The Quiet Turtle Society-Chapter One

The little stripped woodpecker pounded the large oak tree, as, a basketball is bounced, a young man, shirtless with warrior shorts of Curry, drills basket after basket, six foot four and slender, the young one sweats and says nothing, just the bird and him make noise on this reserve, the 16th anniversary of 911, of his parents asassination, his grandfather passed away in his sleep, a few years back, traditionally placed upon a scaffold,  deep in the woods, later was buried  with no markers, for he was not known or legally there, just a turtle carved into a tree, and a bead one dangling from the berry bush. suddenly a woman voice calls out,” Come in and eat, Brother, you been playing all morning.  She wipes tears from her eyes, before her twin appears, she fixed a full meal for him, the tribal  radio station plays a Northern Cree song, she thinks to herself, “Soon we return to the states, back to South Dakota, she wonders, can we begin again?  can we…silently her Brother is  at the kitchen table, he prays, talks only in Dakota, even tho,  he knows English well and speaks fluently and says, ” Sister, I miss our parents!”  Almost matter of factly, almost as if there is no emotions attached, no gestures or added looks to enhance or give depth to this statement.  She replies, “Yes, me, too!”  And, begins to cry, he consoles her with a hug and sings, the song on the radio in Dakota, the words, “i would give anything to be with you, don’t cry”…it makes her forget the sorrow, she wipes her tears, he keeps singing…using just vocalables, no words, his voice is as sweet as his fathers was, she orders him to continue with his meal.  He does and just says, “We are sweet sixteen!”  She laughs, “Yes, Brother, we are!”  The room goes silent, down in Texas, the couple realize that their house is a total lost, water and wind damage, no flood insurance, car has been under water for a week, it will not make the journey north. The wife says, ” How can we get back to South Dakota?     The man utters sounds, as he just shakes his head and grunts some sort of answer.  She blurts out, “Canoe”, they laugh till tears and despair returns.  Houston is a very long ways south and it is in wretched condition.  At least, your cell phone works, lets see, if someone will come and pick us up, FEMA is giving us a small grant, lets use that, he says.  There is no reply, She looks at the old picture of her Father, what a dear man, he died so alone and lost, so old, one of his eyes just sunk in, had passed its natural expiration date over 115 years, she kisses the photo, as she has so many times before, looking at him, the phone rings…  to be continued