St. Clair (Gives Light Series) by Rose Christo Page A

they
    were selling Bear River back to us after all?
    "The government's taking back twenty-five acres of
    land."
    I felt like a brick had hit me in the chest.
    Mr. Black Day and the woman looked at one
    another. Gabriel rubbed his face with his hands.
    "This land was allotted to us," Gabriel finally
    said. "Legally and officially. One of a very few
    good things to come from the Dawes Act."
    "The government can take back land if it's not
    being used. None of this land is being used."
    Gabriel raised his eyebrows. I could tell he was
    struggling, very hard, to remain friendly. "I'd say
    the wildlife is using it, wouldn't you?"
    "Maybe we should take this discussion to the
    council building?" said the woman. She pulled a
    pager out of her front pocket and bent her head
    over the screen.
    Marilu gripped my hand and peered up at me with
    a soft, bemused frown. I ran my hand through the
    back of her hair and showed her a small smile.
    "Uncle Gabe," Rafael said.
    "Yes, you can come," Gabriel said, stifling a sigh.
    You come , I signed to Balto. He responded by
    licking my hand.
    It was a gloomy walk to the forest path, and from
    there, the lake. We followed the lake to its other
    side, to the tall council building with the
    impressive stone staircase. A high-relief of Chief
    Pocatello stood out beside the double doors, his
    warlike face menacing and beautiful. The doors to
    the building were propped open. They were
    always propped open.
    We went inside, but not Balto. I wondered at that.
    He'd never had any misgivings about following
    humans indoors before. The interior of the council
    building was airy and cool. Each wall was its
    own woodpainting. I saw the snowy confluence of
    Bear River and Bear Creek on one wall; on
    another, the Paiute shaman Wovoka, teaching the
    ghost dance to the Plains tribes. Filing cabinets
    stood next to a polished desk atop which sat a
    mounted phone. A winding staircase off to the
    right led to what I assumed were record rooms.
    Mrs. Red Clay came out from a back room, her
    gray-white hair pinned in a flyaway bun. One of
    the cops must have paged her, I thought. She
    looked from Rafael to Annie, from Annie to
    Aubrey to Zeke; then, finally, to Marilu and me.
    She almost frowned. I say "almost" because Mrs.
    Red Clay came with only one real facial template:
    blank.
    "I shouldn't think this is any place for children."
    "I'm eighteen," Rafael said.
    "I'd like them to see this, Nola," Gabriel said.
    "After all, this is going to be their problem within
    a few years."
    Mrs. Red Clay turned toward the men in the hard
    hats. "I understand you are attempting to invoke
    Eminent Domain Law."
    "Not attempting," said one man, irritably rubbing
    his forehead.
    "Yes, attempting. I am well aware that Eminent
    Domain allows you to stake a claim on our land.
    But apparently you have failed to read the fine
    print. The Fifth Amendment requires that you first
    offer to purchase the land. Only after we reject
    your offer may you take us to court, where a judge
    will determine our case."
    "Not anymore," said one of the men. "The
    Supreme Court just threw all them procedures out
    the window with Kelo v. New London. As long as
    you're not using the land, we can take it back, no
    holds barred."
    "What do you mean, take it back ?" Mr. Black Day
    asked. "It was ours to begin with."
    And at the same time, Annie burst out: "Not using
    it? What would you like us to do with it, tear it
    down?"
    But the wolves lived out there, I wanted to say.
    The coywolves. The black bears. The foxes and
    the robins and the bobcats. If the Bureau of Land
    Management tore down the forest, where were
    those animals supposed to go? Gray wolves were
    already an endangered species.
    "Look, I think we're done here," said one of the
    Bureau men. "We'll send a couple of contractors
    around come August. There's really nothing to
    argue about. You didn't build anything on the land,
    so it goes back to the government."
    There wasn't any way Mrs. Red Clay