Suddenwise the ghost-girl vanished back into that egg an’ a man took her place. A ghost-Prescient he was, this un could see me an’ fiercesome he speaked at me. Who are you, boy, an’ where is Meronym?
The Prescient leant nearer an’ his face growed. Growly ’n’ fangy his voice was. I asked you two questions, boy, answer ’em now or I’ll cuss your fam’ly so diresome no babbit’ll live past one moon old now nor never!
I sweated ’n’ gulped dry. Zachry, sir, I said, an’ Meronym’s howzittin’ fine, yay, she’s at Aunt Bees’s learnin’ honeyin’.
The Prescient shootered my soul with his eyes, yay, settlin’ whether or nay to b’lief me. An’ does Meronym know her host sivvies his guest’s gear when she’s out? Answer truesome now ’cos I can tell a liar.
I was flinchin’ for pain as I shaked my head.
List’n close. That man had as much say-so as any Abbess. You’ll put this orison, this “egg” you’re holdin’ now, back where you finded it. You’ll tell no un but no un ’bout it. Or else d’you know what I’ll do?
Yay, answered I. Cuss my fam’ly so diresome no babbit’ll ever live.
Yay, you cogged it, answered that thund’ry man. I’ll be watchin’, Zachry o’ Bailey’s Dwellin’, that ghost-Prescient speaked, see he even knowed my dwellin’ like Old Georgie. He vanished, an’ the silv’ry egg simmered quiet then died. Quicksharp I packed Meronym’s b’longin’s in her gearbag an’ stowed it back under the plankin’, wishin’ I’d never gone nosyin’. See, what I’d found weren’t ev’dence for my doubtin’s to show Abbess, nay, what I’d finded was a Smart cuss on my stoned luck an’, I ’fessed it to me myself, a grimy smear on my honor as a host.
But I cudn’t forget that ghost-girl neither, nay, she haunted my dreams wakin ’n’ sleepin’. So many feelin’s I’d got I din’t have room ’nuff for ’em. Oh, bein’ young ain’t easy ’cos ev’rythin’ you’re puzzlin ’n’ anxin’ you’re puzzlin ’n’ anxin’ it for the first time.
Lady Moon growed fat, Lady Moon growed thin, an’ suddenwise three o’ the six moons b’fore the Prescient Ship was due back for Meronym’d ’ready gone by. A sort o’ truce was laid b’tween me ’n’ our guest now. I din’t trust the Shipwoman but I tol’rated her ’round my dwellin’ politesome ’nuff so I could spy her better. Then one squally aft’noon the first o’ sev’ral happ’nin’s fell, yay, happ’nin’s what changed that truce into sumthin’ where her fate ’n’ mine was binded t’gether like twines o’ vine-cord.
One rainy mornin’ Bro Munro’s littlest F’kugly came screein’ upgulch to find me huddlin’ ’neath ’brella leaves on Ranch Rise, fetchin’ direst news to me he was. My sis Catkin’d been line-fishin’ on Dog Rock Shore an’d trod on a scorpion fish an’ now she was dyin’ o’ shakes ’n’ heats at Munro’s Dwellin’. The herb’list, Wimoway yay, Roses’s ma, was tendin’ her, an’ Leary the Hilo healer was doin’ his inchanties too, but Catkin’s life was fadin’, yay. Strappin’ musclers don’t usually s’vive a scorpion fish, nay, an’ poor littl’ Catkin was dyin ’n’ d got two hours maybe three.
F’kugly mindered the goats an’ I slid down thru the dogwood trees to Munro’s Dwellin’ an’, yay, there it was jus’ like F’kugly’d said it. Catkin was burnin’ an’ breathin’ chokely an’ she din’t know no un’s face. Wimoway’d tweezed out the poison fins an’ bathed the stingin’ in noni pulp an’ Sussy was pressin’ cool sops to calm her head. Jonas was gone prayin’ to Sonmi at the Icon’ry. Beardy Leary was mumblin’ his Hilo spells an’ shakin’ his magic tufty spikers to drive off evil spirits. Din’t seem Leary was helpin’ much, nay, Catkin was dyin’, the air smelled of it, but Ma wanted Leary there, see you’ll b’lief in a mil’yun diff’rent b’liefin’s if you reck’n jus’ one of ’em may aid you. So what could I do, ’cept sit there an’ hold b’loved Catkin’s burnin’ hands an’ mem’ry my stock-still useless self watchin’ Kona bullwhippin ’n’ circlin’ Pa ’n’ Adam? Now maybe the voice was Pa’s or maybe Sonmi’s or maybe no un’s but mine, but a hushly voice popped a bubble jus’ inside my ear: Meronym, it said.
Yibber telled me Meronym was up Gusjaw’s Gulch, so there I ran an’, yay, there she was fillin’ littl’ Smart jars o’ water up Gusjaw’s Gulch in the steamin’ rain, see Wolt’d passed by her earlier ’n telled the yibber. The Prescient’d got her spesh gearbag with her an’ I thanked Sonmi for that. Good aft’noon, called the Shipwoman when she seen me splashin’ upstream.
No, it ain’t, I shouted back. Catkin’s dyin’! Meronym list’ned grief-some ’nuff as I telled her ’bout the scorpion fish, but she sorried, nay, she din’t have no healin’ Smart an’ anyway Wimoway’s herb’lin’s an’ Leary’s ’cantations was Big Isle healin’ an’ that was best for Big Isle sick folks, wasn’t it, nay?
Dingo shit, said I.
She shaked her head so sadsome.
Slywise I speaked now, Catkin calls you Auntie an’ she b’liefs you’re kin. You surefire b’have in our dwellin’ like you’re kin. Is that jus’ ’nother fake for you to study us some more? ’Nother part o’ your “not the hole true”?
Meronym flinched. No, Zachry, it ain’t.
Well, then, I gambled some luck, I say you got spesh Smart what’ll help your kin.
Meronym threw a spiker in her words. Why don’t you sivvy thru my gear again an’ thief my spesh Prescient Smart yourself?
Yay, she knowed ’bout me ’n’ the silv’ry egg. She’d been fakin’ she din’t but she knowed. No point naysayin’, so I din’t. My sis is dyin’ while we’re standin’ here knucklyin’.
So much rivers ’n’ rain in the world it flowed by us. Fin’ly Meronym said yay, she’d come ’n’ see Catkin, but scorpion fish poison was quick ’n’ thick an’ she prob’ly cudn’t do nothin’ to save my littl’ sis an’ I’d best und’stand that truth now. I din’t say yay nor nay I jus’ leaded her quicksharp down to Munro’s Dwellin’. When the Prescient walked in, Wimoway ’splained what she’d done tho’ Beardy Leary said, Ooo .?.?. a devil’s drawn near .?.?. ooo, I sense her with my spesh powers?.?.?.
Catkin’d gone under now, yay, she lay still ’n’ stiff as an icon, jus’ a whispin’-breathin’ scratched in her throat. Meronym’s griefsome face jus’ said, Nay, she’s too far gone I can’t do nothin’, an’ she kissed my sis’s forehead g’bye, walked back sadsome into the rain. Oh, see the Prescient, Leary crowed, their Smart can move magicky ships o’ steel but only the Holy Chant o’ Angel Laz’rus can tempt back the girl’s soul from them despairin’ marshes b’tween life ’n’ death. Despair I felt, my sis was dyin’, rain was drummin’, but that same voice din’t shut up in my ear. Meronym.
I din’t know why but I followed her out. Shelt’rin’ in Munro’s pott’ry doorway she was starin’ at the rods o’ rain. I ain’t got no right to ask you for favors, I ain’t been a good host, nay I been a pisspoor bad un, but?.?.?. I’d ran out o’ words.
The Prescient din’t move nor look at me, nay. The life o’ your tribe’s got a nat’ral order. Catkin’d o’ treaded on that scorpion fish if I’d been here or not.
Rainbirds spilt their galoshin’-galishin’ song. I’m jus’ a stoopit goat herder, but I reck’n jus’ by bein’ here you’re bustin’ this nat’ral order. I reck’n you’re killin’ Catkin by not actin’. An’ I reck’n if it was your son, Anafi, lyin’ there with scorpion fish poison meltin’ his heart ’n’ lungs, this nat’ral order’d not be so important to you, yay?
She din’t answer, but I knowed she was list’nin’.
Why’s a Prescient’s life worth more ’n Valleysman’s?
She lost her calm. I ain’t here to play Lady Sonmi ev’ry time sumthin’ bad happ’ns an’ click my fingers ’n make it right! I’m jus’ human, Zachry, like you, like anyun!
I promised, It won’t be ev’ry time sumthin’ bad happens, it’s jus’ now.
Tears was in her eyes. That ain’t no promise you can keep or break.
Sudd’nwise I finded myself tellin’ her ev’ry flea o’ true ’bout Sloosha’s Crossin’, yay, ev’rythin’. How I’d leaded the Kona to kill Pa an’ slave Adam an’d never ’fessed to no un till that very beat. I din’t know why I was spillin’ this corked secret to my enemy, not till the very end, when I cogged its meanin’ an’ telled her too. What I jus’ teached you ’bout me ’n’ my soul is a spiker ’gainst my throat an’ a gag over my mouth. You can tell Old Ma
