buried on this land, under a big hickory tree that she always loved. In a hundred years, if they dug under that tree, would they know whose bones—
I dropped the arrowhead back into the dirt andpressed the clods down hard with my bare feet to cover it. Didn't want to think about that old arrowhead and the Indians anymore. My head was a mixed-up jumble.
We grubbed rocks and roots the whole day, from morning to evening. By the time Pa was ready to go in for the supper meal, my arms were pink from the sun, and my palms looked as if they had been rubbed across a grindstone.
Lorenzo didn't take any pity on me. “Looka there at that little pile of stones you done,” he said, coming over. “The pile of stones me and George have is twice the size of yours.” He reached down to tug a fist-sized rock out of the ground. “You missed this one,” he said, sending it clattering onto my pile.
I scowled at him. “Maybe you and Cousin George ought to stay out here and find all of the rest of them rocks yourself.”
After Lorenzo kicked a footful of dirt in my direction and ran off, I had to admit that it didn't look like me and Amos had done very much. That was the problem with grubbing out the fields. You worked for hours and hours, and it seemed as if all the same stones and roots came back. No matter how far you flung them or how fast you dug them up, you couldn't get rid of them. The earth was stubborn. That was the truth.
I guess Peter Kelley must have been the same way. He wouldn't give up easily. No matter what my mean Pa said. Because when we returned to the house in the evening, Laura pulled me outside and whispered real low, “Today, while you and the boys was gone in the fields, Peter Kelley stopped by here.”
Red Hair climbs the steps
a second time
to see me.
i close my eyes.
you are a stranger now
,
i tell him.
go away, gichi-mookomaan
,
and do not return
again.
Red Hair says it has been
many winters
and we have been separated
far apart
,
but two things he has not forgotten
,
one
is how we saved his ma, and
two
is the stories of the Old Ones.
he says to me
—
Amik, do you remember
your grandmother's old story
of the Fox, Snake, and Man?
i know the story well
—
many strings of lives ago
,
Little Fox risked his life
to save Man
from the coils of a great serpent.
but as time passed
,
one winter to the next
,
one winter to the next
,
Man forgot Fox's good deed
,
as he forgets many things.
one starving moon
,
Man drew his sharp knife
to kill
poor thin Fox who had eaten
from his cache of winter food.
don't you remember me?
Fox cried.
don't you
remember?
do you see? Red Hair says
—
i am taking your side.
i do not want to be
the man who forgot
what the fox had done.
i am silent
for a long while
thinking of Fox and Man
and the great serpent.
finally, i tell him
—
Red Hair
,
no matter what the gichi-mookomaanag
say about me
—
Amik is not guilty.
Laura wouldn't tell me anything else about Peter Kelley's visit until the next morning when Pa and the boys left to hitch up our horse. Even then, she wouldn't breathe a word until she had gone outside and made certain they were inside the barn.
After she closed the cabin door, she turned toward me and spoke in a whisper. “I was so startled when I saw that it was Mr. Kelley yesterday. I didn't know whether or not I ought to let him in.”
“What did he say?”
Laura took a deep breath. “Well, he was full of nerves, I could tell. You shoulda seen the way his face was flushed, as if he had a fever. And he talked so fast I could hardly keep up. But he said he knew our Pa believed in his heart that Indian John had murdered someone—and maybe he had—but hewasn't certain himself and so all he wanted to do was talk to Indian John, just talk for a while, and try to find out the truth.”
Laura looked at me, wide-eyed. “I was wrong to go against Pa and let him in, wasn't I?”
“Not so long as Pa don't find
I dropped the arrowhead back into the dirt andpressed the clods down hard with my bare feet to cover it. Didn't want to think about that old arrowhead and the Indians anymore. My head was a mixed-up jumble.
We grubbed rocks and roots the whole day, from morning to evening. By the time Pa was ready to go in for the supper meal, my arms were pink from the sun, and my palms looked as if they had been rubbed across a grindstone.
Lorenzo didn't take any pity on me. “Looka there at that little pile of stones you done,” he said, coming over. “The pile of stones me and George have is twice the size of yours.” He reached down to tug a fist-sized rock out of the ground. “You missed this one,” he said, sending it clattering onto my pile.
I scowled at him. “Maybe you and Cousin George ought to stay out here and find all of the rest of them rocks yourself.”
After Lorenzo kicked a footful of dirt in my direction and ran off, I had to admit that it didn't look like me and Amos had done very much. That was the problem with grubbing out the fields. You worked for hours and hours, and it seemed as if all the same stones and roots came back. No matter how far you flung them or how fast you dug them up, you couldn't get rid of them. The earth was stubborn. That was the truth.
I guess Peter Kelley must have been the same way. He wouldn't give up easily. No matter what my mean Pa said. Because when we returned to the house in the evening, Laura pulled me outside and whispered real low, “Today, while you and the boys was gone in the fields, Peter Kelley stopped by here.”
Red Hair climbs the steps
a second time
to see me.
i close my eyes.
you are a stranger now
,
i tell him.
go away, gichi-mookomaan
,
and do not return
again.
Red Hair says it has been
many winters
and we have been separated
far apart
,
but two things he has not forgotten
,
one
is how we saved his ma, and
two
is the stories of the Old Ones.
he says to me
—
Amik, do you remember
your grandmother's old story
of the Fox, Snake, and Man?
i know the story well
—
many strings of lives ago
,
Little Fox risked his life
to save Man
from the coils of a great serpent.
but as time passed
,
one winter to the next
,
one winter to the next
,
Man forgot Fox's good deed
,
as he forgets many things.
one starving moon
,
Man drew his sharp knife
to kill
poor thin Fox who had eaten
from his cache of winter food.
don't you remember me?
Fox cried.
don't you
remember?
do you see? Red Hair says
—
i am taking your side.
i do not want to be
the man who forgot
what the fox had done.
i am silent
for a long while
thinking of Fox and Man
and the great serpent.
finally, i tell him
—
Red Hair
,
no matter what the gichi-mookomaanag
say about me
—
Amik is not guilty.
Laura wouldn't tell me anything else about Peter Kelley's visit until the next morning when Pa and the boys left to hitch up our horse. Even then, she wouldn't breathe a word until she had gone outside and made certain they were inside the barn.
After she closed the cabin door, she turned toward me and spoke in a whisper. “I was so startled when I saw that it was Mr. Kelley yesterday. I didn't know whether or not I ought to let him in.”
“What did he say?”
Laura took a deep breath. “Well, he was full of nerves, I could tell. You shoulda seen the way his face was flushed, as if he had a fever. And he talked so fast I could hardly keep up. But he said he knew our Pa believed in his heart that Indian John had murdered someone—and maybe he had—but hewasn't certain himself and so all he wanted to do was talk to Indian John, just talk for a while, and try to find out the truth.”
Laura looked at me, wide-eyed. “I was wrong to go against Pa and let him in, wasn't I?”
“Not so long as Pa don't find
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