Nightmare

"'They' came for Cu again; the ones he used to work for. The man who killed his wife in cold blood." Her expressive fingers add the quotation marks around "they". Their grotesque shadow leaps around on the wall.

Paul Peter kills the spotlight effect, patting the seat beside him. "Sit."

She obeys bonelessly. "All us White Eyes were all out there, around the campfire. You, Jacques, Bruno and Horst were on the up wind side, and my log and I were braving the smoke. We were, however, bug free, I do have to admit."

She shivers again.

"Go on," Paul Peter encourages.

"Cu slipped in, like he does, draping himself languidly on the other end of my log. Careful not to touch me."

"That hardly constitutes a nightmare. Maybe that is just being prudent."

"Shut up! I am still scene setting. I have to tell it my way. I'm in no rush to relive the ENDING!"

Reaching behind him, he drags his jacket out and tosses it in her lap. "I don't want it said I caused your death from cold."

Gratefully, she drapes it over her bare legs. "There were strange rustlings and thumpings in the desert, occasional metallic clanks, but we ignored them, thinking, I suppose, that some of the children were on the prowl instead of in bed."

"But...?" he encourages.

"But instead, as Cu arose, a shot rang out. He spun around, half falling. I saw a gaping hole in his side, blood gushing, before he clamped his hand over it. Low to the ground, he disappeared into the desert."

"Geeze. What an imagination. I bet you have a good 'President Kennedy Conspiracy' theory, too."

"Did you know he was sent to prison after they shot his wife?"

"What? No, he came back here, and refused to enter the United States unless it was to help a tribesman, refused to speak English, and banned its use on the entire reservation."

"Oh, the vow the sheriff spoke of." She pauses, a confused look on her face. Maybe that tidbit was from another dream. I can't remember now, with the dream so fresh. "Different dream, maybe."

"Let's just hear 'em one at a time."

"We got the guy tied up, and the old women beat him with the kid's cudgels. Everyone else was out hunting for Cu. Instead, we found a second rifleman, and subdued him, too. Someone called the sheriff, who couldn't come out without a tribal leader's invitation. They all got silent until YOU convinced them that 'they' might get Cu and finish him off while we're looking for him.

"One of the kids found a tractor trailer sans cab, locked from the inside, with satellite dishes all over it. They overpower the guard outside, but the guy inside won't open up. Miguel suggested smoking him out, and the whole thing went up in flames, incinerating him. The screams echoed all over the area."

Paul Peter shivers. "Ugh. What a way to go."

"Want your coat back?"

"Nah, I'm not really cold. That was an emotional shiver."

Empathy. He's doing it again. In the dark, he gets almost human. He acts like he cares about people and things. The cold-hearted 'SOB' facade slips.

"Two more gunman were surrounded by kids wielding cudgels. The men were loath to shoot children so young."

"Big of them."

"Nobody came across Cu. Gradually, everyone returned to the fireside. The sheriff and his deputies took the men off to jail, refusing them the customary phone call. He was afraid they were well-connected in the government, and would be sprung immediately, so he surreptitiously ripped the phone cord from the socket on the dispatcher's desk,then claimed an equipment failure."

"What about Cu? If those guys rotted in jail, it would be called 'getting their just desserts' in most people's minds."

"Sarita put her hand in mine and looking up trustingly, asked, 'Where's my daddy?'"

"I started to say, 'I don't know, honey,' but HIS MOTHER spoke, instead."

"Oh, no, not the lady in the deserted cave again." His shiver is eloquent.

"Yes. She said, 'He's in a dried out water hole, buried to the neck in sand' and sent a vision of the spot, but it was not a place I recognized.

"Cu's brother, sober for once, took my other hand and said, 'Describe her sending.'

"That was weird, as I had not told anyone the vision even existed, but I did speak in a strange voice, with accents I would normally never give words.

"'Look south. How are the hills shaped?'

"I turned my entire body to the south and strained to see. 'Two low humps, then one high one with a sheer cliff to the west.'

"'I know it. That is the dry water hole in the desert in front of Camel's Hump.'

"Keeping hold of my hand, he started walking rapidly back to the hovels. Sarita still had my other hand, and Alberto had her other hand. He ran to keep up with Tomás's stride.

"Everyone came en mass with us. Nobody argued, nobody doubted. It was amazing. We piled into Baby Blue Ram, the four of us who were holding hands crammed into the front seat. Tomás drove without so much of a 'by your leave' to me.

"I'd never seen him be commanding the way Cu can be before. It's a shame he doesn't stay sober more often. He has real leadership potential, not just inherited power."

"The dream! You're driving me crazy with all this slow detail."

"Rooster tails of dust from all over converged on the water hole. How do the ones not at the campfire know where we are heading?

"'We're LOSING HIM!' I shouted.

"Tomás slammed on the brakes, dragging me and those still holding my hand out of the truck beneath the steering wheel.

"'Lie down.'

"'Here, in the desert?'

"He didn't answer, just lay down, jerking me down nearly on top of him. Sarita never dropped my hand. She arranged herself to comfortably lie, with room for Alberto, still holding HER hand, beside her.

"'To me' Tomás bellowed, never raising his head.

"The pick-ups converged and emptied. Juan leaped from the bed of Baby Blue Ram and lay perpendicular to Sarita and Alberto, one hand on my ankle, the other on hers, his legs over Alberto's. Tribesmen and women lay down, all holding hands or ankles, forming a huge mosaic of intertwined flesh. The doctor and you other teachers came up.

"'Come on. Touch someone!' you shouted, lying down.

"The doctor grabbed Cheryl's ankle, and lay. Mystified, Bruno and Horst lay nearby, touching each other and the doctor.

"'I see him' the doctor shouted in amazement. 'He's lost a lot of blood.'

"'Despina, send our blood to him,' Tomás commanded.

"'I don't know how,' I started to say, but before I got past 'I', I DID know how. I patterned the hookup after a heart bypass machine, presumably from the doctor's memories.

"I pulled his tainted blood, full of poison, into us, spreading it out into the waiting tribesmen. It burned so badly when I first started, I nearly passed out.

"'Not so much at once. If we lose you, he's dead,' Tomás's words sounded far off. I realized my mind was with Cu's.

"Nobody else talked. We lay like that all night, but nobody felt cold. Nobody got hungry, or thirsty, or needed to go to the bathroom. Not one single person in that whole mass. Occasional moans were heard. Our blood sang painfully through our bodies, tracing fiery trails through our veins.

"Gradually, the pain lessened. I nodded off, as did those around me. I roused when the sun lit the tips of the humps of the camel's back to the south.

"You, the doctor, and Tomás arose. You stoond, looking around.

"'This way,' Tomás said, leading you and the doctor off to the west to a little depression lined with dead sage brush.

"Slowly, other tribes-members awoke and staggered to their feet. Many retched. I felt like it, but counteracted it by holding very still. Sarita and Juan were still clamped to me tightly.

"Looking down, I noticed that Sarita's hand was holding so tightly that her knuckles were pale. Alberto's face was streaked with tears.

"As I looked at him, he said, 'Is my daddy still alive?' His eyes were squeezed shut.

"I started to say, I intended to say, 'I don't know,' but what came out was, 'Of course. We gave him our blood. We took his pain.'

"That bugs me. I was so SURE that it was true, but I have no idea how I knew.

"You dashed up, all out of breath, nodding toward Baby Blue Ram, saying, 'Are the keys in it?'

"I wasn't driving; I wasn't paying any attention. I had NO IDEA if they were there, or not, but I said, again with that calm assurance that my words were true, 'Yes.'

"I started to get up. It was hard, as Juan and Sarita struggled up with me, and Alberto, whimpering, wanted to be held. We all crammed into the cab, Alberto on my lap.

"The men were digging Cu out of sand up to his neck with their bare hands. I stared. How did he get himself totally buried in sand when he was alone, I think. I am POSITIVE I did not speak aloud, but Juan cocked his head at me in that superior way he has, and said, 'Don't you remember? YOU did it; it was YOUR idea, to stem the flow of blood, to pack the wound.' He was incredulous that I didn't KNOW this. Once he said it, I KNEW that he was right.

"Someone noticed that my gardening shovel was still in Baby Blue Ram's bed. The work went faster, then, but whenever they got close to his body, only delicate fingers were used.

"Soon, he was stretched out on the sand. From there, the doctor supervised placing him in the pick-up bed. He climbed in beside him, then limited the number attempting to join him. You set off, driving very slowly and carefully, trying to avoid jiggling the truck when there was no road, not even a bad one.

"Once back to the hospital, you drove right into the ambulance bay. Someone got a gurney, and he was rolled onto it. A nurse (which the hospital DOES NOT HAVE) showed up and cleaned out the wound while the doctor scrubbed as if he were planning to operate on a clean wound that had not spent the night packed in sand from a highly polluted ex-water hole.

"'Hold this,' he commanded, handing me Cu's hand.

"I walked beside the gurney as it was rolled into the operating room. Sarita was still attached to my other hand, and Alberto to her other hand. Juan draped an arm over my shoulders and held out his other hand to another Indian. Thus went our human chain, until everyone who was hooked up last night was again in touch. New people joined as it snaked its way to the road. I could FEEL each new addition, access their memories. I did not. I focused on Cu and the doctor, wishing I could touch him, but he was on the other side of the table.

"Suddenly, Alberto dropped to the floor, and, grabbing my ankle, reached his legs under the gurney until he came in contact with the doctor's leg.

"'Remueve su calcetina' Juan commanded the nurse.

"Unhesitatingly, she removed the doctor's shoe and sock, then replaced the shoe, not normally a command an operating room nurse would receive, much less know how to obey. Must be an Indian, I thought. Unbidden, the memory of who her mother was, her father, and when she received the sending that was strong enough that she actually came home popped into my mind. Shaking my head, I refocused on Cu. This power was scary. Anything I idly wondered about appeared in my mind. It was like eavesdropping on someone's private conversation, only more so. Thoughts are even more private and should be sacrosanct.

"Bruno's voice chides me. 'Their culture is cooperative. It is not an imposition. Don't worry so much. We need you to stay focused.'

"I stared down at Cu's beloved face. No help for it. Everyone is now as sure how I feel about him as I am of any of their thoughts I happened to express a desire to know. Talk about wearing your heart on your sleeve!

"'This is supposed to be NEWS?' sneered Juan. 'We've been reading THAT message loud and clear ever since you came.'

"'Nobody's jealous of you any more,' sent Tomás. Cheryl echoed his thoughts, as did many, many others. Acceptance and warmth flooded me.

"The clanking of the bullet in the metal pan startled me so much I almost broke the connection.

"'Steady, there. I have become a GREAT believer in the powers of sympathetic medicine. I'm not quite ready to declare him no longer in need of the support he's receiving. After seeing this wound up close, I can say definitively, without the slightest trace of doubt in my mind, 'He should be dead.' He's all ripped to shreds inside. He shouldn't have been able to REACH that water hole, or even leave the campfire.''

"I was stunned. The shock awakened me from the dream."

For once, Paul Peter is speechless. Handing the jacket back to him, I climb out and re-enter my hovel. It is a long time before I hear his steps going toward his hovel. A long time.