CHAPTER XI
The year is 1855 in a Sioux village. Inside a domed structure made of twigs and mud a Shaman and a young girl with long red hair sit on either side of a small fire and face each other. The temperature inside the structure is very warm and humid and sweat runs off of both their faces.
The girl is dress in pants and a shirt made of deer hide. The shirt has only minimal designs painted on the front. Her hair hangs loose around her shoulders and she wears a 1" head band across her forehead made of woven beads and horse hair.
Although her hair is the color of carrots her skin is not the fair, freckled complexion one would expect. Instead it is a golden brown, tanned by many days spent in the sun.
The shaman reaches over the small fire and sprinkles something into the flames which cause them to flare up and create a bluish smoke that fills the air with the scent of sage. Although he speaks in the native Sioux language, the girl in front of him understands what he is saying and listens intently. Her respect for this man is obvious in her green eyes as she sits cross legged, her back erect, her hands resting on her knees.
"Although you are not born of our people," the Shaman speaks quietly, "you have lived as one of us, worked along side of us, hunted along side of us and fought with us. When you came to us a year and a half ago, you were grown but a child in many ways. Even then I knew you were special. My wife, Owaci Tahca, saw it, too and urged me to bring you into our family. You have learned beside our sons and Owaci Tahca and I have come to look upon you as our daughter. You told us your wasicu caje but it is time that we give you your Sioux name for you are truly one of us."
The Shaman sprinkles something into the fire that causes it to flare up and a red colored smoke fills the air of the hut with the scent of cinnamon. The girl's posture has not changed but the expression on her face is now mixed as she fights back a proud smile and a tear trickles down her cheek, but she says nothing. The Shaman stands and walks around behind her and stops. He shakes a rattle over her head and begins a Sioux chant. The girl closes her eyes and raises her head slightly so that her face is looking upward. The Shaman's chant ends and he returns to his place across from the girl and sits. He once again sprinkles something into the fire, the flames flare and a bluish green smoke fills the air with the scent of sage and pine. He makes a clicking sound with his tongue and the girl opens her eyes and looks at him.
"From this day forward, you shall be known to all Sioux as Peta Tokala, daughter of Apawi Wabli and Owaci Tahca," he says a little louder than before and with authority. He tosses something into the fire and the flames flare up high with a loud crackling noise, but this time there is no smoke.
The girl remains seated and repeats her new name over and over in her head. Sun Eagle passes a small bowl woven from the bark of a maple tree. She takes the bowl and looks into it then back up to Sun Eagle who gives her a slight nod. She reaches into the bowl and takes out a black "button" half the size of a dime, puts it in her mouth and hands the bowl back to Sun Eagle. Slowly she chews the "button" then swallows it. She closes her eyes and begins chanting.
The Shaman picks up a larger bowl filled with water and pours it on the hot rocks along side the fire and steam fills the small hut. He gets up and moves to the blanket covered door, lifts the blanket and steps outside as a woman around his age steps into the hut and drops the blanket back over the door.
The woman wears an ankle band that has a single bell on it and when the girl hears the bell she stops chanting, opens her eyes and looks at the woman. The woman smiles proudly at the girl who begins to undress. Once she is naked she sits cross legged nearer to the hot rocks which the woman douses again with water creating more steam in the hut. The woman begins to chant and the girl closes her eyes and begins to sway from side to side in rhythm with the chanting.
Soon the girl begins to have visions. They are of many faces. She sees a white man, tired and haggard looking, a white woman with red hair like hers, a Calvary soldier, a Sioux brave, Sun Eagle, Dancing Deer, Rain Cloud and Sleeping Bear (their sons), a white wolf, a white man she doesn't recognize with long black hair and gentle brown eyes, a young woman she also doesn't recognize with short dark hair, fair complected holding a sword and again the white wolf. The wolf stays in her vision moving closer then farther away, then closer. Then another face appears and becomes a whole person...a man she doesn't recognize either. He's a large, rotund man with a round red face that is sort of flat and a bulbous nose, beady eyes and thinning grey hair. The wolf begins to growl and steps between the man and her, his growling becoming more vicious. The man begins to laugh and the foam begins to form around the wolf's mouth as he becomes angrier. The man steps forward and the wolf lunges. The man's face disappears into the wolf's mouth.
The girl gasps and opens her eyes.
Kelly sat straight up in bed with a gasp. Her pajamas were soaked from sweat and her face was dripping sweat. She was trembling. She looked around confused for a moment as to her whereabouts. She began to recognize her surroundings. She had been sleeping in a sleeping bag in a hammock Kevin had put up the day before. It had been such a beautiful night that Kelly had decided to sleep under the stars instead of inside the motor home. She could hear the horses moving in their trailers and temporary paddocks and there was the sound of crickets off in the distance.
Kelly pulled her knees up under her chin and hugged them to her as she tried to make sense of her dream. The dream felt as if it were about her, but she didn't recognize the red haired girl in it. She didn't recognize any of the dream's other cast of characters and none of the faces in the girl's vision. Kelly tried to focus on remembering each of the faces in the girl's vision. As they ran through her mind she allowed them to linger long enough to see if they aroused any kind of feeling. Only one did, although she wasn't able to determine why or even what the feeling was. It was the man with the long dark hair and the gentle brown eyes. The only way she could describe the feeling she got when she remembered that particular face was un-nerving. Then her mind flashed on the last face in the red haired girl's vision and Kelly felt unmistakable fear.
She lay back down and stared up at the stars. She watched the dark star filled sky slowly turn to a pale blue as the sun rose and a new day began.
1 Dancing Deer
2 Whiteman's name
3 Flaming Fox
4 Sun Eagle
5 Peyote - seed from a cactus that is a mild hallucinogen used in Sioux Vision Quest Ceremonies.
TO BE CONTINUED