CHAPTER VII
Talking Owls and Hairless Bear
"Pack our bags," Ed told Mary a short time after breakfast. "I think that we need to escape this looney-bin."
Before Mary could even respond Ed walked away; away from Mary and the others and out of the lodge. He felt like taking a walk alone to further mull over what should be done next. Stone-coated man-eating Ice Giants? Talking turtles? He could see how a reclusive tribe if Native Americans might come up with such crazy delusional notions but Jack bought into these delusions, and even Doc was apparently seriously considering them. In time, so might he and Mary, if they stayed here amongst the looneys. He had to get Mary and himself away from this looney-bin!
He hadn't burned any bridges when he resigned from his teaching job in Virginia; maybe if he whined and begged they'd take him back. He had many personal limitations but he was a wonderfully talented whiner and beggar. He and Mary didn't have enough money to rent another truck but aside from a couple of suitcases they could leave all of their things here for Jack and the Tribe to enjoy as a thank-you gift for the fun-filled experience that they had enjoyed here. It was better to start fresh anyway, he rationalized. Ed was fully as talented at rationalizing as he was at whining. First thing tomorrow after one more round of tasty acorn mush and assorted roasted wild critters he and Mary would drive the Ford back to Virginia.
As he walked he found that he happened to be following the same route that Mouse had led him on the previous day. It was a calm day but over-cast and even colder than yesterday; somewhere around freezing, he estimated. Fortunately there was no wind; otherwise the light fall jacket that he wore wouldn't have kept him warm enough to continue. The chill didn't deter the Tribe farmers, he noticed. Today they again swarmed the fields like worker-ants, determined to finish harvesting all crops before colder weather and snow struck.
Nearby the jants were furiously doing the same, he sensed. They were digging little ant-scale caverns deep down into the still warm soil and gathering plant and insect remains in preparation for a very long winter. Like the Mohawks, they were in a race to finish preparations before snowfall.
"Oops, too late," he muttered, as snowflakes began to bombard him. They melted as soon as they hit the ground he noticed, but the snow would eventually stick if it kept coming down. He felt sorry for the Tribe. The climate models predicted that New England would become considerably colder over the next century, certainly cold enough to prevent these people from growing all of their own food. Like hundreds of millions of other people across the world, they would have to move somewhere else or die. These people had allegedly lived here for thousands of years, and now over the next few decades that would be coming to a bitterly cold end. Moving away from their beloved Giants' Rest Mountain would be very hard for them, since apparently their lives were centered around their crazy sleeping giant obsession.
He found himself winding his way up the trail that led to Turtle Man's palatial domed longhouse complex. Maybe since he was in the neighborhood he would stop by and tell the Religious Chief in person that he had decided to quit this farce and leave for warmer pastures. He wasn't doing them any good anyway, and if he left now they wouldn't even have to pay him. The more he thought about it, the more he convinced himself that he and Mary leaving the Reservation would be a win-win deal for everyone.
As he hiked past the giant house-sized boulders he surprised to hear a woman softly crying. As he rounded a bend in the path he came upon the particular boulder that was surrounded by piles of wood. Nearby a young Tribe woman sat alone upon a fallen log, crying. Ed couldn't help notice that she was quite beautiful.
"Are you alright?" he asked her. As she looked up in surprise he recognized her; it was Talking Owl, the granddaughter of Mouse.
"I am alright, Ed Rumsfeld. It is my mentor who is slowly dying."
Ed sat down on the log near her. "Turtle Man is dying? I'm sorry; is there anything that I can do? We could have Doc look at him!"
"Doc has looked at him several times. He is a very old man; he simply nears his time to pass on to another plane. He had hoped that you could help us, but he hears your bumbling attempts and your thoughts of already giving up and leaving us tomorrow, and he despairs now anew because of what that means for the Tribe."
Ed was shocked to hear that his thoughts were telepathically being overheard by Turtle Man and perhaps others, and disturbed to hear that he was causing a dying man to despair. "I'm sorry that I have failed you," he said. "Perhaps someone else will be found that can successfully do what your mentor wishes."
"No, Turtle Man says that you are our final hope; there is no time to find another. He is certain that this winter the Atenenyarhu will awaken and there will be none of our Tribe to feel their thoughts."
"I don't believe in your Stone-Coat giants, Talking Owl."
That brought a little smile to the Mohawk maiden's pretty face. "Many in the Tribe also have doubts. Many of them now go to your cities and schools and learn white-man ways and thoughts. Even Turtle Man finds the thoughts of your scientists and philosophers to be fascinating, but he fears that the newer generations will forget our past and lose their way. We have televisions and dollars for plastic sheets and computers but begin to forget that we are The Keepers of the Eastern Gate of The People Who Build a Longhouse, and that since long before joining the Mohawk we have been the guardians of Giants' Rest Mountain. When the great cold again comes and the Atenenyarhu wake, we must again try to stop them from harming our world, because that is who we are. But without your help Turtle Man thinks that we may fail."
"So you do indeed believe in Stone-Coat giants?"
"I believe in my people and in Turtle Man. I came here to ask the Hairless Ohkwa:ri if he exists, and again he gives me no answer. But then I cannot even talk with turtles, so mine was a foolish act of pure desperation. Among the Tribe and the Iroquois only Turtle Man can talk with turtles."
"What is the Hairless Ohkwa:ri?"
"THE HAIRLESS BEAR, ED RUMSFELD," she replied. "I FORGET THAT I MUST CLEARLY THINK MY MOHAWK WORDS FOR YOU TO UNDERSTAND THEM."
"There is a bear here somewhere?" Ed asked, glancing about apprehensively. "Is it dangerous?"
"It is not really a bear. Hairless Bear is the name for the Stone-Coat hidden within this great boulder. There are Mohawk legends of the monster bear, but our Tribe knows that this Stone-Coat is the one located the furthest down the Mountain. It is an advance scout for its kind, we believe. It is very dangerous if it wakes up; when asleep it is a harmless rock."
Ed glanced up at the strangely shaped boulder. The rounded shape at its top did indeed very much remind him of a bear's head. "And you hoped to talk with it today?"
"Actually on one hand I hoped that I would again not hear it at all, because if I did hear it at all, it might indeed be waking up. On the other hand if I did hear it, then Turtle Man would be greatly relieved that someone besides him can hear the Stone-Coats, at least as they awaken. The best case outcome would be if I were able to confirm that the Stone-Coats do not intend to wake soon. That is what Turtle Man hoped that you would be able to do. But I have now again failed in my attempt to sense both turtles and Stone-Coats, as I have failed many times before."
"Turtle Man has talked with Hairless Bear?"
"Once, briefly, when he was young. It began to wake when we were having very bad winters. But then warmer weather returned and Hairless Bear once again slept soundly. Mostly Turtle Man hears the Stone-Coats quietly dream confusing thoughts. But now in the winters he senses that they again begin to wake."
Delusion and religious mumbo-jumbo, Ed figured. "Can you explain what turtles have to do with any of this?"
"It is said that turtles think and dream quietly and slowly, much like the Stone-Coats. Over many generations my people have found that people who can talk with turtles can often hear the Stone-Coats dream and can sense their feelings as they wake. Turtles also listen to the Stone-Coats and know things about them. Turtle Man hoped that if you dis
covered that turtles can talk, you would be willing and able to listen to them and to the Stone-Coats."
"I don't believe that turtles talk either, Talking Owl. People talk, maybe dolphins talk, but certainly not turtles. Turtles have very small brains that are far too tiny to form thoughts of interest to humans. So do owls, by the way. So far as I can tell, only humans actually talk."
Talking Owl laughed and shook her head. "What a dull and lonely world you live in, if you believe that, Ed Rumsfeld! All that live in this world talk in some fashion, you have only to learn to listen and speak to them using the voices that you hear! If I convince you that owls can talk, will you concede that turtles might also talk?"
That sounded to Ed like a very safe bet. "OK, if you convince me that owls talk beyond hooting, I will consider it possible that turtles also talk."
"Would you then remain on the Reservation to talk with turtles and Stone-Coats?"
"Certainly, if I am helped by the Tribe to do so. I don't think I can even attempt what you suggest without some Tribe help."
"That is what Turtle Man hoped that you would agree to when he sent me here to wait for you," she said, smiling.
As Ed jaw dropped open in surprise, movement filled the air around them. Dozens of owls large and small landed quietly to perch on the log next to Talking Owl and himself, and in nearby bushes and trees. As one, all of them swiveled their heads to regard Ed with their huge all-knowing eyes!