Leaving Tracks by Victoria Escobar Read Free Book Online

Morgaine’s favorite dishes as well.”
    I followed the spoon to a stack of index card boxes on the counter. “Can I try to make one, maybe once a week?”
    Avala shrugged. “I don’t see why not. I usually go out to the greenhouses to get what I need, so you should ask Morgaine to show you what’s what. The plants are her babies.”
    “Sure. I still remember a little.”
    The kno ck on the door startled me enough that I jumped again. “I must not be awake yet.” I muttered to myself.
    “Can you get that?” Avala glanced at the clock. “ He’s early but that’s not unusual.”
    “Sure,” I slid off my stool and went to the door.
    “Little Rabbit,” the weathered leather face smiled serenely, “I knew I would see you again. The Great Spirit deemed it so.”
    My smile was wide and generous, “Mahkah, it is good to see you. Come on in. We have coffee and we’re about to have waffles.”
    He still looked as my childhood memory rendered him. His long hair was braided and though now accented with some gray, still held onto the dense black of the tribe. There may have been more wrinkles in his face but it accented rather than flawed. Even in simple jeans, boots, and a tanned jacket, he looked, and felt, respected and wise. I could almost feel the strength coming off of him. It made me want to hug and hold on, like I had as a child–in hope that some of the strength would be absorbed by me.
    “You have not changed. Ehawee has given me a gift to give you. She says only that you need it.” Mahkah replied stepping into the house and walking through to the kitchen. “I have a gift for Quiet Mouse too but that is from Mapiya.” His daughters, I knew. I remembered them both vaguely from times I went with Ma to the community and got to play with the other kids.
    Mahkah settled himself on a stool next to mine. “You’re phone message wasn’t very clear, Avala. You ask to have an apartment cleansed?”
    “The place in the skating rink,” I told him. “The apartment above the offices.”
    “The land was cleansed before the ground was broken. No evil can inhabit there.” Mahkah commented and automatically doctored the coffee Avala set in front of him.
    “It doesn’t feel healthy,” Avala replied and set a plate of potatoes and scrambled eggs in front of Mahkah. “It feels angry and well, heavy.” Avala set another plate in front of me, complete with waffles.
    Mahkah contemplated silently while eating. When his plate was mostly clear, he leaned against the back of the stool and sipped his coffee. “Bad energy can be just as harmful as bad spirits. I will take a look.”
    The front door opened and closed and feet could be heard jogging up the stairs. “Going to clean up!” Glory shouted.
    “I will give you Ehawee’s gift now,” Mahkah reached into the satchel he had slung cross wise over his shoulders. He pulled a wrapped leather pouch out and handed it to me. “Only you should touch it. Wear it always. It will survive water and soap for washing but like Morgaine and Avala, if you chose you can take it off to wash as long as you remember to put it back on.”
    Curiously, I unwrapped the treated cloth. Folded neatly in the center was a necklace. There was a stone in the center that reminded me of ice–white with blue streaks and an occasional blue speck. Dropping down from the center stone was a white stone carved in the shape of a rabbit. There were long stones–could have been bones–in four strands coming out at the center with small spacers between the long white stones. There was something that could have been claw or tooth hanging down from the spacers. Four strands shrunk to three then to two then to one where it tied around the neck. Small spacer beads hung on the end of the tying strings. It was beautiful. I knew each of the stones had some significance as did each of the symbols that hung from it, but I didn’t know what they were.
    I lifted it out to study it closer before tying it on.