St. Clair (Gives Light Series) (15 page)

two men wearing tool belts and orange vests. One

of the men was peering into what looked like a

small, square camera mounted on top of a tripod.

Zeke was with them--and from the looks of it,

talking frantically--but all three adults were

determined to pretend he wasn't there.

Rafael and I exchanged a look. We started down

to the lake. Balto loped at my side and I scratched

his ears absently.

" 'Bout ten acres," said the man with the tripod. I

heard him as we approached.

"That's fine," the woman returned coolly.

That woman looked awfully familiar to me.

"You can't drain the lake!" Zeke said, panicked.

"That's, like, a fourth of our livelihood!"

I felt a short-lived stab of anger.

"The boy's right," said one of the men. "We

haven't got a siphon big enough for ten acres. Not

on hand, at least."

"And how long would it take you to get one?"

asked the woman.

"Dunno. Four weeks?

"More like a month, Ted," the other man said.

"Gotta get the OK from DOI."

The woman suddenly turned around. She looked

me up and down as though I were something stuck

to the street corner, and she had to inconvenience

herself by walking around me.

I realized why she looked so familiar. Her name

was Ms. Hayes, and she was one of two FBI

agents who had barged onto the reservation a

couple of summers ago, searching for my father.

If I'd had any doubts about the bureau's motives,

they were gone now. The only reason they wanted

a piece of our land was so they could legally arrest

Dad.

"I'm gonna get my uncle," Rafael said.

I have to tell Granny
, I signed.

We parted ways. Balto trailed after me as I

hastened southwest through the reservation. I

checked my wristwatch. Granny should be home, I

thought. It was only two o'clock.

I found her on the porch drinking spicewood tea.

She wasn't alone. Racine was at her side, and

DeShawn and Jessica were playing on the lawn.

"Skylar, I went trick-or-treating," Jessica said.

I'm sure I would have enjoyed the full story, but all

the same, I was kind of in a rush. I waved my arms

at the porch. Granny stood up.

"What is it?"

I slapped my hand to my face. Real smart, I told

myself. Balto waited outside while I darted up the

porch steps and into the house. The sooner I could

find something to write with, the better.

I found Dad at the desk in the front room, leafing

through our daily mail. He looked up with some

surprise.

"Cubby?"

I swiped a pencil off the computer desk and wrote

on the back of an envelope he'd already opened.

FBI's back. Bureau of LM's looking to drain the

lake.

His face went from slack to immutable stone in

seconds.

"Hey, what's going on?" Racine said. Granny and

Racine were in the doorway, Racine looking on

with confusion.

"The Bureau of Land Management," Dad said. His

lips didn't move much. "They've been bothering us

since July, looking for any land we haven't

developed so they can claim it for the government.

It looks as though they're moving in on the lake."

" T h e
lake
?"

said

Granny,

swelling

with

indignation. "That's not land! That's a resource."

"It'll be land once they remove the water."

"Are you freakin' kidding me?" Racine said. "Why

the hell are they going through all that trouble?"

I looked at Dad; and Dad looked at me. I saw, in

that moment, that he knew exactly why.

Racine stuck around for a few minutes, but

eventually said she had to head back to the city to

work the third shift. Dad offered to look after the

kids for her. She thanked him with a kiss--I felt

sort of like an intruder--and headed out the door.

DeShawn and Jessica came in some minutes later.

Granny turned on the radio for them.

Balto, I remembered. I hurried out to the porch in

search of him. My heart sank. He was gone.

"Skylar!" Granny called. "Get in here. It's chilly

out."

It really wasn't, unless you consider eighty degrees

chilly. I went back inside anyway, a little put off.

I found Dad in the kitchen, where he was oddly

quiet.

"I have to turn myself in," he finally said.

His voice was nearly inaudible. I heard him

anyway. I reached for his arm and grabbed it in a

vicegrip.

"I have to," he said, as though he could hear my

protests. "Do you really want them to drain the

lake? That lake is very important to this

reservation's ecosystem. Fishermen rely on it for

bluegill and trout. Farms use it for irrigation.

Even the wild animals will suffer if it disappears.

Where do you think the brooks come from?"

I quickly left the kitchen. Dad might have thought I

was storming out on him. But I returned with the

pencil and a notepad--realizing I'd left my

schoolbooks by the grotto--and wrote him another

note. He watched me patiently until I handed him

the pad.

We're going to think of something. So please

don't make any sudden moves.

"Who's 'we'?"

I wrote:
Stuart and the guys.

"I knew it," Dad said. "I knew you were up to

something. Cubby, listen to me. You don't want to

get in trouble with the FBI. If they think, even for a

second, that you're involved--"

I waved and smiled. Dad, unappeased, went on

frowning at me. I left the kitchen before he could

say another word. I knew he was worried. That's

what dads do: They worry. But I was worried,

too. I was worried about Dad. I wasn't going to

let anyone take him to prison just because he had

tried to avenge his late wife. It didn't matter

whether I thought revenge was a good idea. Dad

could have slaughtered an entire orphanage filled

with three-year-olds; I still would have fought for

him tooth and nail.

I went to the front room and turned on the computer

monitor. I could hear DeShawn singing along with

Radio Disney in the next room over. I smiled.

The computer booted up. I paid a visit to the tribal

website and clicked on the "Chat" button.

ZEKE: AAAAAAAAAAAH MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

William Sleeping Fox is idle.

HollyAtDawn: stop yelling....

siobhan stout: hey skylar how are you

doing?

ZEKE: WHAT

skylar st. clair: hi guys

skylar st. clair: :( oh, stuart's not

around, huh?

ZEKE: I EMAILED HIM

AutumnRose: I just cant believe they

would do this!

siobhan stout: yeah, he's not home

right now. i'm gonna tell him about the

lake as soon as he gets back

siobhan stout: i hear ya

ZEKE: WE'RE GONNA DIE

skylar st. clair: what? no we're not

HollyAtDawn: probably

Annie has entered the room.

ZEKE: ANNIE

Annie: Skylar, where on earth did you

and Rafael go? I've got your books with

me, if you want to come pick them up.

skylar st. clair: hi, annie

skylar st. clair: :( thanks. sorry,

wasn't really thinking straight

AutumnRose is idle.

ZEKE: GEDDIT CUZ HES GAY

siobhan stout: Annie, did you hear?

siobhan stout: fbi's back, they're

looking at the lake this time

Annie: Thank you, Zeke, I wasn't aware.

Annie: Please tell me you're joking,

Siobhan.

skylar st. clair: zeke remind me to

throw you off the top of the promontory

tomorrow

siobhan stout: i wish i were

Annie: I don't even know what to say.

ZEKE: OKAY

HollyAtDawn: can i come?

Maryskjhdjshf has entered the room.

siobhan stout: heh, hi mary

Maryskjhdjshf: wow wow wowwwwwww

Maryskjhdjshf: hiya squirt

ZEKE: OKAY IN CASE YOU DIDNT NO THE

GOVARNMENT IS GONNA TAKE THE LAKE

Maryskjhdjshf: no shit

HollyAtDawn: what's a "govarnment"

Annie: I've got to go check on my

brother. I'll be back

ZEKE: THE PEOPLE WHO ARE IN CHARGE

BASICLY THE WHITE FOLKS

Annie has left the room.

skylar st. clair: well, hopefully we'll

come up with a plan before they really

go through with it

skylar st. clair: oh, bye annie :(

HollyAtDawn: .....

HollyAtDawn: you're a moron.

skylar st. clair: those guys with the

tools said it'd take them a month to get

a siphon. i think that's enough time

for us to figure out a move

ZEKE: I AM NOT A MORAN

siobhan stout: hey, stu's home. i'm

gonna go talk to him now

siobhan stout: i'll email you guys or

maybe he will. keep a lookout either

way

skylar st. clair: ok, siobhan. good

luck! see you later

siobhan stout: bye, guys. :-)

siobhan stout has left the room.

HollyAtDawn: you're definitely not a

"moran"....

Maryskjhdjshf: why don't we just run up

behind the fbi chloroform 'em throw 'em

in a van drive them out to tucson murder

them dump them in a ditch draw penises

on their foreheads admire our handiwork

then come back to the rez, we'd TOTALLY

GET AWAY WITH IT

ZEKE: THANX HOLLY!!

skylar st. clair: well...we would,

technically, but i think murder is not a

very good idea

ZEKE: WHOA I LIKE THAT

skylar st. clair: and anyway, what if

that just makes them twice as aggressive

about acquiring our land, so they can

prosecute us?

HollyAtDawn: ........

HollyAtDawn has left the room.

skylar st. clair: ok, i can't believe

you've got me talking about this like

it's an actual possibility

skylar st. clair: i'd better get out of

here before someone nabs us for a rico

violation

Maryskjhdjshf: HA!

skylar st. clair: :) bye guys!

I turned off the computer and rubbed my eyes.

Man, that screen was hard to look at for ten

minutes straight.

Dad, Granny, and I took DeShawn and Jessica to

the firepit for dinner that night. I didn't eat much--

more swallowing problems--but sat watching Lila

and Jessica as they played together under an oak

tree.

"Let me tell you," said Mr. Little Hawk, in his soft

and childlike voice, "how Wolf and Bear became

mortal enemies."

It was storytime, and everyone buckled down to

listen to the tales our ancestors had dreamed up,

years and years ago, when the land was still theirs.

"Once," Mr. Little Hawk said, "the land was very

peaceful, and the Wise Wolf saw that his work

was, for a time, finished. Coyote, his

irresponsible brother, grew dissatisfied with their

inactivity. 'I'm going to go to a pauwau,' he

decided one afternoon. 'Have fun,' Wolf replied.

"Coyote went out to the pauwau grounds while his

brother stayed home. At the pauwau Coyote met

any variety of creatures, like Rattlesnake, cunning

and deadly, and Buffalo, generous and brave.

There he also met Bear, whom he thought was the

loveliest creature he had ever seen. 'I'm in love!'

Coyote said.

"Coyote introduced himself to Bear, and the two

got on so well that Coyote and Bear were married

that same evening, the ceremony presided by

Shaman Spider. When the pauwau reached its

conclusion, Coyote invited Bear to meet his

brother. 'Alright,' Bear replied.

"Bear

followed

Coyote

through

the

vast

wilderness. But soon she began to question why

she had married Coyote. For Coyote was lazy, and

a troublemaker, and Bear had known him for all of

one evening. Over the course of their journey Bear

changed her mind. 'I want a divorce,' Bear said.

" 'No, I won't divorce you,' Coyote said. The two

began to quarrel. In their quarreling, Coyote

pushed Bear harder than he had meant to. Bear

toppled into a ravine and dashed her head open on

the rocks below. 'Oops,' Coyote said.

"Coyote returned home to his den and found the

Wise Wolf waiting inside. 'How was the