Erwin

Part 1

Erwin felt the spear jab at his side. "Hey, take it easy!" he said to the man on his right. Of course he got no reply, no one here would speak English, wherever here was. Their plane had crashed over the Pacific several hours ago and he had washed up on this island that he didn't remember seeing on the map. Now he was being led to who-knows-where by a bunch of angry men.

The people in front were leading them through a dense jungle. There was no path, but they seemed to know exactly where they were going. He supposed that was to be expected. Before long though, he could see light shining through the trunks ahead and they came out into a clearing with several houses. They were round and thatched with palm fronds, but large and tall. At the center was the largest, and they were heading towards it now as many of the other villagers looked on in curiosity at him.

A few words were spoken and one of the men walked into the house. Just a few seconds later, a tall and strong looking woman came out with a stern look on her face as she looked at Erwin.

He felt himself holding his breath as she looked at him. It was a new experience for him to not be able to talk or explain himself, and he didn't like it. His life hung in the balance here and he felt panic rising as as he heard the woman and the man who had gotten her trade harsh words.

But after only a few lines back and forth, the man frustratedly yelled something at the others who stood around Erwin. He heard some murmuring amongst them, but he then felt the rope around his hands get cut free and he breathed a sigh of relief. At least he wasn't going to be killed outright, maybe he could find a way out of this.

Everyone was looking at him expectantly and warily, and he knew that how he continued this was very important. He knew nothing of their customs of course, but he had to do something. Looking back at the woman, he gave a low bow and said "Hello".

Part 2

There was little reaction except a small smile from the woman. She looked thoughtful for a moment and then moved her hand to her mouth a few times.

Still running on adrenaline, it took Erwin a couple seconds to realize what she meant before he nodded, but he got only a confused look in response. Communication was going to be difficult... He then moved his hand towards his mouth and nodded at the same time, hoping to explain what a "nod" meant.

She gave no response to him, but spoke to another one of the people, hopefully to get him some food or water.

The woman then said something aloud to everyone else, and many left to go about their business once again. Only the woman and a few of the men remained with him. Wordlessly, one of them beckoned him to follow.

Calming down, Erwin did as he was asked and looked back up at the village. There were probably 30 or 40 structures, and about 150 people if he had to guess. The buildings were spread out in a large clearing, circled around the woman's at the center in rings. They were now walking to another fairly large building and Erwin could see that they were built from wood, probably from the trees that surrounded them. Stepping inside, he saw the bottom was dirt and there was a fire in the center, with wooden benches surrounding it. At the peak of the conical roof, he could see a hole, opening to the outside with what looked like a cover a few feet above.

He was motioned to sit at one of the benches and he did, thinking about how to communicate with them, and how to get home.