Native American Short Stories

The Dakubetede Tribe Part 3

Stuffing the last bite of fish and flat bread into his mouth, Nosh agreed with his friend by means of several vigorous nods of his head.

"Sure, I could stay awake all night – let's go," he enthusiastically jumped in. "But what about you two?"

The girls slowly rolled their heads until their eyes met, followed by two pair of eyes rolling.

"Oh, please do not not leave us alone. We are defenseless, mindless, pathetic shells of the female form. We cannot survive without your protection -"

Chogan held up one hand and grinned, the evening breeze swishing his dark hair in waves as he teased the girls.

"Then it is settled; we will see you in a while. Do not become afraid and call for us, though. Our manly duties will have us occupied!"

Snorting at his remark, his cousin only snorted.

"Manly duties, ha! Do you not mean that you will mainly be scaring one another out there?"

The group of boys laughed and answered almost unanimously.

"Of course!"

The boy wearing the three feathers kicked at one of the stones supporting a leg of the make-shift clothes drying rack Miakoda set up near the fire, rearranging a couple items to kill time.

"Toss mine over there when they're done," he requested with a tug of his thumb in the general direction of the large boulder he'd claimed as his own spot."They will be my pillow when I return."

Promising to care for his garments, the boys turned and had already begun joking and slugging one another before they were even out of earshot of the females.

To make the most of their time alone, Miakoda suggested bringing their new shell collection out for a closer examination of them.

Hausisse feigned a yawn.

"Would you mind bringing mine with you? I want to go make water before we start going through them."

Truth be told, her foot had begun swelling since the evening meal; it was to be yet another day before the group of friends headed back home.

Once she confirmed her friend's back had turned, Hausisse wrapped her fingers around the long stick she found earlier in the day and poked it into the dirt to help her distribute her weight and stand up. Hobbling behind a large bush, she made her water but waited a moment or two in the breeze before deciding to return.

"Aah!"

Startled by her friend's yelp, Hausisse snapped into action by making her way back toward their living area; at first, the sight caught her off guard.

"What happened? I was only gone for – oh, no!"

Not waiting for the drawn-out version of how or why the drying rack had blown into the fire, she stabbed the stick into the dirt, pulling herself closer to the skins of water piled up next to their food supply. Nervous fingers yanked at the leather strings tying the openings shut, but the small supply barely made a dent in the growing fire, fanned by the increasing breeze.

"Chogan!"

Flames sizzled, popped,and continued to grow while helpless eyes also grew in size; smoke sifting past eyes and through the night air.

"What should we do now?"

Hausisse had never been in this predicament before; how was she supposed to know what to do?

The boys had already run far off enough to be out of range to hear their calls for help.

"Hey! You snatched one of my feathers," he scolded playfully. "I will tell my mother and your supply of dried elk will become limited."

Chogan punched the feather-snatching culprit on the arm, nearly missing in the dark. It was when he turned in an attempt to tackle him to the ground that both boys caught a glimpse of the glow in the distance.

"That cannot be good ... Look!"

Without another word, the group began to run toward the glow, leaving behind the two traps set only moments before.

"What have you done?"

Two of the boys raced toward the tent, snatching it from the pegs holding it to the earth. Nosh and another grabbed pelts and skin blankets and lifted them over their heads to beat the fire, both spreading parts by fanning some of the flames and extinguishing others.

"What happened," one of them repeated, not actually caring at that moment. "I knew we should not have left you two alone!"

Another shouted over his shoulder, "Why are you standing there? Grab something and help us!"

In no time at all, beads of perspiration rolled down from their faces and down their backs; between the shouting and the sound of the crackling flames, communication other than pointing and flapping an arm quickly became difficult.

Miakoda just wished her cousin would stop glaring at her; she did not mean for this to happen!

In hopes of removing the burning sensation from close contact with the smoke, Chogan pressed his thumbs into each eye socket, a soft hum reverberating from his lips as he gently rocked himself back and forth, elbows resting on his kneecaps.

Miakoda knew it was best to leave him alone when he hummed like this; the last time he did it, his favorite dog died.

Instead of irritating him any further, she motioned for Hausisse to join her behind the watering bush.

"This is the worst thing we could have done," she whispered. "They used all the pelts and I know they must be very angry with me. I would be very angry with me!"

Nodding in agreement, her friend had to acknowledge the boys loss.

"I do not even know how to make it up to them; it will be a long time before their parents allow them to leave the village alone."

Hausisse let out a puff of air and frowned.

"And they will never let the two of us out of their sight for as long as we live ..."

A sleepless and uneasy night before them, the group gathered what belongings they still owned and without speaking, set out for a very weary and awkward journey back to the village; the sun had just begun to rise as Nosh noticed Hausisse taking up the rear of the procession. Her steps light and lingered, an elbow dashed out to Miakoda's ribcage and as she glanced up to meet his gaze, he gave one quick nod of the chin toward her friend's ankle.

Dark red and purple lines had begun to creep up the side of her foot, over her ankle and disappeared under the length of her tunic.