Marty walked into their lives
as quietly as a shadow. If he was casting a long shadow and walking with
heavy steps, they were not aware of it. He was a handsome young man with
the dark good looks of a leading movie star of the period. There were the
same attitudes and look about him as Richard Conte too. The scars on his
face where the shrapnel he carried from battle only gave him more of a
deep, thoughtful, studied appearance, as if he were contemplating some
event of such heavy significance, it rendered him somewhat, apart. So
involved with his own demons, the man, made no attempt to be interested in
the world about him. The only wish he had to make a bond was with the
children and their father. Well, not completely. He did have an interest
in a dog he kept with him at all time. The dog was named simply,
"Boy."
The man's depression almost
reached to a place close to that of being disturbed. Emotionally, he was
distressed. His family around him, grown brothers and sisters, Father and
Mother, recognized his mental unrest. They did all they could to offer him
encouragement, since they knew his time in the military and the war was
his torment. His withdrawal from family traditions they had to accept.
But, his pulling away from time with them was more than they could accept.
The term for his condition at that time was "shell shock." Today
in 2001, the term used for the Viet Nam experiences is "flash
back." This is, probably, a more accurate description for what Marty
was experiencing. To sit for hours, looking into the distance as if he
were observing some scene before him, amounted to something closer to the
word, "flashbacks" than the word, "shell shock." At
any rate, this was the climate surrounding Marty's circumstance. His
family discussed what was happening, and it was a cousin who volunteered
with an offer to do what they could to try to penetrate the sick man's
sorrow.
Marty's cousin
"Trish," was married to an American man who was not of their
tribe, but who wanted to make an attempt to reach and bring the young man
back from his shadowy world.
Trish's husband, Lester, was a
deep thinking man, who could usually penetrate any problem set before him,
whether it was mechanical or like this one, something unseen. Lester
always expressed himself with the idea, "where there is life there is
hope."
Lester would sit with Marty in
the yard under one of the large old spreading trees. The family lived on a
large parcel of land and they were not bothered with the thought of having
crude intrusions made on them. For how, ever long it took for Lester to
gain the confidence of the struggling man, this, the patient man did. The
breezy part of the day would see the two, deep in conversation. Well,
actually, the conversation was very much one sided. Lester could be seen
leaning out of his chair, one arm resting on the arm of it, and the other
hand gesturing softly while he made some point. The serious studied
attitude was seen even if one could not hear the words.
The lost far away look on
Marty's face was being more and more replaced with a more thoughtful,
awakening a glimmer of understanding where before there had been sorrow
and despair.
The first noticeable break
through came when Marty came walking into the yard with a medium sized
dog. The animal was of no pedigree. He was a friendly, steady pooch who
seemed to be totally loyal to his master. This was a bit of a surprise.
They did not know Marty owned a dog.
When he was questioned, he
said, "Oh he just came up into the yard a few days ago." But,
for all appearance the dog had been born and raised under this man's
teaching. It was incredible to see how well mannered the simple beast
appeared.
"I think this is going to
be a hunting Dog!" Marty was proud of the animal.
If Lester was unsure of the
Dog's powers, he never spoke a negative word. This was his way. He could
point out a rare ability in the most tattered person or animal "Have
you picked out a name for him?" Lester was stalling for time and the
laying of a foundation between them all, Marty included.
"Boy!" "I'm
callin' him "Boy." No other explanation was to be made as to why
he chose "Boy"
"Well, Boy!"
"Looks to me you have found yourself a mighty fine master."
Lester was addressing the dog. The dog in its way, the children would
learn, only was loyal to his master, no matter how far away and removed
that master could at times be.
As to the way of the American
Indian there was little conversation where Marty was concerned. The man
for basic appearances could still be in his lost quiet world. However, as
the family began to know him, it was evident changes were being made. He
began to take an interest in the children. The hours he spent in
conversation with Lester were now narrowed down to the times the family
was around the dinner table, or some other quiet time when they were
present too. He was forming a friendship with the boys, especially. There
was a genuine practicing of his culture in a way of daily living, although
he had dropped the formal traditions of gatherings, and dances. As was
their way, he began putting his energies into teaching the boys to hunt.
This was probably, brought about with Lester's gentle manipulations.
"No telling," how many careful illustrations had been put before
the young man to make him believe he had made the decision.
No one will ever know the
length and depth of Lester's persuasion to lead Marty up from the depths
of his despair. The children alone would know, because they themselves
were at the edge of these same teachings. The teachings to have reached
back for hundreds of years to an ancestor who was an arrow maker. These
depths were no deeper at the moment than at the end of the shovel where
Marty helped Lester turn the soil at this small area for a garden. Lester
reached down to pick up a small object. As its carefully cut edges caught
the light there was a short stabbing reflection from the sun making a
glint of light. Lester rubbed the object between his fingers in order to
remove the dirt clinging to it.
"You see this."
Lester showed Marty the small sharp object. "This here is a lost
art."
Marty took the arrowhead from
Lester and turned it around slowly, feeling the sharp tip, the chipped out
small gouges which made it into what it was.
"You see," Lester
was ever the teacher, "You see," he said. "This is not a
sword." "This is an arrow." "Life comes from one
source." "You and I know that."
"The creator designed all
life for a purpose." "That original purpose left no place for
the letting of blood." "But, we as men sometimes, run ahead of
the creator." "We make a decision as to the purpose for
life." "Your ancestors and mine had a purpose." "This
arrow was made by your folks, just as my folks in another part of the
world made these same arrows." "I know what went into the
forming of these small pieces." "Respect was the first thing
taught." Respect for the stones in the choice of the best material,
and honor must be given to the maker, who had to learn the skill at the
feet of his tutor." "If our folks had to make these objects with
deliberation as to every stroke to keep the wrong blow from shattering the
whole thing, this in itself gave the creator of the object an
understanding of how carefully life is formed." "With one wrong
strike, the arrow can be destroyed." "Just as one release of the
bow will send the arrow to strike its target."
Later in the day Lester would
show Marty his great collection of the found arrowheads he had unearthed
while he was at work with the soil. Lester had a way of finding beauty and
art in the most difficult environments. If it was in hateful surroundings
he could point out and pick out a philosophy leaning toward the rare and
beautiful. He didn't hit a person with strong attitudes or deliberate
doctrine. The teaching would come in this way that of a simple object as
this arrowhead left by some other teacher of another time. The strengths
of these values were confronting the dark forces ever present over Marty's
mind and were now being examined. Could there be a way he could come to a
place of reckoning with these powerful guests? He wanted to learn to
entertain these guests at his own place. Would he be a lord of his estate
or owner of his personal psychic? Would he be able to rise from the ground
with his wounds as he had done in battle, not once, but twice? These,
short, vignettes, Lester was serving up to him, was directing him to a
place where he could begin to get some control and reason back into the
life he still had to walk for many years to come.
Trish was visiting with
Marty's father, her uncle. "I believe Marty is doing some
better."
"Thou-A-Cha-Wah-Thee."
Marty's father quietly commented.
It was true. He was pitiful.
The battles he endured in the nation's wars had scarred his handsome face,
but the scars reached deeper than the surface of his skin. They embedded
themselves in the total being as they rested at the center of his
thinking.
"He won't have anything
to do with our dances." Trish commented.
"It's all right."
Marty's father was accepting. "Most folks don't know what they mean,
anyway." "The steps they do are taken from what the animals and
the birds do, when they go into battle with each other." "Those
things are not known by our people anymore." "They don't know
this is how we taught our young warriors to survive, this watching the
animals and birds to see how they conducted themselves in war
situations." "Every thing is civilized." "No one knows
about the ways of the wilderness." "We have lost our respect for
creation, and the Great Spirit, who allowed these ways of the
beasts." "Marty had to learn too, but his learning was upon him,
in the instant of powerful great guns far superior to our weapons of
counting coup or ancient spearheads." "Now he can see and
understand the ways of the dances." "No one should expect him to
play at something so much a terror to him." "I'm of the old
ones." "I know." "And I, I release him from this part
of our culture." "He has already proven his bravery."
"Never again should he need to be placed in this position."
"They gave him metals for his falling in battle." "It is
enough."
According to tradition,
Marty's father was the last of the family head or leaders. What he said
was accepted, by his family, and by any other of the tribe, at that time.
Marty could be seen with a
slow gentle smile on his countenance as he worked and trained
"Boy" to help him in his hunting efforts. The dog could be seen
dashing out ahead of his small group to stand at the base of a tall pecan
tree. His plaintive yelping was a signal to the squirrel and to those
hunting the squirrel. Foolish squirrel! He believed he was in his position
of lofty protection and would whip in and out of the branches barking back
at the dog in such a disrespectful way. His swishing tail signaled his
position as he flagged the dog. The crack of the 410 in the hands of a
master marksman would bring the careless little beast dropping to the
ground. With the gathering up of a number of the little pecan thieves two
purposes would be accomplished. One of them was a lowering of their
population, so as to interrupt the disappearance of a good pecan crop. The
other was to provide a tasty squirrel pie prepared by Trish in the old,
heavy, wood, cook stove, oven.
Another time the waters of the
river close by had pushed out and over their banks. Taking refuge in the
branches of trees were the small birds, which were also tasty in a pot.
The morning saw the faithful "Boy" making trip after trip, out
into the flood waters, to dutifully bring a downed bird back to the feet
of his master.
Each hunting excursion could
be identified as to the sound of Boy's bark. If rabbits were his target
one could almost see the dog darting back and forth hot on the trail of
the rabbit's dodging path. The strong back legs of the rabbit gave the
animal the ability to change and redirect his escape route.
Boy was more lumbering in his
size, but somehow he had learned to follow the animal in its natural way
of escape. He was never quick enough to catch them, but he would run them
into a place of hiding. Usually, the place would be into an old empty log.
Marty taught the boys how to take a long stick, cut into the edges of it
to create a brush like hook on the end of it. By shoving the stick into
the hollow log, he could then twist it around and around into the fur of
the rabbit. If the boys could pick up the log and hold it up, Marty could
then pull the kicking protesting animal from its place.
As Marty was providing the
little family with protein rich food, the shadows of the spirits, who
tried to possess his life were being pushed farther and farther back from
him. He began to become a little like his youthful age. Certainly, he
would never be that, but at least he was becoming able to live under the
umbrella of his creator's love.
As time and unforeseen
circumstances were put upon the man his valor was forgotten. To society he
was simply an aging, bent, old Indian man. There was no memory of the
supreme sacrifice he had made in the wretched, burning, agony of battle.
No one would know of what he had seen, other than the other warriors who
fought beside him. If records were lost, ignorance prevailed. There were
written accounts, but never to be published. Only the most interested,
would see these notes. The terror of the circumstances, Marty had
encountered were forever buried in the man's memory. The atrocities of war
were beyond comprehension anyway. No respect was asked, none was given.
At his funeral when grown
strong men stood at his casket and grieved, there were some youth who were
sensitive enough to wonder why. They made the statement, "when strong
men grieve beside a casket it is a statement of something more than we
know or understand?"
Those who understood could not
answer. How could there be an answer to such a layered thing?
Are we wise enough to question
the forces resting on the shoulders of the man? Without a knowledge of
what the man knew how could there be an explanation to the youth, be they
brave or cowardly? Those who have never been to the places of terror and
agony of war could not empathize. There was no answer to those who never
who would never know of the man's humility and acceptance of depths of
teachings reaching as far back as to the arrow maker's of ancient times,
these teaching which allowed him to hold back for a time, those spiritual
adversaries.
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