St. Clair (Gives Light Series) (9 page)

Stu Stout: Isn't that obvious?

dosabite: newe nangkawi

prairierose: mitukkanno pusikwa!

skylar st. clair: maybe it is, but i

still don't understand. sorry

skylar st. clair: immaculata where the

heck is your computer? does your

grandpa's

wickiup

seriously

have

internet access?

dosabite: nu kee tunaakasuwanna

dosabite: hinni

Stu Stout: We've got to fight back.

HollyAtDawn has entered the room.

skylar st. clair: but what can we

really do?

HollyAtDawn: sigh

dosabite: mi'akwan

Stu Stout: Everyone's capable of doing

something.

HollyAtDawn: noyokowa'ippu!

Stu Stout: As soon as the monsoon's

over, let's meet at the flourmill.

prairierose: EWWWWWWW

Stu Stout: I'll pass the message along

to everyone I can.

skylar st. clair: OK. good luck, stu

Stu Stout: Luck's not needed. Just

innovation.

I was feeling kind of dubious by the time I turned

the computer off. Stuart was a smart guy, but how

exactly were we supposed to fight back against the

government? Plains People older and more

capable than us had fought the government for

centuries. And everybody knows how that ended.

This was shaping up to be the suckiest summer in

the history of summers. I felt especially bad for

Marilu, who had come out all this way for a nice

time with her extended family. That night after

dinner I baked big globs of maple candy over the

wood-coal stove; and when Marilu went upstairs

to change into her pajamas, I carried the cooled

tray after her.

"Ooh," she perked up. "Candy?"

I motioned for her to follow me into the attic. I

heard her let out a tiny little gasp. I'd set a couple

of cots on their sides and stretched quilts across

for a tent. The flashlight on the attic floor shone on

cut-out stars--really just the remains of an old

pendleton blanket. But the best part was that the

rain on the attic ceiling was so loud, it sounded as

though we were in the middle of it.

"Camping!" Marilu said, and dove under the tent.

"Oh, Skylar, this is so cool."

We shared candy together while she talked about

her hometown, the Pleasance Reserve. "It's not as

nice as Nettlebush," she said. "The ground's not

good for farming. The Paiute had good farmland

once, but the settlers snatched it up. And the

government-built houses are really old and really

bad, so you have to build your own if you can. But

if the government takes Nettlebush away from you,

you can come live with us, Skylar. There's room

enough for everyone."

I put my arm around her, touched.

"You know what I learned in geography class?

America is so big that everyone in the world could

fit in Texas. That's just one state! Can you

imagine it? And you know what else? There's

enough food and water in the world to feed seven

billion people seven times over. But people are

still homeless and hungry. I don't know why. All

that land. All that food. I don't know why we can't

just share..." Marilu stifled a long yawn. "I

wonder if it's raining where Danny lives..."

She laid her head on my shoulder and fell asleep.

I took the glasses off of her eyes and felt oddly

numb.

It was a relief for all parties when the monsoon

finally broke. Tiny golden Indian Mallows poked

out of the puddles in the ground and the old folks

sang praises to the sun. And Stuart Stout, true to

his word, organized a meeting in the flourmill out

west.

The meeting took place around dinnertime. I

slipped away from the bonfire and headed out

west, the sky in shades of sorrel sunset. I wasn't

the only one making the trek. I saw Shy Lorna, a

tall, bulky twelfth grader, walking alongside the

iron farm balusters, and I heard Matthew Tall

Ridge and William Sleeping Fox chatting

somewhere behind me. I found the flourmill, an

old wooden building with weather-worn walls,

and went inside.

The inside of the flourmill was musty and pitch

black. I tried to take a step forward and wound up

tripping over someone's foot.

"Ow!" I heard Daisy At Dawn say.

"What's going on?" said Autumn Rose In Winter.

"Would someone open the damn door?" said Isaac

Takes Flight.

A bright light abruptly filled the flourmill.

I looked around the building and briefly admired

its antiquity. The walls were old and smooth; I

could see the nails holding the wood panels in

place. Against the far back wall stood a round,

flat wheel made of stone--probably the grist--with

a heavy hand crank and a feeding tray for the

cereal grains.

I looked around the crowded flourmill at the

familiar faces. I saw Autumn Rose and Prairie

Rose standing with their brothers Ash and Sage

and their friend Siobhan. I saw the At Dawn twins

with Immaculata Quick, the shaman's kooky

granddaughter, and Annie and Aubrey standing

with Aubrey's older brother Isaac. Sarah Two

Eagles stood with June Threefold and Andrew

Nabako. Shy Lorna tried to shrink behind Zeke. It

was like an elephant trying to hide behind a mouse.

Mary grabbed Rafael's head and tried to shove it

in the grain tray.

"Can we focus?" said Stuart, exasperated.

That was when I realized the light was coming

from his hand. His hand was on fire.

"Ooooh!" Prairie Rose said. "How are you doing

that?"

"Liquid courage," Stuart replied. He had a clear

bottle in his right hand, and it looked suspiciously

like vodka. "The best incendiary I know. But

enough about that. Is everyone up to date about

what's going on with the government?"

"You mean they're taking the forest from us,"

Autumn Rose said tearfully. She was a very soft-

hearted girl.

"The forest is just the beginning. Once they've got

that, what's to stop them from taking more?

Remember, this is how the conflict with the white

settlers originally started. First we're sharing our

land with them, then they're shoving us off of it--

then they're calling us snakes and squaws and

destroying our villages."

"Well," Aubrey said uncomfortably, "if our parents

can't do anything about it..."

"They can't do anything about it that's legal."

"Keep talking," Mary said. Once you bring up

breaking the law, she's all ears.

"Do you know what a scorched earth policy is?

It's a warfare tactic. One side sets fire to their

land, their crops, their supplies, so their enemy

can't make use of them."

"Are you saying we should set the forest on fire?"

Annie asked skeptically.

"No. But what good is our land to the government

if they can't make money off of it? And no one will

want to buy it if they think there's something

terribly wrong with it. We have to make them

think the land's not worth anything."

"Pine beetles," Rafael said.

Everyone looked toward Rafael. He was

struggling, his braids caught in the cereal feeding

tray. I hurried over to him and helped him pull

them free.

"Ow. Dammit. Thanks, Sky." He shot a

glowering look at Mary. "Anyway, pine beetles.

They lay their eggs in pine trees. When the baby

beetles hatch underneath the bark, they come with a

nasty fungus that kills the trees from the inside out.

They've obliterated whole forests that way. And

you can't just tear down the dead trees and get rid

of the problem. The fungus sticks around for a

long time. If you breathe it in, it's bad for your

lungs."

"But we don't want to
really
destroy the forest,"

Daisy pointed out.

"Duh. That's why we plant the eggs in the outer

pines, let 'em hatch so the contractors see the

fungus, then kill the second generation before they

can do any more damage." Rafael rubbed his sore

scalp. "I mean, yeah, we'd have to kill some

trees..."

"But not nearly as many as a contractor might tear

down if he wanted to build a freeway, or a mall,"

Stuart joined in. "Cut off the hand to save the arm.

Scorched earth policy. This is a good idea."

"Just where do you plan on getting pine beetles?"

asked a cynical Isaac.

"Maybe we could harvest the ones that crawled up

your butt," Mary said with a dark grin.

Isaac seemed to shut up after that.

Rafael coughed into his fist. "I've got eggs

already."

"What?" Zeke said. "No you don't!"

Rafael scowled. "Yeah, I do," he returned. "Last

summer there was a pine beetle infestation in the

pinyon trees. Remember? Uncle Gabe told me to

crush the eggs so it wouldn't spread to the other

trees. But I felt bad about it, so I took the eggs

home and stuck 'em in the freezer instead."

"Oh my God," Mary said. "Those are pine beetle

eggs? I thought they were Rosa's and she was,

like, freezing them for future generations. So her

great-grandson could become his own great-uncle

or something--"

"Like the Tessier-Ashpools in
Neuromancer
?"

Aubrey asked.

"Can I borrow that book?" Rafael asked. "You

said you'd lend it to me."

"Can we
focus
?" Stuart said a second time.

"Do frozen pine beetle eggs even...um...keep?"

Autumn Rose asked.

"Yeah, they do," Rafael said. "They're like

scorpions."

"What do you mean?"

"Scorpions are awesome. You can stuff 'em in a

freezer for years, but the minute you thaw 'em out

they're scuttling around like nothing happened.

You can even microwave them and they'll survive

it. I swear, we're gonna get screwed over by a

nuclear war one day, and the scorpions are gonna

be the only thing left alive."

"And the roaches," Aubrey said uncomfortably.

"Well, yeah. Roaches don't even need their heads

to survive."

"Like chickens!" Prairie Rose said.

"That's right!" Aubrey said excitedly. "A chicken

doesn't really use its brain for anything, just its

brain stem, and the brain stem is in the neck, and--"

Annie clapped her hand over his mouth.

Immaculata tapped me on the shoulder.
I don't

know what we're talking about
, she signed.

I

smiled

apologetically.
It's about the

government
, I signed.
Rafael wants to plant pine

beetles in the outer forest to keep them from

taking our land.

Immaculata's eyes bulged gleefully.
Pine beetles

make for a delicious soup.

I backed slowly away.

"But uh...yeah," Rafael said, coughing again. "The

pine beetle eggs. I'll thaw 'em out of the freezer, I

guess."

"I'll help you spread them around," Aubrey said

brightly. "It'll be faster if we work together."

"Alright," said Stuart, sounding tired. "But

monitor the eggs closely, please. This will have

been for nothing if we destroy our own forest."

"I'm not gonna let that happen," Rafael said testily.

"I hope not. Anyway, that's all for now. I'll send

an e-mail if I think of anything new."

And Stuart closed his hand in a fist, swallowing up

the flame.

The following day was a Sunday, a day of rest.

Rafael's uncle Gabriel caught up with us after

church and invited us over to his house for dinner.

"Is that the house with the live oak tree?" Marilu

asked.

"A southern oak," Gabriel said, and winked.

All five of us traveled north by dusk, Marilu

skipping at Aunt Cora's side. Dad stopped

occasionally to point out the burdock pods

growing beneath the ponderosas. I made a mental

note to cull some later on. The roots are a great

remedy for all kinds of blood illnesses. Not that I

had any blood illnesses.

The sky was a rich shade of indigo. Gabriel had

set a blanket on the lawn, facing the badlands. The