The book ending


I mentioned in another posting how I read the book after seeing the movie, and someone requested me to write out the ending of the book, so I did. Just thought I'd post it in a separate spot in case anyone else was interested but didn't know about my other posting.


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Maida saw a figure emerge from the jungle.

From this distance, as she faced into the hot glare of the sun, it was impossible at first to tell who it was.

Finally she saw that it was her son.

David came walking toward her, holding his spear loosely. He stopped for a moment, watching her, standing there like a powerful and arrogant young god, the sun tipping his tanned sweat-drenched body with light. Then he came toward her. He did not hurry. His walk was slow and deliberate. Finally he was only a few feet away from her.

Something in her face stopped him short. The arrogance vanished. He was uncertain now, hesitant, almost shy. He seemed to be gathering his courage.

"You killed your father," she said.

"Yes."

"You killed your father," she repeated dully.

"I had to. I had to do it, Mom."

He took a tentative step toward her. She reached into the sand and drew out the knife. His mouth dropped open in astonishment.

"You want to kill me?"

"No," she said. "Not you, David."

She turned to point the knife toward her breast. He saw instantly that she was prepared to do it; he saw that she was resigned to it. He did not understand. He wanted to cry out his anger, in his frustration. His father had told him the truth back there. He understood now that what he wanted, he could not have. And would never have. She had rejected him before, but he had understood that, in a way. After all, his father had been here then. But now it was different.

Now there were only the two of them.

He had fought for her and won. Like the fish, he had seen fighting for a mate. Like the other male inhabitants of the jungle. Once they won, they always took the female, and the female went gladly.

But here, the female would not give herself to him.

That must mean that people were different from the other living things of the jungle. They really weren't creatures of nature, as his father had said, like the leopard and the bird and the fish. They did things differently.

Yet, he still wanted his mother. He wanted her so badly that his whole body cried out for her, his groin ached for her. He began to tremble. The strength started to ooze out of him. The spear fell from his hands. He watched the point of the knife, fascinated, resting there just between his mother's swelling breasts. And then he panicked.

"Don't," he begged. "No. Don't."

Maida saw the sudden transformation in her son. His eyes were pleading with her. He seemed to be trying to say: Don't reject me, please let me come to you, please love me. Don't leave me alone. She saw the misery in his face, the hurt in it from being refused, the loneliness. She saw a mist of tears spring to his eyes. The young savage had become something else. His whole body was shaking. He began to walk toward her, hands outstretched to her. Love me, love me, he seemed to be saying. Only love me.

She dropped the knife in the sand. David sank on his knees in front of her. He made a move to reach out to her. instead, it was she who reached out to him. It was she who was shaken now, feeling his terrified need for the warmth, the comfort, the love she could give him. And in her face David saw what he finally wanted to see. Love, compassion, understanding. And something more.

Invitation.

Still he did not move. It was she who reached out and embraced him, as a mother would a child. She cradled his head against her breast and rocked him gently to and fro.

Then a shadow fell across them.

She looked up. John was standing there, his spear gripped in his hand. His face and body and hands were singed and fire-blistered. His eyes blazed murderously, two live coals in his blackened face.

"No, John, no," she said.

"Damnit, Maida, I've got to!"

"No," she said. "Killing him isn't the answer. The answer is to live. To survive. All of us."

"But we tried that. It's impossible."

"No, John. It isn't anymore."

He stared at her. "My God, Maida, what are you saying?"

But she didn't have to answer that. He knew what she meant. He stared at her in shock. Her face was soft now, almost radiant. Gradually, the murder died out of his face, and he lowered his spear.

"Maida," he said. "Maida, it's wrong..."

"No," she said. "It's right. Because I love both of you, and you both need me."

"But I can't live with it, even if you think you can...."

"You must, John. We all must. It's the only way."

He stood there for a long time, looking down at her. Then, abruptly, he turned and walked toward the hut. A flock of vultures sailed above him, circling and wheeling, drawn to a possible feats, but realizing now that they had been cheated.

He stopped, watching them. Then he hurled his spear at the birds. It fell short of its mark, sailing in a long arc and then burying itself in the sand.

"You bastards!" he screamed at them. "You dirty bastards! You'll come back some other time."

Then, tears stinging his eyes, feeling sick in his stomach and soul, he entered the laboratory, closing the door behind him. He looked out of the window, saw his wife and son on the beach, still in the same position, she cradling the boy. And feeling like a voyeur, he pulled the shade of the palm leaves and threw himself face-down on his pallet.

On the beach, Maida Randall finally turned her son's head towards her.

Then she kissed him full on the lips and smiled.

"It's all right David," she said gently. "It's all right now. Love me, love me..."

He stared at her, shaken. "The way father does?"

"Yes, yes."

She ran her fingers through his hair and brought them down to caress his face. Suddenly his hands sought her body, her breasts, her thighs. She lay back and closed her eyes, and gave herself to him. My son, she thought. Oh, my son. And very far away, she heard him crying the same word over and over, sobbing it out in his ecstasy: "Mom. Oh, Mom, Mom, Mom...."

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So, yeah, that's how the book ends. I can't believe I copied that word for word. It's pretty messed up, but it was a really good book. The movie originally had the mother making out with her son at the end, but I guess critics found it too disturbing, so they cut it. You can still watch the uncut version online, which was where I saw the movie for the first time, but it was cut out of the DVD version for obvious reasons.

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Watcher ... that was a really nice and generous thing you did. Kudos and thanks to you.

I watched the film many years ago, and could not remember the ending. I recently torrented and re-viewed the film. It must be the uncut version, because it ends with the mom kissing the son. That really is the logically place to stop, because we all realize that Mom and Son will make love, and I don't think the public at large could handle seeing the full-on sex, as in the book.

Martha Washington was a hip, hip, hip lady, man.

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An old post but just in case, is there an ebook of this lying around?

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