Chase the Wind (32 page)

“Let’s get that arrow out of him before we start on the leg,” the nun said when she turned back to her patient. She held down the injured shoulder, instructed Jenny to take the other, while Jamie stood over him and pulled out the shaft, bringing the upper part of his body up as he extracted it. The patient fell back into the bed and moaned, then murmured a few words that no one could understand.

“It’s not Lakota, I know that much,” Jamie said.

“Save the arrow. It might help identify who attacked him,” Jenny suggested. Jamie examined the feathers still attached to the end, then placed it on the table. Sister Mary Frances treated the wound after she had stopped the fresh flow of blood, then wrapped his shoulder tightly with a bandage. The patient occasionally spoke a few words, foreign to all of them, although Jenny swore she heard the word “mother” at one time.

“Now we need to set the leg,” Sister Mary Frances announced after examining it from all angles. She instructed Jenny to get up on the bed and hold the patient down by his shoulders while Jamie pulled on his foot. The nun’s task was to guide the bone back into place, all the time hoping that the fractured ends would come together without chipping. Jenny put all her weight against the patient’s upper chest, but he still arched his back against the bed, grinding his teeth as he did so. His eyes flew open as the nun manipulated the bone, and Jenny found herself caught in the deep brown depths. She saw a spark deep within them for an instant, then they went blank as a wave of pain overcame him and he slid back into unconsciousness.

“How’s he doing?” the nun asked.

“He woke up, but he’s out again,” Jenny answered.

“Poor thing. It’s probably a blessing, the way this leg looks.”

“Can you save it?” Jenny asked as she climbed down from her position.

Sister Mary Frances gave her a quizzical look as she measured the length of the patient’s shin for a splint. “I hope so. It will take a lot of time, but it should heal.”

“Good. I don’t think he could go on if he lost it,” Jenny said.

“Figured that out already, did ya?” Jamie grinned at her. Jenny realized that her eyes were roaming across the wide bare chest of the patient, and she suddenly flushed a bright crimson when she saw Jamie grinning at her from the other side of the bed. She decided to busy herself in the cabinet where the supply of bandages was kept and soon returned with enough to do the leg. Sister Mary Frances shared a smile with Jamie, then sent him out to find a way to suspend the leg from the ceiling. After what seemed like several hours, they were done, and Sister Mary Frances sent Jenny out so she could bathe the young man with the help of Jamie’s strong arms to do the lifting and turning. They put one of Jamie’s shirts on him and gently laid the still-unconscious patient back on the pillows.

“You can come in now. He’s decent.” Jamie grinned at his sister from the door, then ducked when she sent a missile of rolled bandages at his leering face. “Be nice to me or I won’t read to you,” he threatened.

“I can read to myself.”

“Yeah, but I just got a new book, Robinson
Crusoe,
and I know you’re going to love it.” Jenny stuck her tongue out in annoyance at her brother, but asked him to come back when he was done with his chores. He tugged her braid as he left, and she turned to clean up the mess remaining from the earlier surgery. Sister Mary Frances went to give a report to Father Clarence, who was spending more and more time in his office. Occasionally, Jenny stuck her head through the door to see if the mysterious young man had awakened, but he lay as still as death.

Jamie came back later that afternoon and flashed a grin at Jenny when he asked about the patient. When she ignored him he sat down to read aloud. Jenny was trying to mend the young man’s garments which had been cut from his body. Sister Mary Frances silently joined them. She had come to enjoy the quiet interludes the three shared, and marveled at how Jamie could make a story come alive with his voice. As the afternoon faded into evening Jenny looked up from her mending into the infirmary and thought she saw a flash of dark eyes, but when the nun went to check on her patient, she reported that he was still asleep. Jamie read until he could no longer see from the light that came through the window. Since Father Clarence had started spending all his time in his office, the three of them had been taking their meals in the infirmary, and they enjoyed supper together before Jamie went back to his dormitory.

As she climbed into her own bed, Jenny assured Sister Mary Frances that she would wake her if the young man came around in the night. She flipped through the pages of the book for a while, taking care not to read ahead. Once again, she felt a feeling of disquiet, but when she looked across the room to the other bed, all seemed still. She blew out the lamp and settled down under the blankets. Outside the wind began to pick up, reminding all inside that winter was still around, even though they had enjoyed a few days of mild weather. Jenny longed for springtime, her self-imposed imprisonment was beginning to wear her down. When she thought about it, she convinced herself that the reason she found the young man so interesting was because she was bored. She rolled over to face him, willing him to wake up, but all she heard was the sound of his steady breathing. She eventually fell asleep with the sound of his breathing in her ears, giving her a sense of comfort that she hadn’t felt for a long time.

Sometime in the early morning hours she heard a curse that brought her quickly awake. She sat up and lit the lantern. The young man was sitting up, trying to figure out the brace that held his leg suspended from the rafter above. He scowled at her as she lit the lamp, shielding his eyes from the sudden brightness that filled the room. Jenny turned the lamp down and went over to his bedside.

“You can’t move the leg; it’s badly broken,” she explained. The patient slumped back on the bed, throwing his arm over his eyes. Jenny investigated the contraption that Jamie had rigged to make sure it wouldn’t come crashing down, causing further injury. “How do you feel? Do you need anything?” she asked.

There was no response, just a slight movement of the dark eyes that were shielded under his forearm. Jenny brought the lamp over to his bedside table and tried to peer up under the arm. The eyes
followed her, but still he said nothing. His earlier struggles had
knocked one of his pillows off, and Jenny bent to pick it up, tossing
her hair over her shoulder so it cascaded down the front of her gown. She plumped the pillow and held it up hesitantly to the
patient. He obliged her by leaning forward, and she placed it behind his back. He reclined on it, grimacing as the shoulder wound took the pressure of his weight. He looked over at the bandaged
shoulder, then down at the strange shirt he was wearing.

“We took an arrow out of your shoulder, and set your leg. Your
clothes are in there. We had to cut them off you.” The dark eyes
followed her, but he still didn’t say a word. Jenny looked at him,
tilting her head to the side.

She began to sign, “Do you need anything?” He looked at her
hands in amazement, then up at her smiling blue eyes. “Would
you like some water?” she continued signing. He nodded, and she went to pour him a glass from the pitcher. He drank thirstily, then
held the glass out for more. He drained another glass and handed it back to Jenny, shaking his head when she held out the pitcher to see if he wanted more. “I guess I’ll have to wake Jamie when
you need to get rid of it,” she said to herself.

“What is your name?” she signed. There was no response. “Your
tribe?” He watched her hands, but if he understood, he gave no
indication of it. He just watched her with his dark eyes. Jenny gave
up and went back to her bed. She turned the lamp down low, so
the light created soft glow around her bedside table. As she pulled
the blankets up she saw that his eyes were turned on her. She lay facing him, but eventually her eyes grew heavy and she fell back
asleep.

Jamie woke her the next morning by tickling her ear. “Wake up, sleepyhead,” he said with a grin. She jumped up with a start, look
ing immediately at the other bed. Sister Mary Frances was checking
on the rigging that held the patient’s leg in the air. “He weighs a
ton, I practically had to carry him to the chamber pot,” Jamie said
over his shoulder.

“Jamie!” Jenny smacked his shoulder, and he pretended that she
had mortally wounded him.

“Can’t get any words out of him so far.”

“He understands sign,” Jenny said, “At least he understood some
of what I did last night.” The patient’s dark eyes met hers briefly.

“Why didn’t you wake me?” the nun asked.

“I didn’t think I needed to. I gave him some water and he went back to sleep.”

“I’d love to know what his name is,” the nun said as she rearranged the blankets around the patient.

“Do you speak Lakota?” Jamie asked in the language that Gray Horse had taught him. Once again the dark eyes showed surprise, but there was no response. Jamie picked the arrow up from the table where he had placed it the previous day. “Do you know who attacked you?” The eyes narrowed to slits, and he took the arrow from Jamie’s hand, turning it over and over, examining the feathers attached to the end and the markings on the shaft. He gripped the arrow so tightly that his knuckles turned white, and finally the fine wood snapped in half, making the young man look down at the two pieces in wonder. Jamie reached out and took the arrow away, then casually sat down on the side of Jenny’s bed. “Jen, why don’t you go on and get dressed?” His wide blue eyes were serious, and Jenny immediately gathered her things and left. Sister Mary Frances said she would go find some breakfast for the group, and Jamie made himself comfortable after the nun left.

“The sheriff found you and your mother out on the plains. Your mother did not survive,” Jamie began. The dark eyes closed as if in pain. “I know you can understand me, so you might as well talk to me.”

“Where is my mother’s body?” The words were precise and clear, the English perfect.

“I don’t know. We’ll have to ask the sheriff.”

“I need to send her body to the spirit world so she can be with my father.”

Jamie nodded his head as if in perfect agreement. “Your father was Indian?”

“Yes, Kiowa.”

“Kiowa—then you’re a long way from home.”

“After his death, my mother wanted to return to her people. That’s where we were going when we were attacked.”

“Who attacked you?”

“Renegades, after our horses. We had no weapons, we left the tribe with nothing.”

Jamie sat and digested this information while the young man lay back as if the conversation had drained him. “What is your name?” Jamie finally asked.

“My father called me Chase the Wind.”

Jamie extended his hand. “My name is James Duncan, and my parents are gone, too. Everyone here has lost their parents.” Chase the Wind looked at the outstretched hand and finally took it in his
own, returning the firm handshake.

“I do not plan to stay here long,” he said.

“Me either.” Jamie grinned, causing the young man to grin in
return. Jenny was standing in the doorway braiding her hair during this exchange and looked at her brother in amazement. “This is my
sister, Jenny. I think you two have already met.”

Jenny walked into the room and looked at the young man with
a grin. “Did you enjoy making me go through all that signing last
night?” she asked.

Chase the Wind gave her a sheepish look. “I thought it best to keep quiet until I knew where I was and what was going on. You would be surprised at what people will say when they don’t think
you can understand them.”

“Did I say anything that surprised you?”

“No, but you did surprise me when you signed. Where did you
learn that, and how do you know Lakota?”

“Our father had a friend who is Lakota,” Jamie explained.

“I need to find out what happened to my mother.”

Jamie and Jenny exchanged looks as Sister Mary Frances came in with a tray. She raised her eyebrows when she heard her patient
speaking English.

“Chase the Wind would like to talk to the sheriff about his
mother.”

“But don’t you know
...”

Chase the Wind held up his hand to stop the nun from going further. “I know what happened to my mother; I saw the arrows bring her down. I just need to make sure she joins my father in
the spirit world.”

The nun looked aghast at what the young man had said. “I don’t
know about that.” She looked in confusion at the twins, who
seemed to be perfectly at home with this concept. “The sheriff said
he would come back out sometime this morning to check on you.”

“Please, it is very important.” Chase the Wind looked around
the room as if seeking an avenue of escape. Jamie saw that he was
determined to take care of his mother’s body, and he stepped up
to his bed.