Life as a Young NomadBy: Amoreena CharlesBANG BANG BANG!“Ugh,” Kalaka grumbled. Her dad was the chief of their nomadic tribe. He wanted tostay as nomads while Kalaka and Zub wanted to be villagers that stayed in complexvillages. How long do we have to live as nomads? I heard life in Mesopotamia as a villagerwas better! She thought angrily. Chief Eddu was crushing lizard skins with a rock early inthe morning. Why must he wake up so early in the morning just to wake everyone else uptoo?Well, since I’m already up, I’ll go see if Zub’s awake yet. Zub was Kalaka’s best friendsince their fathers were hunting partners. The tribe was migrating because all the animalswere migrating, too. Kalaka slept in a portable tent just her size. So did Zub. The tribeKalaka was in the Tiger Tribe. She told anyone who asked that she was thirteen, but shewas probably more like twelve. No one could tell for sure, because the Tiger Tribe did nothave a yearly calendar, just weekly and daily. She slipped on her wolf fur boots her dadmade for her when he’d killed an extra wolf on a hunting trip. They were a bit too big, butshe didn’t mind. Kalaka dashed out of her tent, running to Zub’s tent. Kalaka slapped theside of his tent loudly.“Kal?” Zub stuck his head out of his tent. “Ha! I thought you’d never be awake thisearly!”“Well, dad woke me up. You?” Kalaka sat outside of his tent as he packed it up.“Chief Eddu woke me up, too.”“Well, what do you want to do today, Zub?” Kalaka asked.“I dunno,” Zub said, as he finished packing. “We’re leaving today so…”“I’ve got it!”“What?” Zub asked excitedly.“We could leave a message for the next tribe that stays here!” Kalaka said cheerfully.“Yes!” Zub agreed happily. “Hold up. Lemme put my tent away.” Zub folded his tent,then stuffed the folded tent into its bag. Then he walked over to the pile of other kids’tent bags.“What are you doing, Zub?” Kalaka wondered out loud. “You’re going to lose your tent!”“No,” Zub argued. “I put my name on it.”“Mhm,” Kalaka mumbled, unconvinced.“Let’s leave the message on a rock!” Zub said, changing the subject.“Yeah!” Kalaka agreed excitedly. “Will this do?” Kalaka pointed to a rock that was thesize of her torso. “Yup,” He nodded. “Let’s do it!”Hold up. Here comes Abhi! Kalaka thought, her heart racing. She felt warm feelings towardAbhi every time she saw him. Zub did not look excited to see Abhi, but also not incurious.Abhi was a young boy, around the age of fourteen. He had blonde hair and wore wolfskinrobes, the same material as Kalaka’s boots.“Hey, Ab,” Zub said as Abhi walked by.He’s so popular! Kalaka thought. Hopefully he’d never like a girl like me! Kalaka wasused to boys drooling over her, but this kid… he never even payed attention to Kalaka; asif she didn’t exist.“Man̄ ci rōju,” Abhi said to Zub joylessly, walking right past Kalaka and Zub. Man̄ ci rōjumeans “good day” in Telugu, the Tiger Tribe’s language other than English.“Abhi?” Kalaka forced words out.“What?” Abhi stopped in his tracks, but didn’t turn around.“Do you like Sukra?” She asked, her voice low, as if she didn’t want anyone else tohear. Sukra was a girl who had black hair that went down to her hips. If it weren’t ourculture, Kalaka thought, I would have cut my stupid hair a long time ago. Śukravāraṁmeant “friday” in Telugu, so Sukra meant “fri” in English.What got Kalaka worried was that Abhi didn’t say anything, but continued to walk away.