"The Walkers are asking for her because everyone knows that I am too old to care for her by myself, just as her own great-grandmother was. But I know that this is the child Oks Amichuda told me about-the very one."
"And you think, that by keeping her with you, you can help her become a medicine woman?" Molly Juan asked.
Rita looked at Fat Crack. "She already is one," Rita said. "She may not be old enough to understand that yet, and I will not tell her. It's something she must learn for herself. But in the time I have left, I can teach her things that will be useful when the time comes for her to decide."
Rita started to move away, but Judge Juan stopped her. "Supposing you die?" she asked pointedly. "What happens then? If Clemencia is living with a Mil-gahn family, who will be there to teach her?"
"The Walkers have a son," Rita answered quietly. "His Mil-gahn name is David Ladd. His Indian name-the one Looks At Nothing gave him when he was baptized-is Edagith Gogk Je'e — One With Two Mothers."
Molly Juan pushed her wire-framed glasses back up on her nose and peered closely at Rita. "I remember now. This is the Anglo boy who was baptized by an old medicine man years ago."
Rita nodded. "Looks At Nothing and I both taught Davy Ladd things he would need to know, things he can teach Clemencia as she gets older even though the medicine man and I are gone."
"How old is this boy now?"
"Twelve."
"And he speaks Tohono O'othham?"
"Yes."
"But what makes you think he would be willing to serve as a teacher and guide to this little girl?"
"I have lived with David Ladd since before he was born," Rita said. "He is a child of my heart if not of my flesh. When he was baptized, his mother-Mrs. Walker here-and I ate the ceremonial gruel together. He is a good boy. If I ask him to do something, he will do it."
That was when Judge Molly Juan finally turned to Diana and Brandon Walker. During the course of the proceedings, in an effort to keep the restless Clemencia quiet, Diana had handed the child over to Brandon. By the time the judge looked at them, Clemencia had grasped the tail of Brandon's new silk tie in one tiny fist and was happily chewing on it and choking him with it at the same time.
"Sheriff Walker," Molly Juan said, "it sounds as though your family is somewhat unusual. What do you think of all this?"
Still holding the child, Brandon got to his feet to address the judge. "Clemencia is just a baby, and she needs a home," he said. "I hate to think about her being sent to an orphanage."
"But what about the rest of it, Sheriff Walker? I know from the paperwork that your wife taught out here on the reservation for a number of years. She probably knows something about the Tohono O'othham and their culture and beliefs. What about you?"
Brandon looked down at the baby, who lay in his arms smiling up at him. For a moment he didn't speak at all. Finally he looked back at the judge.
"On the night of my stepson's second baptism," he said slowly, "I stood outside the feast house and smoked the Peace Smoke with Looks At Nothing. That night he asked three of us-Father John from San Xavier Mission; Gabe Ortiz, Mrs. Antone's nephew; and myself-along with him to serve as Davy's four fathers. It seems to me this is much the same thing.
"If you let us have her, my wife and I will do everything in our power to see that she has the best of both worlds."
Judge Juan nodded. "All right then, supposing I were to grant this petition on a temporary basis, pending final adoption proceedings, have you given any thought as to what you would call her?"
"Dolores Lanita-Lani for short," Brandon answered at once. "Those would be her Anglo names. And her Indian name would be Mualig Siakam — Forever Spinning."
"And her home village?" Judge Juan asked.
" Ban Thak-Coyote Sitting," he answered. "That is Rita's home village. It would be hers as well."
"Be it so ordered," Judge Juan said, whacking her desk with the gavel. "Next case."
13
Then all the people near the village of Gurli Put Vo-Dead Man's Pond-were told to come to a council so they could arrange for the protection of their fields. Everything that flies and all the animals came with the Indians to the council. And everybody promised to watch carefully so that the Bad People of the south should not again surprise them.
WhenPaDaj O'othham had eaten all the corn which they had stolen, they were soon hungry again. So they began once more to think of the nice fields of the Desert People. They began to wish they could steal the harvest, but they did not know how to accomplish this because, as you know, the Indians and their friends, the Flying People and all the animals, were on guard.
Then a wise old bad man toldPaDaj O'othham what to do.
Now when the Desert People held that council to arrange for the protection of their fields, they were so excited that they called only the people who live aboveground. So this wise old bad man toldPaDaj O'othham to call all the people who live under the ground: Ko'owi — the Snakes,Nanakshel — the Scorpions,Hiani — the Tarantulas,Jewho — the Gophers,Chichdag — the Gila Monsters, andChuk — the Jackrabbits. The Bad People said they would give all these people who live under the ground good food and beautiful clothes if they would go through the ground to the fields of the Desert People and fight theTohono O'othham while the Bad People stole the crops.
Chuk — Jackrabbit-did not like this plan. The Indians had always been good toChuk, and he did not want to fight them. But Jackrabbit did not know what to do.
Some bumblebees were sitting in a nearby tree.Hu'udagi — the Bumblebees-toldChuk to run with all his speed to the Desert People and tell them how PaDaj O'othham were planning to steal their harvest. The Bumblebees said they would tell U'uwhig — the Birds.
So Jackrabbit ran. He went in such a hurry that he took longer and longer jumps. As he jumped longer and longer, his legs grew longer and longer. That is why, my friend, even to this day, Jackrabbit's legs are so much longer than the legs of his brother rabbit,Tohbi — the Cottontail.
Lani awakened in the dark. She was hot. Salt, leached from her sweat-stained shirt, had seeped into the raw wound on her breast. The smoldering pain from that was what had wakened her, and it seemed to expand with every breath, filling her eyes with tears. Her whole body was stiff. Her back ached from lying on what seemed to be uneven grooves in the floor beneath her.
While she had been asleep, she had been dreaming again, dreaming about Nana Dahd. In the dream Lani had been a child again. She and Rita had been walking together somewhere, walking and talking, although that was impossible. By the time Lani first knew Rita Antone, Nana Dahd was already confined to a wheelchair.
Lani emerged from Rita's comforting presence in the dream, and she longed to return there, but this time when she wakened, she didn't seem to emerge gradually. There was no lingering fog of confusion the way there had been before. She knew at once that she was a prisoner and that she had been drugged. Perhaps the man named Vega had given her a much smaller dose this time, or perhaps some of the effect had been evacuated out of her system-sweated out of her pores by the perspiration that soaked her clothing.
Lani felt around her, trying to assess the hot, dark cage in which she was imprisoned-a huge wooden crate from the feel of it. Her searching fingers reached out and touched sturdy walls a foot or so on either side of her. They refused to give or even so much as creak when she tried pushing against them. Then she pounded on the wood until her knuckles bled, but if anyone heard, no one came to her aid.
The darkness around her at first seemed absolute, but at last she noticed rays of yellow light penetrating the darkness. The light, as if from street lights, told her that it was still night. She was near a road. She could hear the muffled roar of traffic-the sounds of heavy trucks, anyway. Periodically the box shook with what had to be the earth-shaking rumble of a nearby passing train.