St. Clair (Gives Light Series) (41 page)

filling my ears with music.

I followed the dirt road to the beaten path out east.

I walked through the dark woods, the waning moon

high above the black clouds. I could hear the gray

wolves howling at the end of their night hunt. I

thought of the ancient Shoshone with their travois.

Shoshone were the only race in the history of

mankind that figured out how to tame wolves.

They harnessed a team of wolves to a travois--a

wooden sled--and the wolves pulled their

belongings across the Great Plains. It was a

relationship between man and wild. A

relationship we're never going to see again.

I stopped at the edge of the lake, the dark waters

uncommonly still.

The Water Ghost turned slowly to face me. He

was scrawny--all Water Ghosts are. He was as

wispy as a phantasm. He was as light as air. He

looked to me about twelve years old, a strange

median between boy and man. I could see the

remnants of the boy in his gangling limbs; I could

see the man he would someday turn into in the

sharpness of his face. His hair, light brown,

reached his shoulders. His clothes were tattered

and faded. His shoes were missing. In the shade

of the night, I couldn't make out his eye color. I

knew they were an olive green.

His voice, when he spoke, was as scratchy as

neglected silk.

"Can you take me home?" Danny asked. "Skylar?"

I started forward. I stopped. In a way, I couldn't

believe it. In a way, I'd known it all along.

I didn't care whether he liked it or not. I reached

for Danny; I took him into a hug. He slumped

against me, to my incredible surprise, and didn't

try to push me away.

"Sorry," he mumbled. "I remembered you. I

thought you could take me home. I've forgotten the

way."

I could do that much, I thought. It was the very

least that I could do. That anyone could do.

I put my arm around his back. He let me.

We walked together, the Water Ghost and I, his

shoulders bony, his feet bare. My heart exactly

where it belonged.

* * * * *

Shoshone Glossary

Atapu - Uncle (lit. "Little Father")

Sai Paa Hupia - Boat [and] Water Song

Pocatello - Middle Road Maker

Dosabite - White

Mii yukwii satu - He said so

Awisu - Wait

Hakatu sampe kimmakinna - Somebody just came

in

Haa, asun tammappu - Oh, it's that idiot

Newe nangkawi - Speak Shoshone (lit. "Speak

the People's language")

Mitukkaano pusikwa! - Learn English! (lit.

"Know English!")

Nu kee tunaakasuwanna - I don't want to

Hinni? - What?

Mi'akwan - Go away

Noyokowa'ippu - Bitch (lit. "Woman having

intercourse")

Sacajawea - Corruption of "Tsaikka Tsa Wea" -

Carries a Burden

Washakie - Shoots [Buffalo While] Running (lit.

"Runs and Hits")

Cameahwait - Corruption of "Kee Mi'ah Wailt"

- He Never Walks

Wadze Wa'ippu - Lost Woman

Po'i Naipi - Little Grass Girl (lit. "Grass Roots

Young Girl")

Nai Nukkwi - Girl [Who] Ran

Shundahai - To be one

Uu pusikwatu? - Do you know how?

Yokottsuku - Miserable old bastard (lit. "Sex-

deprived old man")

Mukua - War, Spirit

Hakani naattaimma? - What happened?

Ma punni - Look over there

Tsao! - Good!

Wachikatu puningkun - Hide the evidence

Aikupi - Cactus

Wahni Naipi - Little Fox Girl (lit. "Fox Young

Girl")

Tso'i - Pick it up

Kimma - Come

Kee so'o nangkawi! - Shut up! (lit. "Don't speak

so much!")

Tam Apo - The Great Spirit (lit. "Our Father")

Uu ha tsoapichia ti'iwanna? - Are you afraid of

ghosts?

* * * * *