They walked in together; Crooked Walker and Dog Breath. They exchanged a horrified look and Dog Breath let out a long, agonized cry. He then danced on my living room floor, lifting his legs and chanting as he did so. The smell seemed to evaporate in a single breath. I was so relieved that I fell to my knees and cried. At times, life suddenly does that to you.
“Get up or I will bring the bad smell back,” ordered Dog Breath. “We don’t have time for tears.”
Crooked Walker nodded solemnly. “It is taking time to relearn the old ways.”
Dog Breath scowled. “This Soliah is mine. Do you understand me? You are the children of my children, and no man walks on them without paying the price. He will pay with his life.”
I nodded my head. “He needs to go away; the sooner the better.”
We all looked each other in the eye and Soliah’s fate was sealed, at least in our opinion. I was shocked to learn that they had made nearly five thousand dollars in town. They despised what they were doing, for it went against everything they believed in. Still, they knew it was the only way out of this mess, and I was glad that my grandfathers were such incredibly wise and selfless men. We were getting ready to go to war, even though we had yet to draw up a battle plan. The main thing was that we all agreed with Abe Steinman, the Soliah Home needed to be demolished. That was the only way to change the past. We also agreed that I needed to be the one to do that.
They couldn’t help much with the machines, but they were great company. The next two days we ate fresh venison and pilfered sweet-corn from a farmer’s field. Rain fell in short bursts and we were treated to occasional outbursts of lightning and thunder. Crooked Walker and Dog Breath argued about the meaning of each clap of thunder and every bolt of lightning. I continued to resurrect the Whitehead Buster from the weeds that had claimed it. Another day passed before I finally got the engine to run, another, before I was actually able to move it. I was going to need the dozer if we had any hope of finishing the job as I’d been paid to do.
I had put Odd Whitefeather out of my mind. To be honest with you, I was very disappointed in him, but I didn’t want to show it in front of my elders. Besides, Crooked Walker expressed enough displeasure for ten men. I was actually a little afraid for my grandfather. Dog Breath seemed to remain neutral, but as the days passed, I could see that he was losing faith in him as well. Crooked Walker pressed his advantage, telling Dog Breath for the first time that he was ashamed of his grandson.
While I worked on my equipment, the two old men were trying to find their mojo. Like me, they had little success, but some days seemed a little better than others. I told them that I was going to need dynamite or C-4, anything to break that house from its foundation. They looked at me like I was crazy.
“We must leave this place,” said Crooked Walker.
“One should never spend too long in an alternate destiny,” agreed Dog Breath. “We must find Odd Whitefeather and find our way back to present time.”
Crooked Walker scoffed at this. “He is already lost to us. He will never leave this place.”
“You’re wrong,” I said. “He is only there because we need a man on the inside. He told me so, himself. He is keeping an eye on things over there.”
“Is that what he told you?” Crooked Walker asked. “And you believed him? Why did he not break the stink charm when you last saw him? Why does he not send you new machines? He has plenty of the white man’s money. He could buy you anything you needed.”
“Not that you don’t have fine machines,” added Dog Breath, who was giving Crooked Walker a stern look.
Crooked Walker nodded his head. “And they are good machines. I did not mean that they were not.”
I knew that Dog Breath dragged those last words out of his grandson’s mouth. It had been as obvious as the hawk nose on his face. I won’t deny that I was hurt. My head was reeling because of the accusation that Odd Whitefeather could have cured my smelly condition. I looked at the ancient crane and it looked small and feeble. The Whitehead Buster barely ran and it couldn’t move fifty feet without dying. The idea that I could somehow get these out to Spirit Lake and demolish a castle built of granite, was complete foolishness. Who was I trying to kid?
Dark clouds hung in a great sheet that covered the sky and it was beginning to drizzle. The light rain seemed to add insult to injury and I walked away from the old men. I could see them watching me as I walked up to my crane. I opened the access panel to the engine and shook my head. The little powerhouse was going to be no match for the thick slabs of granite. I stared up at the Buster, the yellow paint had faded to rust and it looked sad and neglected. The rain began to fall in a steady patter. There was no wind and the falling raindrops grew in size and dimension.
I felt as low as I had ever felt during the past five years. I watched Dog Breath and Crooked Walker walk up to the covered front porch of my little trailer. They each sat down, but they continued to stare up at me. Their uniform shirts were soaked and the material clung tightly to the thin men. If it bothered them they never showed it.
I felt as if the old men had woken me from a dream. There was no way my plan was going to work. I sat there for a long time before joining the old men on the porch. My work here was finished, and I suspect that both of them knew it. We had a light dinner and went to bed early that night. I fell asleep feeling like a beaten man.
The next three days were as dry and hot as any I could ever remember. A howling wind blew up from the south with the strength of a blast furnace. My skin felt raw and my eyes burned from all the blowing dust in the air. There had been no sign of Odd Whitefeather, just as there had been little improvement in any of us reclaiming our medicine. Crooked Walker was able to speak with a thirsty sparrow, but it flew away when Dog Breath tried to catch it. “Ten of those make a pretty good meal,” he had said.
I could hear the motorcycle a long way before I could see it. There was no mistaking the sound of the Harley Davidson, just as there was no mistaking the face of its rider. Soliah rode up to the front of my trailer as we sat eating our lunch. He looked like he was the happiest man on earth, and he smiled at each of us before he dismounted the black and chrome Hog. He was dressed in leathers and he immediately took off his jacket and draped it over the seat. He wore a sleeveless t-shirt and his muscles rippled in his young arms. His long blond hair flew in the breeze as he stood and faced us. He looked like the fox who had just returned from the henhouse, which I thought was pretty close to the truth.
“Top of the day to you, Huckleberry,” he said with mock enthusiasm. “I’ve been expecting you up at the house. I can see that you’ve come to your senses. I’m impressed, I actually thought you were going to try and attack my fortress with your pitiful arsenal. You would have died before getting within a mile of my place. Just thought you should know that. So, what’s your plan? We all have to have a plan, Huckleberry. Do you know what I mean? You can’t expect to stay here and not have any bills to pay. It just isn’t done, no sir, it certainly isn’t.”
“What are you getting at?” I asked, hating him more with each passing second. “I think we’ve paid our dues. Why don’t you just leave us alone?”
“Why Huckleberry, what an incredibly rude thing to say to your grandpa; I thought I would drop by for coffee and we could catch up. I can see that I have made a mistake.”
“You sure did.”
Soliah smiled at this as he stared straight into the gusting wind. Dog Breath and Crooked Walker watched him with hooded eyes, wary as to what he might have up his sleeve. I knew that he hadn’t ridden out here for coffee and conversation. There was another reason. I just didn’t know what it could possibly be.
“I can smell that someone broke the stinking curse. No matter, I won’t punish you for that,” Soliah said with a sneer. “Not yet, anyhow. You know, it’s a hot son-of-a-bitch out here, isn’t it? I think it might be a good day to go to the lake. Good bye, Huckleberry.”
I stood from my chair and walked to the railing. Soliah sl
ipped on his jacket and thumbed the ignition. The Harley roared to life and Soliah began to grab gears as he tore down the gravel road. He was gone and we listened to the rumbling sound fade as it was carried away on the wind.
“What the hell was that about?” I asked, shaking my head.
“This is not good,” said Dog Breath.
“I agree,” replied Crooked Walker. “That man is up to no good. We should have hit him with a lance. Why don’t we have any lances around here? I can still throw.”
I shook my head and returned to my cold oatmeal.
We didn’t smell the smoke for nearly three hours. We couldn’t see the smoke for ten minutes after that. It arrived as a billowing gray wall that stretched all the way across the brush-strewn prairie. The first flames weren’t visible for another five minutes, but they leapt up out of the smoke as hot embers began to pelt our skin. The entire southern part of the county seemed to be burning.
“We must find a lake,” Dog Breath said, taking me by the arm.
“Quickly,” added Crooked Walker. “There is not much time.”
“Skunk Lake is five miles from here,” I said. “We’d never make it. The men stole Odd Whitefeather’s machine that pulled us into town. All I have is the Buster, and I don’t think it would get us very far.”
The old men looked at the approaching fire and back to me. “We will take the Buster,” Dog Breath said. “It has a good name.”
Another ember hit me in the back of the head and I could feel my hair burning. I slapped at it and turned to face the fire. I nodded my head. We had no choice but to try the Buster. I sprinted over to it and climbed into the driver’s seat. The key was in the ignition and I quickly turned it. The diesel engine sputtered and coughed, but it finally caught and I was able to keep it running by feathering the throttle. There was no way this thing would make it five miles. More embers hit me in the arms and chest and the air was getting hotter by the minute.
We were doomed, I was sure of it.
Chapter Eighteen
Brindle's Odyssey Page 27