Questing for a Dream Read online

  Questing for a Dream

  P.D. Workman

  Copyright © 2015 by P.D. Workman

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  ISBN: 9781989080092 (IS Hardcover)

  ISBN: 9781989080085 (IS Paperback)

  ISBN: 9781989080078 (KDP Paperback)

  ISBN: 9781926500539 (Kindle)

  ISBN: 9781926500553 (ePub)

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  * * *

  For brothers and sisters

  who dream of a better life.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Bonus material

  Mailing List

  Preview of Tattooed Teardrops

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Also by P.D. Workman

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  Grandfather!” Nadie shook him hard, trying to rouse him. She tried their native Nehiyaw—what the white man called Cree. “Nimosôm! Willie Laplante!” She shouted in his ear and shook him so hard she nearly pulled him off of the couch, but to no avail. He wasn’t waking up. Nadie made a noise of disgust and let go of his arm. “Have a nice sleep!” she muttered.

  She didn’t have a lot of time before school started. She knew everybody would be late getting there anyway, including the teacher, and they wouldn’t start until all were there who were expected to come. What was the point in being on time? But Nadie still wanted to get there to say that she, at least, was on time every day.

  Nadie went to the baby room, a tiny room barely bigger than a closet, and found the door locked. She rattled the handle as if she might have been mistaken, or it might have just been stuck, but it was no use. She went back to Grandfather and went through his pockets. Nadie knew it was disrespectful. But what other choice did she have?

  “If you were awake, you would give it to me,” she reasoned aloud.

  Grandfather just snored in response. His breath was powerfully strong. He must have a new batch of home brew ready, on top of the medicine he usually took to sleep. Nadie’s fingers touched the key, and she pulled it out with a flourish. She hurried over to the baby room and unlocked the door.

  Luyu sat on the floor, cross-legged, leaning down to study something on the floor. There was little light coming through the dirty window; Nadie wondered how Luyu could see anything at all. Luyu didn’t look up when Nadie opened the door.

  “Tân’si, Luyu,” Nadie greeted softly, letting Luyu know she was there before she tried to pick her up. She had startled Luyu enough times, touching her without speaking first when she was intently focused on something.

  Luyu’s head went up slightly, like a bird listening. She still didn’t look at Nadie, but she knew Nadie was there. Nadie stepped into the room and stooped to pick tiny Luyu up.

  “Hello, baby.” She cuddled Luyu against her and kissed her head. Luyu grasped Nadie’s long black hair and wound it around her fingers.

  “Say ‘Hello, sister,’ ” Nadie prompted.

  Luyu didn’t respond. Nadie took Luyu to the living room where she had room to move. She laid Luyu down on the floor and stripped off the sopping wet diaper.

  “Hello,” Luyu said suddenly. “Hello, sister.” Her lisp made it sound more like ‘thith-ter’, which always made Nadie laugh. She loved Luyu’s lisp.

  “Hi. Did you rest well?”

  Luyu squirmed to get up before Nadie had a clean diaper on her. Nadie held her still and sang in a low voice to keep Luyu calm while she finished. Luyu stilled, her eyes intent on Nadie’s face. Once Nadie had the new diaper on, she released Luyu and let her get up. While Luyu pattered around, Nadie threw the wet diaper in the kitchen garbage and splashed water from the water bottle on the counter over her fingers to wash up. Drying them on her pants, she went back to the baby room and picked up the discarded shirt and pants from the floor. Luyu had already disappeared when Nadie came back out. Nadie found her in the kitchen cupboard, rifling through the meager contents.

  “Come on, mischief maker.”

  Nadie pulled Luyu out of the cupboard and stood her up. She pulled Luyu’s t-shirt on over her head before Luyu anticipated what was happening, and threaded Luyu’s arms through the sleeves despite the girl’s angry squawk of protest. Luyu tried to twist free, but Nadie was expert at this job and had the shirt on Luyu before she could squirm away. Luyu stopped struggling and just plucked at the shirt in irritation. Nadie sat Luyu in her lap and pulled on the pants. The elastic waist meant she didn’t have to pin Luyu down for long enough to zip and button them, so the procedure was quickly over. She released Luyu.

  “Now you keep those on,” she told Luyu. “It’s cold, and you can’t just go around in your diaper and your pony undershirt. You will get sick.”

  But Luyu rarely got sick, and Nadie knew that when she got out of school, Luyu would be stripped back down to her underwear, even if it was cold enough to see her breath.

  “Pony?” Luyu repeated. She pulled her t-shirt up to look at and show off the dingy pink pony undershirt.

  “Yes, there is your pony.” Nadie pulled the t-shirt back down and took Luyu by the hand. “Let’s find something to eat.”

  Luyu pulled her to the cupboard and they looked at the options. Grandfather had not been back to the grocery in town for a few weeks and the cupboard would be bare before long. Nadie grabbed a plastic box of cereal and put it on the counter. The plastic container was supposed to keep out the mice, but Nadie could see they had been chewing on the corners. Before long, there would be a hole large enough for them to squeeze in through. Luyu was tapping Nadie on the leg, eager for her breakfast.

  “Eat!”

  “One minute, Luyu.”

  Nadie grabbed a bowl from the sink and wiped it out. She poured cereal into it. Luyu’s tapping became more insistent. Nadie was going to use some powdered milk and the water bottle to mix Luyu up some milk for the cereal, but Luyu started to pinch her, and Nadie changed her mind. Luyu would just make a mess with milk. It was tidier if she ate the dry cereal with her fingers.

  “Okay, okay. Here you go.” Nadie walked over to the table with difficulty, Luyu hanging onto her legs and tripping her up. She put the cereal down in front of the one unbroken chair. Luyu climbed up into the chair as quick as a squirrel and thrust both hands into the bowl.

  Nadie’s stomach growled loudly enough for Luyu to hear it. Luyu laughed and looked at Nadie. She reached out her hand, offering Nadie a handful of her cereal.

  “Thank you, no,” Nadie said, not taking it. Luyu was too skinny; she needed all the food she could get. Last year, Mona’s baby boy had died and the social worker and policeman who had come to talk to them said it was because he had not gotten enough to eat. Nadie lived in fear that Luyu would suffer the same fate.

  As Luyu ate, Nadie grabbed the rag beside the sink and moistened it with water from the water bottle. While Luyu sat chewing the cereal she had packed into her mouth, Nadie held her head still and cleaned her the best she could. Luyu would only get dirty again the minute she went back to her room to play on the dusty floor.

  It only took Luyu a couple of minutes to finish the cereal.

  “All gone,” she announced. ‘Gone’ sounded like ‘don.’ Nadie wasn’t sure why Mouse had such a hard time understanding Luyu. She couldn’t form the words properly, but Nadie didn’t have any trouble understanding what she meant.

  Luyu climbed down from the chair to make a break for it. Nadie grabbed her and swung her up in the air. Luyu shrieked, a sound partly of protest at being caught and partly delight at being swung around. Nadie twirled around to keep her occupied and danced her way back to the baby room. She put Luyu in the crib and Luyu started to wail.

  “Where’s your ball?” Nadie asked, looking around at the floor and under the crib. It wasn’t there. She went back out to the living room and found it beside the couch. Nadie went back to the baby room and offered it to Luyu. “Here you go. Something to play with.”

  Luyu just fired the ball back at Nadie. Her face was getting red. Nadie backed out of the room. “Goodbye, Luyu. See you later.”

  She pulled the door shut. Nadie hesitated, trying to decide whether to lock it or not. Grandfather said it needed to be locked, or Luyu would get out and get into mischief, but Nadie hadn’t seen her open the door and wasn’t sure she believed it. Probably Grandfather had forgotten he left it open, or the catch hadn’t clicked into
place and Luyu only had to push the door to get out.

  With a sigh, Nadie turned the key in the lock. She wouldn’t want Luyu to get into something that might harm her if she could get out of the room by herself.

  She went back to the living room to put the key back in Grandfather’s pocket. She shook him in one last attempt to wake him up. But she still couldn’t rouse him. Leaving the house, Nadie glanced up at the position of the sun. She was pretty sure she could still make it on time, but she needed to hurry.

  “Nadie!”

  Nadie turned around at the call and saw Mouse trying to catch up to her. Her heart warmed at the sight of him. He had a doo-rag around his head, a dark blue, patterned cloth. His braids, starting just behind his ears, hung in front of his shoulders. His eyes, slanted slightly down, always looked pensive, belying his natural good humor. He was munching on what appeared to be freshly-made bread. Nadie eyed the flat piece of bread, her mouth watering. When he caught up with her, Mouse delved into his pocket and pulled out another and offered it to Nadie.

  “Thank you!” Nadie brought it up to her nose and inhaled the sweet smell. It was still warm in her hand. “And thank your mother.”

  Mouse nodded. “She told me to bring extra for you.”

  Nadie smiled and took a big bite.

  “I would have brought you one anyway,” Mouse advised.

  “I know you would.” Nadie gave him a one-armed hug as they walked side-by-side.

  “It’s a nice day. I hope we spend time outside today,” Mouse said.

  The air was cool and crisp. The sky was clear and it looked like it would warm up to a summer-like day. “I want to spend time on my blanket today.”

  “Is it almost done? You’ve been working on it for a long time.”

  “Good workmanship takes time.”

  Mouse cleared his throat. “Especially when you make a mistake and have to go back to take it out,” he teased.

  Nadie smacked his arm. “You be nice! I don’t see you attempting any big projects.”

  “Exactly. Running Deer doesn’t demand big school projects. She’s just as happy with small demonstrations of our skills.”

  It was true. Running Deer would accept and praise any attempt to demonstrate what they had learned or mastered. Nadie could have chosen to do a small, doll-sized weaving without any special pattern or knots, something she could have produced in a single afternoon, and their teacher would have been satisfied.

  “But don’t you want to learn more? Don’t you want to get really good at something? I never would have learned so much and gotten good at it if I had just spent a couple of hours on it.”

  Mouse stretched out his arms, embracing all of nature. “Mother Earth does not ask me to be good at everything. She provides food for the hunt, beauty for the eye, sleep to refresh myself at night… It is better we work with the earth, not to try to control everything, like the white man.”

  Nadie snorted. “And how much sleep do you think Mother Earth would give you without a blanket?”

  “I’m a man. I’ll bring home the food. My wife can make blankets. Or… I will buy one at the store in town.”

  “Nobody’s going to marry a good-for-nothing who just wants to sleep all day.”

  “Who said I would sleep all day? I will sleep at night and hunt during the day. My wife won’t even need to make blankets, with all of the furs and skins I will bring home.”

  “Oh, great hunter,” Nadie mocked. “A challenge: you bring in sufficient skins and furs to keep your manly body warm for the winter by the time I finish my blanket.”

  “But you’re almost done!” Mouse protested. “You started long before me. And the animals haven’t finished putting on their winter coats yet.”

  “Weasel words.”

  “I’m not a weasel! It’s not a fair challenge!”

  They reached the school house. A small trailer had been pressed into use for the band’s school. Nadie and Mouse were the oldest students. No one else was there yet and Nadie knew it would be too cold to concentrate on the school work. Sweltering hot in the summer, freezing in the winter. At least in the winter, they could keep the wood stove stoked all day. During the summer, they let out once it got too hot to use. On fall days like today if the temperature rose above normal, they would go outside for the hottest part of the day. Without a word, Nadie loaded up her arms with firewood and went into the school building to light the fire. Mouse stripped off his jacket and started chopping more wood, wearing only a thin muscle-shirt. Nadie shook her head at this display, but when she got the fire going and went out for a second load, sweat was already glistening on Mouse’s slim arms. He stopped chopping for a moment while she loaded up.

  “In the spring,” he said.

  Nadie squinted her eyes at him. “What?”

  “I will bring you enough furs to keep you warm before the first flowers bloom. Except crocuses. Crocuses don’t count.”

  Nadie paused before going back into the school. “Okay, deal. You do that, and I won’t bug you any more about being lazy.”

  “And you make me a blanket.”

  “What? I’m already making a blanket.”

  “You’ll be done before the snow flies. You’ll be sitting around all winter watching me work; hunting, trapping, cleaning, curing… If I don’t make it, you keep the blanket for yourself. Because you won’t have any furs to keep you warm. But if I do it, you give me the blanket. That’s fair.”

  Nadie stomped the dirt off her shoes before re-entering the school. She stacked the wood and warmed her cold fingers near the stove. When she went back outside, Mouse was putting away the newly split wood.

  “You see?” he pointed out. “I’m not lazy. I work as hard as you do.”

  His tone was injured and Nadie realized her words had wounded him. “I’m sorry. I know you work too.” She couldn’t bring herself to say ‘work hard,’ because he was always lounging around, shirking whatever duties he could get away with not doing. Nadie felt like she worked from sunup to sundown. It wasn’t the same.

  “So is it a deal?” Mouse asked.

  Nadie sighed. Mouse spending time hunting and preparing furs all winter? Even if he won the challenge, she would have secretly won too, making him actually work and learn a skill properly. One that was important to his future family and to the band.

  “Fine,” she said. “But I think you’re getting the easy part of the deal. Weaving a blanket properly takes a lot more time than shooting a couple of animals.”

  “Shooting a couple of animals? You make it sound like I can go out and do that in an afternoon. It takes time to track and kill an animal or to set a trapline. And you need a lot more than two animals to make a blanket!”

  Nadie laughed. At least he had an idea of what he was getting into. Mouse put his jacket back on and pulled out another piece of bread. Nadie thought he was going to break it in half and offer her a piece, but he shredded a few crumbs off the edge and started tossing them to the birds. Nadie’s mouth dropped open.

  “Don’t do that!”

  Mouse looked at her and raised his eyebrows. “Just feeding the birds. What’s wrong with that?”

  “Somebody… somebody might be hungry. One of the other students. You shouldn’t waste it on the birds! It’s not even stale!”

  “Oh…” Mouse scratched the back of his head. “Sorry. Do you want it?”

  “I wasn’t asking for it,” Nadie clarified, a bit embarrassed by her own reaction. “Maybe one of the other children…”

  “They’re not here yet.” Mouse held the bread out toward Nadie. “Here. You have it while it’s still warm.”

  Nadie took it from him without further protest. “You’re very generous. Even with the birds.”