Background
Tommy is telling how he got his Native Name. He is also telling about how when food was scarce, he and Flying Squirrel went on a food scavenging expedition.
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Previously:
Tommy and the surrounding cars were headed into Billings for a food festival. This line of cars was standing still because the road up ahead was blocked by firefighting equipment. They are slowly moving. Liz and Linda are asking Tommy questions.
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Liz did not realize how tightly she was gripping her spork. After that tumultuous telling of the waterfall folly, it was time to sit back to enjoy her apple pie. She looked over to see Linda who was slicing into her pecan pie, had the same idea.
Tommy had grabbed a Dixie cupful of some candied pecans. That would be the easiest treat to eat and be able to have a hand on the steering wheel if need be. They still weren't moving any faster than a crawl.
Linda and Liz looked at each other. They knew what the other was thinking. They often laughed about that. Linda tilted her head and raised her eyebrows at Liz as if to encourage her to broach the topic.
Around a mouthful of apple pie, Liz said, "Tommy, you promised to tell the story of how you got your Native name. You said it was Corn Flower right?"
"Yes. The origin of the second part of my name flour is simple. The story of the first part? Well, now, that's another story...Now... wait."
Tommy was getting to know these two quite quickly. "Before you say anything...Yes, I will tell you the story. You may need to fasten your seatbelt though."
Why he laughed at the end of that statement, almost a gallows laugh, they had no clue. They had an idea they would soon learn.
Liz was sure she'd never seen a cornflower before, maybe they grew in another part of the United States. There were different flowers for different areas. She'd wait to see. She didn't know but Linda might be wondering the same thing.
The government, in its great generosity, gave us sugar, flour, and lard. A long time ago, our people decided to do something with those commodities, make fry bread.
When I was six years old, I wanted to make fry bread. My mother didn't want me to get burned with the grease spitting at me. My Aunt Wise Fox invited my cousin Sweet Juniper to help by mixing the flour and sugar. That seemed to satisfy us.
At this point, Liz was realizing he meant f-l-o-u-r not f-l-o-w-e-r. She laughed out loud and said, "Oh, I thought you meant a blossom flower."
Linda said, "So did I."
Everyone cracked up laughing.
"No, I was talking about the white stuff the government gave us. The stuff for making fry bread. I guess I got my name because I was becoming a chef even at a young age. But the thing that was the funniest is how covered with flour I would get."
He laughed as he told us that Aunt Wise Owl could not get things done because she had to stop to laugh. Bending over for a belly laugh slowed the whole process. When the others heard the laughter they came running and joined in with the hilarity.
"This happened every time I helped out. I will say, however, I have improved about seventy-five percent." He chuckled as he glanced up at us in the rearview mirror. "My name lay dormant until the next thing happened about six years later."
Fortunately, everyone in the car had finished their sweet snack. They were prepared for the next seemingly more serious segment. At least Linda and Liz believed they were ready.
"At this point in history, Flying Squirrel, his father and two-year-old Spring Blossom were living with us. Their mother had left after Sunglow disappeared. She spent the rest of her life searching for her daughter and her friends Cedar and Ash. She knew family would care for Spring Blossom. No one would look for Sunglow.
"Food was scarce. Squirrel and I decided we'd go on a scavaging expedition." He told them Squirrel knew a good prospective spot. There was a decrepit HUD house down the road. It had long ago been deserted.
The plumbing was shot and the roof leaked in many places. Its occupants moved into another slightly more functional HUD house, with family. Squirrel knew that falling-down structure hid junkies, drug addicts and alcoholics.
The backrooms served as a place people stashed dishonestly acquired food. He figured it was a 'finders keepers' situation. There was no concern about anyone telling. If anyone was there, they would be zoned out on their drug of choice.
They planned to sleekly slip past them, to check out the rear area, grab their take and be out of there in no time. "We prayed to Owl to give us wisdom, to be stealthy and to be able to do this without getting found out."
The adults were trying to hide their concern for the dwindling food supply, behind tight stressed faces. "We were twelve and perfectly capable of pulling this off." He told of their scheme to sneak in the back door. It was always a crack open, for anyone who wanted to get in there to sleep it off or just numb out.
"We wondered if it was a bad sign that the door was locked. It was never locked." He took a deep breath and said, "While I was waiting for Squirrel to use his knife to edge the lock to the side, I looked down to see a spider crawling on my arm."
Tommy explained, spiders have a couple of meanings. One is creativity and the other is a warning that you haven't gotten all of the information you need.
"She, the spider, was telling me we were in for a surprise. I didn't know if it would be good or a disappointment." We needed to be alert." He described what happened when Squirrel slowly slid the door open.
There was resistance on the other side as if someone were lying on the floor in front of the door. "We had to put our skinny adolescent bodies against the weight to force it open. We were sure Deer helped step over several passed-out or zoned-out bodies to get to the back rooms."
Tommy described looking around in a room with stored furniture, they noticed two large grain bags in a corner. "We were excited when we opened the first bag. It was filled with ears of corn. The green husks still smelled fresh. I peeled a couple enough to reveal healthy-looking kernels."
He told the two ladies he and Flying Squirrel immediately grabbed a corner of the bag and hefted it toward the back door. When they realized it was too heavy to tiptoe around the obstacle course they chose the side door where they could enter the yard unseen.
"We agreed we should go cross-lots to get home. That way no one would be able to see us or track us. We didn't want to be greedy, however, that second bag had us curious."
He continued the description of them hurrying to inspect the remaining sack. As they moved it away from the corner, their interest increased. The contents felt weighty and ropey.
"We put our hands over our mouths to subdue screams when we peeked into the darkness of the bag."
Author Notes
I am pleased to acknowledge cleo85 once again for their perfect picture for my purposes.
References made to Chap 11
Characters:
Spring Blossom is one of the teens rescued by Liz and Linda from a trafficking operation. She led everyone through the cave.
Spring Blossom's brother is Flying Squirrel and her father is Shoots the Arrow. They were friends with Tommy.
Tommy is a young fellow who offered Liz and Linda a seat in his car and who is a chef.
These are relatives who went missing in this epidemic of MMIW,C,T...murdered, or missing Indigenous women, children & teens:
Tommy's Aunt Wise Owl & her daughter Sweet Juniper
Spring Blossom's sister Sunglow and her two best friends Cedar and Ash."
Deer Medicine...gives grace of movement
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