Adultery A Swinging Odyssey by Pimanko-Completed

[Ramesh_Rocky]

Aiko and Gerald managed to sleep well despite the primitiveness of their temporary abode. They woke shortly after sunrise. Women were doing their chores, children were playing, and the elder was relaxing.

Pedro was talking to the elder. When he noticed them, he smiled and waved. "The elder is expecting the men to come back around noon."

"How is it that you speak their language," Aiko asked.

"I am one of them," he explained. "I come from a village located closer to what you call 'civilization.' We still speak the language at home but lost many of the old ways." Pedro sighed wistfully. "I have a house, a TV, a cell phone and a motorcycle, and yet I'm not as happy as these people are." Pedro changed the subject. "These people deliberately keep their contact with the outside world to an absolute minimum. Their values are very different."

"Really?" Aiko prodded, "in what way."

"Their attitude toward sex for example," he said uncomfortably.

"Explain," she said.

"They believe all grown men and women in the village are, to use a civilized word, 'married' to each other," Pedro explained. "There is a strong taboo against incest. When a boy or a girl is ready for adulthood, they are sent to another clan in exchange for one of the other clan's own grown-up children. The new tribe members are initiated both into the clan and into adulthood at the same time."

Pedro noticed that Aiko and Gerald were genuinely interested.

"Because the men and women have a type of collective marriage, they treat all the resulting children as if they were their own. They believe each man's seed contributes raw material needed to create a baby. The biological father is known as his primary father. His seed is the last contribution, in a series of contributions, leading to the creation of a child. Because all the men are fathers to all the children, all the children see all the men as their fathers. So if the biological father were to die, his biological child would still be loved and cared for by the clan's surviving fathers."

"Don't these people get jealous," Gerald asked.

"No," Pedro replied. "Although each man or woman may prefer a particular partner, it is seen as grossly selfish to keep one partner all to yourself."

Pedro had expected some form of moral indignation. There was none. He was surprised.

A few minutes later, the village men returned. Gerald counted five men, one in each boat. Except for some adornments, all of them were naked. He could also tell Pedro was correct in surmising that their flimsy boats were not safe for use on a long trip up the main river. Gerald later found out two men were left behind to continue work on building huts for villagers.

A man with a small scar on the left side of his face spoke to the elder and Pedro. He acted as if he were the acknowledged leader of the men. Gerald nicknamed him Scar. When Scar glanced at Aiko and Gerald, the couple could tell he wasn't happy with their presence.

The conversation among the three continued for some time. Another man, who wore a multi-coloured feather in his hair and an old women joined them.

For more than an hour, Aiko and Gerald waited patiently as the five-way discussion took place. Meanwhile, Gerald told his wife the nicknames he had assigned to the two men. Rainbow was the name he gave the second man.

Finally there was a break in the discussion.

Pedro spoke to Aiko and Gerald. "Their leader is unhappy with having you here. They don't trust outsiders. Two or three attempts were made by outsiders to force them into accepting 'civilized' customs." Pedro said 'civilized" as if it were a pejorative term. "Your presence even now interferes with their normal life."

"We have no wish to interfere," Gerald defended himself. "And we have no intention of making them accept other people's beliefs and values. Please tell them we don't want them to do anything differently just because we're here."

"I agree with what Gerald has just said," said Aiko. "They should act according to their own customs."

Pedro repeated what the couple had said to the four natives. This time they all looked at the couple. The elder said something in his language.

"They want your word that you will not object or interfere in any way."

"You have our word on it," Gerald promised.

Scar said something to other men and women. The two elders and three women herded eight children of various ages toward the other end of the village. The older children swam in a nearby pool while the younger children took a nap in a nearby hut. Aiko and Gerald subsequently learned that women who were having their periods were exempted from having sex.