The Light
Starvation. That was a word that my community has known far too much of in the winter months. When the snow began to fall, and the grass started to disappear, food became scarce and tensions were high. I could only imagine how difficult it was for the newborns, going from the warm pleasant spring air to the brutal winter wind. Nonetheless, our community always found a way to survive. Some say there are “too many” of us. How preposterous! I would love to see one of them survive winter with no shelter and limited food. Then and only then can they come and talk to me about overpopulation.
If starvation isn’t enough, we also faced murderers. Two-legged and four-legged. Short and tall. Close and far. I have not had any experiences with any of them, but I have heard stories. One of my closest friends, Yazzie, was at the focal point of one story. Yazzie was on his way home from a trip that he took with a few other members of our tribe to find the unfrozen ground. Yazzie was the only one that made it back safely. He told a story of the murderers that they faced on their way home. They stood low to the ground and surrounded Yazzie and the others. Their movements were extremely fast and caught Yazzie and the others off guard. One of the other deer, Hunt, tried his best to fight off some of the attackers, which was probably why Yazzie was able to make it back safely.
The loss of Hunt and some of the other experienced tribe members made our chances of survival slim to none. The area that we were occupying did not have nearly enough food to carry us through the winter. The loss of our older tribe members meant that more responsibility had to be carried by even the youngest among us, myself included. I was tasked with the responsibility of finding the unfrozen ground, where there would be enough food to carry us through the winter. Understanding how important this assignment was to my tribe, I agreed.
I traveled for days on end looking for the unfrozen ground. It was extremely difficult to maneuver through the deep snow with my skinny legs and weakened spirit. However, I walked all day and night, desperately searching for better land. I tried to remind myself of how important my journey was every time I thought about turning back. It wasn’t until the fourth day of my journey that I saw something that lifted my spirits. I had just settled down for the night after a long day’s journey when I saw something strange. The trees around me were suddenly illuminated for only a second before returning to the darkness. I quickly stood up and started heading to the source of the light. I kept walking until the cold surface I was walking on turned into a much warmer, harder surface. This surface was much easier to walk on and allowed my feet to warm up from the days of walking through snow. All of a sudden, the surface around me became illuminated, just like the trees had been a few moments ago. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the source. I stopped dead in my tracks and stared at it blankly, slowly tilting my head to get a better look.
“Are we there yet?”
The voice is coming from the backseat of a car where a hyperactive child is rapidly moving from the right seat to the middle and vice versa. Upon closer investigation, the child is not wearing a seatbelt. The person driving the car turns his shoulder towards the back seat.
“What have I told you about wearing your seatbelt?!” The man yells at the child who proceeded to stop his movements. The child reached his hand over his right shoulder and grabbed the seatbelt, securing it into place.
“Thank you.” The man quietly said before turning his head back towards the road which had since gained an unexpected visitor. The silhouette of some animal could be seen around fifty feet down the road. Noticing the obstacle in his way, the driver immediately swerved the car into the other lane, narrowly missing the animal. The man immediately stopped the car and checked on his child, who was safely secured by his seat belt. The man then proceeded to look out the back window where the deer could be seen darting into the woods, completely unharmed.
