Chickadee by Louise Erdrich Read Free Book Online

they had left. He would have to be clever.
    Naanan (five), he would take care to avoid their fists and feet. And he would not think of Makoons, of Zozie, of his mother or father, until all was dark and the bouyah-stuffed brothers could not see his tears.
    Night came soon enough. Although the brothers argued about whether a servant was allowed to sleep near the masters or out with the horses, they ended up giving him one blanket and allowing him to curl up beside the stove so that he could be all the quicker to make their breakfast.
    â€œYou will rise at dawn,” said Batiste, “while we are still enjoying our sleeps. You will make our breakfast bouyah.”
    â€œHow shall I make that?” asked Chickadee.
    Babiche raised his fist.
    â€œSame as the dinner bouyah?” asked Chickadee quickly.
    â€œOf course, you scrap of stinking hide,” said Babiche.
    Batiste began to sing again.
    Bouyah, bouyah!
    The way to start the day!
    If your stew is full of hair,
    Just spit it out and swear!
    If your stew smells like your feet,
    There’s more of it to eat!
    The worse it gives you gas,
    The better you run fast!
    White people say it’s muck,
    But it brings the Michifs luck!
    Bouyah!
    â€œYou are funny, my brother,” Babiche said, weeping with pleasure.
    In the dark, curled in his blanket, Chickadee mouthed the words that he realized would be repeated at least twenty times each day. If he ever got back to Makoons, he would never, ever say those words, You are funny, my brother. Thinking about Makoons led to nothing but tears and Chickadee could feel them breaking from inside of him even as the huge brothers, falling into their sleep, began a soft snoring that deepened and then widened into an avalanche of noise.

NINE
INTO THE PLAINS

    A s Omakayas trudged along, following the trail that Deydey, Animikiins, and then Two Strike had made, she realized that if they kept going west they would be leaving the shelter and safety of the woods and hills. They would travel out of the trees and rolling prairie into the broad, flat plains. Animikiins had been there on buffalo hunts, but she never had. It frightened her to think that Chickadee was out there, somewhere, in such unfamiliar territory. Fishtail scouted for the little party. Angeline, Yellow Kettle, and Zozie made sure that the dogs pulled along their packs, and gave Nokomis a ride when her legs tired. Omakayas kept Makoons near her at all times. She could hardly bear to let him out of her sight.
    On and on the family walked. Nokomis made her way along slowly with her walking stick, holding Zozie’s shoulder. The dogs were fitted with harnesses, and they carried the kettles and extra clothing and rolls of bark for shelter. They also carried the big packs of furs that the family would sell in Pembina. Father Genin had decided to go to Pembina, where he was supposed to meet up with another priest who was starting a school. Father Genin had promised to find Omakayas’s brother, the twins’ Uncle Quill. He would put out the word that the Zhigaag brothers had stolen Chickadee.
    Someone in that big town was sure to know where those brothers lived.
    As they walked along, the air got warmer, the sky darker, the clouds lower, and bits of snow began to swirl dizzily around them.
    â€œThere is a spring snowstorm coming,” said Nokomis. “I can feel it all through my bones.”
    â€œLet’s make camp,” said Omakayas. Although a spring blizzard would melt away quickly, it would be dangerous while it lasted. Sometimes, on the Plains, these fast-moving snowstorms even occurred in the beginning of summer. Omakayas had heard about their force, and now she was to experience it.
    The trees had grown scarce, and the hills were only mild bumps. They picked the best shelter they could find and set up the birchbark house. Zozie and Omakayas worked quickly and made the bark secure with straps of twine. They heaped snow against the sides for