The following audiotape recording was sent from Pinelodge Lake, Canada, in April 1990. It was addressed “To the Friends and Family of Ted Face-paint.” In a mixture of English and the ancient dialect of the Ontario tribe, a language that he vowed to speak one day, Junior Pipestar, medicine man, discussed new findings about the murder of Ted Facepaint.
We were instructed hy letter to seal the ceremonial room in the oblong-shaped house also known as the Well-Off Man Church from daylight and purify it. Sitting in the darkness on new folded blankets and pillows brought to mind that it had been nearly twenty-five years since Ted and I attended the first of what would be four Star-Medicine-chewing ceremonies. A quarter of a century had passed.
By flashlight Clayton Carlson Facepaint, Ted’s elderly war hero uncle, the one invited to fly bomhing missions with the RAF, turned on the Panasonic tape recorder. In the background there were the unavoidable sounds of furniture being moved, the brushing of clothes from people walking by, a crackling fire, along with a drum and a rattle being jostled about. When Junior Pipestar cleared his throat to speak, we listened, and everything else thereafter became silent. . . .
Na ka-me ko-ne bya no ta kwa-ki ka ne na na-en ne ba a ni. Again our friend has come to me in my sleep. Ma ni tta e no we tti: ba ki-me ko-na ko ta ki to-e ba wi-ka ski-na kwa wa ni. A kwi ke-e i ki-na ta wi-ko ta ki a ki ni-tti na e ma ki. Ne te ba na wa ki-be ki. Tte na-wa ba ta mo wa sa-ke te na-we ne a-ta na ki i kwe ni. This is what he said: “I am greatly distressed at not heing ahle to leave this earth). And I also do not want to cause the same distress for my relatives. I care for them greatly. But they should look for whoever planned to assail me.”
Ki ye wa ki-o no ke na ni-ki wa na te se ni wa ni-i ya ma-o ta kwi-ma-e o wi ki ye kwi. His shadow is still confused over there where you live. Ki ye wa ki-me ko-ki wa na to se wa-wa ni na wi. He is still roaming in a confused state everywhere. Ma ni tta-ma ni-e tti-ne no ta ma ni: Ko tti-e se mi e ko-kwe ni-i yo-ne a bi-i kwe wa ni-tte na-a kwi-ka sko be ne na tti ni-ni be ki sa na ni tti-o no ka nwa wa ni. This is the way I understand this situation: A medicine woman tried to help him hefore hut she couldn’t facilitate the release of his shadow. I ni tta-we tti-bya tti-na wi i tti. That is why he is visiting with me.
Since I have started helping him and yourselves, his relatives and people who care about him still, I have looked into the red-hot center of the Fire. I have also looked into the frozen part of Ice. It wasn’t easy. There were—and still are—many forces with different agendas at work, and they all seemed to converge within the minds of three deranged men at the same time.
Through the benevolent Supernaturals I was shown the items you seek: what these people used to attack him, the sharp-pointed instruments. We know what happened; we saw them together through the element of Smoke and the Hand-ally.
That I will ‘eventually speak of, go over, but first I want to tell you what else came to me: There were other people present that night when the assault was unleashed. They did nothing, but they watched as the person was being surrounded. These people believe they cannot say anything, for fear of criminal implication. They are correct. What they don’t know is that within four years of the time of our friend’s departure, the cavernous Window into the Earth will reveal two of them ending themselves. One will use the railroad tracks for a pillow; the second will shoot himself in the temple. The third, a woman, will set fire to her car and open the door to insanity; and the fourth will drink himself into a wheelchair and a heart attack. This is what happens when one harbors a terrible secret. What they could have prevented has returned, causing them to lose control.
As for the three deranged men, their own families will experience difficulties. This will happen because the relatives have corroborated the stories of their whereabouts and innocence. The grief they have caused to others makes a complete unforgiving circle. A baby will die in its crib; a girlfriend will be stricken with a pernicious disease; a sober brother will drive inexplicably into a stone bridge; a father will attempt suicide and later succeed; an alcoholic sister will be found frozen and unidentified in a faraway city; and a host of other maladies will ensue, all in the name and memory of. . .
As soon as the circle of grief has made its rounds among the three brothers families, the sharp-pointed instruments and the blood-splattered female apparel they used and wore will be found in a baseball diamond near the tribal fairgrounds. Along with an assortment of animal bones that the brothers thought possessed power, the weapons and the masks will be stored in an antique tin suitcase wrapped in a star quilt and plastic.
These items should not be feared. More important, they should not be turned over right away to the local white-skinned authorities, for they bear nothing but contempt for Indians. Proving them wrong with this case, which they considered “an unfortunate accident,” should make others in your community suspect that far more crimes may yet be uncovered. The greater authorities should not be trusted either, for they— by virtue of the fact they are white—are in agreement with the locals. Before they expunge everything you have investigated and submitted to date, make sure the items are safe, untouched, and hidden. Eventually a situation will make itself available for you to relinquish the evidence to the proper people.
Only then, at the end of the four years aforementioned, will the non-ending darkness the three brothers encountered seek another host or hosts. The three cackling owls will launch themselves from the ledge of their spent lives. Only then will the three brothers’ minds be uncluttered and vulnerable to retribution. In its own way an impermeable vengeance is already sculpting itself from the shadows of their own relatives.
This I leave in your thoughts: Be assured that your friend and relative will soon find solace that will enable his tormented shadow to fly as he has already dreamed, propelling himself from the glass doors in the form of a majestic bird whose color is that of the red dawn.
Be assured also that what we have wanted for him, what we have prayed for, will thus occur.
This song, upon the discovery and retrieval of the tin suitcase, should he sung.
From the place where there is Fire
from the place where there is Ice
together have we gathered
wanting to know what it was
that held the night’s attention
From the place there is Smoke
from the place where a Hand signals
together we have dreamed
wanting to know what it was
that held the night’s attention
Only then will his journey to the After life begin. For him, within the Grandfather World, it will take four short days. For us, here on earth, it will take four long years. Only then will this journey he whole. For him, for everyone.