When we left Peter he was in the process of realizing that not only was he in a foreign country in a different time but that apparently he wasn’t even going to be able to talk to anyone due to a language barrier.
“feiz naan kurkus” said the peasant unhelpfully
Peter stared at him trying to figure out what to do next. As if in answer to Peter’s implied question, the man gave a sort of dismissive shrugg and started walking. Peter’s facade of composure dissolved. With a degree of emphasis and pathos revealing how distraught Peter was actually feeling at that moment, he managed to communicate through the universal language of wild gesticaulation, the notion of: “please don’t leave me, you’re my only hope, God and logic have abandoned me in this armpit of the space-time continuuum….please don’t leave me.”
The man eyed Peter cooly and critically. Undeterred Peter grabbed a stick and began hectically drawing in the loose dirt. First he drew an x and pointed to the Peasant. Then he crossed that out. Then he drew a line and crossed that out too. Finally fixing on the notion that what he really needed to find was a town of some sort, he drew a picture of a house. The man’s face and muttering indicated recognition. Then looking questioningly in the man’s eyes, Peter pointed alternatingly east and west along the road begging the man to please understand. The man reached out for the stick and then started drawing. He drew a line heading west away from the house peter had drawn and about a meter away he connected the line to a drawing of multiple houses. Peter couldn’t contain a hugely relieved smile. The man nodding eagerly with the excitment of making himself understood, then pointed back and forth between himself and Peter and proceeded to draw two circles on the line which was presumably supposed to be the road. The two circles indicating Peter and himself were about twelve centimeters from peter’s house and almost a meter from the man’s village depiction. The man sat back in satisfied triumph.
The decision before Peter was whether to go to the nearby small settlement or the farther away large settlement. But how far was the village? Peter got an idea. He drew a picture of a sun above the road between the two circles and the large village. The man returned Peter’s questioning glance blankly. Peter then pointed to the real sun and back to his picture, the man’s expression changed and he bobbed his head in comprehension. Peter then drew a crescent moon which the man recognized, then he drew another sun and another moon. The man looked puzzled.
“look man, how far is this town, come on. Suns annd moons what else could I be talking about”
Eventually with a lot more pointing and gesturing and at one point Peter pretending to walk down the road with his fingers, the man finally seemed to comprehend. He took the stick and crossed out the second moon and, for some reason, handed the stick back to Peter. “a day and a half, thought Peter. That’s not too bad, and I am much more likely to find something useful in a town than uh whatever the alternative is supposed to be.” At this point Peter stood up and indicated through the crude gestural language they had spawned, that he would like to travel with the man to the village. The man seemed to understand and indicated that he would be happy to have the company. As they started walking Peter hesitantly reached out for the sack the man was carrying, as an offer to share the burden, but the man put his palm up in polite refusal.
