by D. J. Holmes
* * *
“My Sons, would you like to ride on my horse with me?” Blue Cloud asks.
“Yes, Father, we would love to,” they both respond with excitement.
They get on his horse and ride to where Snow Flower is talking to her friends.
“Snow Flower, come and ride with us,” Blue Cloud proudly asks his wife.
“I’ve got to go, my dear friends. My family needs me, see you later.”
Blue Cloud dismounts his horse to help his wife get on. “There you are, my Wife, right behind your sons. Move forward, Running Deer and Gray Wolf, make room for your father.”
“It’s all right Father. You can run behind us,” Running Deer laughs.
Smiling Blue Cloud says, “That’s fine my son. I’d rather ride with my family. I’ll ride just behind your mother, and hold onto the reins.” Blue Cloud loves to ride through the village showing off his family and waving to his friends.
That night, as they are all asleep in their tipi, it begins to rain. Later, there is a great deal of thunder rumbling through the clouds and reverberating against the mountains.
“…Father. Father, what is that loud noise? It’s hurting my ears!”
“It’s coming closer, Father.”
“Don’t worry, my Sons. It’s something that comes with the rain. It will go away soon.”
Instead, the thunder and lightning continues to grow in intensity.
“I’m going to sleep with Mother and Father,” Gray Wolf cries to Running Deer.
“You’re not going without me,” Running Deer says as he jumps out of his bed and runs, between the sounds of the rumbling thunder. Gray Wolf follows closely behind.
“What is that noise?” Running Deer asks his Father.
“Yes, Father, that noise is scaring us,” adds Gray Wolf.
“Boys, you don’t have to worry. It’s just Grandfather Thunder Beings,” Blue Cloud reassures his sons.
“That’s Grandfather?” Running Deer asks.
“Yes. You see there’s nothing to be afraid of my Sons,” Blue Cloud reassures them.
“Well, if that’s all that it is, I’m going back to my own bed,” announces Gray Wolf.
Not wanting his younger brother to look braver than he is Running Deer acts in response. “If you’re going, then I’m going also.”
Snow Flower quietly says to Blue Cloud, “Now, what are you going to do if they say anything to Grandfather?”
“What do you mean? It is Grandfather Thunder Beings.”
“I know. But the way that you told them, they think that it is their Grandfather, Chief Joseph, not Grandfather Thunder Beings, Grandfather of the Thunder.”
“We have our own bed back to ourselves. Isn’t that nice, woman-of-mine?” Blue Cloud quietly says with a huge smile.
“Yes, I am glad husband. But if anything happens, you get to deal with it.”
“I’ll take care of it. Now come over here, woman. I’m scared of the sounds of the thunder.”
“Don’t be afraid, Father. It’s just grandfather,” Gray Wolf reports.
“Yes, Father, don’t be afraid. And would you please talk quietly? Between you and Grandfather, I’m having a hard time getting back to sleep,” Running Deer informs his parents.
“I guess I was talking too loudly,” Blue Cloud laughingly says, as a scolding to himself. Snow Flower and Blue Cloud both laugh and then snuggle together.
Morning arrives with a clear sky and warm bright sun.
Running Deer rolls out of his bed and runs to his parents. “Get up. It’s time to get up. It’s day time. The sun is up.
Gray Wolf adds, “Yes. Let’s go check on our horses.”
“You’re right my sons. It is time to get up. Would you please hand me my loin cloth?”
Running Deer questions, “Why don’t you wear your loin cloth to bed, Father?”
“It’s warmer that way,” Blue Cloud sheepishly responds.
“It is? I’m going to try that,” announces Running Deer since he wants to be just like his father.
“Me too, I was cold last night,” reports Gray Wolf.
Snow Flower and Blue Cloud look at each other, not knowing what to say next.
“I’ll take our sons to check on our horses. We’ll be back for our morning meal, my beautiful woman.”
“I’ll get it ready, Blue Cloud. See you all in a little bit.” Snow Flower waves to them as they leave the tipi. The twins and their father look back, and wave to Snow Flower.
Blue Cloud, Running Deer and Gray Wolf start walking toward their horses. Suddenly, Blue Cloud remembers what happened last night and talking to himself, he says, “What if I see Grandfather? We’ve got to walk another way so that we don’t walk past his tipi.” Blue Cloud continues to think of a way to get past Grandfather’s tipi without the boys seeing him. “Maybe he’ll still be sleeping. Sometimes he sleeps in. Or maybe I should cut between the tipi’s and walk behind them.”
His thinking has taken longer than he thought it would. Suddenly he and his sons are in front of Grandfather’s tipi. As luck would have it, Chief Joseph suddenly opens his tipi door and looks outside into the bright sun. It is too late. The boys see their grandfather.
Gray Wolf says, “Grandfather, you were sure loud last night.”
“…Yes, Grandfather, you scared us” Running Deer adds.
Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Grandfather is trying to see who is talking to him. “What did you say?” he questions.
Blue Cloud continues to walk looking at his father with his eyes wide open, his lips pushed together, while his hands and shoulders form a nonchalant shrug. “I don’t know what they are talking about, Father.”
All the time Blue Cloud is acting in this way, he is thinking, “Walk faster boys! Quit talking, just walk faster.” Suddenly he says, “You know what, boys? Walk faster, and then we’ll surprise your mother by being back sooner than she expects us to be.”
“That’s a great idea, Father. Let’s hurry so that we can surprise mother,” they both answer.
They quickly reach their horses, walking around them to make sure that they are all there. On the way home, Blue Cloud takes his sons the long way around the backside of all of the Tribal tipi’s so that hopefully they will forget about the thunder by the time they see their grandfather again.
When they return back to their tipi, Running Deer says, “Did we surprise you Mother?”
“Surprise me?”
“Yes, we got back sooner than you thought we would,” Grey Wolf explains.
“Oh, yes. You sure surprised me. I was wondering who was coming to our tipi so early in the morning because I thought that you would still be with our horses,” she said with a smile.
Sitting down for breakfast, the twins look at each other with excited smiles on their faces, “We surprised Mother Snow Flower!”
After breakfast the boys go out to do their chores. Snow Flower reminds Blue Cloud, “Husband, there is a celebration tomorrow. Did you remember that you and your sons are supposed to dance?”
“Thank you, Snow Flower for reminding me of the dance. I’ll go ask them right now.”
CHAPTER 10