Part 18 (1/2)
”What?” I asked, aghast. ”How do you know that word? That's the plumber's word.”
”Don't look it in the eyes.”
”The bird?”
Yazzie ignored me and, muttering, burrowed through her large hobo handbag, retrieving from it a wooden slingshot and a rock the size of a large marble. With amazing dexterity and speed, she loaded the rock into the device, and shot it at the crow, narrowly missing the bird yet managing to relieve it of a few tail feathers.
”Be gone, ant'hnii!” she screamed, loading another rock and launching it toward the creature as it winging away in a panic, and then another, until is was gone.
”What are you doing?” I cried.
”Protecting you.” She grabbed me by the arm. ”Let's go inside.”
”You look insane,” I told her, as I followed her into her office.
”Ask me if I care.”
”I'm guessing not.”
”Correct.”
Yazzie sat down at her desk, and waited for me to sit in a nearby chair.
”Do you have the story I gave you?” she asked.
I had worn a different jacket, and besides which had left it in the library in my haste to save Buddy from traffic. Yazzie produced another copy of it, yellowed and torn as the first, and instructed me to read it aloud, for her.
”Do I have to?”
She put her hand on mine. ”I know you think I'm nuts, okay? I know that's what you all think of me. But I see a lot of Changing Woman in you. Okay?”
”Who?”
”The great G.o.ddess. I see her in you. This is a changing season for you. Do not be afraid of the Blessing Way, when it comes.”
”The what?”
”The ceremony.”
”That's what he just told me. He wants me to go to a ceremony later today.”
”Good! The sooner the better. You should go. You have the feel of Kindreds. I picked up on it right away.”
”What is a Kindred?”
”He'll tell you. Read me the story.”
I did as she told me. It was a fable from the local Cochiti Indian pueblo, about a boy made fun of by all the other boys in his village. He ends up leading a successful hunt through his smarts, and the boys who mocked him become the outcasts. The boy becomes the leader after the grandfather dies. Etc.
”And?” I asked, when I was through.
”There is meaning in this, for you.”
”I don't understand it.”
”Be strong, Maria. It will make sense. Take the right path now, and you will triumph in the end.”
”And what if I don't take the right path, by mistake?”
”The morboso knows who you are, and where you are, and who your friend is. Taking the wrong path is a bad idea.”
”Kelsey?”
”The one who thinks I never remember her,” said Yazzie. ”She is marked. I've sensed this. That is why I try not to draw undue attention to her.”
”What does that mean, that she's marked?”
”Perilous. Very dangerous for her.”
”Are you sure?”
”The morboso watches her. If you take the wrong path, she will be the one to pay.”
”I don't understand.”
”That's how this morboso do things. Go to your ceremony. Do as the revenant boy instructs you. Listen, here,” she touched her solar plexus. ”The heart knows. This is a wonderful journey you've set out upon. If you do it right.”
”And if I don't?”
”If you don't, I am sorry to say someone probably will die.”
”Kelsey?”
”I cannot say.”
I sat in shock, not knowing whether or not to believe her.
”Now,” she said. ”Let's both pretend we never had this talk. You will go back to cla.s.s, tell everyone it was all cleared up and you will never take your dog to school again, even though we know you didn't bring him here. The revenant did.”
She ran her hand over Buddy, with half-closed eyes.
”He has been there,” she said, looking mournfully at my dog. ”You poor, dear creature.”
”Where?”
”To the Very Bad Place,” she said with a horrible shudder. ”He dragged him there.”
”Demetrio?”