85
THE BLUE FEATHER
Wow! I never thought I would get this far away from my
parents,” Bardala said, quietly shaking her head.
“When I left home I never thought...” Tital started to say.
“Who do you miss the most back home?” Bardala asked.
“I try not to think of it. I miss all of them, but each in a
different way. I miss my dad because he was always working
somewhere else. All the other boys would have their dads with
them, mine was always away. It was like he was dead to me,”
Tital said with a long pause, “I will never do that to my children.”
“Do you plan on having children?” Bardala asked with a smile.
“Of course, I want three. Two boys, and a girl,” Tital said
assuredly.
“What if you get three girls, then what?” Bardala asked, as
she propped herself up.
“I would...” Tital started to say, but was stopped by a huge,
guttural growl coming from outside their NorthFace tent.
“GGGGRRRRUUUUU!”
“What was THAT?” Bardala asked, quickly sitting up and
putting on her boots.
“I don’t know, but we need to find Zotz,” Tital said, lacing up
his Columbia boots.
Outside the tent, the shrieking and growling became louder
with each step they took. They saw Zotz and Mahucutah talking
to each other up on a little hill overlooking the camp. When they
approached, they could see the concern for the safety of the
people when Zotz said, “Let us summon Ah Tabai, so he can
teach them to hunt the night creatures.”