Soft Rain Read Online Free PDF Page B

Rain asked, brushing away a fly from her forehead.
    “The white men’s diseases,” Aunt Kee muttered.
“Unakas
, the white men call themselves. Elder brothers. Ha! I will not call them
Unakas
. Good elder brothers do not bring heartache and disease.”
    One morning soon after her arrival, Green Fernawoke with an
Unaka
disease. Red spots covered her face and arms. Mother and Aunt Kee moved her blanket farther away, but Soft Rain could still hear her asking for water—to bathe in, to get cool.
    “I want to give water to Green Fern. And I can fan the flies off her, too,” Soft Rain said when Mother brought her a drink.
    “Shhh, she is very ill.” Mother spoke softly. “It is best to let her be alone. Aunt Kee will take care that she gets enough water. If they don’t have enough, they can take more of ours.”
    For many days Soft Rain watched and worried about Green Fern, until one morning she herself awoke shivering, completely drenched in sweat. Then she began coughing. Her breath came hard as the coughing continued.
    Her mother built a tent over her from a piece of cloth she had saved for a dress. “Try to sleep, daughter,” she repeated again and again.
    Soft Rain lay shaded but not cool. When she tried to sit, she vomited, not always in the bucket. The smell grew worse. She sniffed, rubbing her nose, but the stench would not go away.
    She slept, awoke, turned, coughed. It was dark, quiet. She slept, awoke; it was light. She didn’t know how many days passed in this way before her coughing became less. When she awakened to seeAunt Kee bending over her, someone else was coughing nearby. “Who is it?” she asked.
    “Shhh. Your mother now has the coughing disease.”
    Soft Rain sat up and saw her mother lying next to her in the shade of the tent. Crawling over to her, she gently touched her lips to Mother’s forehead.
    “Where is Green Fern?” Soft Rain whispered to Aunt Kee. “Is she well now?”
    Aunt Kee lowered her eyes. Tears came. “The disease of the white men killed my daughter, and the soldiers have taken my husband from me. My sister and you are my only family now.”
    Soft Rain climbed into Aunt Kee’s lap. “Green Fern was my best friend,” she sobbed.

RAIN COMES
    A unt Kee helped Soft Rain care for Mother. She shared her water ration with them, just as they had when Green Fern was ill. For many nights Soft Rain fell asleep crying, awakening with a start when Mother coughed or heaved, struggling to breathe. Afterward she’d fall back asleep in Aunt Kee’s arms.
    When Mother was a little better Aunt Kee said, “Walk around, Soft Rain. Talk with the children.”
    Soft Rain shook her head. “Not until Mother is all well.”
    Then it became too hot to move. For most of each day they sat under the shade of Mother’s tent. Aunt Kee and Mother talked about when they were little girls.
    “Why didn’t you go to school?” Soft Rain asked.
    “We didn’t have to,” Aunt Kee answered. “We learned stories and cooking and sewing from our mother, your grandmother.”
    “And from
your
grandmother?” Soft Rain asked.
    Mother smiled. “Yes, she was a good teacher and storyteller.”
    Soft Rain thought about her own grandmother. Would she see her again? Would she ever hear another of her stories? How would she remember the ones Grandmother had told her? While listening to Aunt Kee and Mother, she figured out a way.
Every day
, she thought,
if I can recall a story, then tell it, I will remember
. “Listen to me tell one of Grandmother’s stories,” she said.
    Mother and Aunt Kee nodded.
    “When I was a girl,” she began, “this is what I was told about the
uktena
, that huge snake that has shining scales and horns on its head.” She paused. Her mother smiled.
    “It lurks in deep river pools and dark mountain passes. Once two brothers went hunting in the mountains. While one was looking for a deer, he came upon the great
uktena
coiled around a man who was fighting for his life. Taking