pointing his fingeraround like he was counting kids. When he was satisfied he beckoned the women, who rolled the cart through the entrance. The big man stepped in behind toblock the exit.
The women began handing dishes to children. Zouki noted that no one went tothem. Also, no one refused to take one of the deep stoneware dishes, orwhatever they were. The little girl nearest him whispered shyly, "You have toeat. Or they'll make you."
Now there was another cart coming, this one managed by four men. Zoukiaccepted a dish from one of the women. It was square, a little over a foot toa side, five inches deep, and elaborately decorated in designs in royal blue.
It was warm. He raised the heavy cloth covering.
There was a cup of something brown. There were two very small bread loaves, what looked like honey, and some orange segments. He did not recognizeanything else, but it all looked good, smelled good, and had to be expensive, the kind of stuff they had at home only on the most important holy days.
He started eating.
He felt better immediately.
The men from the second cart carried a thing like a trunk into the cage andset it down beside another exactly like it. It sloshed. So did the other whenthe men picked it up to take it away. That one was a kind of giant chamberpot. Zouki had seen the other kids use it and had gone to urinate into ithimself once he knew. There was another like it thirty feet along.
The men came back to exchange that. Then they hauled in a taller case andexchanged it for its twin. This one contained fresh drinking water.
The women had finished passing out food. They stepped away from the childrenand waited. The four men got shovels and bags and went back into the foliage, apparently to clean up after the rock apes. None of the adults said a word.
Some of the children finished quickly. What they did then seemed to depend onthe child. Some took their dishes to the women, who scraped the remains oftheir meals onto one of several metal trays sitting atop their cart. When oneof those was full one of the men took it into the foliage for the rock apes.
He brought a dirty pan back.
Most of the children were not bold enough to approach the women. They just left their plates where they were and moved away. The men collected them forthe women.
The giant man never left the entrance.
The adults all went away.
Zouki spent a long time in a bubble of fear, homesickness, and longing for hismother. But curiosity about the apes slowly intruded upon his misery. Hefinally went to see what could be seen.
Before he got to the foliage the men and women appeared again, pushing cartsthat were not the same as those they had brought before. Once more the giantstood guard after the carts had come into the cage.
Each of the women selected a child that she led to a cart. The kids went docilely. The women stripped them naked and lifted them into the carts andbegan to wash and scrub them.
The carts were tubs on wheels. Part of them, anyway.
Zouki did not like baths. He asked the girl who had spoken to him earlier, "Dowe all have to take a bath?"
"You do. You're new."
Holy Aram! They were even washing their hair! He hated having his hair washedmore than he hated anything else in the world. He thought about running tohide with the apes, but he could not move.
The women removed their victims from the tubs, toweled them off, and dressedthem in clean clothing taken from a hamper on the end of the cart. Then theywent after more kids.
One headed straight for Zouki!
His muscles refused to act. He could do nothing but shake and start to leaktears.
The woman was not unkind as she took his hand, hoisted him, and led himunresisting to her cart.
He did not fight back till he saw the pitcher rising to dump water over hishead. He squealed and batted at it, missed. The water gushed down over hishead while a firm hand held him still. He shrieked then, and started pumpinghis legs up and down, running in place, splashing.
Firm hands sat him down in the water and forced him to lean forward. Water cascaded over him, leaving him sputtering. Hands began rubbing soap into hisscalp. But after the indignity of the wash and rinse there was more, somethingthat smelled vile and burned his head.
A woman's voice asked, "Is this the new one?"
"Yes, ma'am." Another woman. The one torturing him.
"Is he in good shape?"
"Except for head and body lice, which they all have when they come in, he appears to be in good health and excellent physical condition."
"Good. Are you about ready to pull him out of there?" "One more rinse, ma'am."
Water splashed over Zouki's head. Then hands hoisted him out of the tub, set him on the floor, began drying his hair with a towel. He opened his eyes. Facing him was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen.
She reached out and took his face between her hands, her palms against his cheeks, and made him look into her eyes. "Don't be afraid. Nobody's going to hurt you."
"I want mom!"
"I know." She patted his cheek.
The woman toweling Zouki asked, "Is he the one, ma'am?"
"I don't think so. Not obviously."
Zouki thought she looked very sad.
Arif considered the tactical situation. Mom was trying to get dressed while Stafa was trying to climb on her and Mish was complaining about something Nana had said to her. None of them were watching the door. It was a good time to go see what was happening. He just walked out the door like it was something he was allowed to do anytime he wanted.
As children will, he had forgotten to take into account all facets of the situation. His grandmother grabbed hold of his clothing and with one yank sat him down beside her. "Where do you think you're going, Arif?" "I was just ..."
"Just what, Arif?"