madwriter

PROGRESS REPORT FOR 11/25/11

New Words: 1900 on Chapter 1 ("Those Who Came Before") Section 3 ("The Canal Builders") of Arizona. Kwewu, dreaming of building bigger and better canals, gets pressured into taking the life of a trader after his brother and sister both join a Hohokam war society.

Total Words: 35800.

Reason For Stopping: Getting ready for more holiday stuff.

Book Year: 748.

Mammalian Assistance: None--Vegas was sacked out in a window somewhere.

Exercise: Walking Tucker around the neighborhood.

Stimulants: Dr. Pepper.

Today's Opening Passage: It slammed into him before he could react. They rolled to the edge of the canal and Kwewu tried striking at it ineffectually before he realized the laugher was in his sister’s voice. Tohbi loomed over him, her face that strange and unsettling mix of cheerfulness and deadly earnest that had taken residence there since their family died.

“You nearly knocked me into the canal!” he yelled.

She made a rude, scornful noise. “So? You’re always halfway in it anyway.”

Darling Du Jour: He was excited for Judumi’s sake. But he was also dreading it because he knew how many stares would be on him too, asking Why aren’t you taking the challenge too? Or at least, When will you decide what to do with your life? He knew his family loved him, but they did not have the stars’ patience.

Kwewu gave his older sister a long look. “And you’ll be watching too?”

Another scornful noise, and she tossed the hair away from her eyes. Only then did Kwewu realize what he hadn’t noticed before: She was letting her hair grow long.

Like their ancestors for centuries before, Hohokam women kept their hair short, cut like a bowl around the scalp and hanging no longer than the base of the neck, or more often stopping just below the ears. The men let their hair grow long and would tie it at the bottom. Tohbi was letting her hair grow out, just like a man’s...

“You’re taking the challenge too,” he realized.

Her gaze turned hard. “Will you try to stop me?”

He shook his head. He knew better; she was stronger and faster than him in every way. He knew because she had spent the years since the village’s burning training secretly with him. He wasn’t unskilled at the arts of war, but Tohbi soon outstripped him, even though she had to spend most of every day pretending to be a passive adopted daughter of the household, weaving baskets and painting pottery and gathering the maize. He would never tell her this, but Kwewu admitted to himself that she could face the Bear Society. She was the equal of any of them—maybe even Judumi—and better than most.

Non-Research / Review Books In Progress: Michener; Marcus Aurelius; Coalescent by Stephen Baxter.