Thanks be to summer come again
Please give us this winter enough to eat
We rejoice in the glory of this day
He instructed them to take lamps and go off and look around the nearby chambers of the cave, and bring back any cave bear skulls they might encounter. They enjoyed this hunt, which lasted half a fist or so, and when they reconvened in the horse chamber, they had seven skulls. They laid the skulls with ceremonial care on the ground around the block where Loon had placed the one that he had found in the blackness. Then he led them singing back out of the cave, the ones at the end of the line picking up their lamps as they went: out of the cave, down the ramp to their midnight fire, which they built up and danced around through to the dawn which came so quickly. Summer was here again. Soon they would trek north to the caribou and the eight eight, the two packs one again for a time.
I am the third wind
I come to you
When you have nothing left
When you can’t go on
But you go on anyway
In that moment of extremity
The third wind appears
And so it is I come to you now
To tell you this story
In the hour before that early dawn, Loon left the dancing and went back to their new camp up at the overlook, and lay down on the bed he shared with Elga and Lucky and the finch. He felt all of a sudden as tired as when he had first emerged from the cave.
He looked down from their ledge over the river, seeing the entry to the gorge, the Stone Bison, the ridges behind. Dawn’s light leaked into the world. He sat there on his bed and watched the day begin. The sky shifted from gray to blue, like a jay’s back when the jay hops around.
Then he was standing on the back of the Stone Bison, the river flowing under him, and Thorn standing there beside him. The iced-over river was soon to break up, and it rumbled and cracked from time to time.
— I thought you would stay in the cave, Loon said.
Thorn shook his black snake’s head.-You can’t get away from me that easily.
Loon sighed. It was obviously true.-I’m sorry about what happened to Click.
— Don’t you worry about Click, Thorn said.-Click is my spirit to bear. I’ll find him and keep him away from you. You don’t have to worry about him. It’s me you have to worry about.
— I can see that.
Thorn nodded.-Me, you’re not going to be able to get away from. I live inside you now.
— You should feel free to go, Loon suggested.-You did what you had to do. Now you can go be the base of the Firestarter, the star in the middle, where the stick meets the base.
— I don’t think so. I’m going to stay here and haunt you.
Loon sighed again. All those red handprints sticking him to the wall of the cave, but Thorn didn’t care. Loon said, — I wish you wouldn’t, but I can’t stop you. You’ll do what you want. Whatever you do, I’ll do what I want too. You’re going to have to follow me around. You’ll be like Heather’s cat. You’ll be just another camp robber hanging around.
Thorn nodded.-That’s fine, so long as you remember. Remember the old ways, and all the old stories. Remember the animals, your brothers and sisters. Remember to take your place and play your part. Remember me and what I taught you. Remember!
Then he stepped to the side of the Stone Bison and dove off and flew away, down the gorge, holding his arms out like an eagle. The sight of his flight was so startling it woke Loon up.
He looked around at the morning. People were lying on their beds, asleep after the big night of dancing. Elga was down at the riverbank, talking to some of the other women. Lucky was at Loon’s feet, sitting on the head of their bearskin, talking to himself. The finch was beside him, wriggling in her basket and babbling. Heather was just above the camp on her new shelf, digging around in her bags and buckets.
All right, Loon said in himself to Thorn. If that’s the way you’re going to be, I can take it.
Something the baby girl did met with Lucky’s disapproval, and Lucky shook her basket.-No! No!
— Hey, Loon said.-Leave your sister alone.
— She was eating her gloves!
— That’s all right. Let her. Here, tell me the season song again.
Lucky stood up and sang:
In autumn we eat till the birds go away
And dance in the light of the moon
In winter we sleep and wait for spring
And look for the turn of the stars
In spring we starve till the birds come back
And pray for the heat of the sun
In summer we dance at the festivals
And lay our bones in the ground
— No no! Loon said.-And lie in twos on the ground! Remember!
And he reached out and flicked the boy on the ear.