Lea heard Pol’s voice in the distance as she watered the garden. Glancing back over her shoulder, she spied her son hurrying as he dragged along Lilian. Something wasn’t right. Lea stood up, shading her eyes from the bright sun.
“What is it?” she called back, laying down the empty container of water she held.
“Indians!” Pol shouted. “Come quick!”
Lea’s pulse quickened. She’d seen natives before and had heard they’d once been a problem for settlers, but that was a long time ago. Were they rising again? She ran to meet the children, her heart thudding, but as she neared them, the looks on their faces read excitement, not fear.
“Hurry! They’re on the big rock!” said Pol.
“How many?” Lea asked.
“This many.” Lilian held up five fingers.
“It’s a mother and four kids,” said Pol.
“Well, what are they doing?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Just sitting around.”
“Sitting around?” Lea looked past the children into the fields, searching. “Wait here,” she said, then ran back to the house and came back with a tin of homemade cookies. She picked up Claire. “Show me.”
The children raced ahead, waiting from time to time for Lea and Claire to catch up. When the great rock came into sight, Lea slowed her pace. An entire family sat atop, eating. Lea admired the buckskin dresses the woman and girls wore, decorated with geometric beadwork.
Lea stepped forward. “Hello,” she said, offering a carefully placed smile.
The Indian woman seemed to size her up, her eyes sweeping up and down Lea’s figure.
Lea felt a shiver, hoping that the woman too was admiring her dress. She held up the tin box. “I have cookies.”
The woman eyed the container for a moment, then slid down from the rock.
“They’re good.” Lea opened the tin, revealing two types. “These ones are molasses, and these ones are sugar cookies. Have one.” She held them at arm’s length.
Looking back at her own brood, the woman eyed the sweets and took one of the darker ones. After nibbling for a bit, she smiled, then turned to her children, motioning them forward.
They scrambled down from the rock.
Lea allowed them each a cookie, then passed the container back to their mother. “You can keep the box.”
The woman nodded, tucking it under her arm. From her own buckskin bag, she handed Lea a piece of dried meat. “Pemmican,” she said, holding it to her mouth and pretending to take a bite.
Lea looked down at the offering with uncertainty, then accepted the gift. She tore off a strip, chewed it, then nodded. “Mmm, good.” When she’d swallowed it, she worded her next question with caution. “Are…are you just passing through on your way somewhere?”
The woman glanced at her eldest son, a boy of possibly thirteen, who translated. “We’re going to a pow wow.”
“A pow wow?” asked Lea.
“Yeah.”
“What’s a pow wow?” Lea felt a little uneasy.
The boy exchanged guarded expressions with his mother, then shook his head. “It’s secret. Only the Sioux are allowed to know.”
“Okay, then. Where will you be having this pow wow?” Lea asked, keeping her voice as pleasant as possible.
“Over there.” The boy pointed to the horizon where the sacred rocks Nap had refused to clear sat.
Lea felt a shiver despite the heat. “When will it happen?”
“Tomorrow.”
Nodding, Lea turned her attention back to the boy’s mother. “If you’d like some water, we have some at the house.” She pantomimed drinking.
Shaking her head, the woman pointed to their skins.
“We already have some,” said the boy.
Pol and Lilian climbed the rock and waited for the other children to join them. They slid down the smoothest part of the stone, then hurried back up to try again, taking turns. Lea watched them for a while. I guess children are children despite the colour of their skin. Look at them play. Smiling, she turned to speak to the Indian lady again, but was surprised when she saw she’d packed her things. The woman motioned her children to follow, ending the game just as quickly as it had begun.
“Bye,” called Pol and Lilian, looking disappointed.
The native children waved.
That night, after dinner had been cleared and the dishes washed, the drumming began.
“What is it all about?” Lea asked Nap as she knit socks for Pol.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “I’ve never heard them do this before.”
“I mean we’re long past the days of attacks, and that sort of thing, right?”
Nap let out a chuckle. “I’m certain we are.”
The drumming lasted through the evening and long into the night. When they awoke the next morning, the rhythms still pounded away.
“I wonder how long this will go on,” said Lea. “I mean, how long do pow wows last?”
“I’ve heard they can go on for days.”
They ate a slow breakfast, listening to the rhythmic pelting. When they’d finished, Lea poured the tea. “Maybe you should stay home today.”
“I can’t. I have to dig a new well since the old one’s drying up.”
“But where?” asked Lea, adding milk to her tea. “There’s no water left in the slough.”
“Part ways to Devlin’s coulee.”
Lea frowned. “But that’s not our land.”
“I already spoke to him. He doesn’t mind, considering there’s a drought going on. Besides, their house is way on the other end of their homestead. They won’t lose water because of us.”
“Well, do what you have to then.”
By nighttime, the drumming still echoed in the distance, keeping Lea on edge though she was somewhat comforted knowing that nothing bad had happened thus far.
“How is that well coming?” she asked her husband as she loaded up the plates of food when he came in.
“Slowly, but surely. I’ll have to dig deep, but I know there’s water to be had.”
“A well closer by will be a handy thing,” she said, laying the dinner on the table.
The next day, the drumming persisted. Lea, as usual, tended to her garden while the children watered the livestock. Near lunchtime, she watched with curiosity as a buggy traveled the road in the distance. How sad to see people’s vehicles stripped down to just the body pulled by a horse, the engine and windows having been removed. She followed the vehicle with her eyes for a time, but instead of passing by the homestead, it came up their road and stopped. It was Cécile!
Lea dropped everything and ran to meet her friend. “What happened to your automobile?”
Cécile let out a huff. “It was Claude’s doing. We can’t afford the gas, and it would take a team of horses to pull the entire contraption, so Claude took out the engine and doors to lighten it. And now we have this funny little buggy. They call it a Bennett Buggy after the prime minister.”
“Well, it’s better than nothing, right?”
“I guess so. You know, I’ve heard the government is sending out food and clothing.”
“Really?” Lea felt a twinge of hope.
“Yes. Apparently they requested help from all over Canada, and it’s on the way. Boxes of coats, canned goods, apples…really, anything will help.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean.” Lea threw a glance back at the fragile garden. “How’s your crop going?”
“Well, about as well as can be expected. We’re all in the same boat, but at least Claude is staying home since he has to save the farm. And he hasn’t gambled it away…yet.”
“I’m so glad to hear that.” Lea stopped and listened. “Can you hear the drumming from your place?”
“No, but I heard in town that the Sioux are doing their rain dance, and that the government is turning a blind eye even though it’s been against the law for years. I sure hope it works.”
Lea gave a skeptical smile. “I wish. But what’s a bunch of people dancing going to do? If I thought it would help, I’d dance all day too.”
“Well, I’m willing to wait and see. It certainly can’t hurt.”
“I suppose.”
“So is there any news?” Lea winked. “Is there a baby on the way?”
Cécile sighed. “No, not yet.”
“Why don’t you come in and we can have tea?”
“That would be nice. I think I will.”
After a brief visit, exchanging stories of who had left town and what other farmers were doing to save their livestock, Lea walked Cécile back to her buggy. She felt dismayed to see how thin Cécile’s horse had become. She hoped it was true the government was shipping out food and clothing because despite her sewing garments from flour bags, they would still need winter clothing.
The drumming lasted all through the night and the next day and ended as abruptly as it had begun. Lea let out a sigh of relief as the air cleared. Gazing up at the sky, her eyes widened at the huge clouds that had formed. Magnificent clouds! Black clouds! Messengers of hope. And then it began.
The rain poured down, a deluge, the thirsty ground sucking up the water.
Lea grabbed Claire and ran out into the storm. The other children followed closely behind. She began a frantic dance. “It’s raining!” she shouted. “It’s really raining!” Tears of joy rolled down her cheeks. From a distance, she saw Nap arrive with the horses. After letting them loose into the pasture, he joined his family. They danced about, singing, laughing, and crying as the wonderful life-giving rain cascaded down their bodies, drenching them to the skin, and filling them with hope for the future.