Chapter 19

Red filled me in on his idea. It wasn’t any worse than the eventual plan, but it would take some time. I’d work on my part of it slowly. I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to manipulate Sussex into getting Mistress Angel out of the way, but that was the plan. Red was right, if I could do it, then he would have a more depraved view. That would make him more likely to do what I’d want him to do later. There would have to be more things along the way. A terrorist is not built in a day, as the old saying goes. Fifteen years in the future is a long time to encourage a ‘bad boy’ into a murderer.

When I said it like that, I didn’t like the sound of it.

[Lexi, remember that your mission on this whole ‘live your life over’ experiment is to save twelve billion people, eventually. You agreed to do a whole bunch of things that are unsavory.]

Unsavory? That’s a very pretty word for killing someone.

[Do you want to end the experiment? It’s not going to be all ‘make a nice community’ and ‘help people.’ And you – or WE – are going to have to make some choices.]

End the experiment? That’s another pretty word for terminating ME. So ‘no.’

[Good. Because you have already made a lot of changes to this universe.]

So I put that whole issue aside for now. Well, if I couldn’t do anything about ‘the Tommy Sussex issues’ right now, I’d better be about doing something else. Let’s see, what could I do today? I could get married!

I found the boys sitting and watching TV movies. ‘Airplane’ was on, so they were busy catching up on all that foolishness. I went into the bedroom and changed into a buckskin dress. It wasn’t exactly traditional, ‘cause it had a plunging neckline and came only to mid-thigh. I matched it up with a necklace with lots of hand carved wooden pieces – wolves, trees, growling mountain lion heads, and such. I put on a pair of moccasins with fancy beaded designs, and then went out to the TV room. Actually it was supposed to be a living room, but we didn’t ‘live’ there much – we watched TV there.

Anyway, I leaned on the entrance way, struck what I thought was a suggestive pose, and said, “Hey guys! Let’s go get married. What do ya say?”

Bear said, “Right now?”

Rock said, “Wait a minute, can’t ya? Kareem had a great line coming up!”

I picked up a pillow from the couch and started beating him on the head. He covered his head and said, “Okay! Okay! I give up. Let’s go ‘n be an officially happy – err ... MORE happy – bunch of Injins.” And he struggled to his feet despite my onslaught.

The two of them went into the bedroom and changed into their ‘official Indian’ outfits. Buckskin pants, with a fringe down the sides, along with beaded shirts, and mocs. It took them a couple of minutes and I got hooked into Robert Stack and Lloyd Bridges. They came out of the bedroom (‘they’ meaning Rock and Bear, not Stack and Bridges) and flicked off the TV. There wasn’t any remotes in 1984 – at least on our TV – and started to head toward the door.

“Where are we going?” asked Bear.

“Uhm ... Dark Wolf’s house, I guess. I hope Flower and Crying Wolf will be there,” I answered.

“You didn’t even call them first?!” Bear was astounded. He pulled his phone out and dialed. “Wolf? It’s Bear ... Uh huh ... Listen, Miss White Owl, also known as the Whirlwind, is all dressed up and wants to have a wedding ceremony ... Yeah, right now ... Nothing fancy, just the family ... Dark Wolf’s place ... Yeah, better call him.” He broke the connection and started laughing.

“He thought it would be a good idea if my father came,” he said.

OH! Good thinking. “It wouldn’t be right without Sensei. There’s enough time for them to get organized,” I countered. “Come on! Let’s get a move on. We don’t want to be late.” I was excited! I was getting married! “We can call Cap from the car. I want to be in the Naabeehó Bináhásdzo tomorrow morning. I’m gonna drag Wolf, Flower, and Sensei down south for the day.”

“Everybody’s gotta drop everything, suddenly, cause you got a wild hair about getting married immediately?” said Rock incredulously.

“Well, ... yeah,” I said. Like, of COURSE.

“Bear, you’re driving,” Rock said. He had his phone out and was dialing. “Hi, grandpa,” he said. And then the rest of the conversation was in Navajo, punctuated by some “no’s” and some “okay’s.” But I got the gist of it. He was letting Wild Mustang know what the Whirlwind was delivering to his door.

By the time we got to Dark Wolf’s door, he’d gotten a display of food from the local supermarket / deli. Of course, HE hadn’t done anything. Antonia was there. She had done all the shopping, but he took credit for it.

He and Crying Wolf were wearing ‘modern traditional’ outfits: buckskins, top and bottom, and mocs. The only thing different was the face paint: it was white paint in bold streaks on the forehead and both cheeks. They had a headband of leather, with eagle feathers tucked into it. Two for Dark Wolf, one over each ear, and one for Crying Wolf, over the left ear.

Master Soon Maritsuki was wearing a glaringly white gi, with a black belt (of course!), and no shoes.

Desert Flower was wearing a dress with Indian symbols; I presumed they were Cherokee, her tribe. In a totally out of place adornment, she wore an eye patch of light blue with a small star made of spangles. On her, it looked good.

I stopped in the living / dining room and bowed to them all, and then greeting them in order: Dark Wolf, Crying Wolf, Sensei Maritsuki, Desert Flower, and Antonia. She gestured to the back of the room, where four wokita yearlings were sitting. “I was working with them when I got the call, so I just brought them. I hope you don’t mind,” she said.

I laughed. “Of course they are welcome.” I turned to the wokitas and mentally greeted them each: Tecumseh, Elkhair, Coeehajo, and Joseph. Elkhair gave me a yip of hello.