Lakota Honor by Kat Flannery Read Free Book Online Page B

the need to heal him. Red blotches covered her palms, and the tips of her fingers were the color of Joe's bloodstained ones. She wondered if he would tell anyone, or what his reaction may be once she made this right. There was no time to debate the outcome. She needed to heal him.
    Joe continued to cry, rocking back and forth.
    "Here we go." She placed her hands on his to bring the thumb into place with the torn bone and flesh. The heat in her palms intensified and she squeezed.
    Joe tried to pull away, but she held him to her. The boy's pain shot down her arms to nestle back into her own thumb. She swayed. The earth spun around her. She dug her knees into the grass and closed her eyes. She absorbed the wound until she felt the thumb was no longer dislodged.
    The boy was silent when she released his hand.
    She walked a few feet away into the forest where she threw up all over the bushes. She waited and vomited a second time. Still light-headed, she wiped her mouth with her apron and faced Joe.
    The boy held his hand in front of his face. The thumb no longer bloody and looking horrid.
    "How's your hand, Joe?" She knelt in front of him.
    "It's all better. Look, Nora. Look." He shoved his hand into her face.
    She giggled. "I see that. Are you okay now?"
    The boy smiled and his eyes lit up. "You made me better. You. You. You," he shouted.
    She smiled.
    "Yes, Joe, I did. But you mustn't tell anyone."
    "I know. I know. Like a secret."
    "Like a secret,' she confirmed and squeezed his hand.
    He tilted his head and scrutinized her for a long time before asking, "Are you a witch?"
    The word sobered her. All of Pa's fears echoed in her mind. "No, Joe, I am not a witch."
    "They're real you know. Pa says. Pa says."
    "I'm sure they are, but I am not one of them." She eyed him. Did he believe her? She didn't need him telling folks she was a witch. People didn't like someone different, and if word of her gift got out they'd lynch her for sure.
    "What are you? What are you?"
    Nora sat a moment. She'd done this enough times to know the right answers. But she'd never healed someone like Joe, someone with a simple mind.
    "Well, I'm—
    "I know. You're a good witch." He smiled.
    Oh dear. "No. No I'm not a bad, or a good witch, Joe. I'm just a girl with a gift."
    "Like a present? A present?"
    "Yes, like a present." She could work with this. "You know on Christmas morning how all the gifts are wrapped and under the tree?"
    He shook his head and glanced at the ground.
    She wondered why he didn't know. Elwood must buy his son gifts at Christmas. She put her hand on his shoulder.
    "Well, they are wrapped up so you don't see what's inside. Like me. I'm wrapped up so no one sees my gift."
    "Oh, you're a special present."
    "That's right." She smiled and ruffled his hair.
    "Nora, Nora I won't tell anyone you're a present," he whispered.
    "Thank you, Joe. You're a good friend." She hugged him. "Now, let's get you cleaned up."
    She took his hand and wiped the blood as best she could onto her apron. She looked like she'd slaughtered a chicken, but there were no signs of trauma on Joe.
    "I'm going to head home and get cleaned up. Then I'll come back to the hotel and play a game of cards with you in the dining room."
    She stood, helped him up and handed him his crutches.
    "Okay. Okay!"
    They walked to the street and before she left him, Nora brought her index finger to her lips. "Shhh."
    Joe smiled and limped toward the hotel door.
    Nora's feet were sore and her big toe was cut from Savage's teeth when she'd kicked him. She needed her boots. They were the only pair she had. She'd go home first and change then head into the forest to find them, before going to see Joe.
    As she got closer to home, the morning altercation with her father came rushing back. Was he home? She doubted it. He'd go to work, because he didn't want to see her. Nora's eyes misted. She'd never felt so alone. Pa didn't want anything to do with her, other than to tell her where she could go