happened. I felt embarrassed and ashamed to know his emotion so starkly. I closed him out as quickly as possible, but not before I knew that now Jemmy would never hunt for another Group; Old Ones or no Old Ones, he had found his love.
All this took less time than it takes to say how-do-you-do and shake hands. Mother descended with cries and drew Miss Carmody and Father out to the kitchen for coffee, and Jemmy swatted Jethro and made him carry the luggage instead of snapping it to Miss Carmody's room. After all we didn't want to lose our teacher before she even saw the schoolhouse.
I waited until everyone was bedded down. Miss Carmody in her cold cold bed, the rest of us of course with our sheets set for warmth-how I pity Outsiders! Then I went to Mother.
She met me in the dark hall and we clung together as she comforted me.
"Oh, Mother," I whispered, "I sorted Miss Carmody tonight. I'm afraid."
Mother held me tight again. "I wondered. It's a great responsibility. You have to be so wise and clear-thinking. Your grandmother carried the Gift with graciousness and honor. "You are of her. You can do it."
"But, Mother! To be an Old One!"
Mother laughed. "You have years of training ahead of you before you'll be an Old One. Councilor to the soul is a weighty job."
"Do I have to tell?" I pleaded. "I don't want anyone to know yet. I don't want to be set apart."
"I'll tell the Oldest. No one else need know." She hugged me again and I went back, comforted, to bed.
I lay in the darkness and let my mind clear, not even knowing how I knew how to. Like the gentle teachings of quiet fingers I felt the family about me. I felt warm and comfortable as though I were cupped in the hollow palm of a loving hand. Someday I would belong to the Group as I now belonged to the family. Belong to others? With an odd feeling of panic I shut the family out. I wanted to be alone-to belong just to me and no one else. I didn't want the Gift.
I slept after a while.
Miss Carmody left for the schoolhouse an hour before we did. She wanted to get things started a little before school-time, her late arrival making it kind of rough on her. Kiah, Jethro, Lizbeth and I walked down the lane to the Armisters' to pick up their three kids. The sky was so blue you could taste it, a winy fallish taste of harvest fields and falling leaves. We were all feeling full of bubbly enthusiasm for the beginning of school. We were lighthearted and light-footed, too, as we kicked along through the cottonwood leaves paving the lane with gold. In fact Jethro felt too light-footed, and the third time I hauled him down and made him walk on the ground I cuffed him good. He was still sniffling when we got to Armisters'.
"She's pretty!" Lizbeth called before the kids got out to the gate, all agog and eager for news of the new teacher.
"She's young," Kiah added, elbowing himself ahead of Lizbeth.
"She's littler'n me," Jethro sniffed, and we all laughed because he's five six already even if he isn't twelve yet.
Debrah and Rachel Armister linked arms with Lizbeth and scuffled down the lane, heads together, absorbing the details of teacher's hair, dress, nail polish, luggage and night clothes, though goodness knows how Lizbeth found out about all that.
Jethro and Kiah annexed Jeddy and they climbed up on the rail fence that parallels the lane, and walked the top rail. Jethro took a tentative step or two above the rail, caught my eye and stepped back in a hurry. He knows as well as any child in the Canyon that a kid his age has no business lifting along a public road.
We detoured at the Mesa Road to pick up the Kroginold boys. More than once Father has sighed over the Kroginolds.
You see, when the Crossing was made the People got separated in that last wild moment when air was screaming past and the heat was building up so alarmingly. The members of our Group left their ship just seconds before it crashed so devastatingly into the box canyon behind Old Baldy and literally splashed
All this took less time than it takes to say how-do-you-do and shake hands. Mother descended with cries and drew Miss Carmody and Father out to the kitchen for coffee, and Jemmy swatted Jethro and made him carry the luggage instead of snapping it to Miss Carmody's room. After all we didn't want to lose our teacher before she even saw the schoolhouse.
I waited until everyone was bedded down. Miss Carmody in her cold cold bed, the rest of us of course with our sheets set for warmth-how I pity Outsiders! Then I went to Mother.
She met me in the dark hall and we clung together as she comforted me.
"Oh, Mother," I whispered, "I sorted Miss Carmody tonight. I'm afraid."
Mother held me tight again. "I wondered. It's a great responsibility. You have to be so wise and clear-thinking. Your grandmother carried the Gift with graciousness and honor. "You are of her. You can do it."
"But, Mother! To be an Old One!"
Mother laughed. "You have years of training ahead of you before you'll be an Old One. Councilor to the soul is a weighty job."
"Do I have to tell?" I pleaded. "I don't want anyone to know yet. I don't want to be set apart."
"I'll tell the Oldest. No one else need know." She hugged me again and I went back, comforted, to bed.
I lay in the darkness and let my mind clear, not even knowing how I knew how to. Like the gentle teachings of quiet fingers I felt the family about me. I felt warm and comfortable as though I were cupped in the hollow palm of a loving hand. Someday I would belong to the Group as I now belonged to the family. Belong to others? With an odd feeling of panic I shut the family out. I wanted to be alone-to belong just to me and no one else. I didn't want the Gift.
I slept after a while.
Miss Carmody left for the schoolhouse an hour before we did. She wanted to get things started a little before school-time, her late arrival making it kind of rough on her. Kiah, Jethro, Lizbeth and I walked down the lane to the Armisters' to pick up their three kids. The sky was so blue you could taste it, a winy fallish taste of harvest fields and falling leaves. We were all feeling full of bubbly enthusiasm for the beginning of school. We were lighthearted and light-footed, too, as we kicked along through the cottonwood leaves paving the lane with gold. In fact Jethro felt too light-footed, and the third time I hauled him down and made him walk on the ground I cuffed him good. He was still sniffling when we got to Armisters'.
"She's pretty!" Lizbeth called before the kids got out to the gate, all agog and eager for news of the new teacher.
"She's young," Kiah added, elbowing himself ahead of Lizbeth.
"She's littler'n me," Jethro sniffed, and we all laughed because he's five six already even if he isn't twelve yet.
Debrah and Rachel Armister linked arms with Lizbeth and scuffled down the lane, heads together, absorbing the details of teacher's hair, dress, nail polish, luggage and night clothes, though goodness knows how Lizbeth found out about all that.
Jethro and Kiah annexed Jeddy and they climbed up on the rail fence that parallels the lane, and walked the top rail. Jethro took a tentative step or two above the rail, caught my eye and stepped back in a hurry. He knows as well as any child in the Canyon that a kid his age has no business lifting along a public road.
We detoured at the Mesa Road to pick up the Kroginold boys. More than once Father has sighed over the Kroginolds.
You see, when the Crossing was made the People got separated in that last wild moment when air was screaming past and the heat was building up so alarmingly. The members of our Group left their ship just seconds before it crashed so devastatingly into the box canyon behind Old Baldy and literally splashed
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