When Lali came into the Lodge,
Gongi was sitting on the pee pot
teetering in the thick shadows near
Gongi's woven blanket basket.
She was finishing and tried to get
up, but slipped and fell onto her
shoulder. It hit a stone on the hearth.
Lali heard it pop as Gongi screeched
in pain. "Lali" the old woman cried
out. "Oh Grandma, I'm right here."
"I couldn't wait" replied Gongi.
"I'm sorry. I made a mess."
Her skirt was wet with urine now,
and Lali could see the pot had spilled
out onto the earthen floor of the lodge.
She grabbed her Grandmother's hair
away from the dying flames,
and tried dragging her over to the
grizzley bear skin rug.
"Don't worry Grandmother, it's alright,"
she said softly, pulling off the wet
skirt. She rolled it up and put it near
the door of the Lodge and came back
to Gongi. She covered her with a
nice thick blanket. Gongi was groaning
holding her shoulder and rocking.
"Oh Grandma, what should I do?
What should I do Grandma?"
sobbed Lali. "Oh dear, it's just a bruise"
Gongi said, feeling the tears on
Lali's face. She wiped them away gently.
"Just get the lineamint and rub it in
for me. Do you know where it is?"
"Yes Grandma, it's right here" said Lali
quickly finding the ceramic bottle
on the medicine shelf.
It was plugged with a wooden stopper
carved specially to fit the bottle.
Gongi lay on her back to rest a moment.
She was uncomfortable and panted slightly.
Lali threw a woven mat on the floor
to absorb whatever puddles of urine
remained. The pot itself had cracked.
Lali couldn't help the tears from falling.
They fell everywhere, silently.
She put more wood on the hearth
and returned to help Gongi.
"I'm back now and ready to put
the linament on Grandma" she said
trying to sound upbeat. Gongi
had fallen asleep already. "Hmm.."
thought Lali. "Should I wake her to
put the rub on?" She waited a
moment and called softly to Gongi
again. But Gongi was out, and starting
to snore. Lali rolled Gongi onto her side
so she wouldn't snore and could
breathe better. Then she opened
the linament and pouring some onto
her hand, began rubbing it gently
on Gongi's shoulder. It didn't
look broken. Maybe it was the
pee pot she heard pop.
"Ohhh...," she sighed with relief.
"Please don't let my Grandma's
shoulder be broken." she
sobbed. She was scaird. She
really needed to get Salanka. But
it was so late. She'd go first thing
in the morning.
She finished rubbing in the lineament
and covered Gongi well with the blanket
and put a buffalo skin atop that.
The fire was going well now.
Her herb tea still sat in her mug
on the far side of the hearth.
The fire warmed it up again,
and she drank enthusiastically.
The flavor of the tea gave her
inspiration to carry on with courage,
and the volitile properties of the herbs
nourished her constitutionally.
As she sat drinking her tea,
finding consolation in the flames
that danced about and licked the
hearth rocks, her thoughts returned
to the familiar hooting sound she'd
heard earlier when she was outside.
Just then she heard the flapping of
wings and the hoot of an owl passing
over the Lodge. It gave her chicken skin.
It was too hot in the Lodge now,
and she got up and bent low as she
went thru the Lodge door.
The buffalo hide closed quickly
behind her.
The clouds had passed and the
night was busy in the moonlight.
Crickets chirped and trees creaked.
The air was full and rambunctious
that night. It was Summer and she
felt like opening a door within her,
just for a moment, just to get a peak
at what Life meant...could be?..
In the old days, in the Summertime,
when she was a young child,
and Gongi was not so old,
they'd put up a teepee outside the Lodge
beside the old Cottonwood Tree.
That tree must have been 500 years
old or more. The stream was full
in it's banks as it ran thru their little
village in the valley. Everything
was very green and moist and growing
wildly that Summer. The Moon shone
thru the leaves onto Lali's head...
and there were rainbows on her hands
and feet. There were raibows everywhere.
She got up, angry at the Moon for causing
her distress and longing. She ran back
into the Lodge. Gongi lay sleeping
peacefully. The fire was burning low.
It was time to sleep now.
But she could not.
She turned and looked behind her.
The stars twinkled and begged
to be noticed. She returned
to sit beneath the Cottonwood Tree
again so she could watch them. As she
was doing this, her feet began figeting.
She couldn't just sit and watch, she
needed to run. As if intoxicated
she got up and began walking, slow at
first, but then briskly, along
the edge of the stream, following
it into the Pine Tree Forest again.
A great surge of joy arose in her
heart and she found herself
running unmindfully.
"I shouldn't be doing this" she
scolded herself. That made her
slow down and then stop.
She was deep in the forest now.
"Oh Grandma," she said aloud
looking for the Lodge. It was no longer
in sight. To see it, she'd have to go back.
But she wasn't ready to go back. Not yet!
"I'm so sorry Grandma." she exclaimed
apologetically. "I'll be back soon.
Please forgive me.
I just need to...find someone...
remember something...be somebody"
She didn't want to disobey her Grandmother.
She'd been faithful and good for so
long. She just had to get away for a
while. Just to catch her breath...
She wasn't afraid walking alone in
the forest now. She felt alive and
took deep breaths as she loped
along in the luxurious night.
She felt as if she were moving under
water. Everything was so cohesive
and homogenous. Everything
moved together as one, rippling
one upon the other, absorbed
and then reforming into itself again
having passed through. Her skin
frizzled in the refreshing coolness.
She felt sensitive and sensuous all over.
She was afraid to feel like that.
Afraid of succombing to the abyss
of feelings she could not put aside.
She felt a longing to love someone.
She was burning inside to hold
someone in her arms and
devour them with tenderness.
She felt like a woman, and each
step that she took, she placed
brilliantly before her, holding her head
high, the arch of her back, rippling
out with her arms that moved before
her, dancing their way thru the tall
grasses and brush that grew alongside
the stream.
In her throat, a rumbling began. Her
mouth opened wide and released a deep
hooting sound. Her arms flapped
at her sides, catching wind,
she glided over trees and looked down.
She could see the Earth. She was
flying now, but in stopping to look,
she fell with a hideous thud to the ground.
"Owie!" she groaned rubbing her behind.
As she was getting up, she heard someone
laughing. She crouched again, holding
to the ground closely. She looked
about not seeing anyone.
Then she felt a presence behind her.
When she looked around, she was
astonished to see the tall shining figure
of a man. His eyes disrupted the
sanctity of her mind. But the Light
his presence exuded, penetrated and deeply warmed her bones.
She was afraid and confused by him at first,
but like in a dream, remembering...she
found the long lost friend at last,
that she unknowingly, had been seeking.
The Shining Brother looked down
smiling broadly as he offered his
hand to help her up. Composing
herself, she took his hand and stood
before him, straining to understand
this feeling of deja vu. It was
tantalizing. He was so familiar,
yet the memory of him, was
a mystery to her.
For years she'd excused her deluded
fantasy of the Owl Woman, Empress
and Shining Brother, as a side effect
of the venom from the snake bite, and
so had forgotten them consciously.
Too busy to daydream, Lali had been
scaird by the experience, and
couldn't be sure it all had really happened.
The Shining Brother began to change
before her eyes. He no longer shone
brighter than the moon. Now she could
see he was very handsome and
dressed like the men of her village.
His arms were bare and muscular.
His bronze complexion looked
indigo in the moon light.
He placed the flute to his lips
and played a melody for her.
He fascinated her. She would go
anywhere with him now.
His chest was bare and around his
neck hung a beautiful garland of
flowers. The fragrances bore
into her nostrils, infused as it were,
by the capricious breeze and his breath.
She felt illuminated from within
She was swooning before him..
"Jzurlea" he said smiling warmly.
"Where have you been? I've looked
everywhere for you. You've grown up."
She could barely breathe, let alone
speak. Her eyes told him everything.
Finally she managed to ask him his name.
"You are Hokami...?"
"Yes" he replied. "And you are Lali"
"Why did you call me Jzurlea"
she asked less intimidated now
that she'd heard his sonorous voice.
"Jzurlea was the name your mother choose
for you," he added.
"You know my mother Leula?" she said
in a pleading voice.
"Yes, I remember her" he answered.
"Do you remember when I gave you
the owl with no head from the Iron Horse?
I was with my family and we were going
home and had been fishing."
In that instant she remembered what
she had tried to forget all these years.
She wanted to know about her mother,
but he swooped up her attention
by moving quickly to a new subject.
She was so absorbed in his stunning
presence , she just went along
with him, barely able to answer...
"Yes" she replied happily.
"It was I who cleaned the venom
from your ankle when the snake
bit you by the cave that day long ago."
he remarked. "Do you remember that?"
She smiled in gleeful wonderment.
"Yes" she replied. "I remember. I
remember now." He really was
Hokami, and now he was a man.
He'd grown up too, somewhere...
and she had a face and a name now to put with years of lonely anquish,
longing to spend just one more moment in time with him...again.
Now he was alive and real, and standing
before her. He was pointing to the cave
across the stream.
"Didn't the Shining Brother tell you"
he spoke melodically,
"that if you ever needed him, to meet
him here at the cave where you
buried the owl."
She looked at him in utter amazement.
She had tried to find the cave.
Maybe she didn't try hard enough
because she didn't want to believe it
even existed. But there it was again.
It was as she had remembered it.
"Can I be dreaming again..." she
thought. Real or not, she didn't care.
She was as pretty as Nature Itself and
that night she needed time to express
the deep longings she had kept
buried and quiet . Now she
just needed to be herself. She needed
time to relax awhile in the soft grass.
Please continue on to Chapter 6, page 14 by clicking on the link below:
