Onwaachige the Dreamer Page 8

  “False gods,” Caleb said, “and yeah, exactly. You got it. All the prohibitions were trying to separate the Hebrews from the surrounding culture. Otherwise, the prohibitions don’t make much sense at all.”

  Joshua still looked unconvinced. He was going to press Caleb further, but he didn’t have to. Caleb was on a roll.

  “For example, it says that eating shrimp and crab and lobster is an abomination as well. It’s also not too keen on people who wear clothes with mixed fabrics. These are all things the Canaanites did. Is your shirt by any chance a blend?”

  “I don’t know,” Joshua said, uncertain.

  “Check it out.”

  Intrigued, Joshua tore off his shirt and looked at the tag. “Polyester and cotton,” he said, as he read the tag.

  “Yeah, that’s what I was afraid of, Pukawiss. We’re going to have to stone you to death.”

  Oli burst out laughing. “That’s so absurd,” he said.

  “Mom likes lobster, come to think of it,” Joshua said, ignoring the laughter.

  “Hmmm, I’m sorry to hear that,” Caleb said. “Sounds like she only follows Leviticus when she can use it to hate people. I’ll bet she won’t give up lobster, though.”

  “Well, she doesn’t eat it a lot,” Joshua added, surprised that he actually felt concerned about his mother. “I mean, we can’t afford it really.”

  “Oh, and don’t ever curse your parents,” Caleb added. “They will have to kill you according to Leviticus.”

  Joshua looked horrified. “Jesus, really? It says that?”

  “Clear as a bell.”

  “Dang, I’m in a lot of trouble. Gay… clothes… cursing, sheesh.”

  “So is the entire planet if you really want to apply Leviticus. But no one does, except when they want to condemn gay people.”

  Christie finally chimed in, happy to be able to add something to the conversation. “It also condemns tattoos, getting remarried after a divorce, working on Sunday, eating fish. The list is endless.”

  Caleb looked impressed. “You actually listen to me. I’ll make a mental note of that.”

  Christie smiled and lay back down on the sleeping bag, visibly exhausted from the effort.

  Caleb looked back to Joshua. “Culture has changed. We have grown spiritually since those days. Forget Leviticus. Just worry about loving your neighbor. That never goes out of fashion.”

  “Dang, Mom hates our next door neighbor,” Joshua said. “She is always fighting with them about something. She even called the cops on them once.”

  “Don’t worry. Just concentrate on the love thing and not the judgment thing. And you’ll be fine. That’s what Christ was about.”

  Joshua was perplexed. He had never met anyone like Caleb before. He had come to see Christianity as a hate-filled religion that perpetuated fear and bigotry. Never had it occurred to him that Christians like his mother had gotten it wrong. Perhaps it wasn’t the religion. Perhaps it was its misguided followers.

  “So if Christians have spent centuries hating gay people, rather than understanding the true message of love, as you say, then what’s the point?” Oli jumped in, evidently having followed the discussion closely. Joshua liked the question.

  Caleb had a response ready to go. “The point is for us to grow and learn and accept all people, not just the ones that follow all the silly rules. That’s what Jesus taught. That’s what I believe.”

  Joshua didn’t know what to say, so he nodded in agreement. It was a version of Christianity he could get on board with. This guy was all right, even if his version of Christianity was different. Joshua determined that in the future he would be more discerning when discussing Christians. Some of them, he decided, were rather tolerable.

  “Besides, I’m more interested in getting people out of that hell rather than condemning them to it,” Caleb added as an afterthought.

  “I think Jesus would be with you on that,” said Oli.

  “And Pukawiss as well,” Joshua offered.

  “Can we stop with the religious talk and get back to sleep,” Christie said, covering her head with her sleeping bag. “It’s our day off.”

  “Looks like you’re the only one who wants to listen to me around here, Pukawiss,” Caleb said, laughing at the irony.

  Joshua gave a friendly smile in return. He was really warming up to this guy.

  “So why don’t you sit down and join us?” Oli asked.

  “Yeah,” said Caleb, “we got plenty of food for you here. And I made some coffee.”

  As much as Joshua enjoyed the company of these interns, he was reluctant to stay around much longer. He didn’t want to risk being discovered.

  Caleb obviously sensed that Joshua didn’t want to join them. He paused for a moment as if considering what else he could offer Joshua. He looked around the kitchen area, apparently searching for something a kid would like, before fixating on something John was cooking. “Hey, John, hand over some of that… that… whatever it is.”

  “Take some. Mokwa made this for us,” Caleb said, handing a bowl over to Joshua. “He said it was a special Ojibwe tribal secret.”

  Joshua immediately recognized it. “Raccoon guts!” Joshua said excitedly.

  John spit out a mouthful of the special cereal.

  “Sorry,” Joshua smiled. “It’s just what we call it. It doesn’t have any animal entrails in it.”

  John looked embarrassed but relaxed a bit before taking another bite.

  “Well actually, come to think of it, there are many different variations on the recipe,” Joshua added.

  John put his bowl down.

  Caleb laughed hysterically. John looked embarrassed once again. Joshua still had a knack for teasing the interns. Mokwa would be proud, he realized.

  “So, are you going to join us?” Caleb asked, reminding him of the invitation to sit down and eat with them.

  “I really have to get going,” Joshua said. He turned and started up the trail back to the lake.

  “Where to exactly?” Caleb asked.

  “I’ve got some serious dreaming to do,” Joshua said, stopping to look back. “Gigawabamen,” he yelled to Caleb. “And migwetch.”

  Caleb recognized the Ojibwe word for thanks, and returned the sentiment. “Migwetch to you too, my friend.”

  “WELL, THAT was all pretty odd, don’t you think?” John said, as he took a sip from his safe cup of coffee. He had waited for Joshua to leave hearing range.

  “How so?” Caleb inquired.

  “We’ve met everyone here at the village over the past two weeks, except for this strange Ojibwe boy, who came out of nowhere, and is acting all vague and mysterious. And he’s named after some revered manitou, and now he just disappears again,” John said, thinking it was even stranger as he said it out loud.

  “I guess God works in mysterious ways,” Caleb said.

  “There you go with the religion stuff again,” Christie admonished him.

  Caleb smiled. “All right, whatever, back to your meal, everyone.” But Caleb couldn’t help thinking about this strange Pukawiss kid. And he was determined to find out more about him.

  FOLLOWING THEIR search for Joshua at the Rez Cafe, Gentle Eagle led Pastor Martin to the reservation gym. As annoyed as Pastor Martin was at first, he had to admit that visiting the gym did seem like a good idea. Not that Joshua would be hanging out there, but other kids who did might have seen him somewhere. After all, kids got around much more than adults did.

  The gym was small, but it provided hours of fun to many of the reservation kids, who otherwise had very little else to do. It was almost always populated by at least a handful of people shooting baskets or taking advantage of the ping-pong tables and other miscellaneous games. Surely one of them must have seen Joshua. Gentle Eagle knew all the kids they had found in the gym, and they eagerly told him everything they knew about Joshua, which was absolutely nothing. When Pastor Martin realized that the visit was just another dead end, he returned to his skeptical assessment
of the situation.

  “Well, I give up,” Pastor Martin said to Gentle Eagle as the two walked out of the gymnasium into the parking lot. “So now can we go back to the village and question Mokwa and Little Deer again?”

  As Gentle Eagle calmly offered other options, a car suddenly pulled up into the parking lot and came to a screeching halt just a few inches from Pastor Martin. He shuffled his collar nervously in anticipation of yet another distraction.

  “Hope I didn’t get any dust on you, Pastor,” Black Crow said as he got out of the door and slammed it shut. He then greeted Gentle Eagle. “Good to see you as always,” he said in a more respectful tone.

  “Haven’t seen you since Joshua’s naming ceremony,” Gentle Eagle said, as though looking for an opportunity for small talk.

  “Yeah, I’ve been doing the powwow scene all month. Made almost five thousand bucks this summer,” he said proudly. “Kiwi is getting mad at me for spending so much time away from her.”

  “Well, don’t mind that. Five thousand bucks is very impressive,” Gentle Eagle said. “Between you and Mokwa, the two of you could open a nice business here on the Rez.”

  “Yeah, what would we sell?”

  “Powwow regalia, of course,” Gentle Eagle said.

  “Ha, you’d probably be our only customers,” Black Crow teased, dismissing the suggestion.

  “Ahem,” Pastor Martin interrupted. “Black Crow, have you seen Joshua?”

  “Joshua, that apple? I thought he left.” Black Crow was quite skilled at diversionary tactics.

  “Well, he ran away, and he may have come back here,” Pastor Martin informed him.

  “That tough little bastard, running away from home, good for him,” Black Crow responded. “Totally hardcore.”

  It was obviously not the answer Pastor Martin was looking for. “We’re concerned, of course, for his well-being.”

  “Yeah, yeah, of course,” Black Crow responded, inelegantly feigning concern. “You know, come to think of it….”

  “Yes,” Pastor Martin said, pressing for more.

  “Naw, it’s nothing,” Black Crow said, dismissing his own thought.

  “Please, for the love of God,” Pastor Martin said, finally losing it. He fixed his shirt collar again, trying to calm himself. “Any information you could provide, no matter how small, would be very useful to us,” he added in a less demanding tone.

  “Yeah, see, I was hanging out by the campgrounds last night, and I saw someone that reminded me of Joshua. And when he noticed me, he sort of just disappeared, running farther down the lake.”

  “And you didn’t think anything of it?” Pastor Martin said.

  “Well, it was dark out, and since he left the Rez, I wasn’t really expecting to see him. I guess in hindsight, yeah, it was definitely him… without doubt… possibly… I think.” Black Crow looked deep in thought. “Yeah.”

  “Well, then, good pastor, to the campgrounds?” Gentle Eagle asked.

  Pastor Martin sighed. “To the campgrounds,” he agreed, believing he had no choice but to play this out.

  HUNDREDS OF people were camped out around the central reservation lake, as Pastor Martin arrived at the campgrounds with Gentle Eagle and Black Crow. Pastor Martin thought it unusual that Black Crow was so eagerly helping them. He had always been rather distant around Pastor Martin. Nevertheless, Pastor Martin was grateful for whatever help he could get, especially when he saw all the tourists at the campgrounds. Late summer was one of the busiest times of the year for the campsite, as families tried to enjoy what little time was left of their summer vacations. This was the biggest of the reservation’s many lakes, and its giant lakefront provided plenty of room for eager campers wanting to get away from city life for a few days. They could camp by the lake, enjoy all the good food offered by the many vendors, or simply go for a swim or canoe ride. Many of the adult campers often walked over to the casino just a few minutes away, to enjoy the excitement and energy of the mini Las Vegas, as it was often called, while their kids stayed behind and enjoyed the outdoors. And, of course, the campgrounds put on a special exhibition powwow every week for the campers to enjoy. That was always a highlight of the week. With so many people by the lake, it might take hours to look things over. Pastor Martin felt overwhelmed by the mobs of tourists.

  “So where do we start?” Pastor Martin asked, agitated by the task at hand.

  “Well, I guess we should start by asking people if they’ve seen Joshua,” Black Crow offered, sounding especially optimistic.

  “Perhaps we should split up, then,” Pastor Martin suggested, thinking it would be easier to cover all the grounds that way.

  “Oh no,” Gentle Eagle said, “We should stick together. I mean, in case any of us discover something. With all of these people, we’d never find each other again.”

  “Yes!” Black Crow agreed. “Definitely we should stick together.”

  Pastor Martin couldn’t deny that logic as a herd of campers scuttled past him, bumping into him as they passed. The enormity of the task lent itself to subservience. He was content to let others make the decisions at this point. They would be done with this soon enough, and then they could get back to the village, where Pastor Martin suspected the truth was hiding out. “Together, then,” he agreed.

  “This way,” Black Crow said as he snaked his way through the crowd. It was difficult to navigate, especially with Black Crow weaving in and out of traffic so quickly. “Follow me,” he added after a minute or so, seemingly leading them nowhere.

  “Well, are we going to ask anyone about Joshua?” Pastor Martin said, feeling quite frustrated.

  “Just one second,” Black Crow said as he walked up to a vending stand.

  “Oh great,” Pastor Martin said sarcastically. “Are we going to eat now?”

  “Hey hot stuff!” a sexy, flirtatious voice said from inside the vending stand.

  “Kiwi! How’s my girl?” Black Crow responded lovingly.

  “Staying busy,” she said. She managed a smile as she tried to finish up with a customer. “So, that’ll be eight dollars and fifty cents,” she said to an angry and impatient-looking tourist.

  “What?” the customer protested.

  “Yes,” said Kiwi in an exceptionally friendly tone. “The fry bread parfait is three dollars and fifty cents, and you got the cheesy fries for another three bucks, and two cans of Coke at seventy-five cents each. So, eight fifty, please.”

  Pastor Martin looked unhappy. “Excuse me, Kiwi, just a quick question,” he said, trying to jump in.

  “One second, Pastor Martin,” Kiwi insisted, echoing the friendly tone she had with the tourist.

  Pastor Martin grumbled.

  “That’s only eight dollars,” the camper insisted angrily, as though he was purposely being ripped off. He handed her a ten-dollar bill.

  “I’m sorry,” Kiwi insisted, looking very confused. “It’s been a madhouse here today.” She took the tourist’s money and gave him a quarter back.

  “Finally,” Pastor Martin said, “now can you answer our questions?”

  “Hey!” the tourist said as he interrupted the pastor. “I gave you ten bucks, and you only gave me a quarter back!”

  Kiwi looked frantic, as she grabbed for another quarter without even calculating whether or not she had made a mistake. “Here you go, sir,” she said apologetically. “Now you have a great day.”

  The tourist took the money and angrily walked away with his food.

  “Guess he gets grumpy when he’s hungry,” Black Crow whispered.

  “Oh, and enjoy your tasty fry bread!” she called after him with a smile bright enough to light up the night sky. She then put up a sign saying, “Back in a Minute,” to the angry rumblings of a line full of very discontented customers.

  “Guess he’s not the only one who is grumpy,” Gentle Eagle said, visibly amused at the reaction of the impatient campers.

  Pastor Martin was getting tired of this as well. He decided once again to tr
y with Kiwi now that she was done with her customers. “Kiwi, can I ask you—”

  “Be right out,” she replied, interrupting Pastor Martin once again.

  She walked out the door at the back of her stand and ran around to the eagerly awaiting arms of her sweetheart, Black Crow.

  “It’s so good to see you,” she said, as she sank into his warm embrace. “You need to stop with the powwow scene. I never see you anymore.”

  “I missed you so much,” Black Crow whispered into her ear.

  “I missed you too, sexy,” Kiwi responded.

  Pastor Martin’s impatience turned toward nausea. “Look,” he said. “Can you answer a few questions for us?” He realized his irritable tone was inappropriate, so he added an insincere-sounding “please?”

  “Sure,” Kiwi said, her arms still wrapped around Black Crow.

  “We’re looking for—”

  “You’re such a cutie. Yes you are,” Black Crow said as he rubbed noses with Kiwi.

  Kiwi giggled, obviously enjoying the affection.

  Gentle Eagle seemed to be enjoying every second of it as well, as he silently observed the situation.

  “Ahem, we’re looking for Joshua,” Pastor Martin said, trying once again to get her attention.

  “Joshua! That hottie!” Kiwi said. “I’d love to see him again. Where is he?”

  Pastor Martin sighed. “Yes, that, um, hottie, as you say.”

  “Hey now, don’t start that up again,” Black Crow said, looking a bit peeved at Kiwi. “You’re all mine.”

  Kiwi smiled, visibly enjoying the jealousy. “Don’t worry, you know full well that Joshua is a two—”

  “Two faced cheat!” Black Crow interrupted before she could finish her words.

  “Oh, enough of that jealousy,” Kiwi teased. She smiled approvingly, and then looked back over to Pastor Martin. “So why would I have seen Joshua?”

  “Oh, for God’s sake, must we go through this with everyone?” Pastor Martin suddenly noticed the heat as he lost his temper. He straightened his collar and tried to collect himself.