Doug Hilton | + Follow Poet |
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The Scent of a Woman

In 2038 time travel was/is invented. 
The first travelers -- scientists, all, are tasked to find out
  how the first great ape became intelligent.

They are ordered not to interact: "Just watch!"
  "The world is afraid of changing the timeline!"

They setup a secret observation post.
They observe some apes quietly.
But the apes of olden times have some vision in the near-infrared range 
  so they can see the shadows of the observers in their observation post.

The apes have acute sense of smell and they smell the woman scientist:
  Every month they smell her mating smell.

One ape thinks the smell comes because of the full moon.
  That happens in his own tribe,
    with his own mates.
  He tries to explain that to his tribe,
    but grunts and gestures are to no avail.

Every month one ape smells the woman:
  He watches the images moving, moving.
  "What tribe?" he thinks -- he thinks!

Later on, when the moon is full and he doesn't smell her:
  He is upset.
    He starts thinking about what happened to the female:
      "Why no smell?"

He ponders the idea of death for the first time,
  and for a long time.
He ponders life for the first time,
  and for a long time.
His eyes light up for the first time,
  and for a long time.

The next morning he thinks:
  "It's time to climb down and look around"
He liked walking -- he did it more and more.
  For a long time.

Another morning: he saw the sun glint on a shard of obsidian
  and he knew that he was going to feast on pig meat tonight!

*******

Sometime later: he discovered how to save a tree branch
  that caught fire after a lightning storm.
    Pig meat was much better after that.
      His tribe agreed.

The rest is history (to us).

The scientists died out one by one,
  and they never did figure it out,
    and they were sorry they went
      back in time.
        Forever.

Copyright © Doug Hilton | Year Posted 2019

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