Galuloi, the tallest of the boys, is preparing the ground on which the game will be played. It is a long flat area on the other side of the town house from the ball field. It is marked off for chunkey, kept clear of all stones and vegetation, and covered with fine sand so that the poles will glide along it easily. With a smooth branch, Galuloi is smoothing out the white sand and making the surface as clean as a field covered with new snow. Galuloi is not as skinny as I am, but he is taller than me. That is why he was given the nickname of Sky.

Ugama, Soup, is helping him. Ugama, the shortest and roundest of us all, is always by Galuloi’s side. The two of them are cousins and belong to the same clan. When Ugama takes his stance and then sprints forward before hurling his pole to glide it across the sand, his feet move so fast they are a blur. Because he runs so fast, he cannot stop himself easily and so always throws himself off to the side of the pit and goes rolling for a ways before stopping.

That always makes us laugh, but not that hard. When Ugama makes one of those awkward casts of his pole, it often comes to a stop right against the stone and he wins.

Equgugu, Big Owl, is rolling the chunkey stone that has been chosen for today’s game back and forth between himself and his cousin, Gayusoli. Gayusoli, whose nickname means Nose, always seems to be the keenest and smartest of us. As usual, he is not doing anything much other than watching the other. Yugi, whose nickname means Nail, is the last of my friends who is here. He is busy rubbing his chunkey pole with bear oil from the bottle he keeps in his pouch, hoping that bear oil will help him make nothing but winning throws. As if that would ever happen when I was competing with him! I like Yugi the best of my friends, even though he always jokes about winning all of my marbles. Which will never happen.

Galuloi, Ugama, Equgugu, Gayusoli, Yugi. Five of my best friends.

But one of my best friends is not here. Normally there would be seven of us, counting myself.

Udagehi, Baby, is missing. He has a badly twisted ankle. He is the best hunter among us, but while hunting three days ago he had a bad fall. I heard about it when I was at the trading post picking up sugar for my mother. His ankle is not broken, but it is swollen so badly that he cannot leave his mother’s house. It will be many days before he can walk without a stick and weeks before he can run.

Some believe that he brought it upon himself. I heard that said at the trading post, by one of the old men.