Find Me

John: Meeting the Indian Girl

I'd gone into the woods to set up the fox trap I'd got for Christmas. I wasn't expecting to meet an Indian girl.

Now, when I heard some sort of hullabaloo over yonder, I figured it weren't more than a fight between two wildcats. But one of those screams sounded awful human-like, and so I ran like greased lightning through those woods, and fired my rifle at the first thing I saw moving.

It was awful fortunate for the Indian girl.

At first, I didn't know what she was. She looked like a half-starved deer, with all the skins she was wearing. But then, I saw her face. It was all white and hollow, except for a few smears of blood and two wide-open owl's eyes. Her eyes were dark and all scared-looking.

And to be honest, I was scared, too. I'd heard stories, mostly from Jed Larson, of people being scalped and burned and kidnapped by Indian folks. I wasn't too intent on getting scalped, but then I saw the bite mark on the girl's arm and realized she wasn't scalping no one any time soon.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

The girl didn't say nothing. She took one shivering breath, blinked, and squirmed a little. I was beginning to think she didn't speak a word of English, and then I remembered that I didn't speak a word of Indian. So I just waved awkwardly and spoke real slow-like.

"My name," I said, pointing to myself, "is John. If you promise not to hurt me, I'll help you take care of that arm. I won't hurt you, honest. I'm a friend."

The girl scooted backwards as I tried to step towards her. Her gaze darted around the forest, then she recollected herself and glared at me. Her eyes were pretty--the only pretty thing about her. They were staring into space, like eyes tend to do when they're hurting something awful, but there was still a spark in them. A real violent spark.

And she mustered up all the sparkiness she had in her and said, real strong, "No."

I stopped. "You know English?" I asked.

"No."

Well, shoot. I wondered if she knew what she was a-talking about.

Real slow, I said again, "Do you need help?"

I took one step closer to the girl. My heart was pounding real hard. I was close enough to smell the blood that was staring to make puddles on the ground. This girl was going to die if I didn't do something, so I took off my jacket and took two more steps towards the girl.

She started shaking like a leaf, and she made a weird noise when I touched her. It was kind of "ouch" and kind of "I'm scared" and a whole bunch of "don't touch me," but I took her arm anyway and wrapped it, real careful-like, in my jacket.

"See there?" I said, squeezing the girl's arm as tightly as I dared. Her arm wasn't nothing but bones, and I thought I'd snap it right in half if I squeezed any harder. The girl pressed her eyes shut, but she wasn't crying. "You're awful strong, now, aren't you?"

The girl started breathing heavier, and I wondered if she was going to faint. But she shuddered once, looked up at me, and said, "This...happen...first."

"Say again?"

"This--big cat--happened long time ago. I know it." She touches her jaw, and for the first time I noticed the claw-mark scars on it. Then, I saw the panther-claw necklace she was wearing, and I got afraid all over again.

"This ain't your first rodeo, is it?" I asked, a little nervous. "You ever killed a person?"

"No. You have?"

"'Course not."

I pressed a little bit tighter on the girl's arm, and she flinched. I flinched, too, then realized the girl was staring at me.

"Eyes like sky," she said. "It is...minwaande."

"What's that mean?" I asked.

The girl almost smiled, but then she realized she was being friendly, or something else against her religion, and started staring at the woods again. And so we just sat there for what felt like a coon's age.

I started to listen real close to everything going on, just like I did when I was deer-hunting. I heard a few birds, and a lot of wind, and the sudden squalling of a raccoon that about scared me out of my skin. But I didn't hear no panthers or nothing. The only thing I'd hate seeing more than a panther was a person, but I didn't hear none of them, either.

"Light-in-sky stick," the girl said.

I hadn't been paying attention. "Huh?"

The girl pointed to my rifle. "Put sharp rock in light-in-sky stick. Good idea?"

"That's an awful good idea," I said, standing up to load my rifle. I'd almost forgot to wipe my hands on the grass, or I'd have mussed up my rifle something awful. "Just you hang on a second. Can you--uh--just squeeze your arm, or something?"

The girl's eyes said that she knew what she was a-doing, thank you, and she peeled my jacket off her arm real careful-like. I had to look away, because there was a heck of a lot of blood. I just focused on loading my rifle, and when I looked back, the girl was putting something on her arm. It looked like crushed-up leaves.

"What is that?" I asked.

The girl shook her head. She was biting her lip something fierce, and every once in a while she'd squeeze her eyes shut until her face was more wrinkled than a dried cranberry. But after a while, she plumb stood up.

I kind of stared at her.

The girl was all wobbly, like a table with two legs too short, but she walked over to me anyway and handed me my jacket. "Hey, now, you keep that," I said, a-helping her wrap her arm up again. "Say you give it back when you're all healed up. I'm out in these woods a lot, and I'll be checking my traps every day 'cept for Sundays. Say you meet me when you're ready."

The girl cocked her head and looked at me all funny-like, and I realized she probably didn't understand nothing of what I said. But then, she smiled and said, "Come with me, and bring big cat."