And just like in my city, we couldn't get home without walking through them.
Broken Wings 2 - Midnight Flight
Natani's Lesson
The tie later it became out in the desert night, the brighter it grew because more and more stars seemed to appear, and those that had appeared were bigger and seemed closer. At one point when we reached the top of a hill, I looked up and felt as if something, some power, could lift me at any moment and send me flying into space as if I had become a rocket.
I was tired, and my throat was dry. My legs ached, especially in the calf muscles, but at that moment, I had a wonderful sense of pleasure. I was truly in Natani's shell. I felt part of all that was around me. There was still no sign of anyone, no lights in the distance, no sounds, no reason to be hopeful, but I had gone beyond panic and anger and found some other place to rest my emotions. It was truly as if I was rising above the hardship and misery.
“Why in hell are you standing there and smiling?” Teal asked as Robin helped her up and beside me.
I turned to her.
I had become the desert tortoise and she had become the desert rat. It was truly as though Natani were standing there beside me.
“I know we're in trouble, but look at how beautiful it is out here,” I said.
“Oh, brother. I'll take you to Disneyland as soon as we get home,” Teal said. “All expenses paid. You'll stay at the best hotel they have.”
“Somehow, I don't think it will be the same thing.”
“No. It won't because we'll have the biggest, softest king-size beds, a plush bathroom, and lobster and steak and big fat rich desserts for dinner, and we'll swim in a magnificent large pool and in our skimpy bikinis drive boys mad with lust and desire.”
“Is that what you like to do?” Robin asked“So do you, so don't put on any goody-goody acts,” Teal told her.
I thought they would begin another one of their chatty arguments, but instead, Robin smiled and shrugged.
“Sometimes,” she admitted. “Phoebe?”
“I don't even own a bathing suit,” I said. “Where would I have used it?”
“As soon as we're out of here, I'm buying you one,” Teal vowed.
“And where are you getting all this money for five-star vacations and clothes and travel?” Robin asked.
“I'll blackmail my brother or something, but I'll get it.”
“You know if you keep talking like that, Dr. Foreman is going to think you're not cured,” Robin said.
We all laughed, but then, as we continued to look outinto the desert darkness where pockets of thick shadows disguised what lay ahead, our laughter wound down into smiles that faded.
“I don't think we're heading in the right direction,” Robin said. “From this perspective, we should be able to see something out there, don't you think?”
“I don't know. Maybe in the morning.”
“Are we going to stop and sleep now?” Teal asked. I heard the hope in her voice.
“The more we walk now, the less we'll have to do in the heat,” I said. “We'll stop midday tomorrow and take another long rest. Maybe we'll find some real shade.”
“Or water.”
“Yeah,” Robin said. “I'm sure there's a fountain out there somewhere just waiting for us.”
I started down the hill. Teal groaned with disappointment, but followed Robin. For a while we trekked in silence. I wasn't watching Teal and didn't realize she was not only falling behind, but because she was closing her eyes too often, she was wandering too far to the right, practically walking in her sleep. Robin, like me, was plodding along, lost in thought and not paying attention to Teal either.
Suddenly, we heard a frightening rattle sound and then Teal's scream. When we turned around to look, she was five yards or so off our trail and she had walked right into a low bush under which a sidewinder rattlesnake was concealed. It had given a warning, but she had either snapped to attention too late or lost her bearing and stepped too closely to it.
Robin and I saw it whipping from side to side in its flight, its body gleaming until it disappeared under a rock almost as if it was ashamed of the damage it had caused. For a moment neither of us could move. A coldwave of panic turned our feet into fifty-pound dead weights. Teal had fallen to her side and was screaming in such a high-pitched voice, it seemed to be coming from inside my own ears. She had her hands around her leg and was rocking.
Both Robin and I got hold of ourselves and charged at her.
“What happened?” Robin screamed.
“It just bit me. I'm going to die! A rattlesnake bit me. I'm dying, I'm dying!”
I fought back the panic that was trying to climb up my legs as if I had stepped into a pool of ice water. Then, Natani's instructions came back to me. I turned in a new panic. What could I use to lance a wound? We had no knives.
Teal's screams were vibrating my very bones.
“Calm her down!” I screamed at Robin, and reached into the bush under which the snake had been resting. I broke off the thickest branch I could, then took it to a rock and worked on sharpening the edge.
“I'm going to die.”
“If you don't settle down, you will,” I screamed back at her as I worked. “You're making your heart race and that's sending the poison out over your body faster. Stop it!”
She paused and looked at me and then at Robin.
“She's right, Teal. Calm yourself.”
“What are we going to do? We'll never get me to a hospital in time,” she moaned, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Natani taught us how to handle a snake bite. He put something in his bag,” I said, bringing the sharpened branch back to her. “Straighten her leg out and let's see the bite.”
I saw the holes made by the snake's teeth clearly.
“I've
