Louise looked back at Florence. She appeared to be limping. “Hey, Lazy,” Louise called to her. Florence smiled back but her walking was unsteady. Her hair hung in two heavy braids in front of her. She seemed pitched forward, dizzy. Her face shined with sweat. Grandma stopped, and when she turned to see Florence, she dropped her flowers and hurried back to her. Florence was hopping on her right leg, and Louise wondered if she was just trying to get some attention. “I think I got stung by a bee,” she told Grandma. Her left leg was so swollen her heavy stocking had begun to split. Grandma squatted down beside her and tugged Florence’s stocking down. Louise was running toward them. She saw the two small fang pricks that bled at her sister’s ankle. Her sister moved slowly to sit down. Grandma took her handkerchief from her head and dabbed at the bite. Florence’s leg was as purple as the Mission Mountains, so tight, Louise felt the blood dim at the base of her skull. The fields were whining.

“Am I going to die?” Florence asked. Louise noticed her sister’s eyes were slow and calm as if she had just woken from a fever sleep. Louise felt afraid.

“Go get help, Louise. Run,” her grandmother said.

Her knees felt too weak to support her so she pumped her arms. She ran to catch the water at the end of the road. She ran to save her sister’s life. She ran with the sun so hot in her throat the miles slowed before her. This isn’t the Dark Ages, she could hear Sister Simon saying, people travel from one end of the earth to the other just for vacation. Men are civilized. We have telephones and typewriters. Electric mixers and wash machines. Indoor plumbing. You Indians must understand. We can talk to wild animals until we’re blue in the face, but a bird is never going to tell you how to build a nest. Snakes won’t bite our enemies because we tell them to. I’m here to liberate you from the darkness of superstition. Wake up, the sister had told the Indian children when their lips trembled at her ideas, wake up to the world.

Charlie Kicking Woman THE BITE