Blind Fury (7 page)

O
N
F
RIDAY
MORNING
, Wakara's alarm went off at 6
A.M.
She hit the snooze button and rolled over, burrowing under the covers. She had another ten minutes before she had to wake Ryan and crawl into the shower. Suddenly she was wide awake. Dad and Greg were leaving today! She tugged on sweatpants and the oversized flannel shirt that served as her bathrobe and hurried into the bathroom. The mirror reflected blotchy skin and red-rimmed eyes.

Last night, she'd finally asked Colin if he would help her put together a presentation for the field trip. He'd said “Sure!” right away, and she had stayed up until two going over the manual Mr. Jaminson had given her. There was only one copy, and Colin would have to read it when she was through.

She washed her face, brushed her teeth, and quickly braided her hair. The shower could wait until after Dad was gone.

She found Ryan in the kitchen wolfing down cold cereal and a thick slice of Anne's whole wheat toast dripping with strawberry jam. Dad stood on the service porch, pushing
his arms into the sleeves of a thick, blue parka. Outside, a horse whinnied, and someone clucked gently, coaxing it into the trailer.

“We're taking Buck and Chief, and one mule.” Dad slipped an arm around her shoulder.

She had wondered which horses they would ride. Both of these were Appaloosas—big, strong, and even more stubborn than the pack mule, but they were surefooted and spook-proof. She nodded. “Good choice. They can handle that rugged terrain.”

She looked up to see Dad's teasing smile. “Well, I'm glad you approve.” He hugged her hard and kissed the top of her head.

He ruffled Ryan's hair before doing the same to him. “Be good, okay?”

Ryan glared into his cereal bowl. “Do I hafta mind Kara?”

“Yes, you have to mind your sister. Anne too. And I'm counting on you to go easy on them.”

“Can I ride Star?”

“Only if someone has time to go with you.” He cupped Ryan's chin in his hand. “And don't drive them crazy asking, got it?”

“I won't.” He hesitated, then said, “Dad?”

“What is it, Tiger?”

“Come home, okay?”

Dad closed his eyes, and the pain on his face made Kara want to cry. Sometimes she forgot that Ryan must be scared of losing Dad too, like they had lost Mom. She knew, though, that their fear only made Dad's job harder.

She crossed the kitchen and gave Ryan's shoulders a gentle squeeze. “Come on, Ry. Time for school. And if it doesn't rain this afternoon, we'll take Star and Lily into the pasture and practice rounding up cows.” She knew she
would probably regret that promise, but it was worth it just to see her little brother's bright smile.

Wakara watched until the truck and trailer pulled out of the drive, then realized they had missed the school bus. Tia's mom came to the rescue again and dropped them all off at school. “You're on your own this afternoon, though,” she warned. “I've got a late meeting.”

“No prob.” Tia kissed her mother on the cheek. “Wakara and I have to do some research on the computer, so I'll be at her house for awhile.”

Kara groaned inwardly. She had forgotten she'd promised Tia they would do another search on the web this afternoon. That paper on the Yahi-Yana Indians was due in three weeks.

She was excited about Tia's project. In her heart she had this dream that their research would prove once and for all who her true ancestors were. But she also had to put together supplies for the survival demonstration. The field trip was scheduled for next Monday, and she and Colin planned to do a trial run tomorrow afternoon. Even without the ride she had promised Ryan, she would be up again until midnight.

“You'll have to go home afterward and get Patches,” she told Tia as they headed for the lockers. “I promised Ryan we would ride.”

It was Tia's turn to groan. “Aiiya! Major pain!”

Kara grinned. “Come on, be a sport. Maybe Ry will turn out to be a good partner for calf roping.”

“In my worst nightmare!” Tia squealed.

The first bell echoed through the hallway. Kara grabbed her History notebook and headed to her least favorite class of the day.

The bus ride home seemed to take forever. By the time she changed clothes, brushed down the horses, and gave Ryan a lesson in saddling Star, it was after five o'clock. The light was fading from the western sky.

“Hurry, Kara. It's getting dark already!”

“Don't worry,” she said, “we've still got a good half hour.”
Please
, she prayed silently. She gave Ryan a leg up, then mounted Lily. Tia and Patches were already loping around the perimeter of the pasture. “Ground's soft,” Tia yelled as she rode by.

Wakara urged Lily forward at a gentle walk, Star right on their heels. He was a trail horse in the summer and used to riding nose to tail. Kara could tell right away that Lily wasn't pleased with that arrangement. The mare nickered and danced, then kicked out.

Ryan yelled, “Hey! Cut it out. You're gonna hurt my horse.”

She had no idea what happened next. She had just turned Lily's nose so they could ride side by side when Star jumped like he'd been stung by a bee and took off across the pasture.

“Hang on!” Kara screamed, but Ryan was already bent over the pony's neck and hanging on for dear life.

Cows scattered everywhere as the frightened pony tore across the pasture. Kara had never seen him move that fast. She kicked Lily and sent her into a dead run. Tia and Patches were riding hard from the opposite direction. If they could get Star between them, he would probably calm down.

But the pony evaded capture by spinning around and heading the other direction at breakneck speed. Kara couldn't believe Ryan was still hanging on. His face, as the pony raced past them, was white as a sheet.

Lily and Patches spun in unison, split one to each side, and herded Star toward the round pen by the barn.

They almost made it.

Lily's gait changed as they reached the softer, muck-covered ground. “Ryan, bale out!” Kara yelled, but she knew he never would. She hadn't taught him yet how to jump, tuck his head, and roll away from the horse.

The soft, hoof-sucking mud must have been too much for Star. The pony never even slowed. He just stopped. Kara watched in horror as her little brother flew out of the saddle, over the horse's head, and landed with a sloshing sound in a mound of manure-soaked muck.

She didn't remember what happened next. But Tia was more than happy to spread the news to everyone in the county.

“Wakara lost it, I swear!” she told Colin and Anne later. “Lily would have stopped, but Wakara bailed out anyway and rolled right up next to Ryan. When he saw her, he started kicking and screaming at her to leave him alone, and she, like, picked up this whole handful of horse poop and, splat, dumped it right on top of his head.”

Kara didn't remember doing that, but it must have worked, because Ryan quit fighting her, jumped up, and ran for the barn. She hadn't heard the truck pull in either, but she caught up with Ry just as Colin came rushing in from the other direction. He grabbed Ryan's shoulders and held him still while they checked for sprains or broken bones.

“He's all right,” she said when he finally quieted down.

Colin released Ryan, then looked at her and started laughing. “Well, Miss Kara, looks like you take first prize.”

She peeled off her filthy jacket and tossed it, along with her gloves, into a bucket by the tack room. “First prize in what?”

“Why, mud wrestling, Ma'am.” He tipped his hat, then stood and turned Ryan around. Ryan's face and hair were caked with muck except for under his eyes, where tears had diluted the mixture enough for his skin to show through.

“Sorry, Princess,” Colin said, “but you look even worse than he does.”

Anne met them on the porch. Wakara had never seen her rattled before, but the cook's face was as white as Ryan's had been. When Kara and Colin assured her everyone was
all right, she swung her cast around and sat down heavily on the bench. Ryan burst into tears again and ran into her arms.

“That stupid, snot-face Star. I don't like him anymore.”

Anne held him a minute, then pushed him to arm's length. “To learn to ride, you must learn to fall.”

She looked at Wakara. “For now, you must get warm.”

Only then did Kara realize she was shaking, and her fingers, without the gloves, were prickly with cold.

Colin took Ryan's hand and led him toward the bunkhouse, where they had just installed a second shower. “Come on, cowboy, let's get you cleaned up.”

Tia flashed Wakara a sympathetic look. “You'd better go in. I'll take care of the horses.”

Kara nodded gratefully and followed Anne into the house. She stripped off her shirt and jeans, tossed them into the stationary tub by the washer, and hurried upstairs.

Twenty minutes later, she had showered and finished drying her hair. She picked through the nearly empty closet, then pulled on clean jeans and the soft, blue turtleneck Dad had given her last Christmas. She felt a slight thrill when she thought about tomorrow's plans with Colin. Working out the survival routine for Health class would be fun.

The smell that greeted her when she opened her bedroom door made her mouth water. She took the stairs two at a time and made it to the kitchen just as Tia walked in the back door.

“The horses are in their stalls. I hosed off their legs and gave them some grain, but Star was so tired, he just lay down.” She paused and sniffed. “Umm, what's that smell?”

Kara lifted the lid on a huge cast-iron skillet sitting on the back of the stove. “It's Anne's beef Stroganoff.” She grinned at Tia. “I'll check on Star after dinner. Want to stay?”

Tia dove for the phone. “I'll call Pops and tell him I'll be late. We haven't even started on our homework.”

“O
H
,
MY
GOODNESS
, they found Ishi's brain!”

“What?” Kara set aside her history book and joined Tia at the computer. “Where? What do you mean, ‘they found Ishi's brain'?”

“Only in the Smithsonian! Look—it says in this article Ishi's brain has been in storage for eighty-two years, and now some tribes in northern California want it back. This is too weird.”

Kara felt a surge of excitement. There was less than a zero chance this Ishi was her relative, but because his mother's nickname was Wakara, she somehow felt a kinship to both of them.

It was a long article. Kara pulled each page from the printer as soon as it came out and stacked the pages in chronological order.

“Whoa. You're right. It says here that historical records document the Yana survivors who found refuge among other tribes.”

Tia broke in, “Right. Ishi was Yahi, but they were an offshoot from the Yana tribe, and the languages were really
close. That means the word
Wakara
could have come from either group.”

“And there are descendants of the Yana tribe still there.” Wakara felt goose bumps up and down her arms.

“Yeah.” Tia scrolled back to the first page. When it was on the screen, she drew the mouse along one sentence and clicked on the BOLD key. “Here—the Redding Rancheria and Pit River Tribe.”

“I see that.” Kara scanned the pages. “But what I don't get is how Ishi's brain got to the Smithsonian Institution in the first place.”

Tia scrolled to page two of the report. “Remember Theodora Kroeber, the lady who wrote that book?”

“Sure.”

“It says here that her husband was the head anthropologist at the University of California when Ishi was found. He's the one who sent Ishi's brain to the Smithsonian in 1917. Eewww, gross! They lost it or packed it away or something. Now they're going to send it back.”

“Correction. Look at the date on this, Tia. Page one. They already sent it back.”

Tia scrolled back to the beginning of the report. “April 1999. Wow. Last year! You're right, that means it should be a done deal. Ishi's brain and the rest of him are probably reburied by now.

“This is too cool. Am I going to get an A on this project, or what?” Tia jumped to her feet and grabbed the papers Kara had stacked on the end of her bed.

“Anne's got to see this. Do you think she's still in the kitchen? I could use another piece of Greg's birthday cake.”

Kara laughed. “Tia, you're amazing. How can you eat so many sweets and not get sick? Chocolate before bed gives me weird dreams.”

Tia grinned. “Mom says I've got a great metabolism. Pops says I was born with an iron gut—whatever that's supposed to mean. Either way, I'm not complaining.”

“All right. But I'll get the cake. Anne is in the family room, and we're not supposed to disturb her unless it's really important.”

“How can you say this isn't important? They're your ancestors!”