#12 Sinchicara

They returned to the cabin in the last traces of a golden afternoon and prepared to bathe in the lake before dinner. Benecio was nowhere to be seen and Dolores was cooking by herself in the kitchen. Fernando was missing also, not in his familiar free time spot on the canoe bench whittling ever more elaborate walking sticks for the girls which he traded for clumps of Drum tobacco and rolling paper that Dory and Nina showed him once how to roll and he became expert. At the dock, Dory noticed that the boat was gone. Nate seemed unencumbered by all of these disappearances and he bathed and joked as usual.

The highlight of this day had been seeing, very close-up, a family of pygmy marmosets. Weighing not even half a pound, they were the smallest of all monkeys,very sedentary- finding their food in the trees where they settled and most astonishing of all, the extremely accurate replications of human faces;more so than any other primate.At First it seemed as if they smiled and welcomed their brother and sister visitors to the forest, then from the expressions on their faces, it became painfully apparent to the aliens that the marmosets had grown quickly bored and slinked off to sleep: a more productive activity than paying heed to the cooing and chirping humans on the forest floor just 5 feet below them.

As Dolores cleared the table Nate disappeared into the kitchen as well and produced a square decanter with a brownish liquid inside and 4 glasses. Gustavo, who had eaten dinner with them,
started laughing and cried out :"Sinchicara"
"That's right ladies and gentleman," began Nate like a carnival barker , "Sinchicara! Made of 5 medicinal plants (one of which is chuchuhuasa because I see the bark floating in there- and four others so secret only a man named Benecio the Magnificent knows for sure- and even then only on a good day. But! It will cure snakebite Nina. It will grow hair, Gustavo . It will cure sadness madness and sometimes badness. And all ya got to do is drink a few rounds to be delivered."
He poured out what amounted to double shots to each of them and they chugged them.
Nina gasped. Dory did not but her face flushed instantly.Neither Gustavo nor Nate had any outward reaction.

Nate poured another round of doubles."This also has quite acute painkilling abilities , I forgot to mention, and in large doses ,well,let's just say it gives you insight."
"Yes,"said Dory, already a little sloppy, "because it is 100 percent alcohol."
"Shut your mouth, woman,"Barkered Nate, "only one dealer at this table."
"Ja,"she said, "I can think of a lot of times when you did not want me to keep my mouth shut."
"Yes, he said in fond remberance lingering in the reflection, "anyway bottoms up !"
They all threw down another round and this time no one reacted outwardly. He filled the glasses this time and Dolores appeared from the kitchen and thrust forth an empty glass. Nate waved her off and she thrust it again. He tried to grab the glass from her but her reflexes were now better than his .Finally he shrugged and gave her half a shot. She squealed with delight. Nina squealed in return unaware that she had done so.

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