by Curtis, Gene
The voice from the bushes whispered, “She has been looking for them for days. I thought she might give up, but she didn’t.”
LeOmi watched the ostrich, a large and cumbersome bird; settle down on the ground and her chicks snuggled in around her.
“Why did she leave them? They were defenseless.”
“Shush-es-es.”
A hand motioned for them to quietly sneak out the back side of the bushes. The mother ostrich watched them but didn’t budge from her chicks. They followed the path and came out of the woods to the gate.
“What is it with you students this year, doesn’t anyone listen to the rules. Do not disturb the animals’ natural habitat.”
He pointed with his whole arm, and then as if his point wasn’t made clearly enough, he pointed out with the other arm as well, a sweeping motion that encompassed everything.
LeOmi smiled at his serious, yet comical action. “You’re Albert aren’t you?”
He simply stood there with his arms extended out.
“I cared about them. That is why I did it. I didn’t want to see anything abandoned by its mother. It is hard to survive when you are left alone.”
Albert’s arms lowered, then he made the ‘come along’ motion with his hand and they went back to watch the mother ostrich with her children.
After a while he said, “Sometimes they do that.”
LeOmi nodded, “Communal nests. Yes I know but she wasn’t anywhere to be seen.”
“She lives a long way away. She has had other eggs, but...it can be a cruel world.”
They watched for a little while longer and then he got up to leave. “Your heart is good, but your actions were against the rules.”
LeOmi said, “What would an ostrich, raven, eagle, hawk, falcon, screech owl do if confronting a scorpion’s attack?”
He turned and looked at her.
“What if they can’t get out of the way on their own?”
He turned and started heading away again. Then stopped. “Notable Quotes: ‘Why does Sea World have a seafood restaurant? I am halfway through my fish burger and I realize, oh my God…I could be eating a slow learner.’ Lyndon B. Johnson.”
He turned and continued on his way and so did she.
* * *
The last Saturday in October was Emerald’s first Flags Match of the school year. Each of the four teams playing were in their corrals that had been positioned about halfway between The Seventh Mountain and the wall.
Krisa’s pep talk required a team huddle, not something that LeOmi was anticipating.
Krisa squatted and the entire Emerald Tribe Flags Team scooted in around her. LeOmi was in the outskirts of the ring so she didn’t hear everything that was said.
There was a prayer, which was heard plainly, but when she started discussing strategy, LeOmi was compelled to lean in and then Krisa said, “LeOmi.” The huddle had parted and Krisa’s eyes met hers.
“I know that you were injured in the Swords Championship, so take it easy.”
“I’m all right.”
“Let’s keep it that way.” Krisa nodded and looked around at the team, “That goes for each and every one of you.”
Krisa stood up and pointed up, and so did the entire team. Everyone looked up into the sky.
Then Krisa looked around, quickly making eye contact with each team member, and then she said, “Play well.”
Everyone took their positions either on the corral fence or on their horses.
The newbies occupied a good portion of Emerald’s Fourth Flag Team; they were LeOmi, Mark, Chenoa, Nick, Jamal and Cap’n Ben.
“Yee-ha.” Cap’n Ben said as he climbed up on the fence beside LeOmi.
Krisa stopped on her way to her horse. “LeOmi, Ben has waited for this day for three years.” They both smiled and looked at Cap’n Ben, who had a smile so big that it was scary.
“Noon.” Charlie Goodfellow, the Keeper of the Time signaled the beginning of the match and immediately a ballista positioned in the upper parts of The Seventh Mountain shot off the first flag. Four tribes Ruby, Emerald, Diamond and Agate’s first teams barreled out onto the field.
“They’re off.” The announcer almost sounded like an auctioneer rather than a student.
LeOmi’s eyes followed the flag. The gray flag imprinted with the number one melted into the landscape with only the movement of the pole to give away its position.
Soon, nothing could be seen accept for the dust of the riders competing for the head of the pack.
“Today we have brown and black bears on the Island. Oh, and just a reminder to the audience, don’t forget that the bleachers move.”
The bleachers located on The Seventh Mountain’s second level, had begun to move along a track, positioning the spectators for the best possible view of the action.
Cap’n Ben was bubbling with excitement, “There’s a story about how my great, great grandfather fought a bear.”
LeOmi, jumped down off the fence and Cap’n Ben continued his story while following her to the horses, “In the swamps of North Carolina. It’s too bad we don’t have any honey.”
He followed along beside LeOmi almost like a puppy that wanted to be fed and he continued talking. “The Fourth Team, us newbies, generally only plays every ninth flag, so we might get to play three or four flags between now and sunset. Sometimes it gets shaken up a little…people are injured sometimes and then, like Krisa said, you can move up in the ranks just as soon as you show some promise.”
Then he leaned in to LeOmi, “I’m thinking that you will be one of em’ that shakes it up, you and Mark.”
LeOmi smiled. They watched the fray out in the center field. There were forty-eight horses with riders all focusing on a flag that was smaller than a pizza. The announcer’s energy just fueled them on even more.
Team work had been hammered into their heads since the very beginning of practices, and LeOmi was trying.
When the Fourth Team flag was released, LeOmi could hardly hold Fireball under control. She was the first one to reach the ninth flag. It had landed close to the Island.
LeOmi pulled the flag off of its javelin and skirting some of the other team’s players; she made her way back down towards the corral and passed the flag off to Jamal.
She heard the announcer say, “Mark Young’s horse is injured. It looks like he is out of play.”
LeOmi’s horse raced the pack jockeying to get in front of the dust. When LeOmi spotted Mark, Jamal was coming along side of him full speed with many of the opponents right on his tail.
LeOmi was surprised to see Mark’s eager horse jumped into full speed. He avoided a Ruby player who had held back to try to take the flag from the tired Jamal who had run and dodged the whole field. It was a textbook play, well executed. But Mark had spotted Ruby’s player holding back and he knew his plan was to take the flag.
“Donavan’s Ploy!” screamed the announcer. “Ruby Team’s plans have been crushed. We haven’t seen that old trick in years. Mark Young was good to have spotted it so soon.”
The four teams juggled the top score at the beginning, but by the thirtieth flag, Ruby and Emerald were neck and neck. Mark called all of the Fourth Team to discuss an idea he was concocting, “It is getting close to sunset, I have a plan to get the bonus flag, and steal all the flags from the other team’s corrals.”
Cap’n Ben said, “Yee-Ha! I’ve been waitin’ for this.”
Mark continued, “I’ve been watching the other corrals and no one has guarded the rear of the corrals all day. Some of you may have heard I have the Tongue of Balaam, the ability to speak to animals. I’ve talked to some of our horses and when I give the signal, they will jump the fence and go over to the other corrals. While this diversion is going on, two of us will be scaling the columns around the moat, going for the bonus flag. While this distraction is going on, four of us can slip into the back of the other corrals and capture their flags.”
LeOmi said, “I’m in for getting their flags.�
�
Nick and Jamal chorused, “Me, too.”
Cap’n Ben said, “I like it. I’ll go to The Island with you. I’ve never faced down a bear before.”
Chenoa said, “I’ll go after the horses.”
Mark whistled and about twenty or so horses began to cause a lot of commotion. They jumped over fences and created pure havoc by running to the other three corrals and they jumped into their corrals.
The announcer said, “It looks like there are some loose horses. Let’s get them rounded up, guys.”
Chenoa led five other Emerald Tribe players after the horses.
Mark and Cap’n Ben gathered lots of rope and waited until the play for the thirty-fourth flag was well under way. Then they made their way to the Island.
As Mark and Cap’n Ben were mounting their horses to leave, LeOmi heard Cap’n Ben say to Mark, “There’s a story about how my great, great grandfather fought a bear.” LeOmi rolled her eyes.
The announcer, eager for something more interesting than confused horses saw Mark and Cap’n Ben almost immediately, “Mark Young and Cap’n Ben are about to make their play for the bonus flag. What’s your plan to get onto the Island boys?”
“Oh ho! Look at that, Slone Voif and Ricky Barns are on the farthest side of the Island using crossbows and grappling hooks to scale the first of two sets of the monolithic stones that encircle the Island and the inner shore of the moat.”
Immediately the bleachers moved to get a better view of the Island.
The announcer said, “For first timers, the double Stonehenge type structure circles the barren Island and the not-so barren moat that surrounds it. The Island is littered with huge stone slabs, scattered like dominoes. Some reach as high as the inner Stonehenge ring. The Island is about 300 yards in diameter. The bonus flag, worth a whopping 144 points, is always placed in the same spot, the exact center of the Island. Now that is the easy part.”
Nick said, “It seems like that guy likes to hear his own voice.”
LeOmi said, “That’s good for us. Let’s go.”
Chenoa and the other five members of the Fourth Team were taking their time, getting the horses back to the Emerald Corral.
LeOmi led the group to the back of the Diamond Corral, she rolled under the fence and scooped up the unattended flags and piled them on the ground on the other side of the fence. Jamal gathered them into his tunic and took them to the Emerald Corral.
LeOmi and Nick crouched as they made their way to the Ruby Tribe Corral. This time Nick rolled under and scooped the flags as easily as LeOmi had done. He put them in his tunic, and went back to the Emerald Corral.
All eyes were on The Island or distracted by the horses, thanks to the announcer who was giving a blow by blow detail of the activities, even though there didn’t seem to be much happening yet.
The Jasper Tribe was even more chaotic than the other tribes’ corrals and LeOmi had no problem rolling under the fence and removing their flags.
LeOmi made it back to the Emerald Corral, unchallenged and added her commandeered flags to the large pile.
“Mark Young has the Bonus Flag!” The crowd went crazy with all sorts of hurrahs.
LeOmi covered the flags with a saddle blanket and rolled a large rock on top and sat on it.
She closed her eyes and listened to the announcer, “But Mark still has to make it across the fifty yard wide moat and back to the Emerald Tribe Corral.”
She stood trying to see and the announcer said, “Cap’n Ben used the crossbow to get the rope to the other side.”
Then she heard, “MARK IS IN THE WATER…I SEE MOTION IN THE DEPTHS. A LEVIATHAN HAS GOT THE SMELL OF HIM. HURRY MARK!”
LeOmi could see Chenoa coaxing her horse to pull a rope with Mark at the far end. He was skirting along the surface at an amazing rate of speed. Cap’n Ben was standing at the shore ready to retrieve Mark and the flag from the moat. Suddenly, the surface of the water exploded.
A fifty foot long leviathan sliced through the air –up to the height of the upper most bleacher. It made a beautiful acrobatic turn and sailed back to the moat at a phenomenal speed and made a perfect dive with hardly any splash at all. The whole field was stunned, and then everyone broke out in clapping and amazement, all except Slone and Ricky who were running to Mark and the flag as fast as they could.
Mark was laughing as he landed on shore. No one had considered that he would make it back so quickly, except for Slone and Ricky and they were too late. Mark handed off the flag to Cap’n Ben, and he handed it off to Chenoa who was waiting to bring the flag back to the Emerald Corral.
Cheers abounded from the crowd as the announcer said “ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR POINTS FOR EMERALD TRIBE.”
Krisa had retrieved the field flag and kept the other teams off of Chenoa.
They all made it back to the corral as Charlie Goodfellow signaled sunset and the end of the game.
Chenoa approached Krisa. They huddled for a moment and Krisa said, “Everyone grab a flag and take it out onto the field.”
LeOmi handed out the flags to the Emerald Team and they all marched out onto the field.
The crowd went wild.
The Announcer screamed, “WHAT AN UPSET! Emerald Tribe has managed to confiscate all the flags. A whopping seven hundred and thirty-nine points. EMERALD TRIBE WINS!”
Chapter 11
Be Prepared for the Elements: Cold and Heat
“I knew that you would do well at the Flags Match—but I never dreamed!” Bekka did a little do-si-do with LeOmi.
LeOmi giggled then smiled, “This was a good day, one of the best that I have had in a long time.” They had met at a point just outside of the spectator stands. LeOmi was surprised to see her father approach.
“Wow! That was great,” he gave her a quick hug and bent to give her a kiss on the top of her spiked hair.
“Uh, thanks. Mark Young was the strategist. The team just carried out our different assigned roles and everything worked perfectly.”
“Well, you did great!”
“So you were up in the stands? Was anybody with you—my sister or brother?”
“I haven’t heard from either one of them. I guess they must be busy, but actually, Bekka kept me company.”
Bekka smiled, “We had a good seat, around a lot of Emerald Tribe fans.”
“Well, I have to say that this brings back a lot of memories. I was never on a Flags Team, but I sure did love to watch the matches.”
“I wasn’t on a team either; my dad was always at the museum so I spent a lot of time there.”
“Oh, yeah, Rebecca McGraw. I remember Mr. McGraw talking about your name means snarer of the heart, in a good way.” He paused and squeezed her hand, “I am sorry about your mom.”
LeOmi just stood there listening to their conversation.
Why hadn’t I known that? Why hadn’t I asked about her family, or even what tribe she was from?
“LeOmi?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“I asked if you wanted to go and get something to eat. I haven’t had pizza in ages, and your dad says that there is a wonderful Pizza Place right down the street from his home.”
“I, ah. I don’t feel much like pizza.”
“Oh well…maybe we could go to The Quarters.”
“I, ah, I am just going to go…”
“LeOmi, have I said something? You were so happy just a moment ago.”
“Well, I ah...I have to go and make sure that Fireball is okay.”
“You have to…What?”
LeOmi just turned and started running towards the stables.
Bekka remanifested in front of her.
“LeOmi, what happened? …You’re crying.”
“I am not crying.” Still running, she skirted around Bekka and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
Bekka fell in beside and ran along with LeOmi.
“Would a true Magi say that?”
Neither said anything and then Bekka said, “Won’t you
come?”
LeOmi started running faster, and Bekka stopped and let her run.
One foot in front of the other.
* * *
LeOmi spent the afternoon with Fireball.
She rode along the edge of the woods and made sure that there were no ostriches running amuck. After a while, she did find them, down on the edge of the woods and the pasture lands, away from everyone and everything. It was peaceful there and LeOmi watched them from a good distance. Every now and then the ostrich would make a cooing sound to the little ones, and then immediately let out a huge screech in LeOmi’s direction.
Fireball would look up each time, consider leaving and then continue her grazing.
Albert surprised her when he spoke, “But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and the owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.”
Startled, LeOmi jumped up from where she had been kneeling beside a crabapple tree.
“That’s from the Bible, Isaiah?”
“I have kept the watch on Adicus, Scout and Jym.” He pointed in the direction of the ostriches.
She smiled and then kneeled again. Adicus had stood once again, looking their way and showing some concern. When LeOmi lowered, the ostrich mother, apparently Adicus settled down again to watch the little ones, Scout and Jym, as they ate and napped. After a few moments, Adicus began to nap also.
Albert was dirtier than she had ever seen him. It looked as though he slept in a mud puddle and he hadn’t changed his clothes since the last time she saw him.
“Albert, what do you do out here? Don’t you have a home?”
“I used to live with my grandfather, in the Great Plains. He taught me, ‘Respect animals and then, they will respect you.’ Then he died.”
“And you came here?”
“I like to live out here, with the animals.”
He pointed around, “The animals accept you for who you are.”
“Unlike people?”
“People can be cruel.” He looked down and then he rubbed his chin against his collar while he was thinking or remembering and then he said, “They used to call me Buffalo Boy.”