Later, Sabkha was explaining llamas again, this time to River and a couple other villagers who were friends of his when River looked at her sketch of a llama and muttered something about a petroglyph. "What was that, River?"
"I think I saw something like that llama thing on a rock with this one pornographic petroglyph once. Here, let me get the sketch I made of it." River stepped out of the room for a second and returned with a charcoal sketch on linen paper. It depicted some swirls and lines and possible stick figures along with some simple stick figure animals. The "llamas" could just have easily been horses or coyotes based on the sketch.
"How in the world is that a viable interpretation, River?! Clearly it is a rain dance around a lake!" said Virga.
"Nonsense! See, these are those great cacti that are dead but they still have the dried and brown flesh clinging to them. This says that one day they will rise up and kill us all for our water. That is the only truly valid reading for this. See, this one is a regular great cactus, note the smooth lines and statuesque posture. This one that looks more like it is jagged and lurching is the undead great cactus. The one next to it that is many lines is a plain dead great cactus."
Sabkha looked at it, "Nonsense! What a tale that was, but it is clearly a circle of tents around an exercise area for a herd of various livestock. And that's an alpaca not a llama."
Huayco looked at it, "Nah, you are overthinking things. That is some guy who got stuck with a cholla."
Puma looked at it, "You lot have it all wrong, it is just constellations. See, this is the Dog Star..."
One of River's friends looked at and laughed. "Nah, they were hunting and this guy tripped this other guy."
Another person from Huayco's group said, "Of course not. It is people and animals using unknown magic to travel through time."
Her sister said, "Now you are just being silly. It is a class, the animals just happen to be housed near where they hold classes."
Someone else said, "Or maybe it is a storyteller, telling tales. Or women weaving and gossipping."
"maybe it is a warrior cult doing a sacred ritual?" said another person.
"what if it is people huddled around a bonfire on a cold night?" said another person.
"a man falling off a horse" said another person.
"a battle between rival tribes." the room went awkwardly quiet at this for a moment.
"small wild cats hunting mice." said another person.
"people on boats avoiding a whirlpool!" said another person.
"a what?!" said another person.
"underwater dust devil" said another person.
"Ohhh I get it now!" said another person.
"Maybe it is a regular dust devil," said another person.
"or a tornado! that is like an evil dust devil made of clouds and wind!" said another person.
"or it could be a wildfire" said another person.
"Perhaps magic flight?" said another person.
"A play representing great cactus and people dressed as horses?" said another person.
"a bunch of people gawking at a barrel cactus pointing north!" said another person.
"children chasing fireflies" said another person.
"people admiring the full moon" said another person.
"a funeral or memorial thing?" said another person.
"ooh maybe it is Lambing season!" said another person.
"or a sheep shearing" said another person.
"Planting crops, not sure why the circle though." said another person.
"People watching a think layer of ice form on a lake" said another person.
"it could be a map of the region" said another person.
"Is the spiral thing a mountain?" said another person.
"it probably is a mountain, or a valley." said another person.
"maybe it is ants around an ant lion den!" said another person.
"Or it could be a calendar for planting or livestock rearing!" said another person.
"Or a note suggesting someone buy something at the market." said another person.
"A recounting of seeing and hearing the singing dunes" said another person.
"ooh, good one!" said another person.
"Could it be people at a banquet, around a round table?" said another person.
"That could never be it. I bet it is people standing around drawing petroglyphs and discussing how to make them uninterpretable!" said Wadi!
""That is it!" said several people in unison.
The party soon dissolved into laughter and joking.