People of the Lakes(262)
“But among the White Shell, your mother has the right to say whom you may or may not marry. My clan has already given me to the Khota, and they wouldn’t be happy to know that I dishonored them. I suspect that my brother would kill me if I ever returned. Given that fact, do you think your mother would allow you to marry me?”
“I’ll ask my clan to adopt you.”
“And why would they? All that trouble—not to mention expense —just for you? A runaway grandson who dodges clan responsibilities?”
“Put that way, Trout sounds like a much better catch than I am.”
She held his hand to her lips. “Perhaps, Water Fox, but I chose you. And these things we’re talking about will be only the first of many problems we’ll have to deal with.”
“What problems?”
“Well, let’s say we manage to marry and Fat Frog—” she gigged him in the ribs with a pointed elbow “–has her child, and then maybe another one. Do you expect to raise a family right here in Wave Dancer!”
He scratched his ear. “You know, I never gave it much thought.”
“Well, we’re going to have to.” She lifted an eyebrow. “Or have you spent your entire life planning only for the moment and letting tomorrow take care of itself?”
“I’ve always let tomorrow take care of itself.”
“Someone has to be pragmatic—unless you want to rely on Green Spider for the rest of your life.”
Otter winced.
Pearl gave him a crooked grin. “See? You need me, Water Fox. Of course, I lived that way myself until the Khota got me onto the river. And I guess I had another bout of it when you gave me back my prayer mat.”
“Did you? I felt sick when we pushed Wave Dancer out and you weren’t here.” He glanced at the deep lavender that was fading into darkness in the west. “I didn’t know what to do.” Pearl pressed his open palm to her cheek. “Fortunately, I did.”
The loud splash brought Otter and Pearl upright. They’d been so busy staring into each other’s eyes that they hadn’t seen what happened.
“What the … ” Black Skull wondered.
The canoe quivered as splashing sounded and Green Spider shouted, “Help! Help! I’m dying of thirst!”
Catcher leaped back and forth on the packs, barking and yipping, his tail whipping the air as he stared over the side. The Contrary had fallen overboard.
Otter, Pearl, and Black Skull scrambled across packs in the rocking canoe, each reaching out for the floundering Contrary.
Black Skull grabbed a hand, pulled Green Spider close, and bodily lifted him into the boat. The Contrary promptly shook himself and scrambled after Catcher. He hugged the dog to his breast, running his fingers through the thick black, white, and tan fur.
“What happened?” Pearl and Otter demanded in unison.
Black Skull, perched on the gunwale of the tipping canoe, shook his head. “The fool was emptying his bladder. I heard him asking, ‘ wonder where all the bubbles come from.’ You know how he is. I guess he got so fascinated watching his water make bubbles that he just sort of pitched headfirst overboard.” “You’re joking?” Otter asked dryly.
The dripping Contrary was using Catcher’s shaggy tail to dry his face with. Black Skull jerked a thumb at him. “Who’d joke about a thing like that?”
High overhead, a falling star streaked the sky.
Forty
“Do you know the difference between a fat Caribou woman and a grizzly bear?” Pale Snake carefully placed a pack in his canoe, resting on skid logs set into the mud of the landing. Other canoes lay upside down nearby, their hewn bottoms like peeled logs. The place had that earthy smell of water, wet earth, and greenery. The Upper Moonshell was a narrow meander here, barely worth the name of “river.” A wiry youth could pitch a stone across those lazy, muddy waters.
Behind him, up the slope, the earthen enclosure of the Buckeye Clan bustled with activity. People were passing through the opening in the earthen wall, calling their blessings to the ghosts of the ancestors. Just the tips of the peaked thatch roofs could be seen, and the breeze carried most of the sound away to the east.
Stone Wrist thought for a moment, lines deepening in his fat face, then said, “No.”
Pale Snake grinned. “If you offer a copper ring to the bear, he’ll just eat you and it’s over with. But offer the ring to the fat Caribou woman, and you’re married to her forever!”
Stone Wrist laughed, then tilted his pudgy head. “What’s a Caribou woman? And why is she fat?”
Pale Snake rubbed his neck as he looked across the river at the irregular fields and the lush forest beyond. The brown dirt had been planted, and puckered mounds of soil marked the location of seeds. The problem was, some jokes couldn’t be translated.