Being naked, hot and dirty was normal for the small tribe that lived on the edge of the foothills on the East African plain. The daily struggle and violence of life a million and a half years ago made novelties like bathing entirely unnecessary. Thus, the actions of two of the women in the tribe seemed to the others to be an incomprehensible waste of time. Even the leader of the group, possessed as he was with superior strength and intelligence, gazed in bewilderment whenever the women walked into a river and bathed.

Even the two women weren't sure why they bathed so frequently. When asked, they simply shrugged. It was more than the cool relief of the water. For reasons they couldn't quite explain, they liked the feeling of being clean.

They had known each other all their lives, but it wasn't until they found themselves in the river, day after day, that they realized they were friends. When they compared the growing size of their bellies, they glanced at their mates, hunkered over a freshly killed animal with the other men, and then looked at each and laughed as they sank back into the river and floated luxuriously on their backs.

The other women had borne many children, but had never resorted to games like floating in rivers. Most of them had gone about their duties and delivered their children without much thought. Biting off their children's umbilical cords were minor incidents that caused hardly a flicker of interest from their hunter mates.

The two women, and their habit of bathing in the river, gradually caused more and more consternation within the group. Their skin had become shiny and clean -- a truly unusual state for members of the Ergaster tribe. As the weeks and months passed, and their bellies grew, the women grew stubborn and refused to work in the hottest part of the day. The elder of the two women had an especially difficult time with her mate, and argued loudly when he pushed her to sharpen his stone blade. For reasons she only dimly understood, she knew that she had to rest and preserve the child growing inside her.

The younger woman had a much easier time, perhaps because her mate became quite excited whenever she approached him. He continually passed his fingers across her swollen belly, marveling at the shape as it expanded. Neither of the women had ever borne a child before and were increasingly nervous as the day of delivery drew nearer. They had shown their bellies to some of the older women, who had patted them and grunted approvingly. Their elders' lack of concern had comforted the two younger women to some degree.

When the leader of the group urged everyone to move to some nearby foothills, the two women successfully pleaded with him to stay near the river as they traveled. It was a small victory, easily won, because the leader by this time had begun to view the women as special to the tribe. The leader even managed to convince the older women that the "Clean Women" as they had become known, were good luck, and had been the cause of the tribe's successful hunting.

The foothills were a pleasant change after the dreary flatness of the plains below. The tribe had carried a quantity of raw meat with them and feasted on it hungrily, laughing and shouting to each other about their exploits and plans for the next hunt. They hardly noticed when the clean women went into labor one evening. The older women shooed the men away, and helped guide the two women into squatting positions in preparation for birth. Their labor convulsions lasted well into the night, until exhausted and bleeding the two women finally gave birth.

Morning brought with it a long series of amazed exclamations as the men gathered in a circle around the two mothers and their new babies. The eldest mother had given birth to a male, while the younger mother was curled up next to her admiring mate, clutching to her breast a tiny baby girl. The leader of the group pushed his way past the other men and pointed at the faces of the boy and girl, scowling at their delicate features. They seemed much too fragile to the leader, and he immediately announced that they probably wouldn't survive. The women glared at him, but many of them secretly agreed with the leader. The Homo Ergaster life style was not a suitable one for weak children.

The clean women spent the next two years nursing and bathing the boy and girl, drawing unbelieving snorts from the men when they washed the children in the river. The women's breasts, at first heavy with milk, grew smaller as they gradually weaned the boy and girl, feeding them with bits of food that the mothers had carefully chewed in advance. In what seemed to the older women to be amazing good fortune, the babies didn't die that first year, or the second. Instead, they grew healthier and noisier each day. By the end of the second year, the boy and girl had won the grudging approval of everyone in the tribe, including the leader, who had taken to rolling on his back and lifting them in the air above his chest.

The two women walked proudly among the other women, showing off their children, aware that they were indeed special and unusual. They had a hard time harnessing the boy, and often had to chase him around the camp, often followed by a group of screaming and laughing children. The boy spent most of his time climbing, or trying to climb, the gnarly trees that surrounded their camp. Ergaster children were not encouraged to be timid, since weakness and fear often brought an early death. Yet, the boy's boldness was so pronounced that the older men started to murmur that the boy would one day become the leader.

It was the girl, however, that won the hearts of the men and women of the tribe. Even though she displayed the same predilection for bathing as her mother, her sweetness and the warmth of her smile turned even the toughest, broken-boned old hunters into small children again. If the hunters came back to the camp with bruises or wounds, she would run and examine them with her tiny hands. She filled broken bird eggs with water from the river and poured it over the hunters' cuts. Her tenderness brought the hunters huge amusement, since they normally ignored their wounds after they had stopped bleeding. Yet, the girl insisted on wrapping their cuts with bits of grass, and even tried crushing flowers into their wounds, causing the men to laugh so hard that one hunter almost choked to death on a bone.

One particular afternoon, just as the sun had started its slow glide toward the foothills, the mothers were talking quietly, watching the boy and girl tumble around their feet. They heard a clamor from some of the men and looked up to see something that none of the Ergaster had ever seen before.

A very tall man stood in front of the two mothers, gazing at the boy and girl. None of the members of the tribe had seen him approach, which was very troubling to them, since they always kept a close watch for lurking animals around the camp. The leader ran up to the man, talking quickly, pointing around the clearing, asking the man where he had come from. The man smiled and nodded, and pointed to the foothills. The leader asked him who he was, and what tribe he came from. He told them he was an angel. The leader looked very confused and said he didn't know that tribe.

Suddenly, the man bent down and gently laid his hands on the heads of the two mothers. They had been paralyzed with fear, scooping the two infants to their breasts, but they began to feel calmer as he smiled at them. He didn't look at all like the Ergaster, and the women silently noted to themselves that unlike the other men in the tribe, he was extraordinarily clean.

The man gently held out his hands for the boy and girl, and without knowing why, the two women carefully handed the children to him. He cradled them in his arms, enveloping them within his large frame. The toddlers seemed particularly interested in his long shiny hair. He teased the boy and girl, brushing his hair against their faces.

The women were having a hard time understanding his words as he tried to explain to them that the One who made everything had done something special to their children. They hadn't thought very much about where things came from. He told them, as simply as he could, with their limited vocabulary, that the boy and girl were going to start a new tribe, and that the members of the new tribe would be able to understand the One who made everything, and would live with Him all the time.

By this time the tribe was in a small uproar, gathering around the man and talking among themselves. The two mothers sat, silent and bewildered. The man looked at the crowd, and then caught the eyes of the two women once more. Very clearly, so that he could be heard above the din, he said, "You have done well. I have to take them now."

The mothers sprang to their feet, arms outstretched, but the man held up his hand as he cradled the children in his arms, stopping them as they approached. The women fell back, intimidated by his authority. Nodding kindly at the mothers, he turned and walked rapidly toward the foothills, bearing the children in his arms.

The leader and the group talked for hours after that, trying to console the two mothers. The entire tribe was in shock. No one could quite agree on why they hadn't tried to stop the man. It hadn't been fear exactly. Perhaps their surprise had prevented them from acting. The two women wept for many days, and stopped eating until one of the older women shook them and forced them to eat. The leader tried to comfort the tribe by making an impromptu speech and declaring that the Clean Women had done something special. He wasn't sure what it had all meant, but he encouraged them to go into the river one more time and bathe, assuming that the water might soothe them.

The women were dull with grief, and didn't believe a word the leader said, but silently followed his advice, immersing their bodies in the cool water. They lay back, floating, for a long time, not talking to each other. The leader watched them for awhile, and then grunted sadly and went back to the other men. All the women of the tribe came and sat at the river's edge in silence, hoping that their presence would help the two mothers in some small way.

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Far beyond the other side of the foothills, the tall man finally slowed his stride as he approached the edge of a lush valley. He had stopped frequently to care for the children, but had still managed to travel very quickly over a great distance. He looked down at the boy and girl, now asleep in his arms, and with a smile began to slowly walk down to the bottom of the valley.

He sang as he walked -- a beautiful melody that filled the air around him. As he approached a meadow at the floor of the valley, other voices joined his as he sang, until the sound of the voices moved in waves across the meadow. Other figures walked next to him, gazing admiringly at the boy and girl, exclaiming at the beauty of their faces.

Finally, he stopped and gently placed the sleeping children in the grass at the foot of a large tree. He straightened up and waved at the figures around him. The atmosphere in the valley had become charged and intense, sparkling in the sunlight and radiating with millions of colors. The children stirred, and he looked down at the girl as she woke up. The man smiled at her, and ever so gently touched her nose with the end of his finger.

[Author's note: This story is, of course, conjecture. Were Adam and Eve born from Homo Ergaster parents, under God's supervision, and with God's spiritual and creative input? It seems to me to be a reasonable idea based on the view that even Jesus had to come from the womb of a mother. Will we ever know what really happened? I hope so...]