Monster (18 page)

Still t
asted great.

Cheap
Stuff looked cheap from the outside. A wooden
shack built against an
aging brick home,
it
was set back
from
the road and had a peeling wooden pony standing guard outside on a lawn of dust. Angela parked and went
in. T
he
great-great-granddaughter greeted her. It had to
be t
he
woman. She was native American, and she had a
blanket
in her hands
that she wanted to show Angela.

“I’m
really here to
see
Shining Feather,
”
Angela said,
glancing
abou
t.
The shop held shelves of pottery, woven
baskets,
hand-carved wooden figures
–
nothing that would
interest
a young woman raised in shopping malls.

“Fea
ther, he
's
taking nap,”
the woman said. She was
about thirt
y and very
f
at
.
She wore her black hair in
a long, thick ponytail
that reached past her waist. She
shoved
her blanket into Angela
's
arms.
“
This I give you
for s
ixty bucks. It's a genuine Manton blanket
.”

The
brown blanket looked as if it had been purchased
at Wa
l-Mart and then had
a
couple of white pictographs
sewn
on it w
ith thread. “I
don't have sixty bucks,
”
Angela
said. “
But
I
have
a
report on the Manton that
I
have
to f
inish for class Monday. It's real important I speak
to you
r great-great-grandfather. Could I come back at a
later time?”

The
woman was interested.
“
Are you saying good
t
hings
about us?”

“Ve
ry
good things.”

“How much money do you have?”

“About two bucks.”

The woman reached for a small clay figure on a
nearby
shelf.
It was of a young native girl. “I'll sell
you
t
his
and
then go wake Feather.
”

“
I don't want you to wake him. He might
not
like
that.”

The woman shrugged and put the figure in a brown
bag. “
He sleeps all the
time. I'll have to wake him sooner or later
so that he ca
n get up to go to the bathroom.”

Angela handed over her remaining two dollars,
and
the woman disappeared into the back. Angela de
cided
she definitely had to stop at an ATM on the way hom
e.
She wasn't going back to her grandfather's place without groceries. She checked the time
–
five thirty-two.
Jim
had
said he wanted to see her again at seven.

The woman reappeared and gestured that Angela
was
to follow her into the house portion of the st
ructure,
which was a questionable improvement
over
the
re
tail part.
They went through a messy kitchen and a
n
impove
rished
living-room into a tiny bedroom. Here things were n
eater;
the bed was made
,
and the window was open, facing
the
sunset. T
he room smelled nice; a stick of
incense bu
rned
in the corner. Shining Feather sat wrapped in a b
lanket
in
front
of a fuzzy TV. He didn't look as
if
he'd
been
asleep at all. He glanced over as Angela entered and
said
someth
in
g she
did
not understand.

“
What?
”
she mumbled.

“
He said,
‘
Hi, how are you?
’”
the woman said.

“
He doesn't speak English?
”
she asked.

“He used to,
but he's forgotten most of it. He p
refers
Man
ton. I will translate for you.” She pointed. “
Sit
there
in front of him, on that blanket
.
You like that
blanket? I
got it at Wal-Mart, on sale.
”

“It’s very fine,”
Angela said, taking her place on
the floor
at the old
man
's
fe
et.
He was small and ben
t;
the th
reads of
white hair on his head were few and far between. But
his
skin was not excessively wrinkled for someone of his
great
age, and his black eyes, as they peered down at her,
were keen
and alert
.
It was almost
as if he saw things about her sh
e'd rather he couldn't se
e
.

What have I got to
hide?

Things. A strange story of monsters. An illicit kiss. A warehouse stained with blood. A huge appetite. She was ke
eping a few secrets these days.

“
Hello,
”
she said to the old man.

He nodded
.
He might have understood some Eng
lish even if he didn't speak it.
He sai
d something to the woman in Man
ton.

“
Feather wants you to mention in your report that the Manton were the greatest warriors that ever lived,
”
the
wo
man
said.

Angela smiled back at Shining Feather.
“
Tell hi
m that I have already done that.”
The woman translated her words b
efore Angela continued. “
Tell him that I would like to ask him s
ome questions about Point Lake.”

Once more the woman relayed the message. Angela was surprised when Shini
ng Feather forcibly shook his head. “
He doesn't
want to talk about the l
ake,
” the woman said. “He says it's a bad place.”

“
That's specifically what
I
wanted to talk to him about,' Angela said
.

S
hini
ng Feather continued to speak. “
He says he was the
one
who convinced some white settlers not to drink the
water
from the lake,
”
the woman translated.
“
He says they didn
’
t listen to him at first but they learned to listen. He
says
that all the water drunk
in the area comes from wells, not t
he lake, and he is responsible for that
.”

Angela shook her head. “
Tell him that the water for the
new
school that was built on the lake comes from the lake,
and
that several kids have got sick at the school, and that
we
d
on't know what the sickness is.”

Af
ter the woman relayed the message
,
Shining Feather
grew
agitated. He pulled his blanket tighter and squirmed
in h
is seat
.
He began to speak more rapidly than before.

“He
says the sickness is from the water in the lake,
” the woman said, “
and that children must not drink the water.
He
sa
y
s
if they stop immediate
ly
they wi
ll
get better,
but
if they don't stop, te
rrible things will happen to them. He
says you must go to the people in charge of the school
and
alert them to the danger. He says this happened befo
re to white settl
ers. Many of them got sick until they lis
tened
to him
.
But he says all those settle
rs
got better
just by staying away from the water.”

“
Ask him what things will happen if people
continue to drink the water,”
Angela said.

The old man sho
ok his head when the question was relayed. “
He will not speak of it,
”
the woman said.

“
Why not?
”
Angela asked.

The
old man kept shaking his head. “
He says yo
u
don’t
want to know what will happen,”
the woman said.

“
Ask him why the lake was named Sethia by the M
an
ton
,”
Angela said.

Shining Feather responded. “
He says you don't
want to
know,
”
the woman said.

“
Tell him I know the name means the Bath of
Blood,”
Angela said.

Shining Feather became silent for a moment,
staring
at her. Finally he spoke softly to his great-great-g
rand-daughter. “
He wants to know what else you know,
” the
woman said.

“
Tell him I have read about the KA
t
uu, and that
I—”

Shining Feather interrupted her with a yell. He
shook
his head vigorously and began to s
peak in Manton. “You
are not to say that word,
”
the woman said.
“
He sa
ys
it
is an
evil word from an evil time. Bu
t
he wants to know wh
y you
want to know about that word.
”

Angel
a looked the old man in the eyes. “
Tell
him that
several of the kids at the school may have cha
nged in
some
way, and I am wondering if they have changed int
o –
KA
t
uu
.”

Shining Feather was obviously disgusted that she
had
said the cursed word again because he did not immedi
ately
respond
.
When he did his voice was once more soft
. “He
wants to know in what way the children have chang
ed,” the woman said. “
He wants to know if anyone has died,
and h
e wants to know how they died.
”
She added,
“This is weird.”

“
Two people have died,
”
Angela said. "They were killed
by a
girl who was convinced the people had changed
into
something evil
.
But the people, before they died,
might
have killed others
.” Angela paused. “
They might
have eaten four people alive.”

Shi
ning Feather was distressed by her answer. He con
tinued
to watch her, his eyes more alert than before, less
kind.
He spoke again. “
He wants to know if the girl was
able to
kil
l
all the strange children
,” the woman said.

“No,”
Angela said.

Shining Feather spoke. “How many are still alive?”
the
woman
asked.

“
I
don't know,”
Ange
la said. “Why did the Manton call the la
ke
the Bath of Blood?”

S
h
ining Feather answered.
“
Because it was where the d
ri
nking of blood always started,
”
the woman said.

“
I
don't understand,”
Angela said.
“
The lake was filled
with
blood?”

Shi
ning Feather responde
d. “
The lake is filled with
water,” the woman said. “
The
–
he doesn't want to say
the
word
– are filled with blood.”

“I’m
confused
,”
Angela said.
“
Are the KAtuu normal
people who have
changed as
a
result of drinking the water
in the lake?”

Shi
ning Feather scowled
at the word.
It really annoyed
him. Angela didn’t
know how to get around using it
.
He
responded. “He says that nothing about the ‘
changed
ones’ is normal,”
the woman said.
“
He says they change
all at once, but very slowly, too.”

“What does that mean?”
Angela a
sked. “He's contradicting himself.”

Shining Feather spoke. “
He says they change on the
inside
before they change on the outside
,”
the woman
said. “They are hard to recogniz
e at first
.”

“How can you recogniz
e them?
”
Angela asked.

Shining Feather
's
eyes bored into her as he spoke.
“They
are always hungry for blood
,”
the woman said.