Amirhan, Part 2 - Mice

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Yesterday, Bwana told us to showel snow on the fields. It was fun. Enembe had not seen snow before, but I had visited Mount Manjaro with my Dad when I was small. Mother had been furious and said that we will die there, but Dad had just laughed. I had said that no we won't because I can take care of Dad because I know that ice bears flee if you hit them into the nose with a hiking pole because I read it from a book because I can because I am already five. Mother had smiled with a worried face and said yes you are and that there are no ice bears on Mount Manjaro. I had said that I will take my hiking pole anyway and so I did. There were lots of snow on Mount Manjaro, much more than in Amirhan yesterday.

Enembe was complaining about the extra work, as usual. It was like coffee to him, he could not function properly if he couldn't complain about something first thing in the morninig. It was a good day. He had a lot to complain about, and we were very brisk and fresh when we finished the job. The electronic devices survive much more extreme weather than this, but we had to wipe the solar panels and clean the detectors, so it took several hours. We also thought that we should shovel snow off the fields so that the plants would get light, but it failed. We only broke the partly frozen leaves with our shovels, so it made things worse. Then we realised that the plants will either die or be inactive in these conditions anyway, so they could as well stay within the snow until it melted.

- Okay I think we are finally done with this, said Enembe. - But we haven't even started with our actual tasks for today, and it's almost noon.
- I think it was good exercise, I said, dropping the shovel and stretching my shoulders. - We don't get such an opportunity any time soon. Bwana said that it never snows here.
- Well I think it was waste of time, Enembe grumbled. The equipment would have appeared from unders snow anyway. It will only take a day or two tops, because the desert sun will melt the snow into water as soon as the temperature rises even slightly above zero.
- Water! Of course, I shouted excitedly. - Come on, there is more work to do.
- Ooaarh, voiced Enembe like a rusty door in dismay but did not actually protest. From my appearance he guessed that protests wouldn't be heard and he hated doing things -- even protesting -- in vain.

I went to the barn and looked at the water canisters. There were lots of them empty. They were of course full when we had come here, but it was no point keeping them full because our water came from mata'ir plants and was actually sap which started to fermentate pretty quickly. So our water reserve  was always quite small, and now we had a chance to correct that problem.

I took two canisters out, opened the caps and started shoveling snow into them. It wasn't easy or quick, because the hole was so small. Enembe scuffed beside me and said:

- It's no use doing that. When the snow melts, you will only have a small dribble in a canister.

I almost started a violent protest about the importance of water reserves, but then I realised that he had something else in his mind. He went to the barn and picked a folded plastic sheet from a shelf. Suddenly a mouse jumped out of the sheet, ran into a dark corner and disappeared. Enembe unfolded the sheet and cursed. It had been nibbled and was full of holes and residues of hay and grass, previsouly a cozy nest for a mouse family. He picked another sheet and inspected it carefully. It was intact.

- See, we place this to the nearby slope, make a huge pile of snow on top of it, and place a canister in a hole in the ground just beside the side where the water runs out of the sheet, and voilà. We have a continuous water collector.

- Enembe, you are the best! I cheered, put my arms around his waist and gave him a tight hug. He was clearly brighter than he wanted to appear with that annoying slow-walking lazy looks.
- Hey, don't squeeze, was the most complain-y thing he could make up in a situation he actually liked. It was a bit funny hugging, he being so tall that he had to bow when entering a room, and I was so short that my thick afro hair would have tickled his belly if he hadn't had the thick clothing. - OK Ndali, I'm hungry. Let's shovel the damn snow and go inside.

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Your topic for tomorrow is Rocks.