ponderosas. The pines on the
easternmost boundary of the forest looked really
ill, the bark red and chalky and splotched with
blue. I zeroed in on the ground. I saw a man in a
neat black suit, and a couple of men wearing tool
belts. One of the contractors gestured
emphatically at the dead pine tree nearest him. I
wished I could hear what they were saying. The
contractors abruptly stormed off, the man in the
black suit chasing after them.
"Hurray!" Marilu said, and slid down the beech
tree. I followed her quickly to the ground.
"What is it?" Dad asked. "What happened?"
"Pine beetles, that's what!" Zeke yelled. He broke
into a very interesting dance.
Dad looked at me. "What aren't you telling me...?"
"Uncle Paul," Marilu said, "could we have some
lunch now?"
Dad nodded slowly, awkwardly. He scratched the
back of his head with a pawlike hand. He started
back to the forest path and we trailed after him,
Zeke dancing after us. We picked up the boat on
our way back to the neighborhood and dropped it
off at Mr. At Dawn's house. From there we
headed home.
"Odd," Dad murmured. I opened the front door
and Zeke and Marilu piled into the house. Dad
perused me silently. I smiled noncommittally and
went into the kitchen to pour us some iced juniper
tea.
"We are the bomb-diggity!" Zeke yelled.
I gave him a weird look.
Marilu took the honey biscuits out of the icebox.
Dad turned on the radio to catch up on baseball
scores. Zeke invited himself to use our computer.
"I'm gonna e-mail Steeeew," he announced. I gave
him another weird look. Marilu kicked her legs
under the kitchen table and sipped her juniper tea.
"Are you sure you don't have anything to tell me?"
Dad asked.
I smiled innocently and bit into a honey biscuit.
Lunch was a really weird affair that day. Between
Zeke yelling at the computer and Dad yelling at the
radio, Marilu and I didn't get much talking done. I
guess I should say Marilu didn't get much talking
down. I had a hard time swallowing, for whatever
reason, and had to keep hitting my gut to spit the
bread back out. It sucks when you don't have a
coughing reflex.
"I was thinking," Dad said, when the radio turned
to a commercial break. "Maybe I should build a
new house."
I looked at him, surprised.
"Not for us," he said. "For..."
I grinned mischievously.
"Please don't make fun of me," Dad said feebly.
"Will you come see our house in January, Uncle
Paul?" Marilu asked.
"I can't, honey. I'm sorry."
"Aw... That's okay. I'll send you pictures."
"Thank you. That's very nice of you." Dad poured
me more tea when he saw that I was choking.
"Drink this," he said. I shot him a grateful look.
September came much too soon for my liking. Dad
and Granny and I saw Aunt Cora and Marilu to the
bus stop off the turnpike. I looked left and right,
paranoid, to make sure the cops weren't hanging
around. The laws of the reservation didn't protect
Dad out here.
Aunt Cora took me into a hug, patting my hair with
her bony hand. "You're a good boy," she said
kindly. "Make sure you come around for the
winter pauwau."
"Goodbye, Skylar," Marilu said somberly. "I'll
write to you if Danny comes home."
I felt a very real pain in my heart. The both of us
knew Danny wasn't coming home.
I waved after Marilu and Aunt Cora as they
boarded the bus. Marilu put her hand against the
hazy window and waved back at me. The doors
hissed closed; the wheels squealed on gravel.
They were gone.
"Just in time for school, too," Dad said, his hand
on my shoulder.
I went to the schoolhouse early the next morning,
Annie walking at my side. Together we sat at a
long wooden table in the back of the room. It was
bizarre to think that we were twelfth graders now.
Mr. Red Clay hadn't arrived yet, but the entire
room was buzzing with conversation. Everyone
was talking about the forest.
"Good job, you guys!" said Daisy At Dawn,
grinning. "The pines look truly disgusting.
Awesome."
"Not