Dance of the Bones

Gabe remained unconvinced. “Whatever,” he said dismissively, shaking his head.

Lani held up the second crystal. Looking through it, she frowned as she spoke. “I see something strange here—-a woman, a white--haired Milgahn woman. I don’t understand it, but she’s dangerous somehow. You need to stay away from her.”

Lani found the idea of an Anglo woman being a Dangerous Object both worrisome and puzzling. Dangerous Objects were an essential part of the Tohono O’odham tradition of Staying Sickness. According to ancient customs, there were two kinds of sicknesses abroad in the world. Traveling Sicknesses, the kinds caused by germs, were the ones Dr. Walker--Pardee routinely treated with antibiotics. Those affected everybody, Indian and Anglo alike. Staying Sicknesses, on the other hand, a kind of Spirit Sickness, were caused by Dangerous Objects and affected Indians only. A Spirit Sickness was usually diagnosed and treated by a Tohono O’odham healer—-a medicine man or medicine woman—-by means of a combination of traditional chants—-kuadk—-and related devices.

Coyote Sickness, for example, was caused by someone eating a Dangerous Object—-perhaps a melon that a coyote had bitten into. Someone suffering from Coyote Sickness could be treated with coyote feces—-boiled and turned into a paste, and then rubbed on the patient’s body. -People with Coyote Sickness could also be treated by a medicine man rubbing the patient’s body with a coyote’s tail.

Lani knew that as a baby she herself had once been considered a Dangerous Object due to the ant bites that had covered her body. What was disturbing in this instance, however, was that the dangerous object in question was an Anglo. How was that even possible?

Gabe, however, found none of this the least bit mystifying.

“I know who that is,” he said, “white hair and all. It’s got to be Mrs. Travers, the school principal. She hates my guts.”

Without further comment, Lani held up the third crystal. “This one says that you’re walking a difficult path right now,” she said, “traveling it with some friends. You’re about to come to a fork in that path. One fork leads to the PaDaj O’odham—-the Bad -People—-who came out of the South to do battle with I’itoi. If you go the same way your friends do, you’ll end up being bad, too.”

Gabe turned on her accusingly. “Now you’re talking about my friends, the Josés. You probably know about them from talking to my parents and not from looking in that stupid crystal. But you know what else?” he demanded, standing up suddenly and wrapping one of Fat Crack’s blankets tightly around his shoulders. “My parents don’t get to dictate who my friends are, and neither do you.”

With that, he stalked away from the fire and back toward the path.

“Wait a minute,” Lani called after him. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Home,” he said.

“It’s dark, and home is a long way from here,” she argued.

“Home may be, but the road isn’t. It’s Friday night. Someone coming back from town will give me a ride.”

“What if you trip and fall?”

“The moon’s up now,” he told her over his shoulder. “My eyes have adjusted to the dark, and I can see better than I would have thought possible. And just for safety’s sake, on my way down maybe I’ll ask for some help from that precious I’itoi guy of yours in hopes he’ll look out for me.”





CHAPTER 7