My Brother's Keeper

Mawk felt a pride swell in his chest. Mawk had been given his name eight suns ago. He had another name before his initiation, but that was forgotten now. Only a woman kept the name she had been given at birth throughout her whole life.

His desire to participate in the big hunt with the grown men was finally within reach. But first, he had to get through this part of the ritual. He tried to remain oblivious to the pain. He had to keep his resolve, because if a boy cried out during the rigors of the initiation, not only did he lose favor with RAYDR, he also would be consigned to the status of outcast for the rest of his life. There were only two such boys in their tribe, pitiful boys, now scraping the hides with the women and children.

Throughout the ritual, Mawk had been respected by the men, and was admired by the women and children of his tribe. He was praised by the elders, but most importantly, he was accepted by RAYDR. To be accepted by RAYDR was to be accepted by all, because RAYDR was god. Even the barbarian tribes to the south worshiped RAYDR, although they barely even had a spoken language. Mawk’s tribe was sophisticated. They had a language of many words—more than his fingers and toes combined. The most important word was for bison.

The men had already gathered their atlatls and spears and were around a fire smoking. Each re-enacted his bravery on the hunting field right after initiation. They spoke, using words from their scant vocabulary, as well as hand gestures, facial expressions, and sound effects, such as grunts and growls. Sound effects were an important part of the tale, and most of the tribe's words were mimicries of sounds associated with the objects in their vocabulary.

An excitement rose from those assembled when the one hunter got to the part of the story where Bat died. Bat was one of the bravest warriors of the tribe, and the men knew he would be badly missed. Mawk's tribe was not large—about sixty people, including men, elders, ancients, women, and the outcasts. Outcasts were included in the count because they could still do women's work. Prepubescent boys and girls were not counted because they could not fight or marry. Once they reached puberty, they assumed responsibility for the tribe’s well being, so everyone mattered. Bat’s death caused great concern, and soon there would probably be another death.

Mawk's older brother, Gid-gid, had been seriously injured in the latest hunt. Another premature death would compromise the tribe. Gid-gid had broken his leg and had a large wound above his knee, which had become infected. Although he was being ministered to by one of the women healers and a young female apprentice, his death was imminent. Gid-gid was given man's smoke and medicine smoke and willow bark to chew on. The woman healer had also asked the elders permission from to give him the alcohol the tribe had made from wild berries. This was sacred juice and the elders had to consult RAYDR to get permission.

Gid-gid was propped up in the story circle so that he could hear the other men's accounts of bravery, including his. Bat was propped up as well, although he was dead. This was done so he could take the stories back to the spirit world and be accepted by the spirit elders. Gid-gid was moaning, barely coherent. The others knew he was still alive when the healer woman tried to set his leg and he screamed out in pain. Screaming and moaning in pain was acceptable to the tribe because Gid-gid had already passed his initiation rites the spring before. He was a man now, and if a man needed to cry or scream that was alright, as long as he didn't do it during the initiation. The tribe would not begrudge a dying man his pain.

Initiation in Mawk's tribe was a brutal affair. The young initiate was pierced with smoke-hardened skewers through the skin on his back and then hoisted up to the heights of the ceremonial tree by thick chords attached to the skewers. A special concoction of psychotropic plants was ground into a mush and applied as a salve to his armpits, genitals, and anus. Another warrior would be hoisted up in a harness every so often to give the initiate sips of water from a gourd or puffs of spirit smoke, which was a combination of man's smoke and medicine smoke. If need be, more salve would be applied to aid in receiving the vision—a face to face confrontation with RAYDR.

Mawk could not stop thinking about his confrontation with RAYDR. RAYDR looked nothing like Mawk's people, nor did he look like the barbarians to the south. RAYDR had no hair on his head, and his eyes were almost round, not the almond shape of everyone Mawk had ever known. RADYR's skin was much lighter than Mawk's, almost the color of the bison milk he had seen when they split open the udder of a slaughtered female bison.

RAYDR spoke to Mawk through thoughts, using phrases that were not part of the tribe’s vocabulary. Mawk understood these thoughts—an idea he had some trouble in expressing to the elders. Only Old Tule acknowledged that he understood what Mawk was trying to say. While he seemed disturbed by the revelation, he understood that RADYR’s will, would be done.

The other elders discussed his vision and debated whether this was a sign from RAYDR that Mawk was destined to be an elder someday. Although uncertain of the boy’s fate, Old Tule kept a watch on Mawk, looking for he did not know what.

As was tradition, the men remained around the fire, until dawn broke. Then they would head out on the hunt. When dawn broke, Gid-gid stood up and stretched. His leg was healed and there was no sign of the wound.

Old Tule went to Mawk’s tent to tell him the good news about his brother, but Mawk was nowhere to be found. There were no tracks to show he had walked out of the tent and left the tribe. There was not any indication that anyone had been inside the tent. The tribe's numbers remained steady as one brother was miraculously healed and the existence of the other, if he had existed, would never be known.