I held up the two pieces of covering the convent had sent for us to put on for school. I’d put on the shorts once before so I’d figured them out, but sorting my head and arms into the shirt was harder. Once the shirt covered my head, I couldn’t see what I was doing or where I my arms went. I put an arm through the neck hole, then tried to get my big head through the hole for the arm. I pulled it off and tried to put my arms in the arm holes, then pull it over my head. I got my head through the right hole, but the rest of the shirt bunched up around my arms and nose. On the third try, I was sweating with exertion, but got the shirt on so it covered my bare body.
I’ve never worn covering or been to school before. I’m not ignorant. I can count goats on the hillside and tell the time of night by the stars. I know which plants will draw the poison out of a festered wound, and which will cause a goat to miscarry. My mama and grandmama are the local healers, and I learned lots from them, but I don’t know how to read and write. I don’t know the common language used outside the mountains. I plan on learning all that today.
Once covered, I showed myself to Mama. “Where did Uncle C’Tis get all those grandchildren that built the school?
Mama answered, “I don’t know. He said something about LooCee gathering them.”
Grandmama sat on the floor picking leaves from their stems and putting them in a basket to dry. “I remember when I helped LooCee and Young C’Tis into this world, but I don’t know where the others came from.” She looked up at me. “All we know is that they’re all educated, and they’ve built a school. This is a great thing for you. ”
Mama gave me a hug. “Grandmama and I will ride the next van down the mountain.” She glanced at her mama on the floor. “We’ll have a class too. Uncle C’Tis will tell us about his adventures in the outside world. Now, off you go.”
I went outside to meet my friend N’Ra and her brothers and sisters on the path in front of our house.
Her little sister greeted me. “Look H’Na, I have a dress. It looks like the sky.”
N’Ra lifted her youngest sister higher on her hip. “The dress is blue. A’Ln told me the sky is blue. Your dress is blue. A’Ln says you will learn the names of all the colors.”
I started to sweat again. Until last week when Shaman gave us lessons on outsider ways and their language, I’d thought everything was just the way it was. I didn’t know things were described by how they look. Color is an outsider idea. Now, did I need to learn the names for the colors? Why did colors have names, anyway? Did the sky and the dress have souls? 
H’Ree, N’Ra’s littlest brother who could walk, tugged on the bottom of N’Ra’s covering—shorts and a shirt like mine. “I don’t want to go to the convent. You won’t let them take me to the convent, will you?”
N’Ra brushed the hair out of her brother’s face with her free hand. “You won’t have to go to a convent. A’Ln told me that they built the school in the mountains so children won’t have to go away like LooCee did.” She sighed like she always did when she mentioned A’Ln.
I narrowed my eyes at N’Ra. “You talked to A’Ln a long time. Did you even notice his brother, U’Kee? He looks like a big mountain man, like in the stories of the old days.” I grinned. N’Ra and I wouldn’t have to marry T’Vun. We had lots of men to choose from. LooCee’s brothers were good to look at, and they knew how to do things with machines, and they could read and write. I sighed. U’Kee was my idea of the perfect man. He laughed and helped his sisters. Once when they came home to plant their crops, he gave me a second piece of cake. He carried it right to me on a plate and sat beside me while I ate.
N’Ra nodded. “I met U’Kee. He won’t live here much because he still has to go to school in the city. A’Ln said he finished all his school. He even has a piece of paper with writing on it that says he finished school. Did you know LooCee has more brothers we haven’t seen? She says one is in the army and another works in the city and goes to school with her.” She skipped a couple steps. 
The morning sun broke over the top of the mountain, and I lifted my face to the warmth. Life was glorious. The air smelled sweet with only a hint of goat. The sun was warm. I was on my way to school, and I’d never have to marry T’Vun, the only unmarried man in the village. 
I said, “Did you hear that Papa T’Vun asked Uncle C’Tis for LooCee to marry T’Vun? And Grandmama actually laughed when she told mama this…Uncle C’Tis said he couldn’t have her.” I spun in a circle with glee. 
N’Ra counted her brothers and sisters to make sure they were keeping up with us. “I heard T’Vun wants Martha now.”
I gloated over my own news. “Martha told me she’s going to be a healer. She wants to learn what Grandmama knows. Martha said she won’t marry for years and years yet, if ever.”
We slipped through the pass that marked the end of our valley and prepared to climb inside the noisy van LooCee’s family used when they went outside the mountains. N’Ra lifted her sisters up the high step from the ground to the van. She turned to lift H’Ree, but he balked and started to cry.
Young Hosh patted his brother on the head. “Oh, be quiet. This is fun. A’Ln is showing me how to drive it. He told me that in the city, Young C’Tis learned to drive and got a job driving all sorts of vans, and he can fix them if they break.”
H’Ree hung back, eyeing the van. “Is it going to break?”
Mama Hosh caught up to her children. “It will be fine. The outsiders ride in these machines all the time, and I’ll be with you. LooCee can drive, and she’s teaching Nicole to drive too.”
I looked behind me for Mama and Grandmama. Were they coming yet? Grandmama wanted to learn how the outside healer made Young C’Tis’s daughter well. I smiled at Grandmama’s excitement over the school. She’d met outsiders before the big flood and told me all she remembered. 
Faster than I could believe, we rode down the mountain and stopped in front of the new stone schoolhouse. It was as big as a mountain. Once, before the C’Tis family came home from the city this last time, N’Ra, Young Hosh and I snuck down here and explored the school building. It had rooms at the ground level and more rooms upstairs that were right in the middle of the sky. The building had windows. When we saw them, the windows were just holes in the wall. Now, the workers had covered them with glass. Glass was another new word for me. It was clear as water but harder than ice. The morning sun made the glass shine like our spring when the water was still.
I stared around me. I’d never seen so many people in one place before. There were people from my village and LooCee’s family and people named Gilbert from a family lower down the mountain. There were outsiders and mountain people I’d never seen. Shaman told us the vans would bring people who lived farther back in the mountains to the school. The people made more noise than a herd of goats, and they smelled worse. I followed the crowd, trying not to breathe. The smell made my throat hurt.
Uncle C’Tis stood beside the path leading to the school doors. “H’Na, welcome to my school.” He actually spoke to me and remembered my name.
I almost forgot my manners in my excitement, but I remembered to say, “Thank you Uncle C’Tis. I’m excited to be here.” I tried to brush the tears off of my cheeks. “I’ve never been this happy before in my whole life.”
“You’re a good girl.” Uncle C’Tis praised me. Nobody had ever called me a good girl before. I skipped into the building and stared at the high ceiling. Even a big mountain man, like LooCee’s brother U’Kee, couldn’t touch that ceiling. 
Pia touched my elbow. “Come this way. Your first class will be in the big room.” 
I followed her to the big room. It was big. All of our house could fit in this one room with space left over for the goat sheds. People milled and talked. I watched A’Ln leading people to chairs. He seated the older women near the front as is proper. He passed younger children to his brothers and sisters. “Here, take H’Lee to the nursery class.” 
I felt my eyes grow wide at the idea that even the youngest children would have a class. Would they learn to read and write before I did? 
A’Ln passed the girls N’Ra held to Teacher Therese and said to N’Ra, “You can sit in this row of chairs. I’ll sit behind you.” 
I smiled. N’Ra and I were the same. I could sit with her. That would be proper. 
For our first class, Uncle C’Tis talked to us about learning and how important it was and about all the things he learned the year he lived outside with LooCee. “I learned to read and write in the common language. All of my children helped me learn. I also had lessons to learn how to use electricity to light the house. This afternoon my grandson, C’Tis, will turn on the generator that makes electricity and show you a movie of where we lived and of LooCee’s school, called Capital University.”
For my next class, Martha took most of the children and younger people up the stairs to a room to give us our first lesson in the common language and reading and writing. I learned that in the common language, my name would be pronounced Hannah. I loved the sound of my name. Hannah didn’t sound like a little girl who cleaned goat pens and carried water. Hannah sounded important. 
When school let out, the elders rode the first van back up the mountain. Children too small to walk up the mountain rode with them or in the next van. Young Hosh grabbed me by the arm. “Hey, we’ll get home sooner if we walk. Come on.”
Mr. A’Kee held H’Ree in his arms. “Good idea, Hosh. After sitting all day, the climb will make you feel better. I’ll make sure the little ones get home safely.” 
He bounced H’Ree on his hip, then looked right at me and N’Ra and smiled. “I hope you two can come spend some nights with my girls. They want to learn more of your native language.” 
We nodded and turned to race up the mountain. Once we were high enough that nobody could hear us, I paused. “Young Hosh, I don’t understand about Mr. A’Kee. LooCee and C’Tis call him Papa, but I know Papa C’Tis was LooCee’s papa, but he died. Why do they call Mr. A’Kee Papa?”
Young Hosh grinned at me. “I asked Dau that question. He said that when he was tiny his papa and mama died just like LooCee’s mama and papa died. He said lots of people died and whole villages of children didn’t have papas and mamas, so some people who didn’t have children, took them as their own. A’Kee and U’Nice took LooCee and Martha and Dau and all the others.”
I thought my head would explode. “I didn’t know outsiders were like that— taking care of children and stuff. I thought they were…well…stupid and cruel and would run off and leave their babies behind like Young C’Tis’s wife.”
N’Ra said, “A’Ln told me that some people do leave their children or beat them, but that’s rare. He says most people are like A’Kee and want to take care of children. He says outsiders aren’t clumsy or cruel and that people are the same everywhere.” 
We arrived at the pass just as the van with the little children stopped at the turn-around. Mrs. T’vun was there to gather her two little children. Young Hosh took his younger brother on his hip and N’Ra took her two younger sisters. Mrs. T’Vun said, “H’Na, help me with my little ones. T’Kee is such a big boy I can’t carry him and his sister.”
I wanted to tell Mrs. T’Vun to make her spoiled boy walk, but I wanted to be a nice person like LooCee and her sisters. I remembered how A’Ln and Dau helped with the little children and wondered where Young T’Vun was. Instead of talking back, I picked up the little girl, then took the Hoshs’ youngest, H’Lee. 
When H’Lee was born, Grandmama had asked me to help her. I felt like H’Lee was part mine because I’d handed Grandmama cloths and herbs while she checked the baby’s progress.
Both of the children in my arms held a piece of paper with colored marks on it. I was surprised that the teachers let the babies hold a colorer. I scowled. “What is the word for the colored things for making pictures?”
H’Ree answered. “Crayon. I had a black crayon and a green crayon and a brown crayon. See, I made demon’s heads on my paper.”
I grinned at H’Ree’s picture of the ugly little thorns that got stuck in bare feet and goats mouths if we weren’t carful. How nice it would be to have shoes and never get a thorn stuck in my foot. “Those do look just like demon’s heads.” 
The other children held up their papers for me to see. T’Kee said, “I drew goats.” His paper held a big goat surrounded by three baby goats. Yes, he would draw a picture of triplets. The T’Vun goats dropped more triplets than anybody else’s.
I set T’Ka on the ground at the T’Vun’s gate and followed N’Ra and Young Hosh down the path to their house. 
Once home, I had to hurry to fetch water, then pat bean flour and milk into cakes for our dinner. Mama had to hustle to tend the goats while Grandmama fussed in her garden. When we all sat down on the floor to eat, all we could talk about was school. 
Mama said, “U’Nice told me she’d teach me to drive the van. I don’t know about that. It goes so fast, I’m not sure it’s natural.” She tapped Papa on the wrist. “And don’t think you’ve missed all the excitement. Tomorrow, the van will take everybody who didn’t see the movie today down the mountain to see it. And Uncle C’Tis can read and write. Isn’t that amazing?”
Grandmama interrupted Mama. “Miss Martha wants me to teach the outside students about plants. She says they need to know which ones they can eat and which ones are poison. I’m going to be a teacher—imagine that.”
Mama interrupted Grandmama. “Uncle C’Tis invited H’Na to visit his granddaughters. She’s going to teach them our language. She and N’Ra are to spend the night with his girls sometimes.”
Mama took a breath, so Papa got a chance to speak. “H’Na is needed at home. Who will fetch the water if she stays at school all the time? We need her to tend the baby goats.”
Grandmama slapped the floor beside her. “H’Na is going to learn outsider ways. She’s going to learn how the outsiders made C’Tis’s baby well when I thought she’d die. H’Na is going to go to school like Young LooCee does. We are T’Niks. A member of the T’Nik family will not do less than any of the C’Tis family. If that means she stays with the girls at school, she’ll stay with the girls at school. You can carry the water and tend the baby goats.” She glared at Papa. 
My head spun. I was going to learn outsider ways? I was going to go to school away from home? I would leave everything and everybody I knew? The last of my bean cake turned to dust in my mouth. “Papa, I’ll carry water before I go to bed tonight, then I’ll put the baby goats away. If I keep up with my chores while I’m here, there won’t be much for you to do when I stay at school.”
I stood and grabbed an empty bucket waiting by the door. I almost ran to the spring. I didn’t want to hear any more talk about sending me away to school. I’d seen a picture of LooCee’s school in the city. It was huge. Staying with Martha and Nicole would be fun, but going to that huge school in the city was unthinkable. I carried my bucket of water up to the goat pen and poured it in their pool. 
Tears flowed down my cheeks. I didn’t know what to think. Why had Papa been so eager to marry me off to T’Vun, but now he said I had too many chores to stay at school? Mama always said she needed me at home, and now she smiled and nodded when Grandmama said I’d go to LooCee’s school. I sniffed and wiped my nose on my bare arm and looked at the goats. They needed more than one bucket of water, so I picked up my bucket and went back to the spring. 
Young T’Vun was sitting beside the spring. He deigned to speak to me. “What are you doing out so late?” 
I rolled my eyes at him. Keeping the spring between us, I answered, “Fetching water for the goats. I need to do my chores at night so I can go to school during the day.”
“I’m not going back to any school where they let girls teach.” T’Vun stuck out his lower lip.
I smiled. T’Vun wouldn’t be at school. “It’s probably more important for you to stay home and help your papa.” I backed away, hoping T’Vun wouldn’t try to follow me. 
It was dark by the time I emptied the second bucket of water into the goat’s pool. I could see well enough by starlight. I should get more water for the house, but T’Vun might still be at the spring. I went home. 
When I came through the door, Mama said, “That’s enough chores for tonight, H’Na. The teachers told us that you would need to go to bed early because learning is hard work, and you’ll need all the sleep you can get.”
I nodded. “Is that why I feel so tired? I learned so much today, I’m ready to burst.” I scowled. “Maybe T’Vun doesn’t want to go to school because it made him tired.” 
Grandmama answered from her place on the rug in front of the fire. “T’Vun doesn’t want to go to school because Young C’Tis scolded him for not wanting to have Miss Martha for a teacher.” Grandmama chuckled. “I don’t think Miss Martha is going to marry T’Vun despite what he thinks.” 
Mama snorted. “He’ll have trouble finding a wife among those outsider women. Their men work hard and are kind.” Mama glanced at Papa, then turned to her mama. “Did you see how A’Ln made the little Hosh boys laugh?”
I went to my bed behind the fireplace with my head spinning so much I could barely stand. I sank down on my goat skin and cradled my head on my arm. Ideas still churned in my brain. I tried to sort out all I’d learned. Words like crayons jostled for attention with ideas like spending the night with Martha and Nicole. Hannah was my outsider name. Martha said it was a good name. T’Vun wouldn’t be at school. Good. I reached out and touched my school clothes laying on the floor beside me. I wasn’t going to marry T’Vun. I was going to go to school like the outsiders do. I smiled remembering H’Ree’s picture of the demon’s heads. There was so much to learn at school. 
Papa’s voice drifted to me on the night air. “I’ll fill the water buckets.” 
I felt his footsteps vibrate through the floor. 
Papa. I always thought Papa made the rules in our family. Grandmama is respected because she’s the healer, but I thought Papa made the rules. Tonight, Grandmama had made the rules and papa obeyed. My eyes drifted closed. Grandmama made the rule. There was lots to learn at school, but just maybe, there was enough to learn in my own home if I just kept my eyes open. 



To learn more about Hannah's school and how Grandpapa C'Tis got all those grandchildren Read Lucy Goes Home. https://www.amazon.com/Lucy-Goes-Home-Sewer-Book-ebook/dp/B07JYKKSF1/ref

I hate goats, especially baby goats that jump off of rocks and twist their legs. I’d been sent up to the goat pen to hand feed one that couldn’t stand up to feed from his mama. The stupid creature in my arms butted my wrist once again, knocking the flask and nipple I was using to feed him out of my hand. My wrist was bruised and hurting from his stupid butting. When I reached for the flask, he struggled to free himself from my lap. His hooves scratched and tore at my bare legs and stomach, causing a streak of red blood to rise across my stomach. Great, now I’d have to treat that, or it would fester. 

I picked up the flask and held the nipple near his mouth. “Listen, you stupid thing, we’re going to eat you if you don’t learn how to feed, and I hate young meat.” I scowled at the goat in my lap. Could I find an old goat skin or something to cover myself, so the goats didn’t hurt me when I had to take care of them? The dairy woman had a skirt she wore to protect herself from the goats.

I curled my lip, still feeling grumpy, as the nasty beast in my lap finally began to suckle. I’d been cross in the house, so I got sent up to the goat enclosure to feed this stupid animal. Anyway, I’d had good reason to be angry. Papa was trying to get rid of me.

Grandmama is the local healer. She’d been called out to tend to one of the Hosh children who had a cough. They all always had coughs or injuries—all ten of them. 

Mama was in the high pasture delivering triplets. Why was it that the T’Vuns’ goats dropped triplets? They already had more goats than the rest of the village put together. 

Anyway, Papa told me to fetch the water, then grind the beans, then take some cheese to Mama T’Vun. That was when I blew up. “I already fetched the water. The buckets are full. The beans are ground, and I won’t go near the T’Vun house because I will not marry Young T’Vun. I’d rather marry Young C’Tis even if he has nothing. He’s ten times better than Young T’Vun.” 

I’d never really marry Young C’Tis. That family wasn’t lucky and they were very poor, which is what made my threat so insulting to the wealthy T’Vun family.

Papa didn’t try to remind me that Young C’Tis had a woman. Everybody knew she’d left and wasn’t coming back, leaving him with a new baby to care for. Papa said, “H’Na, go get the injured goat and give him some fresh milk from the big crock.”

I stomped off. Why was my papa so eager to get rid of me? Mrs. T’Vun had asked for me to live with them twice since I became a woman, but Mama had put her off saying I was needed at home. Mama didn’t want me to leave. It was Papa.

The goat in my arms fell asleep. Baby goats aren’t so bad when they’re sleeping. I laid him on a bed of fresh straw and stood. Blood still trickled from the cut on my stomach. I’d need to clean it and stop the bleeding, or the cut would fester. 

Movement at the pass caught my eye. Perhaps Young C’Tis was coming for milk for his baby. I watched. No. The grey head of Old C’Tis emerged around the rock. I scowled. Old C’Tis had wrapped a bit of goat skin around his hips. Was he injured? Did I need to fetch Grandmama? I didn’t see signs of blood, and he had been able to climb the mountain. Maybe he just had a bit of pain in his joints and thought that would help. Old people had funny ideas like if you wrapped your legs in goat skin you could run and jump like a goat. I knew that was nonsense. I’d let Grandmama finish her work at the Hoshs’ house. 

Needing to tend my cut, I made my way into Grandmama’s herb garden. I’d need something to stop the bleeding, then something to hold the sides of the cut together. A row of tall plants Grandmama used for digestive troubles blocked most of my view of the path.

As I found the leaves I wanted, I saw Old C’Tis pause and hold back a branch. I thought maybe he had someone with him, but no, from what I could see through the leaves of a willow, it was a strange creature—perhaps a new breed of goat? I held the cleansing leaves to my wound as I bent down to pick the lichen that would stop the bleeding. I could see the lower half of the thing with C’Tis. It walked on two legs like a person, but its hind feet were black. The hooves had no toes. The legs were long and blue. The thing had a black stripe around its middle. I tilted my head trying to make sense of what I saw, then my burning skin drew my attention back to my wound. 

I wanted to follow and look at the thing with Old C’Tis, but my cut demanded immediate attention. 
As I walked back to our house all I could see of the strange thing was the top of its head. It stood taller than Old C’Tis. The top of its head was mottled blue. I really wanted to touch its skin, but that would be rude. I saw Papa and Old T’Vun working in the fields. They pretended not to see Old C’Tis with his strange creature. I wondered if looking at something belonging to Old C’Tis would bring bad luck. He’d been very unlucky. 

I pondered the nature of luck as I returned to the house. Why did everything Old C’Tis touched die, while the T’Vuns’ goats dropped healthy triplets? Luck wasn’t very fair. It wasn’t fair that I got hurt obeying my papa, and taking care of a helpless creature. It wasn’t fair that Young C’Tis’s wife left him. She’d been from outside the mountains, and Grandmama said that happens with people from outside. They’re different from us.

I glanced out the front door toward the path. Old C’Tis must be going to the dairy woman for milk. Maybe he intended to trade his strange creature for milk for the baby. If they made a trade, then I could sneak into the dairy woman’s shed and touch this thing. 

I finally got most of my bleeding stopped, then poked through grandmama’s supplies to find some sap to hold the sides of the cut together. The sticky stuff from the scrubnut bush helped to protect a cut, but it was sticky. By tomorrow, I’d have a line of seeds, goat hair, dirt, and leaves across my stomach. I’d have to clean the wound again. Grandmama insisted that wounds must be kept clean.

Once I had my skin glued back together, I decided I’d go looking for Grandma at the Hoshs’ house. The oldest Hosh girl, N’Ra, was my age. We were friends, or rather comrades, in our resistance to marrying Young T’Vun. With so many children in their family, something exciting was always happening at the Hoshs’ house.

I broke into a run, arriving at the door of the Hoshs’ house just as Grandmama was putting her medicines back in her bag. “Grandmama, I’ve finished all my chores. Is there something else you want me to do?”

Grandmama glanced sideways at me. “Why don’t you stay here and help N’Ra. Her mama has enough to do to take care of Young Hosh.”

I gave Grandmama a hug. She knew I wanted to visit with N’Ra. I sat beside my friend and took the bowl of beans she was grinding into flour from her hands. “You’re lucky to get to grind beans. I had to feed a baby goat. Look how he bruised my arm, and he cut me open with his hoof.” I displayed my bruise and cut for N’Ra’s inspection. Her younger sisters crowded close and ooohed and ahhhed over my injuries. I smiled at the two little girls.

I waited until Mama Hosh went outside before I brought up the subject that piqued my curiosity. “Did you see Old C’Tis today?”

“No. I went up the creek to pick leaves for my brother. Did he come to clean the dairy woman’s barn?”

The two little girls crowded close and interrupted each other to tell me their story. “We saw him.” The older one grabbed my bruised arm for attention.

“We saw him.” The younger one echoed. I remembered when she was born and was somewhat surprised she could talk so well at her age. 

She said, “He had a pet bird with him.” 

The older sister who was less than a year older said, “No, it wasn’t a bird, it was a goat.”

“No. Bird.”

“It was huge.” They said together.

N’Ra sat beside me and molded bean flour and water into cakes to be fried for their dinner. I tried to add what I knew to the story. “I was in the herb garden and didn’t get a good look at it, but I saw its feet. They were black and it didn’t have toes or claws.”

The little girls sat on the floor and watched out the doorway. The younger said, “It was a pretty bird.”

The older got in her sister’s face. “I heard it. It sounded almost like a person, but I couldn’t make out any words.”

I decided to tell them a story. “Once a big grey and green bird had a nest in a tree in our upper pasture. I swear that thing sounded just like my Mama calling me, “H’Na, H’Na.” I’d go home only to find everybody out working and Mama hadn’t called me. The bird was a trickster. Maybe this bird is a trickster. Such a strange looking thing must be full of tricks.”

Screams and cries prevented me from telling another story about tricksters. I set the beans down and followed N’RA to the door. The little girls had bolted ahead of us and ran down the path to meet their brothers. H’Kun and H’Ka were half carrying H’Ree who was kicking and screaming his head off worse than a baby goat. 

N’Ra and I ran to meet the boys. H’Kun shouted the problem to us. “He stepped on some Demon’s Heads.”

Their mama came behind me. “How many times have I told you not to take the little ones into the upper pasture where those things grow? His feet are too tender for stepping on those things.”

H’Ka explained. “We didn’t. These were in the lower pasture, right by the gate.”

N’Ra took her younger brother in her arms, and he quieted down enough that we could hear Papa Hosh. “You boys, go get a digging stick and get those thorns out of that pasture. Be sure to get all the root.”

I looked up from examining H’Ree’s foot. “Bring me the roots. I’ll take them home to Grandmama. We can use them for wounds that fester.” I looked back at the injured foot. “I think I can get these out, so we won’t have to bother Grandmama.”

N’Ra carried her crying brother into their house, putting him down on the floor close to the fire. 

I held the foot with the savage thorns in it in my lap. “The trick to getting these out is to unscrew them. They’re barbed so pulling them straight out just makes them cling tighter.” I set to work. To distract H’Ree I asked, “Did you see the big bird Old C’Tis had with him?”

He wiggled with excitement, causing me to drop his foot. He was as squirmy as a baby goat. “It wasn’t a bird. It was a demon. It was all red in the face, and it tricked the dairy woman out of two pitchers of milk.”

N’Ra held her brother’s foot still while I worked. I asked, “Why do you think it was a demon?”

H’Ree said, “Its face was red. Its skin was blue, and it tricked the dairy woman.”

I smiled. “Yes. I guessed it was a trickster, but that doesn’t make it a demon.”

N’Ra’s mama returned, scolding over her shoulder at her oldest son. “I don’t care if you’ve stopped coughing for now. You hold that cup under your nose and breathe that steam until it stops steaming, then I’ll heat it up until it steams again.” She shook her head, then looked at us. “How many thorns did he pick up? I swear those things spring up overnight.”

I answered, “I got one out. This one is almost out, and I see two more. Grandmama has something to rub on the foot to stop the pain.

Papa Hosh came to the door and interrupted us. “Well, we have news. Old C’Tis’s granddaughter has returned from a convent—whatever that is. He brought her up here, and she gave the dairy woman a blessed wrist band so she’ll have good fortune.”

The gorge rose up in my throat, remembering the strange creature with Old C’Tis. Was that thing really his granddaughter? “What happened to her that she looked so deformed? She doesn’t have toes, and her feet are black like they were burned.” I thought about the charred remains of the C’Tis house. Had this girl been inside when the fire started?

Mrs Hosh shook her head. “I’ve been so busy with Young Hosh. He could hardly breathe. I only got a brief look at her.”

H’Ree finally forgot about the pain in his foot. “I saw her face. It was red like tree bark at sunrise.”

Mr. Hosh said from the door, “Aye, I saw her too. Walked with her head down and kept her face hidden, she did.” He looked at N’Ra and myself. “You two be nice to her no matter what horrible thing happened to her and no matter what she looks like. Getting his girl back is the first decent thing that has happened to Old C’Tis since the fever came.”
 
I waited until N’Ra’s parents went out again then leaned closer to her. “Maybe we can get T’Vun to marry her.”

N’Ra snorted. “Seems like she’s had enough trouble in this world without being burdened with T’Vun.”

“You’re kinder than I am. Still, I think this is a sign that things are going to change. Maybe neither of us will have to marry T’Vun.”

“I hope so.”

That night I went to bed full of excitement that things were changing. 

The night sky was filled with light and smoke from the flames consuming the C’Tis house. Standing outside the house, I heard the the cries of a baby. I watched Papa C’Tis, who looked just like Young C’Tis, run into the flames then emerge covered in fire himself. He fell at my feet dropping the bundle he carried. The baby’s feet were burned and blackened. I watched as the toes fell off, being nothing more than ash. The baby’s face was burned fire red. Old C’Tis pushed me aside and grabbed up the baby, wrapping it in a goat skin. “I’ll take her to the convent.” He ran down the mountain.

 Grandmama said. “It is a sign. Change is coming.”

I woke up covered in sweat and sick to my stomach from my dream. I could smell smoke. Papa came in from outside. “The goats are safely locked up for the night.”

Mama answered, “The wild dogs sounded closer than usual. Should we build up our fire?”

Grandmama said. “No need to waste fuel. They may be high up in the mountains, but their cries are carrying down the valleys.” She was silent, then opened the door to look outside. “Aye, when the wild dogs cry like that it’s a sign that change is coming.”

The next morning, I saw Young Hosh with N’RA carrying buckets to fetch water from the spring. He never helped her carry water, so I knew something was happening. I grabbed our buckets. One still had some water, so I sloshed that over the front step to wash down the dust and met the others at the trail. 

Young Hosh had a plan. “I figure that if we hurry with our chores, we can sneak out and go down to the big rock above Old C’Tis’s place and get a look at that strange girl.”

The plan sounded good to me. “If we all go to the pass together, we’ll get caught.” I looked at Young Hosh. “Why don’t you take the water to the workers in the fields then meet us at the pass?”

N’Ra volunteered. “Papa’s been nagging me for days to take some wool over to the T’Vun house. I can drop that off and meet you at the pass from there.”

My part of the plan was the weakest. “I guess I can take our goat with the sore leg for a walk on the trail. He follows me everywhere now. I’ll just walk on the trail and stop to check his leg every so often.”

The plan almost worked. Young Hosh made it to the pass without anybody noticing him. N’Ra delivered the wool. I made a good show of giving the baby goat water at the spring and feeling his leg. I started toward the pass again and the goat followed, bleating his lungs out. “Hush you stupid animal. Go to your mama.”

The animal wasn’t going to his mama and he wouldn’t be quiet. I tried giving him some scrubnut leaves to shut him up. He ate them then let out a bleat and danced down the path in front of me. I made a show of following the animal and trying to examine his leg. Everybody could see me, but they ignored me.

The T’Vun family owned the land right up to the pass, which made it slightly more dangerous reaching our goal. I didn’t like being so close to anywhere Young T’Vun might find me—not that he acted any more eager to marry me than I was to marry him.

N’Ra and Young Hosh were waiting for me when I reached the pass. We slipped around the big rock and ran smack into Young T’Vun.

I let out a squeak and tried to hide behind Young Hosh.

T’Vun ignored me. “What are you doing? You’re not supposed to be outside the village.”

I thought quickly and rolled my eyes. “Grandmama sent us to look for more leaves for Hosh’s cough. He has to have some every day.”

Young T’Vun said, “You’re lying. You’re trying to look at Old C’Tis’s granddaughter. I’m telling papa.”

Hosh narrowed his eyes at T’Vun. “What? Is that what you’re doing here? You don’t have any business here, and we do. H’Na is the healer’s daughter, so she’s helping us find the leaves I need for my cough, and N’Ra is supposed to carry them home. We have a good reason to be here, but you don’t.”

I nodded and echoed Hosh’s words. “Grandmama, cough, leaves.”

N’Ra picked at a scab on her hip. “I was gathering leaves yesterday and didn’t see LooCee. What does she look like?”

T’Vun opened and closed his mouth. Finally, he pushed past us. “I’m telling papa that you’re here.”

I shrugged and looked toward the spring where the creek that fed C’Tis’s land was hidden by weeds. The baby goat that had followed me had already discovered the fresh greens growing by the water and was nibbling away. I pointed. “There. If we look there, we might find some of the right kind of leaves.”

T’Vun pushed past us calling, “Papa, H’Na, N’Ra and Young Hosh are trying to sneak down to Old C’Tis’s house to look at his granddaughter.”

The three of us dashed for the spring and were innocently sorting through the weeds when Papa T’Vun found us. “All of you, go home. This is Old C’Tis’s land and you’ll get sick just being here. It’s unlucky. Bad spirits hide in this place.”

Defeated, we turned toward home. I shrugged. “I’ll tell Grandmama we didn’t find any leaves.”

N’Ra kept to our story. “The ground here isn’t as wet as it was where I was picking yesterday. Maybe that plant needs wet ground.”

Papa T’Vun followed each of us to our houses. He told Grandmama. “I caught H’Na outside the pass. She and that Hosh girl were trying to see Old C’Tis’s granddaughter.”

I countered, “N’Ra thought maybe there would be leaves for Young Hosh’s cough near the spring there. We were looking for leaves.”

Grandmama skewered me with her eyes. “They don’t grow there this time of year. You’ll have to wait until after the rains come, then we’ll trade some cheese for the leaves. Now, go put that goat in the pen with his mama, then I want you to card some wool.”

I didn’t hate carding wool as much as I hated feeding baby goats.

Finally, after two days of burning curiosity about the new girl, the Shaman called a village meeting. Our meeting place was a circle of stones set in the hillside above the spring. On our way to the meeting, I tried to beg Papa to ask the questions I wanted answered. “Ask him about Old C’Tis’s granddaughter. Has she been in a fire? Why are her feet black? Why doesn’t she have toes? Why is her face so red? What is wrong with her skin that it’s blue?”

Papa kept walking without saying anything to me.

The shaman sat at the most important place in the meeting circle. Old T’Vun sat beside the shaman. My grandmother as the healer was the only woman given a rock in the circle. The other women sat behind their husbands or fathers. I was lucky because my mama sat behind her mama right next to the shaman. I sat right behind Papa. I was closer to the shaman than Young T’Vun who sat behind his papa sitting behind Old T’Vun.

The shaman opened the meeting by asking the wind for wisdom, then he rang his bell. When he finished his ritual, the elders, including my papa, responded by shaking their wooden clackers. 

Finally, the shaman got down to business. “I visited my friend, Old C’Tis, today. His granddaughter, LooCee has returned to the convent, promising to return. She took the baby with her. The baby will be cared for. Young C’Tis grieves for his child, but LooCee, gave him coins to travel to the city to visit her and the baby. After the harvest, if she hasn’t returned with the baby, I’ll show Young C’Tis how to find his sister and child. This is good. It’s time for the young people to learn about the outside world. C’Tis will be the first to visit outside in two generations.”  He droned on about the outside world and about C’Tis having been out once before to find LooCee in her convent. I wiggled my toes. Maybe I could see the outside world. What would it be like? With my luck, it would be filled with goats everywhere.

Grandmama told me the fever that killed the C’Tis family came from outside the mountains. I had visions of dead people laying beside the paths and the village littered with houses that had been burned like the C’Tis house had been to get rid of the fever. 

When the shaman finally finished telling us how good it would be for the young people to know about the outside world, my stupid papa sat with his head bowed and didn’t ask any of the questions I’d asked him. I found N’Ra’s eyes then rolled my eyes toward Young T’Vun. If we were to see the outside world, maybe neither of us would have to marry that stupid boy.

N’Ra knew my thoughts. She glanced toward T’Vun then up at the evening sky in agreement. We were not going to marry Young T’Vun.

N’Ra leaned around her mother and poked her papa.

Old Hosh shook his wooden clacker, indicating that he wanted to speak. “About Old C’Tis’s granddaughter. We saw her when she came to our village. It would help the young people to be kind to her if they knew how she got hurt.”

The shaman leaned forward. “Hurt?”

Old Hosh nodded. “Her feet have been burned. She doesn’t have toes. Her skin is blue and grey as if she were dead, and her face is all red.”

The shaman chewed on his lower lip. Sitting as close to him as I was, I could see his eyes crinkled at the corners as if something tickled him. “This is a good time to learn about covering. After the big flood, I lived outside of the mountains for a few years and learned the ways of people outside. There, people cover their bodies with cloth and leather. I was taught that this helps stop the spread of fevers. I wore covering. It protected my skin when I might have gotten a cut, so I didn’t get festers.” He glanced at my grandmama. 

Grandmama bowed her head in agreement with his words. Had she ever been outside? Did she know outsider ways?

The shaman took up his lesson again. “Where many people live close together, they don’t know who belongs to whom. They cover their bodies to show which family they belong to. Also, in a convent, the nuns, as they are called, are very careful about covering. They wear only black robes. LooCee covers much like the nuns, but she doesn’t wear black, and her covering shows the shape of her legs. This tells us she is not a nun.”

Old Hosh might be the poorest man in our village, but he might be the best papa. He asked, “Why was her face so red? Does she cover her face too?”

The shaman ran his hand over his mouth and the crinkles at the corners of his eyes deepened. “Young LooCee has most probably never seen a man uncovered before. Old C’Tis and Young C’Tis were told she couldn’t come see them if they didn’t cover their loins the whole time she was here. If she was red in the face, it was because she felt uncomfortable about seeing a man uncovered. The important lesson is that if we are to have contact with the outside world, we must respect their customs and religion.” The shaman stopped smiling and grew very stern. “We must never come between others and their spiritual practices. Covering is a spiritual practice in the outside world.”

Hosh furrowed his brow. “But if LooCee comes to live with her grandpapa, will we have to set a watch at the pass to tell us when to cover?”

The shaman held up his bell. “In our own homes and in our own village, we may live as we always have. When we go where the outsiders live, we will do as they do and cover.” He rang his bell. The elders shook their clackers.

I smiled at my toes and wondered if covering my feet like LooCee did would keep them from hurting so much when the stupid goats stepped on me. How could I cover my feet?

Old T’Vun shook his clacker to speak. He sat up straight. “When we go outside our valley, my family will cover.” He turned to his daughter in-law. “My daughter has a robe that came from the outside. She will cover with that when she meets outsiders.”

Mrs T’Vun tilted her head this way and that toward the circle of villagers. A smirk covered her face.

My lip curled. I would never live in the same house as that woman. Someday, I’d travel outside the mountains, seeing new things and when I covered, I’d find something better than Mrs T’Vuns old robe. I glanced at N’Ra. She smiled back at me. We’d have adventures together and learn new stuff. I hoped LooCee would be our friend. 

LooCee, or Lucy as she's called by outsiders, saw H'Na that day. To hear this story from Lucy's perspective, pick up a copy of Lucy Goes Home.  https://www.amazon.com/Lucy-Goes-Home-Sewer-Book-ebook/dp/B07JYKKSF1/ 

The problem started when we moved into our new house. It’s probably important to note that we built this house. It sits at the edge of acres of woods. Nobody has lived or died here since at least 1850 when the native population was moved to Fox Island.


For scientific purposes, I should also note that I live on an island in the Puget Sound, or using the native name, the Salish Sea. The island is accessible only by boat or small plane. We have tectonic faults in the earth’s crust all through this area. The house itself sits at the edge of acres and acres of forest.


Our island has had at least two well-documented unusual phenomena. The Maury Island Incident that inspired the flying saucer frenzy and the term Men In Black occurred less than five miles from my house. https://www.mauryislandincident.com The Vashon Hum was so loud it would wake me up at two in the morning. https://www.seattlepi.com/local/sound/article/What-exactly-is-the-Vashon-Hum-891697.php 


When our spoons started going missing, I was mildly annoyed about losing spoons. Was Hubby accidentally putting them in the trash while clearing the table? I watched for the spoons feeling slightly disoriented. 


My irritation turned to curiosity when I was putting away silverware from the dishwasher. I had too many forks. I purchased the tableware in packages of six place settings per package, buying two sets. I should have twelve forks, twelve spoons and twelve knives. I had five spoons and fourteen forks. All of the forks were of the same pattern. I counted and recounted, even comparing the names on the back. They’re the same but they shouldn’t be here.


I continued to dismiss the problem as having a perfectly rational explanation. My fork collection grew to eighteen forks. Also, I now had fourteen knives and three spoons. Okay, I started to get a little spooked. Feeling disoriented, I made up a story about a vortex in the woods outside our fence. That is, I tell myself I made up the story. We’ve been pretending to laugh about the vortex for years. Thinking about the phenomenon is confusing to the point where I feel like I’m floating or dissociating.


Occasionally, things have gone missing, then reappeared right in the spot where they belonged. We tried to dismiss the disappearances through rational explanations. Had we loaned our daughter or the neighbor that tool, and they put it away in the right place when they returned it? This was a plausible and comforting thought until we fact-checked by asking our daughter if she’d just returned the post-hole digger. Nope. She hadn’t borrowed it. Checking in with the neighbor wasn’t any more comforting. No. He hadn’t used it for a couple years. I gave the post-hole digger the side-eye and felt anxiety creeping around me.


Once, when Hubby had a broken leg, I hired a worker to help him with some chores. I was puttering around when the worker came to me and asked where Hubby was. He had a question and couldn’t find him. I was slightly alarmed that perhaps Hubby had fallen and couldn’t get up. The two of us dropped everything and started searching. We searched for Hubby for fifteen minutes. Finally, I found him hobbling around the end of the house. I asked where he’d been. He had no idea that over fifteen minutes had passed since he left the garage. He insisted that he’d only been walking from the garage to the garden shed—a short trek that would leave him in full view of us, but would take him along the outer edge of the vortex. I shuddered. Surely, had he fallen, we would have found him. I worried about Hubby’s health for several years, but we haven’t had another incident of him disappearing—at least not for a full fifteen minutes.


I don’t know if the stories I write fit into this strange phenomenon or not. Being basically a scientist, I’d never written fiction until after we moved in here. First, I started to have daydreams about people and places. The daydreams grew so vivid I decided to write them down and see if I could make a coherent story out of the fantasies. I know that the people living in my head aren’t part of our reality, but I have no control over them or what they do. When I type The End at the end of their story, they seem happy, then continue on with their lives. I can mentally drop in on them at any time and find them going about their daily chores the same as any of my neighbors go about their daily chores. Using my imagination, I can’t make them do anything different from what they’re doing. Jake has returned to his own home at this time, and I can’t make him go back to Canada. He just laughs and assures me they’ll visit his in-laws next summer. (Note for those who know Jake: He’s teaching law at the university and training interns in the prosecutor’s office. He loves both jobs.)


Of course, eventually, I began to question my perceptions of reality. It’s all fun and games to talk about a vortex in the woods until things just don’t make sense. Everybody loses silverware, but extra matching pieces appearing out of nowhere just isn’t right. The proper thing for me to do at this point was to do a reality check. I started asking people for their opinions on what was happening with the silverware. Some people visited my woods and said they definitely felt an unusual energy there. They agree it’s a positive and healing force. Some people have insisted there must be a logical explanation, but they don’t know what it is. Other people have directed me to various folk stories, paranormal theories and spiritual beliefs. These folks make as much sense as those who dismiss the phenomenon as having an unknown logical explanation. I’ve gained some sense of peace in knowing that people have long talked about forces beyond our ability to measure. Still, I’m wary around the edges of the vortex.


Today has been a perfect example of my problem. Several weeks ago, I decided to set up the light I use for SAD in the winter. I went out to the sunroom to get it. I couldn’t find it in the cabinet where I thought I put it. I searched the whole house, garage, and sunroom. I couldn’t find it. Hubby searched the whole house, sunroom and garage. Our daughter joined the search. We’ve all searched the cupboards in the sunroom where the light is supposed to be stored. Yesterday, I searched again. I opened the low cupboard and got down on my hands and knees to look inside. It was mostly empty except for some vases and plastic cups. I looked at the plastic cups and thought I could use them to hold flowers at my farm stand. I neglected to close the doors tightly, thinking I’d have to get into the cupboard soon to get the cups. 


Today, I had room in the dishwasher to wash those plastic cups, so I went out to the sunroom to get them. I swung open the cupboard door. There in plain view was the light we’d been searching for for weeks. I only found one of the plastic cups I’d gone out to  get. I set the one cup aside to get to my light and bring it in. I set the light on the table where it belongs in the winter and went out to get the cups to wash. The cups were not in the cupboard. Even the cup I’d just handled was nowhere to be found. I’m delighted to have the very expensive light back, but where in the multiverse are the cups that were in that cupboard yesterday?  The Vortex.

To read Henry's side of this date and find out if Henry is the drunk Ugly thinks he is, and if Alice ever gets a little hanky pinky, get a copy of Henry Fortenac.  Available in paperback and for Kindle.https://www.amazon.com/Henry-Fortenac-MTK-Sewer-Book-ebook/dp/B088FZ6WC3/

Cutting


The lining and filter - The polyethylene (Pe) is lightweight and a bit unruly to work with. The polypropylene (Pp) is a bit stiff. I decided to work with the filter layers and lining layer as all one piece making a Flining* (filter and lining as one piece). I worked with just enough fabric to make both halves of one Flining* at a time— About 7” X 11”.

To control the materials before cutting, I stacked them cotton right side out on the bottom, 2 layers polyethylene (Pe), 4 layers Pp, and 2 layers Pe. I used clothes pins to hold them together until I got all the layers even then I pinned them. I used a marking pen to draw around my pattern directly on the Pe. Before cutting, I machine basted around the outside of my cutting line then finally inside my cutting line along the seam allowance. Working with the filter pieces and lining as all one piece made construction easier.

The outside layer is a larger piece, single layer.​

Insane Note. Why in the sixty-five years I’ve been sewing has it never ever occurred to me to draw the cutting lines directly on the fabric from a card-stock pattern that doesn’t shift and fly all over the place?

Fitting
At this point, attaching the face mask is going to be a matter of preference. Some people are going to like the elastic. Some people are allergic to the latex in the elastic. My favorite tie consisted of a 30” piece of ribbon threaded through the casing for the elastic. Tack the tie down through the casing to keep it from slipping out of the casing. I tied this at the top-back of my head, then pulled the bottom of the tie tight at the nape of my neck. This allowed me to adjust the mask under my glasses and get a secure fit. The sides of the mask should gather up a little. ​

Hubby’s been wearing the mask with the elastic bands but had some issues around his glasses. Perhaps people with glasses will prefer the ties to get a closer fit with less slippage.

Washing.

For our first mask, my daughter pre-washed the fabric on warm as is normal for pre-washing. She wore her mask, then washed it on hot water dried it on hot. The fabric shrunk slightly causing the mask to fit differently. We’re pre-washing on hot now. 
Alternatives

My daughter and I are also making covers for N-95 masks using the same pattern with  two layers of cotton fabric without the polypropylene (Pp) filter. ​

I’ve considered making surgical style masks to give away. I may decide to put some Pe in there just because I like the moisture control. As I mentioned last week, moisture is a huge problem in the two layer surgical style cloth mask.

 Chapter 1: Timmy’s Locker Blackfish WA
 Timmy’s Locker, the local restaurant, smelled of fried fish that made my mouth water and my stomach growl. I wondered if I should knock on the sliding wood door to the banquet room or just go in. I felt slightly anxious about joining the Blackfish Writer’s Club, but Timmy had suggested it as a way to keep occupied on the one night a week my new hubby stayed in Seattle while I worked in Blackfish.
A whiny voice carried through the battered wood door. “I know more about what’s really happening than the generals at the Pentagon. They only know what the illuminati tell them.”
I stared wide-eyed at the door. That didn’t sound like writers discussing punctuation. Was I in the right place? Didn’t Timmy say the writer’s group met on Wednesdays? I slid the door aside and peeked around the corner. 
Timmy jumped to his feet. “Maude, come in. Have a seat.” He pulled out a chair at an oval table large enough to seat a party of twenty. As I approached the chair, Timmy pointed and introduced the other writers huddled around one end of the large table. “Enid is our chair. She’s traditionally-published several romances and is writing a fantasy story now.”
Enid was chewing  her stubby fingernail. “Pastor, nice to meet you. Actually, my book isn’t completely fantasy. My characters are fae, but they interact with our world.”
I liked Enid’s slightly unkempt appearance. “Do you let people read what you’ve written so far?”
“Certainly, I always need beta readers to catch inconsistencies and commas. How are you at using commas?”
I grinned, “About as good as anybody. Those things are nasty.”
Timmy pointed again. “This is Jane, our poet.”
I nodded. “Oh, I know you. I met you at Skunk and Cricket’s house. Your hubby works for Willits-Manion with Skunk.”
Jane leaned forward to shake hands with me across the table, trailing the end of her scarf in the cup of coffee in front of her.
Timmy indicated the man beside Jane. “Carl is our science fiction writer.”
I nodded at Carl who was across the table, too far away to shake hands with.
Larkin lifted his index finger as if asking for attention in a classroom. “I’ve met you at my Uncle Glen’s house. You’re the pastor who lives down from them. I’m writing a political expose.”
Carl muttered, “He hasn’t written anything yet.”
Larkin nodded, “I’ve been researching. I want to be careful to do all my research and get my ducks in a row before I start writing.”
As I sat down and opened my little Macbook, Timmy concluded, “Our other members aren’t here yet. Hannah writes wonderful slice of life stories, and Cali writes for the local paper.”
Enid leaned forward. “What are you writing, Pastor?”
“Call me Maudy. I don’t use my title outside of church business. I want to write a collection of alternative worship practices. I’m starting with some of the things I encountered on my honeymoon. Later, I’ll research religious practices in other cultures that can be adapted to our culture to make worship more meaningful to our congregations.”

For the full novel click here: https://www.amazon.com/Blackfish-Writers-Club-Mystery-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B0831SPWF2/