Starfish_ A Novel - James Crowley [6]
Chapter Three
THE CHAPEL • GRIDIRON • BEATRICE STANDS • AN EAGLE & THREE HAWKS • EXPULSION
THE CHILDREN were restless through Mass, craning their necks to look out the thick stained-glass windows, trying to get a glimpse of the Frozen Man. From where he sat, Lionel could see the soldiers. They passed the Frozen Man’s bottle of corn liquor between them, each taking a swig. Lumpkin sat in the snow with his arm around the Frozen Man and held the bottle up before drinking. Then, the men tried, as best they could, to lift the man. But the Frozen Man remained kneeling, his arm outstretched, and this made it difficult.
The priest joined Brother Finn at the altar. They droned on in Latin while Lionel and the rest of the children listened, not really having a clue what they said.
Lionel glanced at Beatrice, who stared silently at the crucifix that hung above the altar. Beatrice once told Lionel that she admired Christ and said that he must have been a great man to be able to face death with such conviction. Lionel saw that Delores Ground was also looking at Beatrice and then at him. He quickly dropped his head and stared down at his shoes.
Lionel and Delores had been partners once when the captain’s wife had gathered the children and tried to teach them a dance from the East that she called the Virginia Reel. Lionel thought that he would someday take Delores as his wife, but that was before Barney Little Plume, from the school down by Heart Butte, gave Delores some rock candy in exchange for a kiss.
The children from Heart Butte had come up for a day of athletic competition, and that afternoon, Chalk Bluff played Heart Butte in a game of gridiron football. Beatrice, despite being two years too young to play and a girl, ran with the ball to score on four different occasions. She also, on one of her many tackles, forced Barney to leave the game by breaking his leg. No one could stop Beatrice on that day. Chalk Bluff beat Heart Butte 32–0. After the game, the older men on the tribal council said that if Beatrice had been born a boy, she would have been a great warrior and horseman like her father and grandfather.
The Brothers and soldiers of Chalk Bluff were also impressed with Beatrice’s athleticism. They’d even gone so far as to hide from the Brothers who ran the Heart Butte School that Beatrice was a girl. They listed her as “Bill” on the team roster and tied her braids up, hiding them under a leather helmet. They knew that Chalk Bluff could always count on Beatrice. And they were right. In every competition, no matter what it was or who it was against, Beatrice won. That, and the fact that she got so sick, is why Lionel thought Beatrice received different treatment from the Brothers and soldiers than the rest of the students did.
The day of the Heart Butte football game was the last time that Lionel had held Delores Ground’s hand. Lionel eyed Delores across the chapel and once again thought that they would not be married after all.
“Now, if everyone will please bow your heads.”
Brother Finn broke from his Latin for a moment as the priest prepared the Eucharist for Communion. “Yes, bow your heads and say a prayer for the poor soul whose unfortunate demise was discovered this morning before Mass.”
The children did as they were told, some of them pulling out their rosaries and murmuring their way down the many beads. Lionel stole a glance at Beatrice who had begun her prayer, which also started as a low murmur but slowly grew to a chant, then a song. She held her head low, but would occasionally raise her eyes toward the paint-peeled ceiling, her song becoming more and more audible as she went. The priest had asked the children to pray, and as far as Lionel was concerned, he couldn’t tell the difference between Brother Finn’s prayers in Latin and what Beatrice was singing. He didn’t fully understand either of them, so he joined Beatrice.
Lionel’s song also started low, but soon grew. As he imitated