“You’re leaving again, aren’t you?” It was Derrick.

She spun around. “Why are you always following me?”

“Well, you’re not good at taking others, so this is the only way anyone can get close to you.” He caught her arm. “Seriously, you are, aren’t you? Leaving?”

“Eighty miles is a three-day hike in this terrain. I saw the map. I know which direction to go.”

“But toward which school?” he asked. “What, you gonna flip a coin?”

“Maybe.” She was stomping now, wanting to get away, to get to her tent and pack up. No one was going to stop her this time. “Better than sitting on our asses doing nothing.”

“Planning isn’t doing nothing, Rose,” Derrick tried to reason with her. “Planning is doing something the right way.”

“Jesus, listen to yourself,” she scoffed. “You might as well start wearing your pants high and napping, mosom.”

“Hey, you know Cree? Nice.” The infatuation was back in full force.

“Not much. Just enough to insult you.”

“That’s all anyone needs. It’s like you really understand the Cree soul,” he joked.

“And yes, I’m leaving. And no Cree is going to stop me this time.” She placed her gun against a woodpile and started hauling blankets and supplies out of her tent so she could pull it down.

Derrick sighed. “When do we leave?”

She paused, checking his face for signs of trickery or doubt. Finding only resignation, she answered, “First light. Not a second later.” She pulled the main pole, and the vinyl dome fell.

CHAPTER 5

CHI BOY’S COMING-TO STORY

Chi Boy

CHI BOY DIDN’T HAVE TO DO MUCH CONVINCING TO get Wab to lie down. She was tired all the time now. The women kept saying that soon enough the nesting instinct would kick in and she’d be up all hours moving, so they’d better enjoy this time of rest, both of them, while it lasted.

He sat near the doorway, which he zipped up to try to give her some quiet. It was never loud here; the people knew they needed to remain as soundless as they could. They reserved their noise for important things like hunting and drumming, and the rest of the time they communicated mostly with gestures and carefully placed wood and supplies, as if everything were fragile. He put her swollen feet in his lap and rubbed them. He felt useless these days, so when there was something he actually could do to help, like massaging her feet, he did it. Right now, this new life was Wab’s burden to carry. All he could do most of the time was watch over her, but not too closely, or she’d get antsy.

A gauzy sun filtering through the blue tent walls cast her in a somber light so that she resembled a statue. He took her all in, in these moments of stillness, the curved beauty of her. When her breathing was steady and even, he lay down next to her so that his head was at her distended belly. Carefully, he ran the palm of his hand over her stomach. Her belly button had recently started to protrude, and he smoothed the fabric of her shirt over it. Without putting any more pressure on her skin, he leaned forward and placed a kiss just above that button, where he imagined his child’s head to be.