Time Travelers from the Umbrella House

Chapter 22 Making Things Out Of Clay

The two of them divided the work, Ronnie burning the fire and Michiko making the blanks. Without a windlass, Michiko had to do it all by hand, not only was she beautiful, but her hands were also skilled, and she soon pinched out three bowls. The two of them carefully placed the bowls in the newly built stove and wanted to burn them for the first experiment. Ronnie got a fire from the house and lit the stove, then pulled the blower aside, the flames rose instantly, and Michiko kept adding prepared firewood to the stove, the two were exhausted, and then Alice came back from fishing and joined in. "Ronnie, how long will it take to burn? I'm running out of energy," she asked.

"Sister, it's only been three hours, it'll take at least five more."

"Ah ...... it's going to take that long!" Alice was surprised.

"Sister, you rest, I'll pull."

"Ronnie, why don't you make a pot first? that's what we need most right now."

"A pot is bigger and takes longer to burn, let's experiment with a bowl first and try to make a pot when we have experience."

The three of them worked until five in the afternoon when Ronnie stood up and said, "That should be about it, let's take the bowl out and have a look at it." The trio extinguished the fire and threw out the bowls, only one of which appeared to be intact; the other two had visible cracks. Ronnie took the intact bowl to the beach to test the water to see if it would leak, he filled it with sea water and went back, the water was still full when he got home. He exclaimed happily, "It worked!"

"We can use those two cracked bowls for something else," Michiko suggested.

"No, smash them, we'll make two more tomorrow, what use are broken bowls?" Ronnie said.

Michiko couldn't bring herself to smash them and hid them quietly. The next day, Alice was out to sea again, and Ronnie turned to Michiko and said, "Let's make a pot today, a pot twenty-five inches in diameter and twenty inches high."

"So exact, how can I measure it without a ruler?"

"It's almost twenty-five centimeters long when folded twice in the palm of your hand."

"Then I'll know if you measure this rope with your palm and make a mark," Michiko said and distributed a piece of rope. Two hours later, she pinched and patted a pot out of the prepared clay. Ronnie also gathered as much firewood as he could in that time and the two were ready to start firing. With the experience of the last time, the duo worked well together, one pulling the blower and the other adding firewood, and they were busy until Alice came back and asked, "Did you fire the pot yet? I have both shrimp and crab here, so I'll be making soup for dinner tonight."

"Sister, then you need to go ahead and catch the water in a bowl, the pot will be almost ready in about five hours."

Alice took Ronnie's advice and went to the water source to fetch water, digging up some potatoes by the way. At ten o'clock in the evening, the pot was finally out of the oven, and the three were very anxious, fearing that something was wrong with the burnt pot. So far from the surface, the pot had no cracks, the next step was to test the water, Alice held up the pot and walked toward the beach, Ronnie and Michiko followed. When they reached the beach, Alice bent down and filled the pot with water, then held it up for them to see if the bottom of the pot was leaking. The two of them looked around with their eyes wide open, holding their breath, and found no water leaking out. The three of them were overjoyed, and with this pot, their home was becoming more and more presentable. The three rushed home, ready to cook shrimp and crab to eat. They set up the pot inside the house, poured a bowl of water prepared by Alice into the pot, and threw the cleaned shrimp and crab into the pot. After ten minutes, a fresh smell came out of the pot, "It smells so good!" Ronnie took a deep breath and couldn't help but praise. The three fished out the shrimp and crab and quickly shared them cleanly, it was the first time they had eaten a full meal since coming to the island. Over the next few days, Ronnie and Michiko produced two more bowls, three more plates, and three more spoons. "Sis, we should learn how to plant potatoes, or we'll soon run out of potatoes in the wild."

"What's another devilish idea? tell me."

"We should level the other plants in the 'little garden' and plant them all with potatoes."

"It's quite apt that you call this valley 'Little Garden,' it's really beautiful there," Michiko laughed.

"Do you worship me then?"

"Don't you stink, little rascal."

Seeing the two of them about to fight again, Alice interjected, "Then you go work at the 'Little Garden' tomorrow, I have to go out to sea." The three talked and went to bed, Ronnie squeezing in between the two girls again. It was after two in the morning when he got up to pee, only to find that Michiko wasn't in the house. Thinking that she had a pee problem like him, he didn't care. He went outside, peed, shook twice, and returned to the house. Then he remembered that he hadn't seen Michiko, maybe she was hiding in a corner somewhere, he thought to himself. He lay down and went back to sleep, but he tossed and turned and couldn't sleep, ten minutes passed and he still didn't see Michiko come back, he was a little strange. He got up and nudged Alice to wake her up, "Sister, where did Michiko go? I didn't see her outside either."

"Wait a little, maybe she has a stomach ache and doesn't feel well," Alice replied.

The siblings waited for another ten minutes and still didn't see her come back, so the duo got worried and rushed out of the house to look for her. "Sister, I'm afraid to go alone, can I go with you?"

"What a coward, then follow me!" Alice was afraid that he would get lost as well and agreed without thinking.

The duo searched around the cave first, shouting as they went, their voices seemed especially clear in this silent and dark island, but they got no response. "Sister, let's go to the beach and have a look."

"Good," Alice nodded in agreement and the two of them ran to the beach. As they ran, they found many untidy footprints on the beach. A cloaked and disheveled woman was pointing ahead with one hand and yelling, "You hooligans, don't come over, don't come over!"

"Michiko!" Ronnie was shocked and started to run up. But Alice pulled him back, "Don't come over, it will scare her!"

"Sis, what's wrong with Michiko? has she gone crazy?"

"I don't know, but I think she must have suffered a lot, and I think the damage she suffered has something to do with those two 'Bira coins'."

"Why do you say that? Sister."

"I noticed that Michiko has a lot of scars on her back from the past few months, and I think she must have paid a lot for those two 'Bira coins.'"

"So what do we do now?"

"Wait a little longer, we'll go over there when she's tired."

The siblings hid behind a rock and waited an hour for Michiko to calm down. Just as they were about to approach her, she suddenly came to her senses, rolled her eyes, looked around, straightened her clothes, and ran in the direction of the cave. The two hurried to follow her and the three of them returned home almost at the same time, "What are you two up to? why are you all outside?" Michiko asked.

"Ronnie was afraid of the dark, so I went with him to pee," Alice lied.

Ronnie looked at her quickly and thought, "You're quite the liar, sis."

"Oh Ronnie, you're just as cowardly as Rajeev," Michiko laughed and teased.

"Michiko, what were you doing outside just now?"

"I didn't go outside, I was in this house the whole time, I got up when I woke up and saw you weren't there."

Ronnie cursed in his heart, "You lying bastard, you don't even admit what you just did, it seems women love to lie."

Alice also asked with a puzzled face, "Michiko, you really didn't go out just now?"

"I really didn't go out, why are you all asking that?" Michiko was a little angry.

When the siblings saw that Michiko's face was sincere and did not look like she was retracting a lie, the cloud of doubt in their hearts grew even higher. "Could it be that we're looking at the wrong person?"

"Go to sleep! it's still a few hours until dawn," Alice didn't want to dwell on it and yawned.