Starfish_ A Novel - James Crowley [58]
The trail dropped down into the valley, and although it took longer than he had hoped, Lionel soon found himself running once again, this time parallel to the stream that would eventually lead him back to the meadow. Lionel looked to the east, where the morning would soon show itself in the distant clouded skies.
Lionel slowed once he reached the small grove of aspen, keeping an eye out for the branch where he had hung the claws. It had stopped raining, and as the clouds cleared, with the first hint of the new day, Lionel realized that he had wandered past their swimming hole. He thought that he had perhaps overshot that entire part of the river. He made his way back along the bank and once again found himself in a tight thicket of aspen, the same aspen from his dream. Lionel wandered through the maze, unable to get his bearings. He knew he was close, so how could he miss it? Lionel stood, scared and unsure as to what he should do next. He thought about giving up and heading back to find Beatrice and Mr. Hawkins and the others; but then something shiny fell from the sky.
Lionel moved a few paces into the small grove to investigate and found a shiny gold button in the rotting leaves that covered the forest floor. He picked it up and noticed that it had an eagle engraved on it, similar to the military buttons on the coat that the captain had given him. He ran a finger down his jacket’s open flap and was surprised to find that they were all still firmly intact. A dark shadow passed over him, and Lionel looked up to see the fleeting tail feathers of the raven from their meadow.
The raven zigzagged from tree to tree, surveying the stream in the clear morning light. Lionel remembered the raven’s pulling buttons from the straw man’s silk dress. He put this dropped button in his pocket and followed the bird, hoping that it was on its way back to and not away from the meadow. He found himself running to keep up and in no time he stood breathless at the familiar rise that led to the small pool with the waterfall. He climbed the rise, and there, hanging on the slim branch in a tight clump of quaking aspen, was the string of bear claws, exactly where he had left them. Lionel looked to the treetops to thank the bird, but the raven was gone.
Lionel climbed the rise and took the claws from the branch. The leather that held them was wet, but all seemed to be intact. He tied the bear claws around his neck and then dropped to the bank to drink from the cold swirling waters.
When he’d had enough, Lionel rolled over onto his back. He caught his breath, feeling relieved to have recovered the Frozen Man’s gift, and wondering how the raven had happened upon the button that was now in his pocket. Lionel knew that he should immediately turn back and run as fast as he could to rejoin the others, but thought that while he was catching his breath, it wouldn’t hurt to have another look at the lodge that had been their home.
He scrambled to his feet and dropped down into the meadow. Their garden held the last of the season’s offerings, but in the pale light of morning it looked lonely and overgrown with all that had transpired over the last couple of days. Lionel looked at the slumped straw man and thought about the day that his grandfather had sat on the stool weaving it to life; the same stool that Corn Poe had threatened to crack across Mr. Hawkins’s head.
Lionel wandered a bit farther out into the meadow, thinking about Mr. Hawkins and wondering what his life would have been like if those men hadn’t killed his wife. He wondered if Mr. Hawkins, his wife, and Junebug might have liked to live in the little lodge year-round. Lionel thought that he and Beatrice would have, but not anymore. They were back on the run—but where would they run to now?
A commotion from the stream below startled him. He whipped around to see the big, black-eyed elk burst from behind the garden and bolt across a section of the meadow toward the cover of the Great wood. The big elk ran toward the tree line, but then, almost as a second