by LeVar Burton
“What are you doing?” Danny asked.
“Leaving,” Jacob replied, leaning against the truck.
“Leaving?”
“Yes, leaving, You said the food was too expensive, so we leave.”
“What about her son?”
“What about him?”
“Aren’t you going to help him?”
Jacob looked Danny up and down. “What makes you think I can help him?”
“You’re an Indian. You guys know all about medicine and healing people. Don’t you have some kind of herb you can give him, or a dance you can do?”
“Even if I did there is no time. I have to get to Chicago.”
“The hell with Chicago,” Danny said, angry. “That boy’s going to die if someone doesn’t do something for him.”
“Many more may die if I don’t get to Chicago.” Jacob looked past Danny. He sighed and nodded. “All right. I will help him.”
Jacob walked around to the back of the pickup and untied his medicine pouch from the handlebar of his bicycle.
“See, I knew you had something that would help him,” Danny said. Jacob ignored the comment.
They walked back through the village to the tent. The woman was still inside, hovering over her sick son. She turned with a start as they stepped back inside.
“I thought you left,” she said, her tone harsh.
“I changed my mind,” Jacob said, stepping past her. He turned back toward Danny, who still stood in the doorway. “Either come inside or get out, but close the flap.” Danny stepped inside, closing the tent’s flap behind him.
Jacob kneeled beside the sick child; the boy’s mother stood just behind him. He pulled back the covers and felt the boy’s clothes. He was soaking wet
Jacob turned to the mother. “What is your name?”
“Lea … Lea Montgomery.”
“And his?”
“Jeffery.”
Jacob nodded. “Lea, we need to get your son undressed.”
Lea stepped forward and helped Jacob remove the boy’s clothing. Jeffery Montgomery shivered uncontrollably as his T-shirt was removed, followed by his pants, socks and underwear. Jacob carefully examined the naked child, paying particular attention to his underarms and genital area. He found what he was looking for in the child’s left armpit. A small brown dot. A deer tick.
Pinching the tick between his thumb and index finger, Jacob slowly pulled it loose. He held the tick out for Lea to see. “This is what makes your son sick. He has the tick fever.”
“How did you know what to look for?’ she asked.
He tossed the tick into the fire. “You said your sons hunted rabbits for you. To hunt, one has to leave the village. It has been a dry year, the winter was mild, a good year for bugs.”
“Can you help him?”
“Maybe. Maybe not. I don’t know,” he said. “Give me room.”
Lea backed up, watching as Jacob untied the three leather cords that secured his medicine bundle. Opening the bundle, he removed two small leather pouches and set them on the ground beside him. One of the pouches was filled with sage, the other with tobacco. He also took out an abalone shell, his pipe and a medicine fan made from five tail feathers from a golden eagle.
Opening the smaller of the two leather pouches, he placed a pinch of desert sage in the abalone shell and lit it with his lighter. He waited until the sage was burning good, then blew out the flame and passed the smoking herb back and forth over the sleeping boy to purify his body.
“What’s he doing?” Lea asked, whispering to Danny. When he didn’t answer, she addressed the question to Jacob.
“What are you doing?”
Jacob ignored the woman’s question. He had enough on his mind without having to stop to explain his actions. Instead he silently said a prayer and then slowly filled the bowl of his pipe. Once it was filled, he turned his attention to Lea.
“Bring me a bowl of hot water, or a cup, something you can drink from. Set it just inside the doorway, but do not come in. I must not be disturbed if you want your son to be healed.” She nodded and then hurried from the tent to fetch the water. Jacob turned to Danny. “Get out.”
Danny’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “Why? I’m not hurting anything. I want to watch.”
Jacob frowned in disapproval. “This is not a free show. Your being in here will keep the spirits from coming. Please leave.”
Danny opened his mouth to protest, but stopped. Disappointed, he pushed the flap open and left
Jacob waited for the flap to fall back in place before continuing with the business at hand. He sat on the ground beside Jeffery and lit his pipe, offering it to the Great Spirit. Grandmother and the four directions. He blew several puffs of smoke at the sleeping boy, praying for the sickness to leave his body.
As he prayed and smoked his pipe, Lea Montgomery opened the tent’s flap and placed a cup of hot water on the ground. She hesitated long enough to glance at Jacob before leaving again. Jacob ignored the cup, concentrating instead on the words he whispered. He visualized the child’s sickness as a living entity, an evil beast that inhabited his body. When the last of the tobacco was smoked, he waited for the ashes to cool and then sprinkled them over Jeffery’s body. Leaning forward, he shook the child, waking him.
Jeffery Montgomery turned his head and looked at Jacob. His eyes were bloodshot from the fever. They also had a hollow, vacant look to them, as though they were nothing more than windows to an empty room. Jacob frowned. That was not good, not good at all. The sickness had pushed the child’s spirit back, driving it deep down inside the body to a place that was hard to reach even for a medicine man. If the boy’s spirit had traveled too far away it might be reluctant to return to the frail body that housed it. He might not be able to bring it back and the boy would surely die. He could only try.
Setting his pipe on top of his medicine pouch, Jacob stood up and crossed the room. He picked up the cup and tested the water’s temperature. The water was hot but not boiling. Perfect. Carrying the cup with him, he sat back down and searched through the contents of his medicine pouch.
While his supply of herbs was limited, he did have the ingredients he needed. A pinch of feverfew and red clover, a piece of yarrow root and a few other ingredients with healing powers went into the cup. Jacob stirred the mixture with his index finger and set the cup aside to steep. While he waited, he relit the sage in the abalone shell and fanned the smoke over Jeffery with his eagle feather fan. When the last of the sage burned out, he lightly rubbed the fan over the child’s body, starting at the top of his head and working downward. Jeffery watched him, but Jacob doubted if the boy even knew what was going on.
Setting the fan aside, he slipped his hand behind the boy’s neck and raised him to a sitting position. Jeffery groaned and tried to slip free, but Jacob held him tight. Still holding him, he picked up the cup and brought it to the child’s lips.
“Drink,” Jacob ordered. Jeffery tried to resist, but he was too weak to put up much of a fight. His lips parted like pieces of dead flesh and the greenish liquid flowed from the cup into his mouth.
The boy gagged and tried to spit out the mixture, but Jacob reached around with the hand that held him upright and covered his mouth. He waited until he saw Jeffery swallow before removing his hand. He forced the child to take another sip, and then another. Half the cup was empty before Jacob allowed Jeffery to lie back down.
Jacob Fire Cloud wiped a hand across his sweating forehead. The tent was unbearably hot, but that was good. The heat would help drive the sickness from the boy’s body. Unfortunately, Jacob had no sickness or demons that needed to be sweated out. And he didn’t need to shed any extra pounds either; he was thin enough as it was. He would probably be even thinner before he was through. The child was still a long way from being out of danger.
Several hours passed before Jeffery showed any signs that the medicine was working. Jacob was sitting by the boy’s side, starting to nod off from the heat, when
he heard him groan. He opened his eyes and listened. The boy groaned again and coughed. Jacob smiled. Good, Jeffery’s spirit was starting to fight the sickness.
He leaned over and placed his hand on the child’s forehead. Jeffery still had a temperature, but he wasn’t nearly as hot as before. “That’s it” Jacob smiled. “Fight it. You can do it. Your spirit is strong.”
Jeffery opened his eyes and looked at him. The boy’s eyes were still bloodshot, but they were no longer glazed. Jacob saw life in them. Jeffery’s spirit had returned.
Getting to his feet, he bent over and picked up the naked boy in his arms. Now was the most important time, also the most dangerous. Jeffery’s spirit was back, but it was not yet firmly attached to the boy’s body. It might decide life was too much trouble and try to leave again. A shock was needed to firmly anchor the spirit in place.
Jacob pushed aside the tent flap and carried the boy outside. Jeffery’s mother and Danny were sitting a few feet beyond the doorway. They both jumped up when they saw him and the child.
Lea rushed forward. “How is he?”
“He is not out of danger yet,” Jacob warned, stepping past her. “Get a blanket and come with me.”
He hurried through the village carrying the boy, weaving his way between tents and shacks. Danny and Lea followed. At the square he paused to get his bearings and then turned right. Jacob found the stream, which is what he was looking for, but he located it near where the row of latrines was set up. The water was brown and fouled with sewerage.
“Where is the clean water?” he asked, frustrated.
“This way. Upstream.” Lea grabbed his arm and led him to the place set aside for public bathing. Here, someone had used stones to damn the creek, creating a wide pool about four feet deep. Jacob wasted no time wading out into the pool. Reaching the center, he tossed Jeffery into the water, completely submerging him.
“What are you doing?” Lea shouted from shore. “You’ll drown him.” She started to wade out to stop Jacob, but Danny restrained her.
Jacob ignored the woman’s cries as he lifted Jeffery’s face from the water so he could breathe. Shocked from the cold water, half drowned, the boy coughed, then let out a scream of pain. His eyes opened. Clear eyes. Angry eyes. He beat at the hands that held him, scratched, struggled to get free. Jacob smiled but held on. Only when the boy quit fighting did he let go. Jeffery stood in the middle of the pool, naked, chest heaving, face twisted in rage. But he stood on his own. His spirit had returned.
Jacob nodded and turned away from the boy, wading back to shore. Lea Montgomery watched him approach, uncertain, waiting for a word or sign that her son was going to be all right.
“The fever has broken,” Jacob said. “Your son will live, but he still needs to rest for a day or two.” He smiled. “And he needs a blanket.” Lea looked past him and saw her son standing naked in the pool. Wading out into the pool, she wrapped the blanket around the boy and hurried him away.
Jacob and Danny returned to the Montgomerys’ tent surprised to find it empty. Lea must have taken her son someplace else. Entering the tent, Jacob gathered together his belongings.
“Now what?” Danny asked, watching him.
“We leave,” Jacob replied, tying his medicine bundle closed.
“What about food?”
“Eat later. I have spent enough time here.” Jacob stood and left the tent. Danny followed. They were almost back to the road when they heard someone calling them.
“Wait! Wait!”
They turned and saw Lea racing after them, carrying a brown paper sack. She ran up to them, breathless.
“I didn’t know you were leaving. I wanted to thank you.” She thrust the paper sack into Jacob’s hands. “It’s not much, I know, but it’s all I have to give.”
Inside the sack were six wooden skewers of rabbit meat. Jacob would have refused the offering, knowing that she might go hungry because of it. But to refuse such a gift would have been an insult and hurt the medicine that comes from the act of giving.
“Thank you,” he said, accepting the gift.
“I wish there was more I could do for you,” she said, awkwardly.
“No, this is enough.” He stepped back from her to allow the conversation to end on a gracious note, not wanting her to feel that more was owed. “We must go now. Make sure your son rests for a few days.”
“I will,” she said, smiling. “Thank you.” She turned and started back through the village, stopping once to turn and wave. They waved back.
Danny waited until Lea was out of sight before unlocking the pickup. He started to climb in when Jacob stopped him.
“Wait. There is something I forgot.” Jacob pulled a copper bracelet off his right wrist. “Catch her. Tell her to give this to her son. It will help him get well faster.”
Danny took the bracelet and raced to catch Lea. Jacob waited until he was out of sight, then hurried around to the passenger’s side and climbed into the truck. Once in, he reached beneath the seat and pulled out the pistols they had taken off the thieves. He unloaded each of the guns, slipping the bullets into his pants pockets. He also unloaded the assault rifle. He had just slid the pistols back under the seat when Danny returned.
“She said to thank you,” Danny said, climbing behind the wheel.
Jacob nodded and handed the young man one of the meat sticks. “This is thank-you enough.”
Danny took the stick and started up the truck, waiting until the roadblock was removed and they were waved through. Back on the road, they each ate two of the rabbit sticks, saving the other two for later.
“That was a nice thing you did back there,” Danny said between mouthfuls of stringy meat. “That kid might have died if you hadn’t helped him. You’re an all-right guy in my book.”
Jacob was busy chewing and only nodded.
They reached Omaha less than two hours later. Danny’s delivery destination was a warehouse on the west side of the city. Jacob waited in the truck while Danny and two other men unloaded the wooden crates of electrical components. He didn’t have to wait long.
“Well, that’s that,” Danny said, climbing back into the truck. He started the engine and drove away from the building. Turning left on the street, they headed back in the direction of the highway.
“Guess I’ll be starting back,” the young man said. “Where do you want me to let you off?”
“Chicago,” Jacob replied.
Danny smiled. “Sorry, but this flight doesn’t stop there.”
Jacob pulled his revolver and pointed it at him. “Yes it does.”
Danny’s smile melted like ice cream on a warm summer day. He slammed on the brakes and made a grab for the .45 beneath the seat.
“I took the bullets out when I sent you to give Lea the bracelet.” Jacob grinned. “I emptied the other pistols too—and the assault rifle. Go ahead. See for yourself.”
Danny’s mouth dropped open. He picked up the .45 and released the clip. The pistol was indeed unloaded. “Why … you … no good … I take back all the nice things I ever said about you—every last one of them.”
Jacob shrugged. “I don’t care.”
“So now what?” he asked. “You going to shoot me? I should have known better than to give you a ride. I never should have trusted you. My wife always said I had shit for brains. She was right. I’ll probably lose my job over this. We’ll lose our house. I’ll never—”
Jacob held up his hand. “I’m not going to shoot you, not unless you keep babbling. You make my ears hurt.”
Danny stopped talking.
“All I want is to get to Chicago. Once I get there, you and your truck are free to go.”
“What’s so important about Chicago?”
“I’ll explain on the way. Will you help me?”
“Do I have a choice?” Danny asked.
“No.”
“That’s what I thought.” He tossed the empty .45 onto the floor. “Look’s like we’re going to Chicago.”
Jacob just smiled.
Chapter 22
Fear twisted Rene’s intestines into tight little knots, turned the lining of her mouth into cotton. Breathless, she ran down the hallway, painfully aware of the echoed footsteps of her own passing. The worn carpeting did little to muffle the sounds, which reverberated off the walls and ceiling, sounding like a herd of elephants following behind her.
She fled past a dozen doorways, praying that none would open and no one would step into the hallway to stop her. She reached the end of the corridor. To her left were the elevators. To the right stood the gray metal door that opened onto an inside stairway.
Turning her back on the elevators, she stepped up to the metal door and placed her left ear against it listening for sounds from the other side. The metal door felt cool against her flushed skin, like a breath of winter on a hot summer day.
She had to wait for the thunderous pounding of her heart to slow before she could hear anything. Each second that passed seemed a painful eternity. Finally, her heartbeat eased enough to allow her to hear what lay beyond the door.
At first Rene imagined she heard someone slowly creeping up the concrete stairs, reaching a sinister hand out to snatch open the door upon which her ear rested. She almost jerked her head back before realizing the sounds were nothing more than the hum of fluorescent light fixtures vibrating through the walls and doorway. The stairway beyond the door was empty.
Rene cautiously inched open the door, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw that no one waited for her on the other side. The landing was empty, as were the stairs beyond it.
Closing the door slowly behind her, she stood on the landing and listened for a minute. She heard no sounds. No voices. No footsteps. Nothing to indicate that anyone else was around. The building was as silent as a cavernous tomb. Rene wasn’t fooled, however; she knew a building so large was rarely empty. There would be guards, custodians, maybe even a maintenance man or two.
The thought of someone lurking in the darkness made her uneasy and caused her legs to tremble. Still, she could not stay where she was forever. Sooner or later someone would notice the absence of the guard she had knocked unconscious. They would find him and come looking for her. God only knew what they would do when they found her. With no other choice she started down the stairs.