Excerpt From DOG ISLAND Floating to the ground, a black feather landed at her feet. She looked up. Droplets of rain pinging on the leaves in the tree branches spat down at her. A flicker of black caught her eye. A solitary crow sitting preening itself turned its attention to her, giving a soft caw. Then came the others fluttering silently to the treetops. She bent down picking up the feather. It was still warm. “Not for me Lord-Creator,” she said, “for Val and Blue. Let me do this for them.” Looking through the forest, she could see a tiny pincushion of daylight breaking between the trees. If ever a song clung to Mosie’s heart it was now; for it was a new day, Fresh from the word. “Thank you Peggy,” she said, kissing the medicine bag. Slipping the feather inside, the crows flew. “Morning has broken,” she sang out, letting her feet carry her as they had through the tall weeds of her yard that hid her from Lenny, and as they had over the bogs in the quagmire leading her to Blue. Her legs lifting, jumped over fallen logs, rocks and stones. The last of the rain rushing across her face, cooling her from the humid air, was welcomed; as now were the crows leading her further, deeper into the woods. Truly, it was a day she never would forget, the way that morning had broken. The way the black birds flying with her, mounting higher into the sky, leaving her, knowing she was on her way home, truly home. Home. It was deeper in her then the woods before her, and the waters behind her. “Ma, I’m coming!” she shouted, “I’m coming home, please, please don’t cry!” In her mind, Willowdean smiled at her; her brown sugared skin shined just like how Pa told her it did when it touched that Great Lake called Superior. “Momma, I’m here, I’m here!” she yelled, running wild in the woods, hoping John would somehow be at the other end of the island.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 20:21:12 +0000