 |
 |
| A Life For A Life by � goeswith3faces He heard the old Pick-up of his nephew coming. He was sitting in front of the television, watching �Speedy Gonzales�, when his nephew Douglas-Two-Horses entered the small trailer that was the old man�s home. Douglas-Two-Horses was breathless and told him that round about nine miles far away a white family had had an accident. A little girl about four years was badly injured. It was December and it snowed since five days non-stop. One snowstorm followed the other and the people enjoyed the warmth of their homes. Telephones were out of order and the next hospital was nearly a hundred miles or more away. The streets were impassable and there was no chance to get an ambulance from town. The old man who passed his 80�s, looked thoughtful into the snow outside, before he put on his warm jacket. He did not speak a word when he went with his nephew to the old Pick-up. It was not an easy task to reach the place, where the accident had happened and Douglas-Two-Horses was more than one time in danger, to loose control of his Pick up. However, they reached the place. The old man went out of the car. A brand new Chrysler lay on its roof in the snow and looked horrible. The window in the back was destroyed and remnants of what had been a confederation�s flag are lying around in the car in shreds. The parents of the little girl, lightly injured, stood beside the damaged car and tried to speak with their daughter who lay inside. They were afraid to carry her out of the car because of her injury and the snow outside. The mother cried and the father looked helpless and frustrated to the old man. When the old man took their daughter in his arms out of the car, he saw two white hoods and a small one, lying near the backseats of the car. He felt the reserved but helpless eyes in his back. Without saying a word, he put the little girl into a warm blanket that Douglas-Two-Horses gave him and went with the girl into his nephew�s car. Douglas-Two-Horses followed with the parents. The girl was really badly injured and a small thread of blood ran out of her nose and her left ear. She cried silently in his arms when they left the place. Douglas-Two-Horses offered the parents to live at his home until their daughter will be in a better condition. They agreed, helpless and without a word of thanks to him. The storm and snow did not find an end for two weeks. The old man found on the little girl�s jacket a small silver brooch, formed to a cross within a red drop of blood. Every day hour by hour, the old man prayed for the health of the child and he made everything he was able to do to cure her. The old man allowed the parents to see their daughter half an hour a day. When they came together with Douglas-Two-Horses, the father of the daughter tried to talk to the old man, but the old man made him knowing that he did not want to talk to him. He left for the time they visited their daughter his trailer, waiting outside in the snow. A heavy fever made the girl�s body shivering for five days and it seemed to be that every day could be her last. After the five days, she fell in a deep and curing sleep. When she woke up she was shocked to see the old man, but her parents explained her later the situation. Day by day, she became stronger. The weather became better after two weeks. The girl was nearly cured and strong enough to stand up. The old man told her many stories about Creator and his nation and she listened very interested and wanted to know more. The streets were free again and one day the parents came to take their daughter back home. Douglas-Two-Horses should bring them in his Pick-up to town. The father went to the old man, a bundle of dollars in his hand and asked him what he had to pay for it all. The old man did not speak a word when he looked into the eyes of the father. The father began to sweat and could not stand the look of the old man. His eyes went embarrassed down. The old man put his hand on the father�s shoulder and said in soft voice: �A life for a life, that�s the right way son.� The old man put a small silver brooch, formed to a cross into the father�s hand, before he turned around to go in his trailer. The father looked confused at the brooch in his hand and his face expressed his inner-torment. The mother could not speak a word and had to fight back her tears and the little girl ran after the old man to huge him thankfully and to tell him that she will never forget him. The old man disappeared in his trailer without looking back, when they left the place with Douglas-Two-Horses. The whole way they was unable to speak, but the eyes and the tears they left in Douglas-Two-Horses� car said more than any words. Before Douglas-Two-Horses left the family in town, the father hugged Douglas that way that Douglas was unable to take air and tears ran over the father�s cheeks. Two weeks later, the old man asked his nephew to bring him to the place where the accident had happened. Douglas-Two-Horses did not understand for what it could be good for, but he knew that the old man did never something without reason. That is why he did not ask. When they arrived, the damaged car had been picked up. The old man went to a place where somebody had made a little fire. In the ashes, the old man found the remnants of three white hoods and a silver brooch that was formed to something like a cross within something, that was now black by the fire, but that possibly had been red before � The old man smiled. Douglas-Two-Horses looked confused to his uncle. �A life for a life�, the old man said, before he took some sweet grass out of his pocket and lightened it. Douglas-Two-Horses did not understand what happened to his uncle, when he saw him praying to Creator. The time would come when the old man would explain it to him and to that time he chimed silently into the prayer of thanks, that the old man started to pray� In Love and Great Respect to all lives on Mother Earth ~ Goes-with-three-faces ~ |