Chapter 18
There was no muc grain of thirty days;
There was no muc grain of forty days;
There was no muc grain of fifty days;
There was no small grain,
Grain from the mountains
Or grain from the holy habitations.
.
—Sumerian epic
.
KASIB
Sata'anic Naval Acquisitions Officer Lieutenant Kasib kissed his wife on his way out of their tiny one-room stone hovel. Taram ran her fingers up the arm of his uniform, using her fingers to tell her what her sightless eyes could not see. Every muscle in his body trembled with the need to make love to her, again, but he'd just spent the last hour bathing off her telltale scent.
"I have something for your lunch!" she said. "Nipmeqa gave me a gift for babysitting the children."
Kasib's grin became forced.
"It should be me providing for you, and
