Chapter 11: It Takes a Village

The Family

A rancher from Fort Collins arrived with two brood mares for breeding about seven in the morning. Ramie and Kyle had to deal with that just when the family had decided to let others do the work for the day and get back to the final pages in the box. They wouldn’t stand the mares to stud until they’d had a chance to settle down, but the rancher wanted to jaw a while over a cup of coffee. Of course, the topic was all about the tensions building at Yellowstone.

He finally left and their two hired hands took over the morning chores while Ramie and Kyle came into the kitchen.

“How much time do we have?” Mary Beth asked.

“Rafe radioed in that they were about three hours out,” Cole said.

“I didn’t put food on the stove for the hands.”

“I’ve got it, Mom Mar,” Aubrey said. “I prepped everything early this morning. It just needs to heat through. I’ll make cornbread and tortillas while you continue to read. I can hear you and keep an eye on the television at the same time. Fill yourselves plates if you’re hungry. There’s still tortillas and makings for a breakfast burrito.”

“Anything happening?” Ramie asked her lover.

“She hasn’t moved in two hours, but no one is willing to go approach her. They’ve gone on with regular insipid programming, but have her in a split screen box in the corner with a ribbon crawling across the bottom every five minutes giving the same update.” Aubrey scooped a spoonful of mashed carrots into her oldest daughter’s mouth. “Don’t worry, honey. Even though I’m in the kitchen, I’m right there beside you.” Aubrey kissed Ramie and Kyle sidled up to get his share, too. He kissed his daughters on their heads.

“Let’s get back at it,” Cole said around a mouthful of burrito.

“Wait,” Aubrey said. “There’s a bulletin and they are expanding the Yellowstone window.”

“Turn it up,” Cole said. Aubrey unmuted the TV as the picture zoomed back from Earth Sister standing in the distance as a reporter came into focus in the foreground.

Sixth Live Report

“This is Evan Waitley with the National News Network at the Yellowstone Grizzly Village protest site. This has been a tense morning as workers at the Shale Oil Company, prepare to activate the pseudo-fracking equipment on the low rise to our left at the foot of Mount Holmes. We’re told that high absenteeism has slowed progress which was slated to begin earlier today. The company is operating with a skeleton crew and a squad of security personnel who are reported to be heavily armed.” The reporter turned to the silhouette on the rise, nearly a mile distant.

“On each of the past five days, the spokesperson calling herself Earth Sister has approached our broadcast location to deliver her dire warnings. She has provided what many believe to be illusions of animals coming over the rise. On the third day, a trained wolf pushed reporter Sarah d’Angelo to the ground during her broadcast. We are told that Sarah is still suffering from shock, but that she is physically uninjured. Yet this morning, Earth Sister did not come to our location some distance away from both the installation and the protest site. As the sun rose, she was already at the top of that rise. She has simply stood there all morning. For a while, she was joined by two others dressed in wolf skins before they disappeared over the rise.”

“Evan,” another voice broke into the broadcast, “what about animals this morning? No illusions yet?”

“Nothing. In fact, there is no sign of any animal anywhere in the park.” The camera swung far to the right and into the sky as Evan pointed. “Up there, you can see a Park Ranger helicopter. It is the only sound that has been heard this morning. When we asked about why they were deployed today, the comment we got was startling. They are looking for animals. The Forest Service has been unable to locate any of the five thousand bison that live in the park. Nor have they spotted any of the thousands of elk, the hundred wolves, and the wide variety of other species that call Yellowstone home. In fact, we have not seen a bird in the sky, a squirrel in a tree, or even a fly all morning.”

“Evan, we are informed there is activity in Cody. Keep an eye on things there at Yellowstone for us, we are switching to a live report from Rhea Matthews in Cody, Wyoming.” The image of Earth Sister on the rise receded to a box in the upper right corner of the screen as the main screen shifted to a woman in jeans and a western shirt. Blonde hair fluttered beneath the brim of a cowboy hat.

“This is Rhea Matthews of KWYO in Cody, reporting for NNN. There are startling developments this morning in Cody as National Guard and U.S. Deputy Marshals arrived on the scene overnight with buses and some heavy equipment. They are staging at Stampede Park, home of the Cody Night Rodeo. I’m here with Deputy U.S. Marshal Grant Donahue who has agreed to give us some background information. Marshal, can you tell us what’s going on? There’s some heavy machinery moving in here. Are you anticipating an assault?”

“Nothing so dramatic as that, Rhea,” the deputy said. He smiled the smile of a front person designated to be in front of cameras while the real work went on elsewhere. “We are here to protect U.S. citizens who have come into conflict with each other. On one side, we have a legal drilling site. We’ve cross-checked all the permits and environmental statements and legally, Shale Oil Company has the high ground. However, peaceful protest is also allowed under the first amendment to the Constitution. The only law that has been broken is fuzzy at best in terms of the protesters occupying government lands. They have broken several park rules with their unauthorized encampment.”

“So, both sides have rights?” Rhea asked.

“Certainly,” Grant answered. “Unfortunately, the rhetoric of the past few days has increased to the point of threats against the lives and property of Shale Oil Company and its workers. In response, the company has ramped up its security. We are trying to avoid another Standing Rock situation. The loss of life there was a tragedy. We see no other option at this point than to remove the protesters from the site, in as respectful a way as we can, so that violence does not erupt. I have been informed that once the fracking process has actually begun, the protesters have agreed to leave peacefully.”

“Mourning Mother Earth and the lives of those that were lost,” Rhea read from a statement. “What does that mean, exactly?”

“The protest is highly spiritual in nature,” Grant said. “When they have lost the battle to stop SOC, the Native Americans at the site will undoubtedly have a period of ritual mourning.”

“So, there you have it. U.S. Marshals supported by National Guard personnel are preparing to move into Yellowstone and evacuate the protest camp so that violence is avoided,” Rhea said. “According to the briefing paper we were given, the encampment will be removed and the land restored to its pre-camp condition. Once that has been accomplished, the gates of Yellowstone National Park will reopen to visitors who have already lost nearly half the season’s opportunity to enjoy our treasured national resource. This is Rhea Matthews, KWYO in Cody.”

“And we will continue to keep you updated as the situation develops,” the network announcer said. “Until there is more, we return you to today’s broadcast schedule, already in progress.”

The family breathed a big sigh. Cole radioed Rafe.

“Rafe, we may not be in the pens when you get here. You know what to do. We’ll be moving them out of the holding pens and over to the old Calhoun place in a few days. I might have to hire a couple more wranglers to make the move,” Cole said.

“We wouldn’t have to worry about it if those two kids of yours were here. They’d just point and the cattle would go where they said,” Rafe laughed. “Sorry, Cole. I didn’t mean to make light of the situation, but I damn sure liked those kids.”

“Well, we might get them back somehow. That’s why the family won’t be out to meet you. Once you’ve got them all corralled, though, get your guys cleaned up a little and come up for lunch. Aubrey and Mary Beth have a kettle of chili on the stove.”

“They’ll like hearing that. We’ll see you in a couple of hours.”

“Mommy, I can’t do it,” Ramie said. She sat with the last few pages in front of her and tears ran from her eyes. She hadn’t called Mom Mar ‘Mommy’ in many years, but she needed the comfort. Mary Beth moved to comfort her daughter, but Ramie inexplicably held up her hand.

“Let me drive,” Miranda said from inside her. “Dry your eyes and sit back. I can’t help but love your brother and sister the same as you, but I lived in harsher times. I can handle it.” Ramie’s head nodded.

“Thank you, Miranda,” Mary Beth said. She hugged her daughter anyway.

“I didn’t mean to hold you off like that,” Miranda said. “Please come and cuddle us while we read.” Mary Beth sat beside her daughter on the sofa and Ashley took a spot on the opposite side next to Kyle. Cole watched from the big chair and sighed, but Aubrey came into the room and handed him both his granddaughters.

“Y’all need something for comfort,” she said as she kissed her father-in-law on top of his head. She retreated to the kitchen and listened as Miranda began.

Caitlin: Time in a Box

Merv was ready to head back to Laramie after about two months in Oxėse. He’d accomplished a lot, but it was cold living on the mountain. It was cold in Laramie, too, but apparently, he thought his house would be more comfortable than the mud, stick, and hide wigwam in front of the bear cave. As far as we could tell, there had been no sign of White Mouth returning for the winter. Even when we beat drums in the mouth of the cave, there was no answering rumble within its depths.

“I should probably go have Christmas with Mandy’s parents. They always seem to want me around,” Merv said. “Time masters, drum me home.” We all stared at him.

“Uh, Merv, we can’t take you back to Christmas,” Phile said.

“Grandfather, I drove from Lame Deer to Laramie on Christmas Day. You weren’t there,” Mandy said. “I told Mom you’d met up with some men who were going on a spirit quest and would probably be gone for a while.”

“I thought...” Merv pondered as he considered what we were saying. “So when is it in now-time?”

“We came through on February 29. Leap day,” I said. “We figured we would take you back tomorrow.”

“This is very strange. I hope my cousin hasn’t sold the trading post,” Merv said. “Come and look at what we’ve managed so far while I think about the problems of travel.”

We’d paid attention to Pa when he talked philosophy and history. Might not have seemed like it, but we listened. We’d figured out the whole concept of Schrödinger’s Cat. It didn’t apply to most things, but we kind of thought it did to time. The principle was that mostly we only know the outcome of history, not the process. Imagine a boy and girl who meet for the first time and fall madly in love. That’s the outcome. History. But the process—what brought them to that particular time and place where they met—is an unknown. Did she just happen to need a cup of sugar and had to run to the store? Was he pressured by his parents to attend that university when he wanted to go to a different one?

We knew, I guess instinctually, that we couldn’t change outcomes that were already known. It was the process we could affect. We’d tried to drum ourselves into the future with no luck at all. We had no idea what the outcomes were.

And Oxėse was a different matter entirely. Caitlin, Phile, Wolf Riding Woman, and Wolf Rising were synchronized when Yelloweye led us through that gateway. We aged at the same rate. Our day and night and seasons were the same. We’d stepped out of Oxėse into before-time to study drum making with Two Sticks because he was there then. We jumped back into Oxėse and it might have been the next day for all we knew, because time just didn’t make a difference there.

But the four of us, plus Merv and Mandy as they related to us, were locked into a synchronization with now-time.

Of course, we knew what Merv had accomplished in the two and a half months here, but time wasn’t the only thing that was confusing. I don’t blame him. We’d gotten used to a perpetual state of confusion through our whole lives.

Merv knew in his head that Wolf Rising and Phile were one person in their brains. Each of them experienced everything the other experienced. But his head told him that those two bodies were two different people and since we hadn’t been to Oxėse in two months, he had to catch us up on his progress. Mandy grinned and just listened to her grandfather tell us about drum making.

“Dogwood doesn’t grow in this climate,” Merv said. “It is more southerly and easterly. Since we are here, I chose a wood that was available. We have a lot of aspen. The wood is flexible and straight-grained.” He showed us a stack of wood. It wasn’t just logs. After cutting a number of young trees and dragging them to his lodge, Merv had stripped them of bark and split them into thin boards, using his draw knife to shape them. “These will be the outermost ply of our drum frame,” he said pointing at a few that were half-round rather than flat. We will build up the frame inside. But it is too cold to begin that work now. I’ll come back in June.”

We all laughed and began making up stories that could be told about Merv’s long absences from Laramie.

I know we got pretty flaky that winter, because we were doing without sleep a lot of the time. And we did have work to do on the ranch. Our boss at LK Stables, that’s you, big sister, seemed to have a thousand projects backed up for us. When the mares started coming in for breeding, they’d be staying in a luxury hotel. Honeymoon suite, I guess.

Phile and I would have dinner with the family and then go to bed. As soon as we figured the rest of you were asleep, we drummed softly and returned to our family. Sometimes Mandy went with us and sometimes she just rode in our heads. We’d spend the night moving bigger and bigger groups of animals from valley to valley. We even moved over a thousand right onto our pasture land here at home, only three hundred years earlier. We didn’t dare put a couple thousand bison in Pa’s pasture in now-time!

We couldn’t do it every night, of course. It was just too exhausting for all of us. Wolf Riding Woman and Wolf Rising had to hunt, even though we brought them flour and fresh fruit and vegetables when we crossed to Oxėse. All the rest of their time was spent making drums for the village. We still hadn’t figured how the village would work into our plan, but we knew there was a reason that Yelloweye brought them with us.

That’s when Yelloweye came for a visit. He showed up at our campsite on a night we were there with Mandy and just spending our time making love. I can never say exactly what he said, because it just doesn’t make words. So, I’ll let Mandy speak her version of owl-talk.

Mandy: To Move the People

Beneath É’omeéše’he, the Moon When the Horses Get Fat, I lay with my mates to celebrate the flowering around us. As we lay in our furs, Heove-’éxané came before us and spoke to our hearts.

You do well, children. If you move a thousand brothers and sisters, you can move ten thousand. Numbers will no longer matter. Only the size of your spirit matters. You must begin moving between what you call Oxėse and now-time. As you began with numbers, so begin with time. Small steps and then large steps.

In now-time, the People have become complacent. They are defeated as they were by the blue riders. Their spirit hides beneath their skin. The People you brought to Oxėse have not known defeat and have time to grow strong again. But you must not let them grow without guidance. The Wolf Twins must visit the people in their village each year at the summer apex. This will show the people that you are ageless and continue to watch over them. They will listen to you tell of a time to come when they will lead the People of all tribes in the defense of Mother Earth.

You must show the People that you can move them, too. But first, you must win them. Earth Sister will be the Voice of the Twin Wolves. This is why you have three spirits, five bodies. You are one hand. You will move both the animals and the People. You will even move the earth.

Caitlin: Running Fox

It was summer solstice, so we figured we’d make our first visit to the Oxėse village that night. We’d been in sync with our other selves since we arrived in Oxėse six years ago. That meant it had been six years since we left the village and we expected it to have been six years for the village as well. But that’s part of the mystery of time in Oxėse. We were in sync with ourselves in now-time. The People had no such ties. It had been twenty years to them when we returned to the village.

We’d decided to send Wolf Rising, Wolf Riding Woman, and Mandy while Phile and I kept a steady drumming beat at the cave to anchor them. We took nearly a dozen drums as gifts with us.

“I was with you when we passed from the world of whiteman to this land of plenty,” Running Fox said as we sat before the fire in the village. “I have seen twenty summers since that day and now I sit at the fire as the chief of our people. Yet, I see you as the youth that you were when I was but a double hand of seasons. How is it that we age and die, but you continue to be young?”

“In truth, Running Fox, six years have passed in our time. As you journeyed to a time and place where there were no whites to disturb your peace, we, too, journeyed to a time and place where we must accomplish much in little time.”

“Will we see this place you have journeyed to?” he asked, puzzling out what I had said.