FACING SUNRIZE
CHAPTER 2, Page 2
Please go to: Chapter 2, p3
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She wished she were home with Gongi now. When would Lokie come back so they could find their way home again!....Lali found herself reciting the little song her grandma always sang to her when she was very small. It was a counting song. As she recited it, she felt more relaxed and smiled remembering how much fun it was when grandma pulled her fingers and toes. This is how the song went:
"I walked al-one and fell in-to (two)
A rabbit hole that smelled like dudu.
Three beetles heard my (four) forlorn cry,
And helped me get it out in five!
We flew and flew into the moon,
Six full days in seven rooms;
We (eight) ate all day and dined all night,
And sang nine songs to the morning light.
The bear went home at ten a.m., and then,
Came back at eleven again.
For twelve whole hours our stories we told.
On the thirteenth hour, the turtle spoke:
Fourteen years I've walked this trail,
Fifteen floods, sixteen with hail,
I've got seventeen scales on every leg,
And eighteen on the back tail gate.
But never, in nineteen days or more,
Have I seen twenty toes and fingers
More pretty than yours!!!"
It was not long before the moon set. Lali was cold and put her moccasins back on. Then she lay in the cold wet darkness shivering....alone now, thinking....
Lokie thought that was a great idea, so he went galloping off to the nearby meadow to kick up his heels and eat wild flowers with the blue jays and butterflies. Lali looked over just in time to see Lokie galloping away as he kicked up his heels. Now she didn't want to get stranded alone so far from the village, so she jumped out of the water buck naked and ran after Lokie as fast as she could. But Lali stumbled and hurt her elbow and knee. "Lokie!" she called to him. But Lokie couldn't hear her. He was far away chasing the blue jays and butterflies. Lali was mad now. She stomped back to the pool and put on her moccasins and buckskin dress. Now she would have to track him on foot.
Peaciwawala followed his tracks but evening was coming on and storm clouds were building on the horizon. The coldest season of the year was fast approaching when all things return to their private world within to hibernate and reflect on the seasons past..... and those to come. In that world of deep mysterious reflection comes a voice from within, rippling ever so slightly on the fringes of understanding, drumming steadily through out every drama super imposing itself upon it's mundane animal framework. In those sequestered hours of winter we come to see and feel the connectedness of all things. But Lali didn't want to hear the voice within because then, she'd have to admit how naughty she was to her grandmother and she wasn't ready to change yet.
The changing season made her aware of the spiraling pattern of nature, spinning from winter to summer and then to winter again. She could hear her grandmother's little drum beating loudly in her chest. Her ears began to ring. She'd been running and now was out of breath. She thought she'd seen Lokie and tried to catch up with him over and over again. But she never could get near enough to catch him. She stopped now out of breath, and sat down on a pile of pine cones.
It hadn't snowed yet, but there was an icy chill in the air. The thunderclouds were closer now. She could see they were very huge as they assembled on the ridge. They seemed to be observing Lali closely. They shook their immense heads and rain poured into the valley. Lali thought she could hear the rumbling of their voices. "What do they want?!" she thought. "I don't believe in you" she stated flatly, shaking a finger at the sky. "I'm not afraid of you!" You're just clouds!"