Rise of the Death Walkers (The Circle of Heritage Saga) (3 page)

Chapter 3 - One with Nature

September fourth nineteen seventy nine dawned as a perfect late summer day in northern New York. The sun crept into the sky casting beams of light that reflected off the pond behind my grandfather’s house and directly into the small room I had. I could see the glorious sweep of green when I looked out the small window at the end of my room. The forest invited me to come and find all of the secrets that lay buried within. The past couple of weeks had been an intense time for me with my grandfather. I slept with visions of every creature in the forest running through my head. It was, as my grandfather had put it, “time for me to become one with nature.” Looking around the yard that my grandfather had, I had to admit he was not one to encroach on nature very much. The woods came right up to his place. They only left a strip around his house that was wide enough to place a few lawn chairs. It allowed just enough space for a fire pit. My grandmother used it for outdoor cooking during the spring and summer seasons. I had not been aware of just how much I had changed during the summer until a chance meeting with an acquaintance from Junior High. My mind wandered and I thought back to the meeting.

Diane Kirsty was a very good looking girl who I’d been fond of during the full two years I’d been in the school with her. She had dark brunette hair that she kept impeccably neat. It flowed over her designer shirts with the precision of a Swiss watch. I’d thought she wasn’t even aware that I existed until I had a chance meeting with her in the Ames department store in Massena.

My grandmother had sent me and my grandfather to shop for some items she needed at the house. Grandfather Sam was off somewhere flirting with one of the sales women in the outdoors department. I’d seen the woman myself and to me, she was nothing special. I think it was due to the fact that she had buck teeth that stuck out so far she could have probably eaten watermelon through a picket fence without a problem.

I was looking on the shelves pricing things when out of nowhere this musical voice distracted my attention.

“Hello Jason.”

I turned my head toward her and was surprised I had to look down at her.

She trailed her fingers down the skin of my arm in a very distracting manner. “You’ve certainly developed during the summer.”

I was surprised she even knew my name.

“Hello Diane, how are you doing today?” It was inevitable, given the fact my voice was in the process of changing, that I squeaked like a mouse when I spoke to her.

I was distracted by what she was doing to my arm.

“I‘ve been under the impression I wasn’t good enough for you to talk to me.”

She laughed when I said this. Her voice sounded like swinging chimes in a gentle wind. “I couldn’t talk to you at school because that wouldn’t have been proper.” She continued to move her hands in a very distracting way. I had turned toward her when she had first spoken to me. Now she let her finger trail up and down on the front of my t-shirt.

I looked at her and could see that her face had lost some of the childhood plump that had been such an endearing feature on her during Junior High. She was developing into someone who would surely break a number of hearts in high school.

“It’d not have been proper for…” I gently prodded her so she would continue. I moved my face closer to hers and gently exhaled.

Her eyes went wide as her brain attempted to unscramble what she was going to say next. She moved her face closer to mine and after a bit of a time remembered what she’d been talking about.

”You know. Some one of my social status has an image to think of. I can’t be seen publicly with someone of your social status. It’s nothing personal you know.” She paused and pursed her lips. Lord! You’ve grown more than any of the other boys in our class.”

Fury built in my eyes. She stepped back rapidly as she saw it. I stepped away from her and said sarcastically.

“Well in case you are not aware you are in public right now! You’d better just go back to your friends! I can see them at the end of the aisle waiting for you.” I turned away from her and trembled in ire.

I saw her out of the corner of my eye as she bit her lip, then looked at her friends after I said this to her. There was a distinct sadness in her voice as she said softly to me.

“I’m so sorry Jason.” she had said this in a voice that was so low and full of emotion that I knew it wouldn’t have carried any further than my ears. She turned and sauntered away from me toward her friends.

I took some time to calm down. I cursed the injustice of a system that allowed such clear class distinctions to develop between people. Was it my fault my parents had been on welfare for my whole entire life? Was it my fault my father had not had to guts to continue his education, to learn something worthwhile in order to support his family? Was it my fault that in the end he was not enough of a man to stay with his wife and children to provide for them?

My grandmother’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

“Pasche, you need to come down for breakfast. Your grandfather will be driving you to school soon.”

I groaned as she said this. It would be two more weeks before I turned fifteen and would be able to drive myself to school. My grandfather hadn’t told me which vehicle he was going to get for me, but my permit was in my wallet, freshly creased with the stamp of the tribal council. My grandfather had convinced them to give it to me and date it for the day of my birthday. During the past two weeks my Grandpa Sam had given me lessons on the back road of the reservation with his old 42 dodge truck. It was a standard and I had a hard time hitting the proper gears, but I could move it forward now and I’m sure with time I’d be driving like anyone else on the roads.

I pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and called downstairs.

“I’m on my way down Mimi.”

That was the name I had called my grandmother my entire life. My mother had told me that when I was younger and beginning to speak, she had tried to get me to say Grandmother Amanda but all I would say was ‘My Mi Mi’. Since that day, I have called her Mimi.

I went downstairs. I had to admit I’d taken a step up in life. My grandfather's house wasn’t high class but it was obvious enough he held a respectable status on the reservation. It sure beat the cockroaches and slat walls I use to look at every day. It beat the walls where I had to stuff old clothing into the open spaces to keep the snow from drifting in.

I sat down at the table and looked around. “Where’s Grandpa Sam?”

My grandmother was a small plump woman who stood less than five foot tall. She had a twinkle that was perpetually in her eyes when she talked and a high tenor voice that carried quite far into the woods. She also had that no nonsense attitude that had kept my grandfather on his toes for the last fifty years.

“He went down to the Grey’s to see how your birthday present is coming along.” She snagged my arm as I darted toward the door. I looked at her and she shook her head.

“I promised Sam to keep you here Pasche.”

I groaned and sat back down on the chair hard. “Mimi it’s only two weeks till my birthday. Why can’t I see it now?”

I heard her chuckle as she placed my eggs and bacon on the table in front of me. “Then it would not be a birthday present, would it?” She turned back to the old cook stove and grabbed a pot of coffee from it. She saw me frown and reached over to tweak my cheek.

“You realize that in the old days on a boys fifteenth birthday they would wander far up the face of Whiteface Mountain to spend the days before their birthday contemplating and getting in touch with nature.”

I started eating my breakfast. “I know Mimi I’ve been doing a lot of that lately with Grandpa Sam.” The food my grandmother made each day was better than I was used to. I am not putting my mother’s cooking down. She did what she could with what Roger allowed her to get for food. Here at my grandparents, food was in abundance. I knew I would never see another macaroni soup. This was the favorite dish Roger had my mother prepare for us while he would have pork chops and mashed potatoes. Usually the kids would end up fighting about who would get the last piece of macaroni in the pot.

She reached over and ruffled up my hair.

I tried to duck away from her hand and exclaimed. “Mimi your messing up my hair!”

She smiled at me when I said this.

“And Sam says you are a natural at it grandson.” She looked over at the door as it swung open and frowned at the red face my grandfather was sporting.

”You have been running again you old fool! When are you going to start taking the truck like any sensible Indian your age?” She grabbed up a wooden spoon and waved it in a threatening motion.

My grandfather grinned at her and said. “The spirits provided me with two feet, woman, long before we had four on the floor and metal held together with duct tape and barbed wire.”

He stomped his feet, removed his hat and tossed it on the table. He ignored the dirty look my grandmother shot him and sat at the table.

“Feed me woman so I can get our grandson to school.” He drank from the cup of coffee she poured for him and looked at me.

“Well Pasche, are you ready for your big day?”

I rolled my eyes at him and shot back.

“I’m ready but not willing. I learn more when I’m in the woods with you for one hour than I do in a whole day in school.”

“I will never get used to this new fangled contraction stuff you children talk in. I promised your mother you would get a good education grandson, and we do not go back on a promise.”

He looked at me sternly. “There will be time enough after school for us to commune with the woods. You are going to help me expand the back yard. We need more room with you here now.”

I knew what he meant by that. He’d told me the first day here that we didn’t take from nature without asking first and when we took something we always gave something in return. We had spent the past week on old Thompson’s farm rebuilding the old damn the rainfalls of the spring season had torn down.

“Why do we need a bigger back yard Grandfather?”

He smiled at me and said. “That is where we are going to build your room boy. No grandson of mine is going to be stuck in a little room in the attic.” He reached over and tousled my hair. “Now finish your breakfast and I will get you to school before I start my day’s work.”

I did as he said while I contemplated what he would be doing that day. My grandfather ran two of the biggest gas stations on the reservation. He was planning on building one of them bigger and offering some of the crafts my grandmother and great aunts made to the white people who drove to the reservation for cheaper gas.

He was also building a third station on the east end of the reservation to cover the traffic from that end of the highway. I already knew the name of the station he had chosen. Up until now the one place had been called White’s Fueling Station but when the new place was done it’d be called the Wolf’s Den, in honor of the clan we belonged to. He’d told me it would be his legacy for me and my children.

I was honored my grandfather thought so highly of me and I’d told him so when he first told me of his plans. He then told me somewhat mysteriously that I did not know who I was yet. No amount of begging and pleading from me would get my grandfather to say anything more than that.

I finished my breakfast and grabbed the items for school my grandparents had gotten for me. My grandmother stopped me and gave me money for lunch before I left. When I got into the truck my grandfather made sure I was belted in before he started the truck. The old truck bellowed to life with a backfire that left a trail of smoke and fire behind us. I was on my way to the white man's school and little did I know this day would mark great changes in my life.

Chapter 4 - The Beating

Hogansburg was located about twelve miles up the road from Massena on route thirty-seven. It took about thirty five minutes on a good day to get from the outskirts of the reservation to the High School in Massena. My grandfather didn’t say much as he was driving me to the school. Before I had a chance to open the door he grabbed my arm and said, “remember Pasche, never be ashamed of who you are. Walk with your head held high and take no degradation from any man or woman.”

I nodded at him and opened the door.

“I’ll see you after school Grandpa.”

I shut the door and watched while he drove away. Squaring my shoulders I turned to face the unknown. The building was relatively new. It had red brick facing and many large windows. It wasn’t long before I guessed that this was the gym building I was looking at. I dimly recalled my mother telling me that the main entrance was just to the right of the sport facilities.

I rounded the corner when I saw her the first time. I don’t know why but I skidded to a stop and just stood there like a fool with my jaw hung slack. My brain shut off completely and I was suddenly a creature driven only by hormones. She was thin, almost lithe in appearance. That she was definitely female I could see by the shape of her body. Her hair was jet black. So black that the sun actually seemed to reflect off it. Her skin was not overly tan but definitely not as dark as mine. When she swung her head and looked in my direction I noticed she had midnight black eyes which seemed to stare deep into my soul. She stood at approximately five foot or five foot one to my own five foot ten. I had sprouted up considerably during the summer and had lost every bit of childish fat I’d been plagued with all my life up until now. She seemed to look right through me as if I wasn’t standing there, but I couldn’t take my eyes of her.

As I was standing there several people pushed by and suddenly I was shoved from behind.

“Move it you half-breed scum.”

My brain reengage and I turned around and looked at the person who addressed me that way. I had to look down to see the kid’s eyes. I took note of the four other boys standing around him so I knew where he got his false bravado from. I guess there was strength in numbers. He reached out to shove me again. I stood my ground.