William Redman Carter: Chapter 16

Posted: November 09, 2005 - 12:07:05 am



Wearing nothing but a loincloth and a small leather bag around his neck, William

walked to the edge of the stream. Once there, he paused and looked down at the

ground. At the border between water and land was a stone that caught his

attention. Kneeling, he picked it up.

The stone was the diameter of a quarter with a thickness of a quarter of an

inch. The edges were worn smooth. There was nothing remarkable about the stone

except for one feature -- the center of the stone had been worn away to produce

a hole. It was a stone of great power. Thousands of years had gone into its

formation. It required events that were so unlikely that the existence of the

stone should be impossible.

William pulled the leather bag from around his neck and attached the stone to

it. Replacing it around his neck, he knew the medicine bag was complete. Lucy

had made the medicine bag under the supervision of Linda. The bag had

traditional beading, but had been decorated with the eagle feathers, the rattle,

and, now, the stone. Inside the medicine bag were sacred herbs.

The stream chilled him as he waded into the water until it came to his knees. He

cupped his hands. Bending, he filled his hands with water. He lifted his cupped

hands over his head and allowed the water to cascade onto his head. He repeated

that until his entire body was wet.

His ritual bathing complete, William left the stream and headed towards the

sweat lodge. He noted with satisfaction that it was well placed for

communication with the spirits. The door opened eastwards, the direction from

which everything starts. He picked up his drum. Days of preparation had brought

him to the proper mental and emotional state for his spirit journey. It was now

necessary to undergo the ritual cleansing of the sweat lodge.

William joined the other men standing outside the small shelter. The oldest man

lit a sage smudge and cleansed each man with its smoke. After a prayer, half of

the men entered the shelter with him. The floor of the sweat lodge was covered

with cedar boughs. The other half of the men, the Dog Soldiers, remained outside

to tend the fire, pass the stones into the lodge, and to protect the ceremony.

Once the men had sat down upon the cedar boughs, a dog soldier thrust stones

into the lodge using a forked stick. The largest stone went into the middle of

the central pit. Around the center stone, stones were placed in the four

cardinal directions. As each stone was brought into the lodge, it was sprinkled

with sage. The air filled with the rich scent. Water was sprinkled onto the

rocks creating a cloud of steam. The men passed around an ancient pipe.

The oldest man started beating on his drum. William followed suit. When the

chanting started, the atmosphere in the lodge changed. The physical reality of

the world outside disappeared, to be replaced by a smoky otherworld feel. Time

passed as more stones were brought into the sweat lodge. The pores of William's

skin opened and his body was soon covered with thin film of sweat.

When the last of the rocks had cooled in the sweat lodge, one of the dog

soldiers opened the flap covering the entrance. Fresh air rushed in displacing

the steam and smell of sage. William's mind cleared with influx the fresh air.

One of the men pointed down a path. William knew that he was to follow the path

to a small cave along a cliff for his vision quest. Mediating, he made the walk

along the path. After walking for two hours he arrived at the cave. Taking a

seat he mediated and waited for his vision to descend upon him.

William entered the fog. Beneath his feet was the hard dust of the desert. There

was a small murmur of noise as if water was cascading through a distant shallow

narrow of a river. He waited for his guide to arrive. Time had lost its normal

progression as he was in another world.

A raven appeared before him and gave forth a croak that said, "Follow me."

When the raven took wing, William followed. As he walked the path, the nature of

the path changed from desert to woodland to plains to swamp, but the fog

surrounding him remained. Along the way, animals appeared along the path. In

each natural environment, the animals special to those places presented

themselves to him. There was the rattlesnake, deer, bear, otter, eagle, hawk,

mouse, buffalo, coyote, and cougar, to name a few. At each animal, the raven

paused for William to give honor to the animal.

The raven led William to the edge of a great meadow surrounded by ancient oak

trees. The fog rolled back revealing the meadow in its full glory. The sun

shined from above. Vines blocked his path to the meadow. Around him, the seasons

changed. The vines withered and fell away. With a last croak, the raven left

leaving William free to enter the meadow.

The vision lifted and William's consciousness returned to the cave. Standing, he

returned down the path that he had followed to reach the cave. Reaching the

sweat lodge, he greeted the men waiting for him. The ritual of the sweat lodge

was repeated.

When the last stone had cooled. The other men in the lodge stopped their

drumming and chanting. All turned to look at William. In a gruff voice, he said,

"Always the same vision."

"Talks With Animals," said one of the men capturing in one statement both

William's name and the interpretation of the majority of the vision. The other

men nodded their agreement. No one would talk about the end of the vision.

Stepping outside the sweat lodge, William felt weak and extremely tired. He had

gone three days without food or sleep. He returned to the stream and washed the

sweat from his body. The cool water against his hot body chilled and refreshed

him. One of the men who had waited outside the sweat lodge handed him a bottle

of sports drink and said, "Drink this. You'll feel better."

Smiling his thanks, William accepted the bottle. It was lukewarm, which was

better for him than ice cold. Opening it, he took a long swallow replacing water

and minerals that had been lost in the sweat lodge. He knew not to drink more

than his body could handle. Now that his throat was not quite so rough, he said,

"Thanks."

Chief Awa Tsireh asked, "What will you do now?"

"I will go home, work on my dissertation, and love my girlfriend."

"What about the White Buffalo?"

"I'll go to the sweat lodge at the Native American College and then go to the

ranch in August," answered William.

Chief Awa Tsireh smiled and nodded his head at the idea that William would go to

the Native American College first. He knew that William placed the five hundred

tribes above any single tribe and, in his opinion, that was the right thing to

do. He said, "You do your great-grandfather great honor by that choice. You do

all of the Native American people a great service."

William walked into the Carter House and was immediately met by Mary Gold

holding her normal pad of paper. She said, "Welcome back, William. I've only got

a few items for you."

"I'm tired," said William knowing that wouldn't stop her.

"It'll just take a minute," said Mary in her incredibly sexy voice. She glanced

at him and then continued, "First item. There is a William Catbird who wants to

interview you for the Native American Times. He's staying in Phoenix waiting to

meet you."

"Give me the rest before I decide on that one," said William. He didn't really

want to give an interview, but knew that he wasn't going to be able to avoid it.

"Second item. I've got three locations identified where you can work on your

dissertation. First one is at Lake George, New York. The second one is in

Princeton, Iowa. The third one is outside of Pine Bluff, Arkansas."

"Tell me about Pine Bluff."

"It's an isolated house along the river about fifteen minutes outside of Pine

Bluff. There's fishing and hunting in the area," answered Mary Gold. She had

examined aerial photographs of the area and had liked it.

"Set up a visit to it on the way back to Pennsylvania in two days."

"Alone?"

"Lucy and I," answered William.

Mary Gold smiled and made a note to that effect on her pad. Looking up, she

said, "Third item. Ann will be going to Denver for a week to look at the halls

for the wedding. We've set her up with a hotel and driver."

"Good. Make sure she has the resources to have a good time," said William.

"I've already done that. Cathy will go there with her to make sure that she

spends it," said Mary with a smile.

"Very good."

"Fourth item. Your play money account hit two hundred million again. One of the

special effects companies you invested in hit it big at the box office. Its

stock price went from four to forty almost overnight."

William frowned as he considered the news. He sighed and said, "Give me a list

of charities and I'll move half of the money to them. Get the accountants to

calculate the taxes on eighty million. I'll move the after-tax money over to my

conservative accounts and start over at twenty million in my play money

account."

"That only took you six months this time," said Mary.

"I know," answered William. Sighing, he asked, "Any more items?"

"Nope."

"Tell William Catbird that I'll meet him at Shirley's Bar tomorrow at noon,"

said William. He yawned and said, "I'm going to sleep now."

It was eleven when William and Lucy left for Shirley's Bar to meet William

Catbird. Walking down the street, William introduced Lucy to the neighbors. The

neighbors greeted Lucy like a long lost friend. All of them welcomed her to the

town with the kind of graciousness that was humbling.

Lucy was amazed at the lack of conflict between the rich and poor of town. In

fact, she found it difficult to distinguish between the two classes. She had met

Rosa and thought she was middleclass until she found out that the woman owned

one of the largest chains of Mexican food restaurants in the state. The small

three-bedroom house didn't seem the kind of house that would appeal to a

millionaire.

It took almost forty-five minutes to reach Shirley's bar. Lucy looked at William

puzzled by the destination. She said, "We're not old enough to go in there."

"Don't worry about it," said William with a smile while holding the door open

for her.

Concerned, she entered the bar. Much to her surprise, it was well lit and very

nicely decorated with a western theme. She wondered if all bars were so nice.

She said, "Wow. Nice."

"Thank you," said Shirley looking at the young lady at the door with a smile.

She saw William enter and her smile changed into a broad grin. She asked, "The

usual?"

"You bet and one of the same for Lucy," said William.

Lucy nudged him and said, "I don't drink."

Shirley set two soft drinks on the counter and said, "So you brought the

mysterious girl friend here to met me."

"Shirley, I'd like you to meet Lucy, my fiancee. Lucy, this is my Aunt Shirley,"

said William.

Shirley said, "Welcome to the family, Lucy."

"Thank you," said Lucy wondering why Shirley hadn't come by the house. She

asked, "Are you Kelly's sister?"

"John is my son," answered Shirley. At the lack of response, she added, "Beth's

husband."

"Oh," said Lucy.

"William calls half of the people in this town aunt or uncle despite the fact

that he's not related to most of them," said Shirley. She winked at William and

added, "Of course, half of the town is embarrassed by that. He's such a naughty

little boy."

Lucy laughed at the obvious joke. Recalling the walk down the street, Lucy said,

"It seems to be a very close knit community."

"Yeah. A lot of that is because of Ed Biggers," said Shirley with a twinkle in

her eye. She wasn't going to mention that half the women in town were in love

with him.

Lucy recognized the twinkle in the eye as meaning something more than suggesting

they were just good friends. She raised an eye wondering if there was more to

the story than Shirley had said. Then she recalled something that William had

said about Eddie and the need to lock up the girls in town.

William handed a drink to Lucy and said, "Here's a coke. We need to get ready

for William Redbird."

Even as he finished speaking, the door of the bar opened and a middle aged

Native American entered the bar. He looked around, his eyes caressing the

bottles of booze on the wall behind Shirley. Taking a deep breath, he said,

"I'll take a coke."

Shirley had noticed the way he had eyed the bottles. In an off-hand voice, she

asked, "Are you in AA?"

"Yes," answered the man.

"The bar is closed for you. I hope you don't mind, but I won't be a party to a

man falling off the wagon," said Shirley.

The man looked at Shirley with hostility and asked, "Are you doing that because

I'm a Native American?"

Unperturbed by the hostility, Shirley pointed over her shoulder to a small sign

and said, "We don't sell to members of AA even if they've already fallen off the

wagon."

The sign gave a number of conditions under which they wouldn't sell alcohol.

Included in the list was membership in AA. The man leaned forward and read the

other conditions. They wouldn't sell an alcoholic drink to someone angry? No

alcoholic drinks for designated drivers? He looked over at her and said, "You're

kidding, aren't you? No drinks to someone angry?"

"Very serious," answered Shirley. She wiped down the counter while she added,

"I'm happy enough to serve soft drinks and iced tea. No reason I have to push

alcohol. No reason I have to contribute to destructive behavior. Everyone in

here drinks responsibly or they don't drink."

The man replied, "Oh."

William said, "William Catbird. We're over here."

The man turned away from the rows of bottles on the wall and noticed William

with Lucy standing beside him. As he walked over to the couple, he said, "Call

me Beak."

"Beak?" asked William. Lucy giggled at the nickname.

"William Redbird... Bill Redbird... Redbird Bill... Beak... Get it?" said the

reporter. He smiled at the grin that appeared on William's face and said, "It

was my brother, my big brother, who came up with the name. He's called me Beak

for as long as I can remember."

William said, "Allow me to introduce Lucy to you."

"Pleased to meet you ma'am," said Beak. He sipped his coke and looked back at

the bar shaking his head. He still couldn't get over the idea of a bar posting a

sign reserving the right to refuse selling drinks to members of AA.

"Let's take a seat over there. No one will bother us while you're interviewing

us," said William.

The trio moved over to a table and took seats even as the bar filled with the

lunchtime crowd. Beak pulled out a notepad and a recorder. Placing the recorder

on the table and pointing to it, he asked, "Do you mind if I record this?"

"Go ahead," answered William.

"This is William Redbird. For the record will you introduce yourselves and spell

your names," said Beak looking across the table.

William introduced himself and spelled his name. He looked over at Lucy and

said, "Your turn."

"Me?" asked Lucy wondering why they would include her. As far as she understood,

the interview was between William and Beak.

"Of course, it's time to announce our engagement to the world. Might as well

give Beak the exclusive," answered William.

"Why me?" asked Beak surprised.

"Saves us from having to give another interview," answered William. The family's

public relations firm would handle announcements to the news services. He made a

mental note to warn them that he had leaked the news to the press.

Lucy stared at William in surprise. It took her a minute to realize that their

marriage was a newsworthy item. It took her a moment to recover, but she

supplied her name and spelled it in response to a follow up by Beak.

"So tell me how you two met."

William and Lucy took turns explaining the circumstances of how they met. They

left out the more personal details about the actions of her roommate. Lucy

offered how she had been upset and that William had comforted her. Even as she

spoke, William knew that her words would come back to haunt her if published.

While Beak wouldn't investigate why she was upset, he knew that other reporters

would do it. He interrupted, "Beak, I hope you will treat her emotional state at

the time we met as being off the record."

Looking from William to Lucy, Beak said, "I sense a story here."

Lucy was about to answer, when William said, "She was fifteen and going to

school at a university. A lot of kids older than her have a hard time adjusting

to being away from their parents. Let's leave it at that."

"Good enough," said Beak. He gave William a look that suggested the young man

owed him a favor. William nodded in acknowledgement.

Beak asked, "So when is the big date for the wedding?"

"We haven't established that yet. My mother is scouting out a location and we'll

set the date when we know what is available," answered Lucy.

"You'll let me know when you know the date and time?" asked Beak.

"Of course," answered William.

"Changing the topic a little, I'd like to ask about the birth of the White

Buffalo. As you know, it was among the first calves conceived after you broke

the curse upon the Native American people. Do you have any comments?"

"First, I was not alone in breaking the curse. Medicine men of many tribes

participated in the events of that day, as did warriors. I owe my life to those

good men," answered William leaning forward to make his point.

"I'm aware of that," said Beak.

"Second, I don't know how to interpret the timing of the birth. I wouldn't want

to speak for the Great Spirit."

"Fair enough."

"Third, it is a significant event for all Native Americans, not just those of

the plains. I would not be surprised if other signs of increasing power are seen

in the near future," said William.

Surprised by the suggestion of further signs, Beak leaned forward and asked,

"Such as?"

"I can't say. I wouldn't dare speak for the Great Spirit. The one thing that I

do know is that the people of the plains are not the only ones who are waiting

for a sign of their return to greatness. I sincerely doubt the Great Spirit will

not provide those signs."

"Interesting," said Beak wondering if William knew something from a vision.

"Will you go to see the White Buffalo?"

"Yes, I plan to go in August."

"Will you cleanse yourself before visiting?" asked Beak.

"Yes."

It was time for Beak to ask the question that everyone was wondering. He asked,

"Where will you go?"

"The sweat lodge at the Native American College," answered William.

"You place a great importance on the Native American College."

"Of course I do. My great-grandfather was one of the founders."

While William took a sip of his soft drink, Beak said, "The Sioux are angry

about new age frauds claiming to have learned the spiritual secrets of Native

Americans. Many of our people agree that these frauds have gone too far in

marketing and profiting off our beliefs. What are your thoughts on the matter?"

"Spiritual secrets of Native Americans? They claim to have learned them?" asked

William rhetorically. He chuckled and said, "There are as many spiritual secrets

as there are Native Americans. Each of us meets the Great Spirit alone and in

private. Claims of knowing the Spiritual Secrets of Native Americans are easily

dismissed."

"That doesn't prevent them from making the claim and profiting from it," said

Beak.

"Then let them show their diploma from the Native American College or their name

on the registry of Medicine Men that is kept there," replied William.

"What good will that do?"

"If they aren't in the registry, then their claim is false. If they make a false

claim, they can be sued. That would tend to eat into their profits," said

William with a feral grin. In a voice that sent chills down the back of Beak,

William said, "Let the warriors loose upon them."