Unexpected Change Ch. 02

Kay said, "Over there is a girl in a brown dress, long black hair, no jewelry. She almost never gets danced with. She has a slight limp from falling off a horse when she was ten."

"Her name?" I asked.

"Carol."

The four of us moved in four different directions. I walked to Carol and said, "Carol, would you please dance with me?"

She had watched me walk directly to her and had become more afraid as I got closer. I didn't wait for her answer. The music started and I took her in my arms. Dancing with her was uncomfortable for fifteen seconds and then I said, "Breathe." She took a breath and relaxed.

When the dance ended I said, "Thank you. You are wonderful." I started to walk her back to where I found her but another young man intercepted us and took her from me. I closed my eyes for a second and when I opened them I knew Kay had aimed me at another woman.

I heard Walt's laugh a few times. I saw the dazzling smiles of Kay and Aunt Sue a few hundred times as well. One young woman waited until the song we danced to was half over and then asked, "I don't even know your name, but you danced with my sister so it must be Ok. What's your name?"

"Pale Eagle." I said, softly.

She pulled back a little. "Are you Shoshone?"

"Adopted."

She relaxed. I asked, "Isn't it Ok to be Shoshone?"

"My Dad doesn't like them."

"I'm not so bad."

"I know." Her hand moved on my back and she felt the scar by my shoulder. She moved her hand quickly and said, "I'm sorry."

I said, "Don't be. Those scars are reminders of growth experiences. Reminders of the pain and the growth of becoming an adult. I don't mind when they are touched." Her hand moved back to the scar and it stayed there until the song ended.

I found my way to Pale Feather and said, "Pale Feather, may we dance together?" We embraced and danced. I looked around and the floor was filled with people dancing, laughing and looking at each other with love. I said, "Lots of folk will be getting lucky tonight."

She kissed me and said, "I'm lucky all the time."

At a little before midnight we left. Steve and Don found their own ways home. I didn't expect them at breakfast. I was right.

On my birthday the alarm woke us at five. We got up and as we started getting dressed I stopped. My normal uniform for a day on a tractor was jeans, long sleeved shirt and boots. I didn't put them on. Hanging on the wall of the barn was the loincloth I had worn when I came back from my Spirit quest. I took it down and put it on. I looked out towards the house and saw Badger waiting for me. He faced the barn.

Kay came to me and kissed me. She said, "I know you need to go. I'll be right here. I love you."

I thought, 'Nine more days and we will be pregnant and married.' As took another look at Kay standing in the loft in just panties. I went down the ladder and to the other barn to get my horse. We rode up into the mountains.