Sky Coyote (12 page)

A few people exchanged meaningful glances.

“Anyway I settled down to play with Him, and I noticed that He took off His talisman and lay it down by His right foot. We cast the dice, the little shells spun around, and at first I won.
Then my luck changed! If I called five, three came up. If I called ten, I’d throw two. I couldn’t call a winning throw no matter how I shook the shells.

“This went on and on. I lost ten of your lives, ten of you here in this very hall. Whose lives do you suppose they were? Then I lost fifty lives. Then a hundred. Sun threw every number He called, but never me. So I watched closely, and I saw what was happening.

“There were little men hiding in Sun’s canoe talisman, tiny men white as chalk. When it was my turn, they’d run out and bowl the shells along like hoops until they landed me a losing number. When Sun threw, they’d bowl and flip the shells so that He won every time. And more and more of you were dying, and not only you but all the tribes, the Yokuts and the Ohlone and tribes you haven’t even heard of. Finally I threw my hands up and cried, ‘Sun, You’re cheating!’

“He just laughed and said, ‘If you think so, call in Moon to judge between us.’

“This seemed all right to me, because, say what you like about Moon being changeable, She is a fair judge at least. She came in and watched us play for a while. You know how sharp She can be, especially at certain times of the month when She’s in a bad mood! She spotted the tiny white men right away. She shook Her head in disapproval and said, ‘You’re right, Coyote, Sun is cheating!’

“Sun just laughed at us. He said, ‘I became tired of losing to you all the time, so I got myself a little magic to change the score. I’ll pay the penalty for cheating, but I’ll tell you this: my magic can’t be stopped. The white men in this canoe will collect human lives for me, all I can eat forever. You can’t stop them. You can win all the good harvests you like, but who will you give them to? So hot, so bright I’ll burn on all those lives!’ “

Absolute silence in the meeting hall. I lifted my head and howled. I made it the sound of all desolation, and the naked little mortals sat rigid with terror.

“But!” I went on after a suitable pause. “Moon looked at Sun with blood in Her eye and said: ‘You cheated at the midwinter game! Do You think You can get away with it? I’m going to fine You! Sky Coyote can have seventy years for his people before Your white men come for them. Also, if You eat all the people, the earth will go out of balance, and we can’t have that. So here’s a further penalty: Sky Coyote can take
four
magic canoes of his own and fill them with as many of his people as he can carry to safety. Those people You can never eat. Then, after seventy years, You are free to do Your worst to the people Sky Coyote leaves behind.’

“That was what Moon had to say. So this is what I’ve come to tell you, my children of Humashup: I will not leave you behind. Because I love you the most, I’m taking all of you away with me in my canoes.”

Silence. Then a babble of panicked voices, louder outside where people had been listening through the walls. Sepawit looked around at all the confusion and rose to address me.

“So … we’re to interpret all this literally, then.”

“Of course!”

“And not as a series of metaphors.”

“What did you think, I came here to read you riddles?”

The chief turned and stared at his shamans, who looked uncomfortable. From the back of the room, someone cried out: “I’ve seen those big canoes with wings! They’re sails! And they
do
have white men in them!”

“Like I said.” I crossed my arms, or forelimbs, or whatever. Must have been some Spanish ships straggling north from Mexico that weren’t making it into the history books. Oh, well. I’d
known these people weren’t stupid. It might be a good idea to ease up on the mythic style, though.

“You have to save us, Uncle Coyote!” cried the general mass.

“Now, everybody, calm down!” The chief waved his hands. “There’s no immediate danger. Sky Coyote has already promised to save us. And we have seventy years—didn’t You say seventy years?—yes, all right, He said seventy years before the white men even get here, by which time I’m sure we’ll be long gone. So you see, there’s no cause for alarm.”

“I’d like to ask a few questions.” The spokesman for the Canoemakers’ Union got to his feet. He looked determined, though he’d gone pale like the rest of them when I howled the doom of everything he knew.

“Ask, nephew.”

“First, the Canoemakers’ Union would like to thank You for Your concern and Your timely warning. But we’d like to ask—could You be a little more specific about this white-men thing? What exactly is involved here?”

“Yes, the United Steatite Workers would like to ask that, too,” chimed in Sawlawlan.

Coolheaded pragmatists, huh? All right. I addressed my words to them, but I spoke to be heard by the fearful unthinking masses at the back. “You want to know more? I’ll tell you. The Sun hasn’t got just one of those canoes with sails, He’s got thousands of them. They’ll bring more white men than there are stars in the sky, and white men, let me tell you, are the masters of invasion. Everything they touch dies, even their embraces kill, and you should see their weapons! Don’t think they’re just coming for a raid on you, either, don’t think they’ll take the sea-otter pelts and a woman or two and go to sea again in their big canoes. They’re going to
live
here.

“This won’t be your land anymore, it’ll be theirs. You’ll be
their slaves, as long as you live. And you won’t live long. But while you live, you’ll do what they tell you to do, you’ll eat what they tell you to eat, you’ll think what they tell you to think. And after they’ve destroyed you, they’ll start on the very earth. They’ll remake it to what they think a land should be. No more oak trees, no more wild places.

“Don’t you understand? As soon as the white men get here, that’s the end of this world. It won’t even be a memory, because there’ll be none of you left to remember what this place was like.

“Only Sky Coyote can save you.”

Just about had them. Their eyes were wide and staring now.

“All right.” Sepawit swallowed hard. “But surely, Sky Coyote, this is a little sudden—”

“You don’t believe me, do you?” I looked down my muzzle at him, severe now.

“We do, but—”

“You never expected me to visit you, did you? You didn’t even believe in me. Even now some of you are thinking, Who is this Sky Coyote really? Does He have to disrupt our comfortable lives like this? Couldn’t we just stay here and take our chances with these white men? Well, believe me, if this is too much trouble for you, I can go to some other village.”

Some of them began to panic. Sepawit was sweating. “No! No, please, Sky Coyote, don’t take offense. You must understand, this is all something of a shock to us. We need some time to take it in. To, er, discuss it among ourselves. Won’t you tell us more about what you plan to do?”

So I unbent, and graciously told them. Not the whole story, naturally, but the usual rigmarole about giant sky canoes carting everybody off to a wonderful promised land where they wouldn’t ever die, even after their present bodies grew old and passed away. And I told them about my spirit servants who were going
to be visiting to collect samples of the local flora and fauna, so the rest of their world could be rescued, too.

And they bought it, pretty much. The chief was mortified at my anger and ready to do anything to show himself cooperative, but I could tell I’d still have some work to do with the businessmen. Probably with the shamans, too. Get them alone, personal interviews, wheedling and threats and a little sleight of hand, one on one.

The questions and answers went on until pretty late, and I was invited to stay overnight in the special guest quarters for visiting dignitaries. With me went a couple of young ladies, groupies, as it were, in otter-fur capes, who wanted a closer look at some of my effects. You don’t need to know about this part, but the Prosthetics and Appliances Division of Dr. Zeus passed yet another field test with flying colors.

“Wow.” Puluy leaned back dreamily into otter fur, carefully arranging her hairdo. She was the prettier and more poised of the two. “That was neat, Coyote. I’ve never picked poppies with a Sky Guy before. You’re so, like, you know,
furry.”

“Dummy,” Awhay told her scornfully, stretching out her legs. She was the plumper and more serious one. “Of course He’s furry! He’s Sky Coyote, okay? So anyway, Uncle Coyote. Did You, like, really mean that, about the white men coming and all? I mean, the end of the world is, no shit, really coming?”

“That’s right.” I tried crossing my forelimbs behind my head and found I could do it. “You can kiss this place goodbye.”

“That is so weird.” Awhay stared at the ceiling, thinking about it. “And I can’t believe the first person You talked to was Kenemekme. That guy is such a
loser!”

“Omigod!” Puluy started up on her elbow. “I’ve got my birth
day party coming up next month! My dad’s sent me some money and my grandmother’s jewelry. Oh, shit!”

“Don’t worry,” I said with a yawn. “You’ll get your birthday party. We won’t be leaving right away.”

“My dad lives in Nipumu.” Puluy frowned slightly. “Are You gonna be rescuing his village too?”

“Can’t.” I shrugged. “I’m only allowed to take so many. Sorry, sweetheart.” She considered that a moment before her face cleared.

“Oh well. At least he’s already sent the presents. And it’s not like he’s even seen me since I was ten. Like he cares.” She lay down again, perfectly content. Awhay turned on her side and regarded me.

“What was it like in the beginning, Uncle Sky Coyote?” she asked. “I mean,
really
. Forget the shit we’re told by the priests. You were there! Was there actually a big flood and all that?”

“Sure.” I wriggled around and pulled up a folded fur behind my head to get comfortable. “We used to live down here in the Middle World, but after the flood we decided to be Sky People instead. But somebody had to live down here, so we got together to make you guys. All the Sky People contributed different ideas. Humans were designed by committee, and that’s why your bodies work so badly. We mold-cast the first couple in parts, see? And I was going to give you all nice useful hands like mine, that you can dig with and run around on without hurting; but at the last minute Lizard substituted a cast of his hands instead!”

“I’ve heard that story.” Awhay held up her hand and peered at it. “But it’s weird, you know, because we
don’t
have lizard hands.”

“Well. They look more like a lizard’s hands than mine,” I improvised. “And anyway, this is Sky Lizard we’re talking about, and he has hands just like yours.”

“Oh. Okay.” Awhay settled down, but her eyes were still on me. “Tell us more about what it was like in the old days?”

“Well, let’s see.” I accessed more files. “Did you ever hear about the time I rescued Eagle’s daughter from the Sea People?”

“Uh-uh. Tell us.”

“Okay. Way back when we Sky People used to live here, Eagle had a beautiful daughter. She was so lovely, golden light shone from her, and golden poppies bloomed out of her footprints. And everybody wanted her, because her beauty was famous all over the world; but Eagle decided to marry her to his sister’s son, Falcon, who was chief over on Limuw Island back then. So he sent a wedding party, a bunch of people in canoes, with Pelican and Cormorant leading because they knew the way, and a big fancy canoe decorated with golden poppies with Eagle’s daughter in it.

“But halfway across the channel, a bunch of swordfish came swimming up out of the sea and attacked the bride’s canoe! They made it capsize, and Eagle’s daughter fell into the water and sank like a stone and vanished from sight. So did the swordfish. The wedding party put about and searched, and Cormorant and Pelican dove down to see if they could find her, but it was no use.

“Boy, was there a to-do about that! The groom, Falcon, was crazy with grief. Eagle racked his brains to think of what he could do. But what could he do? The sea was a big place, and he had no power there.

“And so at last Eagle swallowed his pride and sent for me. There’d been some bad blood between us for a long time—in fact I hadn’t even been invited to the wedding. But I didn’t hold it against him when he sent for me and admitted that only I, Coyote, was smart enough to steal his daughter back. I especially
liked it that he got down on his knees and begged me. So I said, ‘Sure! No problem.’

“I got some magic stuff together in a couple of cane tubes, and I had Pelican and Cormorant take me out in a canoe to the place where Eagle’s daughter had gone overboard. Falcon insisted on coming along, even though I figured he’d get in the way. So as we sat there in the canoe, I handed him one of the tubes of magic stuff.

“ ‘Okay, kid, stick that in your ear and keep it there!’ I told him. ‘It’s dangerous where we’re going, but the tube should protect you.’ And I put the other tube in my ear and told him, ‘Now, when we get where we’re going, you let me do all the talking, understand?’ He told me that he understood, real meek, so I grabbed him and we jumped overboard. I stuck my head up out of the water and told Cormorant and Pelican not to come after us, no matter what happened.

“ ‘No chance!’ replied Cormorant. ‘We’ll stick around a day and a night, but then we’re out of here.’

“So down we went through the water, Falcon and I. First the water was clear as glass, then a gloomy kind of blue-green, then dark as night. We could feel the water squeezing us and freezing us, and we’d have been killed if not for my magic tube stuff. At last, a long way down, we saw a golden light shining in the black water.

“When we got closer, we saw that the light was spilling from the door and the smoke hole of a house that had been built on the sea bottom. It looked just like the house we’re in now, except that it had a whalebone frame instead of wood and was thatched with kelp instead of tules. We went to the door and looked in. Eagle’s daughter was in there, and the golden light was coming from her. Poor thing, she was crouched on the floor grinding up
snails in a mortar, just the way you’d grind acorns, only these were nasty slimy snails, and the whole house was slimy and untidy inside. She kept working, crying the whole time and wiping away golden tears.