Light shattered the darkness and woke Jackson from a deep sleep. He propped himself up on his elbows struggling to open his eyes. “What the . . .?”
Mosom’s big silhouette loomed over Jackson’s bed, blocking out some of the glare. “Get your clothes on. I need help in the barn this morning.”
Memories flooded Jackson’s brain as he stuffed his arms and legs into his clothes. Luci’s mom and dad . . . the break-in . . . Austin and Beyonce . . . the police dog . . . the stolen bracelet . . . he was in big trouble! What did Mosom know? Should he tell Mosom about Luci’s dad? How could he do that without also telling him that he broke into Luci’s house? Jackson was starting to hate all this sneaking around. He woke up every day with a big knot in his stomach just wondering when he would get caught.
It was still half dark as Jackson and Mosom walked across the yard in the crunchy snow and slid the barn door open.
“I need you to load some hay bales onto the truck. The bulls are finding it hard to find grass to eat since the snow came.” Mosom’s breath came out in white puffs as he talked. Jackson shuffled from foot to foot to stay warm.
Jackson went over to the bales, grabbed the nearest one by the twine and was just about to carry it to the truck when Mosom said: “There was a break-in at Luci’s house last night.”
Jackson’s fingers froze around the binder twine. He waited to see what Mosom would say next.
“Officer Terry phoned me about it last night. It seems that he and his sniffer-dog were out at the crime scene in the trees when he saw a flashlight in the house and thought it was odd. He didn’t catch the burglar but he found something interesting in the hallway of the house.”
Jackson straightened up and turned around to face his grandfather. It took a long time to find his voice and ask the question. “What did he find?”
“The hood from the dead guy’s jacket.” Mosom paused and looked closely at Jackson. “It was ripped off the jacket and left in the house.” Mosom paused again. “Does Luci know where her dad is?”
Jackson’s thoughts bounced around in his brain till it hurt. What else did Mosom know? Was he in trouble for breaking into Luci’s house or not? What should he say about Luci’s dad? He was praying for someone to tell. Was this God’s answer?
“Maybe Luci’s mom was fooling around on her dad,” Jackson blurted out.
“Sure seems like it,” agreed Mosom. “Officer Terry told me that the truck we saw in the trees the other day belonged to the dead guy. Its tire tracks came from Luci’s yard on the day of the murder. So did the bullets.”
“Luci told me no one knows where her dad went.” Jackson added.
Mosom and Jackson started to load bales on to the truck. They worked in the half light of dawn until the job was done. As the truck gate slammed shut, Mosom turned to Jackson and said. “Stay away from Luci’s house. If her dad comes back he could be dangerous. Adultery causes a lot of murders and a man who is desperate enough to kill once could kill again. Be quiet about what you know and don’t go anywhere near there. Do I make myself clear?”
Jackson nodded.
“You better go get ready for school now.”
The bracelet was burning a hole in Jackson’s pocket. He secretly slid his fingers over the beautiful beadwork of red flowers and blue diamonds that had caught his eye as he raced by the dresser the night before. He wondered how it would look on Beyonce’s wrist. She would probably love it and think he was amazing for giving it to her.
What should he say? “Hi Beyonce, I’d like to give you a bracelet.” No, that was too lame.
He needed to be more romantic. “Hey Beyonce, the flowers on this bracelet remind me of your luscious red lips.” Not!
How ‘bout a macho approach. “Beyonce! Catch this!” He would throw the bracelet to her and then he would just walk away. That was it. Just imagine the look on Austin’s face when the love notes started piling up on Jackson Little-Light’s desk instead of his!
There she was! Jackson started to run down the school hallway to catch up with Beyonce and Rayna. He dodged a basketball that bounced out of a locker and rolled around two little kids who were putting on their boots. He narrowly missed crashing into a classroom door that opened up into the hallway in front of him and barreled right into Austin as he came out of the washroom. The two boys looked at each other in a moment of surprise before they collided and fell in a heap on the floor at Beyonce and Rayna’s feet.
The girls turned around to see what the commotion was about. They looked at the boys sprawled out on the floor. Then they looked at each other and started to giggle.
Jackson carefully began to wiggle his fingers and toes; then he moved his arms and legs. Nothing broken anyway. “Get off me, Austin!” he squeaked.
“What is that?” squealed Rayna as she stooped to pick up something from the floor.
Jackson groaned out loud when he realized she was holding the beaded bracelet. It must have fallen out of his pocket when he and Austin crashed.
“Are you OK?” Beyonce’s concerned face hovered above him like an angel as she reacted to his groan. “Are you hurt ,Jackson?”
So much for trying to be macho, Jackson thought as he rolled onto his elbow and clumsily heaved himself to his feet.
He snatched the bracelet out of Rayna’s hand and shoved it back into his pocket. “I found it somewhere,” he said as he zipped up his jacket and walked toward the exit door.
“Jackson, wait! Let us see it!” The girls were following at his heals as everyone poured out of the school for recess. “It’s awesome! Who did the beading?”
Jackson slowed to a stop near the swings and pulled the bracelet out of his pocket. “Do you want to try it on?” he said to Beyonce, looking her right in the eyes.
Pleased with himself by now, Jackson watched the two girls with pride as they hovered over the beautiful piece of jewelry on Beyonce’s wrist. He didn’t care about the way Austin was staring at him and didn’t even notice Luci’s mom walking across the playground until she called out to her daughter.
“Luci, get off the swing. I’m taking you home.”
“Why? It’s not time to go home yet,” Luci protested.
“Just do what I say,” said Luci’s mom in a tight voice.
As usual, weird things started to happen whenever Jackson saw Luci’s beautiful mom. His face got really hot even though the day was cold. He just couldn’t stop staring at her. He even forgot all about Beyonce and . . . oh no! The bracelet!
Reluctantly Luci jumped off the swing and walked toward the school to get her backpack. As she and her mom walked past Beyonce and Rayna, they suddenly stopped. “Where did you get that bracelet?” Luci’s mom’s asked. Her face had turned a funny color.
“My friend found it,” said Beyonce warily.
Luci’s mom looked at the bracelet closely. She took it off Beyonce’s wrist and turned it over. “My husband bought this for me at the pow-wow last summer. It was stolen from my house last night. “Where did your friend find it?”
“I don’t know,” shrugged Beyonce. “Why don’t you ask . . . she turned toward the place where Jackson was standing but he had disappeared.
It seemed to Jackson that all he did lately was to run and run and run. Here he was again, running away from trouble. He was so tired of running. It also seemed to him that the more he ran away from trouble, the more he ran into it. He needed a place to hide and think.
Cold air stung his face as he ran. The wind chased low drifts of snow across the fields and spit them into Jackson’s eyes. His feet and lungs worked rhythmically together, following the creek to where it emptied into the lake.
Jackson stopped and stared in surprise as Kokum’s ice fishing hut emerged from the swirling snow. Dad or Mosom must have moved the hut from the yard to the lakeshore so Kokum could start using it as soon as the lake froze solid. It was the perfect place! It had a wood stove, a chair, and blankets. H
e could stay there indefinitely.
The door creaked in protest as Jackson entered the hut but all was quiet inside . . . and safe. He rummaged through a plastic bin to find what he needed. He crumpled up an old newspaper and placed it on the floor of the little round wood stove. Yes, there was even some kindling left over from last winter. Jackson placed the small sticks like tipi poles all around the newspaper . . . now, to find some wood.
Jackson took a small hatchet out of the bin, turned his jacket collar up to protect his neck as he leaned his shoulder against the door of the hut. The wind pushed back for a while then suddenly allowed Jackson to stumble out into the snow. He trudged to a small stand of trees and gathered a few dead branches off the ground. When he had chopped them into manageable lengths, Jackson carried the wood into the fishing hut and piled them neatly in the corner.
“There’s gotta be matches in here somewhere,” he muttered as he rummaged through Kokum’s supplies. “There they are!” Jackson forced his frozen fingers to light a match and held the tiny flame against the newspaper. In a few minutes there was a nice little blaze to warm his feet and hands.
Troubled thoughts filled the fishing hut and twisted around Jackson’s mind as his body started to relax in the fire’s warmth. Would Beyonce tell Luci’s Mom who she got the bracelet from? Of course she would. Would Luci’s mom tell the police? Did kids his age ever get thrown in jail for stealing?
Jackson found an old woolen blanket and wrapped himself in it. He stared into the fire and tried to figure out what to do next. No solutions came to mind.
“OK God, he said forlornly. I know it’s wrong to steal. I don’t even know why I took that bracelet.”
An image of Beyonce flashed into his mind. “I know, I know, trying to impress girls got me onto trouble once again.”
Jackson pushed out a big sigh. His breath made the fire flicker and crackle. “I don’t know who else to talk to about this God. Will I go to jail now? Will Mom and Dad find out about all my sneaking around? I almost wish they would find out. I’m so tired of living with this knot in my stomach.”
As the cheerful little fire reached out with warmth, Jackson sat down in the folding chair his grandmother used for fishing. He glanced around the room at her familiar fishing gear. How many times had he sat here in this hut with Kokum as she waited for the fish to bite? He loved her stories and jokes and bannock. Jackson’s stomach growled loudly. He glanced up to the little window above the door surprised to see that the sun was beginning to fade. It must be almost supper time he thought sadly. And here he was sitting by himself in a tiny fishing shack while everyone else was at home watching TV, joking around, telling stories about their day and, most importantly, getting ready to eat supper.
It doesn’t take much to lose everything you love, Jackson thought as he stared into the dying fire. Luci’s dad could very well lose his whole family and go to jail for a long time if he murdered that guy. And Luci’s mom would probably lose her husband if she was fooling around with someone else. And I’m sitting here all lonely and hungry because I broke into Luci’s house and stole that bracelet. His stomach growled again.
Jackson got up and put out the fire with a few handfuls of snow. He had decided what to do.