Saturday was Grandpa Wesley’s busiest day as a Cherokee medicine man. His doctoring skills were known far and wide. Even though Native medicine men weren’t part of the medical establishment, their people called them doctors. Using methods long kept secret, they would prepare, or “doctor,” herbs to help heal their patients.
On Saturdays, people began lining up early in hopes of seeing Wesley. He didn’t make appointments. As with most Native medicine people, it was first come, first served.
Billy knew the time was fast approaching when he’d be taking over his grandfather’s practice. But he still had a lot to learn about Cherokee medicines, songs, and healing techniques. Saturdays were when he went to help the elder out and get more lessons in the process.
As Billy pulled up in front of Wesley’s white frame house, he noticed that the line of waiting patients seemed to be longer than usual. A few of the patients spotted Billy and moved toward him as he got out of the truck.
He could see the need in their eyes. This used to scare him a little when he came to help his grandfather. Wesley always took care of that need. Then Billy became famous for his psychic abilities, saving a busload of children, and stopping a child predator. People started turning more of that need toward him. Many would reach out just to touch him as he passed, like he was a saint or a miracle worker to them. That really shook him up.
But Wesley had reminded Billy of how healing works. It was a person’s own faith that did much of the work. Their own inner belief opened the channels. The healing was already there and available. But faith often allowed a person to receive it.
So this morning, Billy allowed the waiting people to touch him. He smiled as he passed, speaking softly to them. “Osiyo. To-hit-su?” he said in Cherokee, words his grandfather had taught him. “Hello. How are you?” he followed up in English. “Osda sunalei. To-hi-du,” he said to someone else. “Good morning. May you have peace of mind, body, and spirit.”
“Words of kindness,” Wesley said to Billy as the boy stepped up on the porch. “That’s what this world needs.” The elder welcomed his grandson into the house. “We’ll begin in just a few minutes,” Wesley announced to everyone in Cherokee. “Please be patient.”
The elder and his grandson stepped inside the house. Wesley knew that Billy had just come from Chigger’s hospital room.
“Well, what did he have to say?” Wesley asked as he poured them both a cup of coffee from a dented old pot. “Could Chigger tell you any more about it?”
Billy repeated his friend’s sudden memory of seeing things through the serpent’s eyes. Wesley agreed that this could help them with their plans to recapture the beast.
“I’ve never seen anything like what’s happening in the Nation now,” Wesley said, looking out the kitchen window. “A dark force has spread across the land like a heavy blanket. I can see it in people’s eyes. They’re scared and confused.”
He turned to Billy. “Can you help me out today?” he asked.
“Of course, Grandpa,” Billy answered. “What do you need me to do?”
“It won’t be pleasant,” Wesley warned.
“I can handle it,” Billy said, taking a gulp of coffee.
“Okay. I want you to go with Mr. and Mrs. Kingfisher back to their place. They live near Caney Creek on the other side of the lake. Their small dog was attacked by some unknown creature. All that’s left of their pet is a pile of bones.”
“It was probably just a mountain lion or large wolf that came down from the hills,” Billy said. That happened sometimes in the rural areas of eastern Oklahoma.
“There was no blood,” Wesley said. “There were no body parts either. Just a pile of bones picked clean.”
“How’s that possible?” Billy asked. “That’s not possible.”
“That’s why I want you to go check it out,” Wesley said. “Look around and tell me what you see. Put the bones in a bag and bring them to me.”
“Yet another mystery,” Billy said as he stood to leave.
“Before you go, I want to show you one more thing,” Wesley said. “Follow me out to the woods behind the house.”
Stepping out the back door, Wesley headed through his backyard herb garden. Billy followed. Seeing the garden reminded him of someone.
“Where’s Little Wolf been lately?” Billy asked. “I haven’t seen him around.”
Little Wolf was one of the Little People, the small helper spirits who lived in the woods.
“I sent him on a special long-distance mission,” Wesley said. “He probably won’t be back for a couple more weeks.”
Opening the back gate, Wesley continued across the field behind his house. That’s when Billy realized that his grandfather wasn’t using his cane. And he was moving faster than he’d ever seen him move.
“What happened to your cane?” Billy asked. “And your hurt leg?”
Wesley stopped in his tracks and turned to his grandson.
“You don’t know about Wilma, do you?” he said with a smile.
“Who’s Wilma?”
“She’s one of the medicine people who helped me get the crystal from Chigger,” Wesley replied. “She asked me over for dinner the other day. Let’s keep moving.”
The elder began walking again.
“She’s quite an amazing woman,” Wesley said.
Billy heard a hint of something in the old man’s voice that he hadn’t heard before. He almost sounded like a teenager. Billy’s grandpa had a crush! How interesting.
“Turns out she’s not only a medicine healer, but also a gifted physical therapist,” Wesley continued. “She located a place on my spine that was twisted. It was pinching the nerve to my leg. She untwisted it, and now I feel like my old self.”
They arrived at their destination, a shed that stood at the edge of the woods. Billy had a strange look on his face.
“What?” Wesley asked. “Did I say something funny?”
Billy merely shook his head and smiled.
“You mean now you feel like your young self, don’t you?” Billy said with a raised eyebrow.
“Whatever,” Grandpa replied, turning his attention to the shed. A large padlock hung from a latch that secured the door. Taking a key from his pocket, Wesley opened the lock. He pulled the shed door open to reveal an old bank safe inside. Script letters spelling “Rockwell Bank” had been painted on its side long ago.
“What’s this?” Billy said. “Where’d you get it?”
“From an auction in town,” Wesley said as he turned the dial on the front of the safe. “It’s where I keep important stuff.”
“Like what?” Billy asked as Wesley opened the door wide.
“Like the dark crystal we took from Chigger. And the old Cherokee Medicine Book.”
Grandpa removed a leather bag from a shelf in the safe. He set the bag down on the ground and opened the bag’s flap.
“Look, but don’t touch,” Wesley instructed.
Billy peered into the bag and saw the glowing purple crystal resting at the bottom.
“Is it my imagination, or is that thing brighter than it used to be?” Billy said.
“It’s not your imagination,” Wesley replied. “It’s been growing brighter every day.”
He folded the flap closed and put the bag back in the safe.
“What does it mean?” Billy asked.
“I think it means the Horned Serpent is getting closer,” Wesley said. “I think it means we have to act soon, before it finds this.”
Wesley closed and locked the safe, then he closed and locked the shed door.
“That’s why I want you to go out to the Kingfishers’ place,” Wesley said as he and Billy headed back to the house. “I’m afraid the Uktena got their dog. And that would mean that he is getting close.”