Whispering Spirits by Rita Karnopp

telling him you didn’t know anything
about it. He should go ask Joshua. The man in black had a gun and
he raised it toward you. Then I woke. What does this mean, Niipo ?”
    “You couldn’t possibly have dreamt that, Nah’ah .”
    “Well I did. Don’t you feel the spirits of
our ancestors all around us? They are agitated and are whispering
to us. You must find a way to listen to them. I think they want to
help you.”
    “ Nah’ah , if I believed for a second
they could help me, I’d listen. But spirits don’t help people. Our
ancestors are dead and so are their ways. We have to face the
inevitable truth. The time of the dinosaur is over, never to
return. The same is true about the Blackfeet nation.”
    “You are wrong, Niipo . We can live in
the world of the napi’kwan , but we still can stay true to
those who came before us. We can learn from their mistakes, so we
don’t make them again. We can take our traditional values and
practices to create a workable government. We need schools that
teach our young their past and help prepare them for the future. We
need to guide those in need and develop justice systems that are
fair to the Indian. As our people see their own traditions
reflected in these changes, they will support them. We must learn
to live together, we must learn to understand and accept each other
as individuals.”
    “That sounds all great…and our relatives have
been saying the same thing for years. Where has it gotten
them?”
    “When you were a young girl, you always felt
the pain of the Blackfeet. You wanted to get an education so you
could make things better for your people. But you have changed. You
are not the caring girl you once were. Now you only want to forget
the fight…it takes too much effort. If we all thought like you, we
would no longer be Ni-tsi-ta-pi-ksi , the real people. Our
young people will never know the Sao-kit-apii’ksi are our
people who live on the plains. That Nitsi-poi-yiksi are the
speakers of the Real Language, our language. Your father teaches
this to the children. Do you want to tell him it all means
nothing?”
    “I’m sorry, Nah’ah . I don’t hear the
whispering spirits as you do. I am what some call an apple .”
    “I do not understand what you mean.”
    “It means I’m red on the outside, white on
the inside.”
    “I do not believe this, Niipo . You
have been gone too long. You have lost your way. I have felt this
for some time. That is why we need this time together.”
    “I’ll only disappoint you, Nah’ah . I’m
going back as soon as that supply chopper gets here.” Summer closed
her eyes and listened to the chanting prayer Nah’ah offered
at the altar. The pleasing fragrance of sweetgrass filled her
senses and she closed her eyes and relaxed.
     
    * * *
     
    Summer approached Two Medicine Falls. The
clear water, cold as ice, surrounded by an unbroken forest,
extended from the north and south shores high on the mountain
sides. To the south, Mount Rising Wolf rose abruptly, and to the
west, the massive Continental Divide displayed snow covered
peaks.
    A meadowlark thrilled her song over and over,
as though warning of impending danger.
    “Listen to your nah’ah . You are in
great danger. Do not trust anyone. Think over your relationship
with Jordan. What are you not seeing?”
    Sitting on a rock off the edge of the water,
a young Blackfeet woman sat. She wore a soft, white doeskin dress
heavily beaded with elk teeth and fringed edges. Her hair hung in
two braids tied off with mink, falling close to her waist. She
seemed familiar, yet Summer couldn’t place where she’d seen this
woman before.
    “Who are you? What do you want?”
    “Although it is not wise to speak one’s own
name, I will tell you this one time my name is Oota
da’bun. ”
    “Day Star? How lovely. Why have you come to
me? Are you real?”
    “Your nah’ah speaks of whispering
spirits.”
    “Yes, all the time. It drives me nuts. I
don’t hear my ancestors talking or