Starfish_ A Novel - James Crowley [38]
“But the old Man could not sleep. He knew that the Sun was his friend, but he could not help but think about stealing the leggings from him.
“With them leggings, I’d never go hungry, the old Man thought. So, that night, after everyone was sound asleep, he stole them.”
With this, Barney looked from Beatrice to Ulysses. Beatrice looked from Barney to her knife. “Old Man ran as fast and as far as he could,” Barney continued. “But after a while he got tired, so he lay down, resting his head on the leggings, and fell asleep. The next morning the old Man woke and sat up with a start. He was back in the Sun’s lodge.
“‘Old Man,’ the Sun asked, ‘why are my leggings under your head?’
“The Old Man looked around. He couldn’t understand how he was back in the Sun’s lodge.
“‘Old Man, did you not hear me? why are my leggings under your head?’
“‘Oh,’ the old Man said, ‘I couldn’t find anything else for a pillow.’”
“A pillow?” Corn Poe blurted out. “Did they even have pillows back then?”
Barney answered by reaching over and popping Corn Poe on the back of the head. “That’s how I heard it. You mind if I finish?”
“No, go right ahead. Just wonderin’,” Corn Poe returned sheepishly.
“Well, the Sun believed him ’cuz they were friends, see? So, that night when they went to sleep, the Old Man stole them leggings again. This time, Old Man didn’t stop running until almost morning. He was so tired he put the leggings under his head and again fell asleep. when the Old Man woke, he was once again in the Sun’s Lodge. Old Man realized that the whole world is the Sun’s lodge and that the Sun was on to him.
“The Sun stood over the Old Man and said, ‘Pillow or not, seems that you like my leggings. If this is true, I will give them to you.’ The old Man said that it was true, thanked the Sun, and quickly went away.
“The Old Man continued his travels. He wandered across the land until he was out of food. Then he put on the leggings and set fire to the brush to hunt. once again, the fire drove the deers toward him, but the Old Man noticed that the fire was getting close, so he ran away. But the fire chased him. Old Man ran faster, but the fire gained on him, and the leggings caught on fire. old Man ran to the river. He jumped in, but when he hit the water, the burned leggings fell to pieces and floated down the river. Old Man couldn’t handle them leggings.”
“Boy, I’ll say,” Corn Poe emphasized.
“I think the Sun gave them leggings to the old Man to teach him a lesson.” Barney looked around dramatically. “You can’t escape the Sun. He sees everything.”
Barney sat silently for a moment and then motioned to one of the smaller children to bring the hot rocks into the sweat lodge. Barney drank what remained in the rusty bucket and tossed it toward another kid, who immediately picked it up and proceeded to the creek.
Lionel didn’t like the way that Barney pushed the other children around. It reminded him of the constant orders and directions back at the boarding school.
“Sstsiiysskaan nin,” Barney said, standing and stripping off his clothes down to his dirty long underwear. “I don’t think that they usually allow the women….”
But Beatrice did not let Barney finish. She stood, pushing past him toward the sweat lodge. She threw open the deer-hide flap, and looked inside.
“Kitái’kó’pohpa?” Barney pushed, calling into question Beatrice’s bravery.
Beatrice answered by stripping off her clothes, pausing only as she undid her belt to look at the sheath knife that Grandpa had given her. Lionel watched as she carefully wrapped the knife in her bundle of clothes and then disappeared into the low structure.
Barney did the same, and when he did, two smaller children pulled hot rocks from the fire and followed.
“Let’s go,” Corn Poe said, stripping off his clothes and following. Lionel took another look at Ulysses, then at the setting sun, and followed the others.
Chapter Twenty-Three
THE SWEAT • A VISION • BLACK MASK • BONFIRES & CORN LIQUOR • ELUDING BARNEY LITTLE PLUME
LIONEL DUCKED his head and crawled into the sweat lodge.