“I understand,” I say. And as I say it I realize that it is not just that I finally understand my father and what he wants to do. It is not just that I feel closer to him. It is as if some of that fire is now burning in my own heart as well.

We’re no longer alone. From the nearby house we hear the sound of people talking. Then a child’s voice calls out.

“Father, where are you? We are back and we picked many ramps! Mother is cooking them.”

It is, of course, Ahyokah.

My father nods. He lifts his hand and wipes his face. Then he stands up.

“Time to eat ramps,” he says.

CHAPTER 17

86 Symbols

My father is quiet as we walk back to the house. Even when Ahyokah comes running up to grasp his hand, the thin smile he gives her does not extend beyond his lips. The darkness of that bloody memory is still there behind his eyes. His talking about the Red Stick War helped bring me close and understand him. It was a gift to me, but it was also painful for him to do.

As we sit together at the table, enjoying those fresh, steaming ramps, I look across the table at my father. That little smile is wider on his face now. He nods at me.

“The ramps are good,” he says.

“Yes,” I say, and smile back at him as I do so.

When we have finished eating, Ahyokah turns to her mother.

“Can we show my brother now?” she says.

“Perhaps your father is too tired?” Sally Guess says. I can tell by the tone of her voice that she is teasing.

“Mother!” Ahyokah says.

“All right, my stubborn child. Ask your father.”

Ahyokah looks toward my father. He already has one hand raised up, palm outward. “I surrender,” he says. “I am your captive and I must do as you say.”

“Good!” Ahyokah declares. “I will go get it.”

She jumps up from the table and runs over to a chest on the other side of the room. Meanwhile, my father brings a goose quill pen and an inkwell to the table. In two shakes of a deer’s tail, Ahyokah is back, a small stack of papers in her hands that she plops down on the table in front of us. I note that those sheets of paper are blank, except for the one that he places in front of me.

I immediately recognize what is drawn there, even if most of it makes no sense to me. There are those shapes he showed me, the ones that stand for the sounds of Tsu, Tsa, La, Gi, and Lo. But there are dozens of other shapes as well, neatly arranged in several columns.

Ahyokah is so excited she can barely contain herself.

“See them all?” she says.

“Yes, I do.”

“Do you know how many there are?”

“No.”