Authors: Aimée & David Thurlo

Shooting Chant (45 page)

BOOK: Shooting Chant

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Rose looked out the window before replying. Kevin was waiting outside on the porch. “Can’t we just send him away until we name
her?”

“Mom, I’ve asked him to wait outside so that he doesn’t hear the baby’s secret name. I’ve only done that because you insisted, but he has a right to be here for the rest.”

Rose’s eyes narrowed. “Look beyond him, Daughter, farther up on the hill. It’s his grandmother, I’ll bet. His own clan doesn’t even trust him,” Rose whispered.

“Because he’s allied with his daughter, and us,” Ella answered.
“Maybe.”

“Believe what you will, but I won’t send him away,” Ella said firmly.

Rose sighed, then nodded. “All right, then. I’m ready.”

As Clifford looked on, Ella held the baby up straight.

Rose placed her hand on the child. “My granddaughter, your name will be
Deezbaa’ .”

Ella smiled. It was the perfect name. “She Goes Off to War,” Ella said with a nod. “It’s a good choice, Mom. It’ll fit
her and the life she’ll have to build for herself.”

“The name
Deezbaa’
will also remind her that life is to be met with courage and strength.”

A tiny bit of pollen was placed in the baby’s mouth and Clifford sang a
Hozoniji,
a Song of Blessing. It was their special protection, a property of their family alone. After he was finished, Ella looked at her mother, then gestured silently to the door.

Reluctantly, Rose opened the door and invited Kevin inside.

Kevin beamed Ella a wide smile as he carried a beautifully decorated wooden cradleboard into the house. The top ends of the board were pointed, signifying it was for a girl. “I made the cradleboard myself, according to tradition,” he said, handing it to Ella. “I carved it from a solid piece of ponderosa pine, bored the holes for the
buckskin lacings myself with hand tools, and sanded everything down until it was smooth. I then sprinkled pollen on it and had your brother help me with the proper prayers.”

“A Singer isn’t needed. Your family didn’t help you?” Rose asked.

Ella gave her mother a sharp look, but it was a futile gesture. Rose spoke her mind, and no one had ever been able to stop her.

“I think it was better this
way,” Kevin said softly.

“They’re still out there,” Rose said, gesturing outside. “They’ll continue to watch us.”

“But no one will harm any of you, or my daughter,” Kevin said firmly. “You can count on that.”

Rose said nothing.

Ella sighed. “Thank you for the cradleboard, Kevin. I need to feed the baby, but stay, and afterwards we’ll put her in the cradleboard and say the prayers that need
to be said.”

Kevin stood. “I’d love to stay, but I can’t. I have other business to take care of,” he said, looking out at the figure in the distance.

“You’re welcome here anytime,” Ella said.

“What will her English name be?” Kevin asked, touching the baby’s face lightly with his finger.

“I’ve named her Dawn, for the prayer that was sung at her birth. That Song says that the baby will have
a happy voice and will be an Everlasting and Peaceful baby. In that Song is every hope I have for her.”

Kevin nodded in approval, then left. As the door opened, Rose saw a crowd of people walking up the road toward their house.

“Many will come to see the baby,” Rose said. “Some will do it out of curiosity, others out of love. But we’ll never know which is which.”

“I know.”

“I’m worried about
you, Daughter. When you first came back home, you were known as L.A. Woman. No one trusted you. It may be even worse now.”

“I’ll take it as it comes,” Ella said. She was strong enough to face rejections squarely, no matter how they stung, but if anyone came after her child, then they’d see what a bad enemy she could be.

“No one will harm the baby,” Clifford said, as if reading her thoughts.
“But their fears will become your greatest enemy, and you’ll have to look closely before trusting anyone again.”

“I’m a cop. That’s the way it always is.” But even as she said that, she knew that things
would
change. It was the nature of life.

Also by Aimée & David Thurlo

Black Mesa

Second Shadow

Spirit Warrior

Timewalker

E
LLA
C
LAH
N
OVELS

Blackening Song

Death Walker

Bad Medicine

Enemy Way

Shooting Chant