The Crow Child
Mystical Adventure - Trilogy - Part One - Chapter 2
WHITE CROW…
Chapter 2
The entire seventh grade class got detention less than ten minutes after the last Monday morning bell rang.
This new week wasn’t beginning well. First Elijah’s day started with Larry Swallowtail. Next, his perpetually dieting teacher whose nerves were generally on the verge of igniting, suffered a complete collapse of what was left of her sense of humor.
Mrs. Birch had been at the chalk board with her back to her class when she sneezed. It wasn’t just any sneeze. Elijah looked up when he heard it and recognized it as the kind that reshuffles a person’s ribs.
Besides that, the force of Mrs. Birch’s sneeze was too much for the fragile seams her tight cotton blouse. Both side seams tore simultaneously, and it reminded Elijah of the Hulk.
The sudden shredding of cloth echoed loudly, and the entire classroom erupted in spontaneous laughter.
When she spun around Elijah expected Mrs. Birch might turn green like the Hulk, but she didn’t it was worse. Her eyes bulged against a bright red face that screamed in a piercing bark. “You’re all on detention – for a week!”
She vanished with the slam of the classroom door behind her.
Nothing moved.
Not one person took a breath.
Then barely a swallow in time later the principal, Father Philbrook flew into the room followed by Mrs. Birch who wore a large black cardigan. Without looking up she pulled her purse from the bottom drawer of her desk and was gone again.
The priest’s glare shot nails at every student while he lectured them the importance of character and the consideration of others. “You have upset your devoted teacher so severely she must go home to recover from your cruel brutality!”
He rummaged in the supply closet then opened a package of plain white copy paper. He pulled out several sheets. “Here, hand these out, one to each of your fellow clowns.” He dropped the paper on the desk of Elijah’s cousin Jayson.
“So, the first order for the next hour will be that each of you creates a get-well card for Mrs. Birch with a sincere apology note printed neatly inside.”
No one was allowed to talk, or even fold the paper making any noise. Everyone had to sit still with their feet together, soles flat on the floor under their desktops. Father Philbrook paced up and down the rows of students frozen in their desks - like he was the warden of a prison.
At first Elijah was miserable at the thought of being confined to the classroom with extra homework for every recess and lunch break for the next five days. But when he gave it more thought, detention seemed better than trying to dodge his two cousins and Larry every day – that was until Father Philbrook announced he would fill in for Mrs. Birch for the entire week.
By the end of the morning Elijah was almost looking forward to Larry’s shoving and James’ verbal insults. It was a misery-tossup between an irritable priest on the warpath or a bad-tempered cousin and school bully.
Grade seven kept working through their recess and when lunch period arrived, they ate in total silence. When each student in turn finished eating Father Philbrook insisted they hold up their hand and wait for permission to be dismissed to go to the washroom.
The hall outside the boy’s washroom was empty so Elijah hurried in. He was relieved there was no one inside either. But when he came out, Larry with James and Joseph walked down the hall toward him.
“Well if it isn’t the sick-stick-boy.”
Elijah had no time to hide or escape. Larry, James and Joseph were between him and his prison classroom. But facing them in the hall was preferable to retreating back into the isolation of the boys’ washroom. In March he’d barely escaped having his head dunked in one of the latrines.
“You got anything to hold while ya pee, you snot-body-defect?” Larry elbowed James and they both laughed. Joseph smiled awkwardly.
His cousin James was in grade nine, he’d be fifteen in the summer and was eleven inches taller than Elijah’s four feet, six inches. Larry was older and another five inches taller than James. Joseph was in grade eight and six inches taller than Elijah. The trio towered over him.
Maybe it had been Larry’s sarcastic remark on the bus that morning. Or maybe it had been Mrs. Birch dumping her class with detention. Or maybe it had been the confining morning with warden Philbrook… But Elijah suddenly realized he’d likely be stuck with Larry Swallowtail until high school graduation. And in that moment on this decaying Monday, Elijah decided that he was going to stop praying on his rosary for God to send Larry to another school, preferably in another country.
Ignoring Larry, he looked directly at both of his cousins. “My dad was your mom’s brother ya know. We have the same grandfather! Why are the two of you hanging around this insect? If we get Jayson that’s four of us against one! Larry needs you more than you need him!”
“Think about it! He’s going to get you into trouble someday. Don’t be such stumps!” Elijah’s last few words were a raspy effort.
With his heart punching his ribs he pushed by Larry and between his two cousins then walked chin up, shaking all the way back to his classroom where he thought for sure he’d throw up his lunch.
There was no sign of Larry or James after class while the reservation and farm students gathered to wait for their buses. Curious, Elijah had asked his cousin Joseph, who was still playing the bigshot. “None’a your business.”
“I’m telling Mom.” Jorge appeared with Spring.
“Yeah? What are you telling Mom?”
Jorge looked unsure. “That you said, ‘none of your business’ to Elijah.”
“So?”
“So, you weren’t talking nice.”
“Shut up. You’re just as stupid as he is.” Joseph pointed to Elijah and walked away.
Elijah’s cousin Sarah joined the family group and retied Spring’s hair ribbon. “Who’s stupid?”
Spring got her older sister caught up. “Joseph said Jorge and Elijah were stupid. Here comes our bus!”
Jayson whispered behind Sarah as the kids jostled to get in line. “Larry and James had to stay after school.”
The line to get on the bus moved slowly.
“Why?” Sarah looked from her brother to her cousin Elijah and Jayson looked around for his older brother but couldn’t see him. “Joseph wasn’t sure completely, but Larry passed James a note in chemistry that James passed back to Larry and Mr. Fiche caught them. Something about Mr. Fiche being a fag!”
Elijah had kept his eyes closed for the entire bus ride home. When he jumped from the bottom step of the bus to the gravel on the road, he stood for a moment relieved this day was over.
Only the high-pitched whinny of his horse Arrow brought his head up.
The south section of the corral fencing extended five feet beyond the trees along Grandpa’s driveway. Half dragging, half carrying his backpack he ran toward the big gentle, fury birthday gift he got when he turned seven.
“Arrow!” He dropped his backpack at the side of the driveway and climbed up using the lower fence rails, to sit on the top.
His horse whinnied again and shook his head excited. When Elijah leaned over to lay his cheek against the horses’ nose Arrow stood still.
“Man! This day was poop, Arrow.”
The horse listened to the boy’s voice then nudged him with a throaty response.
Elijah jumped to the ground inside the corral, and they walked to the barn together. “First Larry started in again. You don’t ever want to meet him! He’s a mistake of nature!”
Climbing the ladder to the hay loft Elijah pushed open one of the hayloft doors that swung out over the corral. When the door opened Arrow looked up and backed out of the way.
After snipping the binder twine Elijah threw chunks of hay from the bale to the ground below. Arrow waited.
Back on the barn’s lower floor, lifting the lid of a wooden bin, Elijah scooped three cups of oats for Arrow.” Then, my whole class got a detention when Mrs. Birch ripped her own blouse, cause she can’t stay on a diet.”
He poured the oats into a wide, shallow plastic salad bowl. “The blouse was too small anyway.”
Arrow savored his oats.
“I don’t even know how she got it buttoned up.”
When Arrow finished his oats, Elijah picked up the bowl and spread the clumps of hay from the dropped bale around on the ground for Arrow to eat. Then he got out the stepstool and brushes to groom away some of the heavy winter coat Arrow was starting to shed.
“So, Mrs. Birch has this hissy fit and goes home.” He leaned on Arrow’s back for a moment. “And then we get stuck with Father Philbrook who’s like some kinda genius, but a majorly grumpy genius and it’s been like a hundred years since he was twelve anyway.”
Elijah jumped down to brush Arrow’s mane. The horse turned his head bumping Elijah with his nose.
“And then Larry shows up again and those knuckleheads James and Joseph are with him. I know there’s nothing in Larry’s head except deer droppings – seriously. But James and Joseph listen to him!”
He stood back. “You look much better.”
Arrow raised his grey colored head with a double white star on the bridge of his nose. The nine-year-old gelding was part Quarter Horse part Appaloosa with the distinctive markings of the Appaloosa across the top of his rump.
“Let’s go check on Dart. Maybe she can come out for an hour.”
Arrow followed Elijah all the way into the barn to a closed stall. Inside, a small black mare covered by a horse blanket whinnied a greeting. Holding her halter, Elijah took Dart’s temperature in her ear with a gage left by their veterinarian.
“Hey, you don’t have a temperature today at all. We can let you stretch your legs for a little while.” He opened the stall gate wide.
The two horses greeted each other then trotted outside.
Elijah split open a second bale and pushed it out then closed the upper hayloft door. He gave both horses a hug then headed back to climb the fence. When he picked up his backpack Arrow was eating the hay and Dart had her head lifted to the wind.
Elijah mimicked the mare. The air felt damp and heavy with the scent of wet dirt and if the temperature dropped it would snow again instead of rain.
Inside the back door Elijah could smell Grandpa’s meatloaf. It was the best. Not even Aunt Dawn could make meatloaf like her father.
“Grandpa?”
“Right h-e-r-e.” Rock Clearwater’s head came up. He’d been bending over an open cardboard box. Between the sofa and the split rock fireplace on the far side of the A-frame cabin’s main floor living room, were three more open cardboard boxes.
“I fed and brushed Arrow already Grandpa.” Elijah kicked off his boots and hung his jacket. He pulled his backpack behind him only as far as the kitchen table then left it to see what his grandfather was doing.
“I checked Dart, and she didn’t have a fever anymore, so I let her out of her stall, is that okay?”
Rock Clearwater stopped sorting through photos in an envelope and looked at his grandson and then his watch. “That’s perfectly okay. But let’s make sure we get her back inside in about an hour. How was your day?”
“Like I told Arrow, it was poop.” He dropped down on one end cushion of the sofa. Then as with Arrow, Elijah candidly shared his Monday mess with his grandfather.
“You called Larry an insect?”
“He is! He’s a slithering millipede.”
“How, is calling Larry Swallowtail an insect going to improve your situation?”
Elijah shrugged. “I tried ignoring him. I tried not talking to him. I tried praying for him to go away - back to Calgary – somewhere, a different planet, anywhere ‘cept here!
Grandpa Clearwater turned his head slightly to one side. “I know Larry’s grandmother Eliza very well. Eliza and her late husband Lorence Snow were good friends of your grandmother and mine when we were kids in school together.”
“But Lorence died when Larry’s mother Lilly was your age. Larry’s mother was the youngest by ten years to her next sibling and was sent to stay with an older sister while her mother Eliza coped with her grief. Lilly ran away from her sister’s house with Larry’s father when she was only fifteen.”
“Are you saying I should feel sorry for Larry Swallowtail? Cause both my parents died, and so did my grandmother, and I was born with cystic fibrosis!”
Rock placed a gentle hand on his grandson’s knee. “Compassion is what we must feel for anyone who is hurting.”
“Larry’s too mean to hurt.”
“Everyone has a story Elijah, everyone. Larry’s unhappy. We know this because happy people don’t seek to torment others. Mrs. Birch is unhappy too. And unhappy people can be a worry.”
“I’m not trying to excuse Larry or even Mrs. Birch – just explain them. Do you think you can understand the difference?”
Elijah nodded. Then he frowned, “But what about Father Philbrook?”
“Father Philbrook is not an unhappy person, just a perfectionist who gets frustrated when his neat and tidy plans are interrupted.”
“Ugh!” Elijah put both hands on top of his head grabbing his hair. “How do you tell the difference?”
Rock Clearwater smiled. “By, observing people carefully and giving them the benefit of your doubt.”
Elijah shook his head. “Yeah? Well today I observed one people who wanted to punch me in the head, a second people who gave me detention. I’ve never had detention! And a third people who tortured me in my desk – all – day. We had to sit like we were statues, barely breathing.”
They ate Grandpa’s meatloaf, mashed sweet potatoes and green beans in silence for several minutes.
Rock watched his grandson eat. “Any cramps today?”
“No. My gut was good. That was the only good thing about today. I really liked the new dressing on my lunch salad, what was that?”
“A raspberry vinaigrette.”
“What are you doing with those boxes?” Elijah pointed behind him with his fork.
“I was looking for the photo album your mother brought with her from Ireland. We can trace your First Nations heritage in Canada back three hundred years, but we have nothing about your mom’s family, the O’Day clan from Ireland.”
After putting Dart back into her stall for the night Elijah tried to read one of his mystery books from the school library but fell asleep. When the clock struck at midnight he woke up, turned off his bed lamp then fell asleep again…
***********
…Prince Dade walked alongside the oxen that carried his mate and newborn daughter. The second oxen carried Ona’s mother Lee and Ona’s younger sister Tao. Tann walked several paces ahead, while Reef walked several paces behind.
They had kept a slow, steady pace along the tree line in short grasses where deer grazed so they wouldn’t be so easy to track if Torr’s men came this way. When the moon was high, they had stopped to sleep.
Before first light an owl called out and awoke the restless prince. He sat up careful not to disturb the covering over Ona and their baby.
The cool morning air was thick with the scent of blooming clover. Its’ sweet flowers were a favorite of their bulky oxen and the impatient wild bee.
As he looked around their rest spot, the edge of the small meadow was a perfect find. In the moonlight Reef had discovered tall thick grass already flattened by a small herd of deer. They staked the Oxen to graze along a naturally worn dirt path used by raccoon, and fox.
Dade watched as the owl that woke him glided down from a tree and captured a small rat with its clawed feet.
Cousin Torr’s treacherous betrayal had flashed shock throughout the entire O’Deaghaidh Clan dividing members along ethical lines. Torr had gathered artificial loyalty among many farmers, merchants and military who had been convinced to follow him with the promise of land and rising to a higher rank.
His father’s pet parrot Ut had squawked the alarm from an open window in the Great-House the moment of Torr’s treasonous strike. But the bird’s warning had been too late to save Dade’s father Chieftain Dea and Dade’s older brother Prince Rol.
Murderously assassins had assembled in twos for each victim. Just as everyone attending the council meeting was seated, they were rushed and all nine died in a flood of blood by frenzied men driven by greed.
Dade too had been expected to attend the meeting, but had been delayed when Ona went into labor, or Torr would have been free to claim the crown of O’Deaghaidh Clan Chieftain for himself right there and right then.
With Reef and Tann’s help Prince Dade and what was left of his family had managed to flee Gangani and hide between the lakes of the Setius River. If they could make it north as far as the Pavius River in Erdini they could count on the protection and support of the Fennanagh Clan as Chieftain Darrin was the mate of Dade’s older sister Eba.
The baby stirred and instantly Ona too was awake.
Prince Dade reached over and picked up his tiny, bundled daughter. The infant blinked several times then stared at the face before her. “I think this little lady should carry the name T’ull”. He looked at Ona.
Ona smiled. “Apple, that is a perfect name.” She leaned toward Dade and found his lips with hers. Then she rewrapped her baby in clean linens and began to nurse her.
“Good morning, Sire.” Tann reached the resting place coming through the trees. “Reef and I took turns sleeping and watching. There is no sign of Torr, Baza, Kauji or their armed followers.”
Ona’s mother Lee appeared from the other side of the meadow carrying a basket. “I have raspberries and black berries to go with the last of the cold fish.”
Lee set down the basket. “Tao waits by the oxen, and they are fine.”
Reef joined them and they gathered around the basket of wild fruit and the cloth wrapped fish to eat quickly then leave before the sun rose any higher.
………..
[2019 First Place - Purple Dragonfly Award for literary youth fiction from Story Monsters Ink magazine]
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