Riders on the Rez, Page 4

gave me The Look. I was supposed to be quiet and listen, not talk.

  Uncle said something else to Jelly who said, “Uncle says not to worry, you are plenty Dine. He also says you will be back here, soon.”

  Mom looked at Uncle funny. Maybe she didn’t want to hear that, but I hoped he was right.

  Great-Grandmother just nodded over her small loom. The way she moved as she wove the paddle through the strings made me think of ocean waves. She saw me watching, and said, “I learned how to weave from Spider Woman.”

  Huh? Spider Woman? I looked around, but I didn’t see any comic books anywhere.

 

  18

  Spider Woman

  Grandmother explained. “We live in the Fourth World, now,” she said. “It’s also called the Glittering World and here's how it come to be:

  The spirit holy ones and the holy people were created in the First World. In the Second World, the holy ones gave life to Spider Woman and Spider Man.

  “In the Third World, the holy ones gave Spider Woman the gift of weaving and told her to weave a map of the universe. But she didn’t know what they meant.

  “And then, one day when she was out gathering food, she came upon a small young tree that was just beginning to grow leaf buds

  "She touched her right hand to one of them. When she took her hand away, a string stretched from it to the branch. She shook her hand to release the string but it stayed attached. She moved her hand to another branch, and then another and the string followed. She saw it glitter in the sunlight and saw how she could make shining patterns by moving her hand from place to place.

  “She asked Spider Man to build her a loom, with the earth for its base and the sky for its top. And once he did, she wove the world we know today into being: mountains and deserts and rivers and washes and everything in between.

  “When Spiderwoman finished she left behind a glittering web that stretched from peak to peak of the four sacred mountains."

  I shut my eyes, to try and imagine how tall Spiderwoman’s giant loom must have been.

  Grandmother said, “When the Dine came to live here between the Four Corners of this world it was Spider Man who showed us how to build the first loom and Spider Woman who taught us how to weave our first blankets and rugs....”

  19

  Dad

  A beautiful woman wearing silver jewelry floated in the smoke from the fire. She drifted over to me and touched me with a fingertip, and then went around the room, touching each of us gently. When she finished, I could see a faint silver thread connecting everyone of us to the others.

  She turned to me again and held out her hand. I took it and we rose up and out through the smoke hole above the now-dying fire.

  Woah! A glowing web covered everything in sight. It reflected the starlight in a million twinkly places!

  We floated higher into the sky. From there, I could see that the web stretched far beyond the four sacred peaks. It wrapped around the whole world!

  One strand of it seemed to twinkle more than the others. I followed it with my eyes. At the other end I saw my Dad sitting on his bunk, cleaning his gear!

  “Dad! Dad!” I called, waving and jumping up and down.

  “He can’t hear you, Billy,” the woman said. “But he can feel you. Gather up all the love for him that’ you have in your heart.”

  I did, as much as I could, and then sucked in some more with a great big breath and nodded my head to tell her I was ready.

  “Now send it out to him.”

  I felt my heart jump toward him. The web vibrated a bit and Dad stopped his polishing. He looked at over at the picture of me on his footlocker and smiled. His lips moved. He may have said “I love you, son.”

  “The woman turned and looked down at me. "Now you know, she said. "Hozho comes from the heart, not the head.”

  “Wake up, Billy.” Someone was shaking my shoulder and jingling something over my head. I opened my eyes to see Danny, dangling Thunder’s halter and bridle above me.

  He was going to teach me how to ride. I'd get to do it by myself, today!

  I scrambled into my jeans and followed him outside. Grandmother, Uncle, Mom, and Jelly walked toward us, linked shadows with the sun rising behind them. Its rays lit up the thin shimmer that I could still see, stretching between me and them and from all of us out to the edges of the world.

  I recognized Jelly’s round shape before I heard his voice.

  “Ya-ah-te, Sleeping Bear. And who are you today?”

  “Yaah-te. Jelly,” I called. Then in a louder voice than I knew I had: “I am Billie Tsosie. I am born to the Bitterwater Clan and born for the Towering Red Rocks Clan. “I am Dine and proud to be it!”

  The web disappeared with a PING and my heart soared out like an eagle.

  ####

  Skateboarding Terms

  in the order used

  Tic-tac The rider pushes down on the back of the board to raise the front wheels. She brings the front wheels down to the left or right, and then repeats the movement to the other side.

  Ollie The rider pops the board into the air. It appears to be stuck to his feet.. This impressive trick forms the basis for more complicated ones.

  Nose-ollie. . Also called a Nollie. The rider slaps the nose of his board against the ground and pops his board into the air.

  Pop Shove-it The rider pops the board up into the air and spends it 180 degrees underneath his feet. (Billy was still having trouble with this trick when he was showing off in Flagstaff.)

  Grind box A solid cement cube e for riders to practice riding a box edge on the trucks of the board as opposed to the wheels.

  Ramps Just what they sound like. Lots of kids start skateboarding on homemade ramps in somebody's yard.

  Pipes are used for practing ramp tricks.

  S.K.A.T.E. A follow the leader game. Each person takes turns doing a trick. Others have to repeat the trick or earn a letter. The last one to spell SKATE wins.

  Kasper Flip The rider has the board upside down in the air and reaches a toe under it to bring it right side up before landing.

  Goofy foot You are a 'regular foot' rider if you keep your left foot forward, and push with your right. You are goofy foot if you ride with your right foot forward and push with your left.

  Duckwalk Place the board crossways in front of you, and hop onto it, placing a foot on each end. Begin with your knees bent and relaxed. and your shoulders level. As you shift your weight from one foot to the other, raise the other end of the board and swing it forward (or backward) . When it is easy for you to "waddle" forward and backwards you will be ready to learn some basic tricks.

  From the Author

  A story teller could have no better role model than Spider Woman, who keeps us all entranced with the very never-endingness of her creations. When I began to think about a modern retelling of this story, I thought it would be told from a young girl's point of view, but Billy Tsosie stepped in took charge of the narrative right away.

  Billie has grown up and is in pre-med at the University of Arizona. Danny is now a Marine himself, and a talented artist, and Shawna has become a skateboard champion who is about to earn a sponsorship for a national tour.

  Someday I hope to tell you just how all of that came about.

  If you enjoyed this e-book, please consider purchasing the print edition, soon to be available from Amazon.