Circle of the Ancestors

by Susan Gabriel

  I could use one of those good omens right about now, Sam thinks.

  But he has no idea what one would look like, unless it has something to do with Grandmother’s basket.

  CHAPTER 19: PEACEFUL WARRIORS

  The next morning, Sam and Little Bear travel the dirt road until it ends in a clearing where Sam leaves his bike at the trailhead. Little Bear by his side, they retrace their steps from weeks before and return to the swimming hole. Then they find the second Cherokee marker tree before rejoining the path along the stream. Sam has a hunch that the answers to his problems may be hiding where they began. He follows the narrow path upstream, searching the sky for the red hawk, but it is nowhere in sight. He isn’t lost anymore. In fact, he wonders how he was ever lost in the first place. The trail he searched for that day is only fifty feet away from the stream. Yet he hadn’t even seen it until later in the day.

  After climbing for over an hour, they come to the old rockslide again and the place he fell. Little Bear sniffs the area as if the smell is where his memory lives. The cliff he fell from looks even higher now.

  “Did I really fall down that mountain?” he says to Little Bear.

  Little Bear nudges Sam’s leg with his nose, as if to confirm it happened.

  “The ancestors were definitely looking out for me,” Sam says. “Or I wouldn’t be standing here today.”

  But why didn’t the ancestors look out for Grandmother, too? Certainly they could have saved her if they wanted to.

  A few steps away, the magnificent old tree awaits, the stick used to dislodge the stone still leaning against the tree where he left it. That eventful day feels like it happened a year ago instead of only a few weeks.

  Sam remembers the coyote and how they both were doing whatever they could to preserve and protect their tribes. He also recalls his first look at the ruby, tangled in the tree’s roots. He worked hard to get the stone out, and even then, it didn’t look like much. A habit now, Sam touches the feather on his baseball cap. The red-tailed hawk with its uncommon attack forced Sam into unknown territory. Friend or foe, without the actions of the hawk, he never would have found the ruby. It served as a guide or perhaps a messenger.

  Tink Watson lied to the newspaper about how he came across the ruby so easily on the path. No work involved; easy pickings. But things of real value didn’t happen that way.

  “Tinker Watson is a liar and a thief!” Sam shouts into the trees. Little Bear barks, as if in agreement. His words echo against the mountain so the whole world can hear. It feels so good he shouts it again. The word ‘thief’ echoes against the mountain.

  However, Sam has memories that Tink doesn’t have. He will never forget his first look inside the ruby and seeing the star and the stone’s fiery center. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

  Elder trees tower overhead like peaceful warriors, swayed only by a determined wind. Grandmother used to say that when warriors died they turned into trees, the mountain serving as a majestic burial ground. If that’s true, his ancestors are all around him. An ache grows from the center of Sam’s chest, his grief catching him by surprise. He misses her stories as much as he misses her.

  “Tell me what to do, Grandmother,” he says into the wind. He wants to know how this particular story ends––of the ordinary boy who finds an extraordinary treasure and then loses it to a thief.

  He puts all his wishing power into the request.

  “Spirit World, please let my grandmother speak,” he says, his voice bold with grief.

  Little Bear’s ears turn to track Sam’s voice.

  Some of his people have the gift of seeing and hearing things from the Spirit World, as well as having visions. His grandmother possessed this gift and it appears it has passed to him. He doesn’t know yet if this gift is a blessing or a curse.

  The trees creak as they sway in the wind where he first heard her voice. Sam takes off his cap and bows his head, as if standing in an unroofed church. For a second he can feel his grandmother’s hand touching his hair and unexpected tears fill his eyes. Sam kicks the ground with the toe of his boot to scatter the emotion away. Then he wraps his arms around himself. He hasn’t allowed his grief to come while at his grandmother’s house. He has too much to do and too much to worry about. But here, alone, except for Little Bear, Sam finally experiences the weight of it. His chest feels like a boulder sits on top, making it hard to breathe. Several large, full tears hit the ground, creating tiny craters in the loose soil. Sam kicks dirt over them to bury his sadness, but the emotion has other ideas.

  Little Bear licks the salty path on Sam’s face. Not only does Sam miss his grandmother, but at that moment he misses his mother, too, and Rocky. The old Rocky. Sam’s losses tower over him, creating a mountain range of sadness.

  “How can you leave me here alone?” Sam asks his grandmother’s spirit, wiping his face on his shirt.

  Leaves rustle nearby. Little Bear’s ears follow the sound of the wind. The voice he convinced himself only lived in his imagination returns.

  You are not alone, Grandson.

  Sam turns to search the forest for the source of her voice. Perhaps Great Spirit has taken pity on him and granted his wish. “But I am alone,” Sam insists.

  You are making the universe too small, she tells him. The ancestors are helping from the other side.

  Sam holds tightly onto Little Bear. “But is it wrong to need people with skin?” Sam calls out to her. “I need more than ghosts, Grandmother.”

  The tops of the ancient trees sway in the wind, creaking like the joints of old people.

  I am not a ghost, Grandson. You can’t see me, but I am here. For a short time, only a thin veil separates us.

  “What do you mean, Grandmother? For how long?”

  She doesn’t answer. No one will believe him if he tells them about communicating with his grandmother from the Spirit World. But in that moment his grandmother feels as real as Little Bear standing next to him.

  “Tell me what to do about the ruby, Grandmother,” he says. “The dream says I will get it back, but I don’t see how that will happen.”

  He waits for her words to come out of the silence. The wind continues to gust through the top branches of the great trees, as though a storm is taking place in their upper branches.

  You will know soon. . . . she says. Her voice fades until it enters the silence, like a fish diving deep below the river’s surface.

  “But what do I do?” he calls after her. “Grandmother, don’t go away.”

  Prepare a place for it, she says finally, her words swept away on a gust of wind.

  “Wait. What do you mean?” Sam calls again. “Please stay.”

  Her voice is gone, as if the rare opening between the two worlds has closed like a slammed door. Has the veil closed forever? He wishes now he asked different questions. He should have asked her what it’s like in the Spirit World. He should have asked how to support himself and Allie.

  “I don’t know what I'm supposed to do,” he yells at his grandmother. “You think I do, but I don’t. Prepare a place for it?” he continues. “How am I supposed to prepare a place for something I don’t have?”

  Sam looks at the gnarled tree roots where he found the ruby. The tree kept the ruby safe for hundreds of years until Sam came along. Maybe it was his fate to find it, but was it also his fate to lose it? The question makes Sam’s head hurt.

  When he stands, the piece of paper from the library crinkles in his shirt pocket. Sam pulls it out and looks at the name he wrote: Jake Waters. A sudden gust of wind grabs the paper from his grasp, as well as the hawk feather from his cap. They land side by side.

  Is this another omen?

  In an instant, the once muddy stream of his confusion runs clear, and Sam knows exactly what to do.

  CHAPTER 20: CONNECTIONS

  When Sam arrives home Rocky is asleep on the couch snoring loudly, a baseball game flickering unwatched on the television. Why is he home in the afternoon? He
’s usually at the casino. To have some privacy, Sam stretches the long phone cord into his room and quietly closes his door. He then takes the phone into his closet and also closes his closet door. Rocky can sleep through a tornado, but Sam doesn’t want to take any chances.

  On the lighted dial of his grandmother’s old telephone, Sam presses 411 for information. He did this one other time, trying to find his mom in Las Vegas. But he had no luck that day.

  “What city please?” the computer voice asks.

  “Washington, D.C.,” he says.

  “Thank you,” the voice says.

  Sam has never noticed how dark and stuffy his closet is. His hamper stuffed with dirty clothes can compete with the smell of Buddy’s shoes—whose presence or shoes he hasn’t seen for days. Sam is still angry at him for telling his secret. And, aware of this, Buddy is probably laying low.

  “What listing please?” another computer voice asks.

  “Jake Waters,” Sam answers.

  “Hold on, please.”

  Seconds later a real voice comes on and tells him no one named Jake Waters is listed in the Washington, D.C. area. Sam didn’t consider this possibility. He bites his lip wondering what to do.

  “May I help you?” the operator asks, as if wondering what business a kid has calling someone in Washington, D.C., anyway.

  “Can I have the number of the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum?” Sam asks.

  “Hold on please,” she says. Seconds later another computerized voice gives him the number. Sam grabs a magic marker from his art supply box and writes the number on his arm. The smell of marker combined with that of the dirty clothes makes him feel lightheaded.

  Sam opens the door to the closet and inhales fresh air. The television continues to play in the living room, Rocky’s snore rising above the ballgame. Sam takes another deep breath and closes the door as much as he can and still see the number on his arm. When he dials the Smithsonian, another computerized voice gives him several options. He stays on the line until the operator answers.

  “Museum of Natural History, may I help you?”

  “Jake Waters, please,” Sam says, lowering his voice to sound older.

  “One moment please.”

  Sam smiles. The article was written a decade ago. For all he knew, Jake Waters could have moved to another country.

  “Geology department. Jake Waters’ office,” a woman answers.

  “I’d like to speak to Mr. Waters, please,” Sam says, hoping his muffled words don’t reveal his closeted location.

  “May I ask who is calling, please?”

  “My name’s Sam.”

  “What is this in reference to?” she asks.

  “I need to talk to him about a gemstone.”

  She pauses. “Mr. Waters is a busy man, Sam. Is this something I can help you with?”

  At that moment Sam wishes he possessed a deeper voice and perhaps a beard. At the very least a driver’s license. In reality he has no facial hair whatsoever—at least not yet—and he sits in a stuffy, smelly closet making a phone call to a woman who wants to protect her boss from crazy people calling from their closets.

  The fumes from his dirty clothes ignite a sense of urgency. “I know I'm a kid and you’re probably not allowed to accept calls from kids,” Sam begins, “but I have something important to talk to Jake Waters about.”

  For several seconds, the voice on the other end pauses, as though debating the wisdom of letting him through. But the debate falls in his favor. “Hold on please,” she says finally.

  Sam fans the door open several times to restore oxygen to the small space.

  Seconds later a man’s voice answers the phone. “This is Jake Waters.”

  He sounds friendly. Before Sam can stop himself, the whole story pours out. He tells Jake Waters about finding the ruby and taking it to the jewelry store. He tells him about the man’s reaction and the break-in later and how Mrs. Peabody found the article Jake Waters wrote in National Geographic and how his ruby is more beautiful than any of the stones in the article. The only thing Sam doesn’t tell him is that the ruby was stolen.

  “That’s very interesting,” Jake Waters says when Sam finally finishes. “But I’m curious why you are calling me.”

  Sam feels lightheaded again. Is it from excitement or oxygen deprivation? “Well, sir, I’m not sure. But I think it was my grandmother’s idea.”

  “Perhaps I should speak to your grandmother, then,” Jake Waters says.

  Sam pauses, long enough for Jake Waters to ask if he is still on the line.

  “Well, there’s a slight problem,” Sam begins. “You see my grandmother lives in the Spirit World. She died the day I found the ruby.”

  Now Jake Waters’ is silent.

  “Hello? Are you there?” Sam asks.

  “Then perhaps I should talk to one of your parents,” Jake Waters says.

  “Well, that’s a whole other story,” Sam begins, and he tells Jake Waters about how his mother left without leaving a forwarding address and how Rocky is snoring on the couch, but how Rocky is the last person Sam wants to know anything about the ruby because of his chronic gambling habit.

  The man interrupts, “Maybe you could tell me your name and where you are,” Jake says softly.

  “I’m Sam, and I'm in my closet.”

  Jake Waters chuckles. Sam is about to explain the closet situation when the man says, “No, Sam, I mean your address.”

  Sam gives it to him, complete with zip code. Then Jake Waters says he will fly into the nearest airport the next day to see the ruby for himself. They arrange to meet in front of Raven’s store at one o’clock.

  After Sam hangs up the phone, he opens the door wide enough to take in a big gulp of fresh air. Sam’s air intake catches in his throat when he sees Rocky standing at the door, towering almost to the ceiling.

  “Who were you talking to?” Rocky asks, his dark eyes squinted. His face looks puffy from too much sleep or drinking.

  “Nobody,” Sam says. He isn’t about to tell Rocky about Jake Waters and the ruby.

  Rocky smiles. “Quite a special ‘nobody’ to have you hiding in your closet,” he says.

  Sam rises to his feet and takes a step forward, but Rocky blocks his exit. “It’s none of your business who I talk to,” Sam says. The words come out weak, so weak Sam wants to take them back and try again.

  “It was your mother, wasn’t it?” Rocky says, looking angry.

  “No, it wasn’t.”

  “I told her never to call here,” Rocky says.

  “It wasn’t her.” Sam looks directly in Rocky’s eyes to prove he is telling the truth. Rocky stares right back.

  “She’d better not call here again,” Rocky says before slamming the door.

  For several seconds Sam’s scalp tingles as if standing too close to a lightning strike. It isn’t like Rocky to get in Sam’s face, but he isn’t about to tell him anything about the ruby. Within seconds, Sam realizes just how badly he’s screwed up. An important stranger named Jake Waters is traveling hundreds of miles to see a ruby Sam doesn’t even have.

  As soon as Rocky leaves for the casino, Sam calls Jake Waters again to cancel the whole thing. No one answers. Since it is after six o’clock, he guesses everyone has gone home for the day. When he finally reaches Jake Waters’ voicemail, the message says he will be out of town for a couple of days.

  Panic flutters in Sam’s chest, as if the red hawk is trapped there. Sure, the dream said he would get the ruby back. But for now, the ruby is still locked in a safe deposit box at the bank. That is, if Tink hasn’t already sold it. It is bad enough Sam lost the ruby to a thief in the first place. Now he has convinced a complete stranger to come hundreds of miles to see a ruby not even in his possession.

  What have I done? Sam thinks, as he slams his closet door.

  CHAPTER 21: THE CURSE

  As he waits for Jake Waters on the bench outside Raven’s store, Sam’s leg won’t stop shaking. Wearing his best sh
ort-sleeved shirt and jeans and the tie he wore to Grandmother’s funeral, he wipes his sweaty hands on his jeans. Again that morning, he tried to reach Jake Waters, but got the same voicemail message. How will he tell the man that Sam accidentally misled him? Grandmother told him to prepare a place for the ruby, but she didn’t tell Sam how to get the ruby back. Now it’s too late to reason with Tink again. He doubts it would do any good, anyway.

  What will Jake Waters do when he finds out Sam doesn’t have the ruby? For a moment, he considers hiding in the forest where no one can find him. But that feels cowardly and like something Tink might do, not Sam. All he can do is tell Jake Waters the truth and take responsibility. He will apologize and explain.

  Seconds later, Buddy rips down the main street of town on his bicycle. He barely stops the bike before jumping off and letting it drop to the ground.

  “Tink is looking for you,” Buddy says. Saliva mixes with the sweat pouring from his face.

  “Why?” Sam asks. Does Tink want to rub it in his face again about the ruby?

  “He didn’t say. But he has a strange look in his eyes, Sam, like a crazy person.”

  Buddy tends to exaggerate, but something about this news makes Sam feel uneasy. Maybe Tink sold the ruby and wants to torture Sam with the news. But why would he look crazy? It would make more sense for him to gloat.

  As if Sam’s questions have somehow conjured him up, Tink rides down the street on his fancy mountain bike. The absolute last person Sam wants to see before Jake Waters arrives is Tink. Besides wanting to beat Tink to a pulp, he also wants revenge. There are even rare moments when Sam feels sorry for Tink. Even though Tink’s family lives in a big house on a mountaintop and his parents have matching Mercedes, Tink doesn’t seem that happy. The first time Sam went into Tink’s bedroom it was like walking into every boy’s dream. Action figures, models of castles and toy cars were everywhere, along with computer games and a big television. Sam was mesmerized, just like Rocky is with the gambling machines. For weeks, Sam was willing to put up with Tink’s conceit just to get to play with some of his stuff.