Togetherness
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-Munya tha buer-
Cherchez la femme.
For a long time, I thought of the Travellers as a matriarchal society.
In those days, when I was a boy, I wasn't able to pronounce the word, but I well knew whom to take orders from. The orders usually involved carrying pails of water in the more primitive campsites. Generally, the order-giver was my Aunt Betty, a tiny tank of a woman with the voice of a fire engine. I was terrified of her until I was fourteen, when I suddenly grew taller than she was. I also loved her best of all my of my maternal aunts but didn't realize that until I wasn't afraid of her anymore.
To play (MIDI), click here Ellen A Roon
It wasn't really a matriarchy, though; it was just that Traveller children see a lot more of women than men in their world. Males and females had separate but equal fiefdoms to rule. But when they did come into conflict every so often, monumental clashes would occur, generating an incredible sonic fallout. Shrieking and bellowing like primeval dinosaurs, they would carry on their quarrel through nights that were interminably sleepless for their neighbors. Since they followed the sun in their land voyages, windows normally would be wide open for cooling ventilation, and adjoining trailers were seldom more than twenty feet apart.
To play (MIDI), click here Red Is The Rose
Still, there was a courteous tolerance that closely bordered on hypocrisy. When the ladies of the camp would gather for a cup of tea in the morning, the subject of the previous night's quarrel was taboo, until the distaff participant would politely inquire if the other ladies had been disturbed by her husband's foolishness.
The answer was always the same, never deviating by a syllable. "Honest to God, girl, never heard a word." It was considered impolite to yawn for at least a few minutes afterwards.
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