Chapter Three The Painted Pony

Let's catch up with Jamie and her encounter with Courtney and see where we will be going from here. (Please keep in mind this is raw an rough and needs editing and polish - but thoughts come quickly some mornings and need to be captured before they get away.)

Chapter Four

A molting Blue-Jay dropped in front of Jamie to pick up some seeds from the open field. His neck looked too scrawny to hold his head up and his head and neck were totally featherless. It tugged at Jamie's heart strings. The striking colors and crest of the Jay was no longer his. As vain as he normally is, shrieking his loud "thief, thief; Thief!" He was muted, hungry and very nervous. It reminded Jamie how the Great Spirit Sometimes brings lessons to a person. Sometimes very subtle but often like a smack upside the ego, just as Mr. Blue Jay's vanity was certainly rebuffed or at least shown how quickly everything can change.

Being called to the council fire shook Jamie deep into her roots. She had neglected family and tribe since her father died. Her sister, Courtney, was not her responsibility and she couldn't tolerate her attitude since she joined the Spiral Edge Band and began living with Damien Westerly. As though their father, James Two Cloud's death had set her free, like a race horse at the sound of the starting pistol, nothing could stop her, reasoning wouldn't reach her. She was hell-bent on a path of destruction and Jamie felt so powerless and hopeless.

Jamie's father was not about to let Jamie loose from her responsibility to family, but what else was Courtney tangled up in besides drugs and or alcohol since she gravitated to this band? How did it affect the tribal youth and traditions mentioned at the council fire?  Jamie's head hurt from trying to sort it all out. She should start by talking to Courtney, if she would even listen to Jamie.  The Painted Pony nuzzled Jamie as if to say let's get moving. She was not at all sure she wanted to ride this phantom horse. Well, okay, she wasn't a phantom, but she seemed to have powers Jamie knew nothing about.

Suddenly, thundering hooves jolted her back to the spot she stood on.  Dust kicked up to invade Jamie's space. Courtney reined in the fiery-eyed black stallion and glared at Jamie. "Stay out of my life. Go back to your big city life and leave me alone."

"Wait Courtney, I haven't even seen you in two years. I'm not meddling in your life." Jamie stared at the gaunt frame of her sister as she sat astride the agitated beast that couldn't seem to stand still. Courtney's make up was overdone and apparently left over from the night before as it was smeared and half-gone. Courtney looked like a train wreck and sounded even worse.

Without replying, Courtney spun the horse around and charged back the way she had come. The Painted Pony snorted and pawed the ground.

First, how did Courtney know she was at the Rez, and exactly where she was? Second, why did she think Jamie had any thoughts of meddling in her life? She withdrew from Jamie and family, when she turned eighteen and never looked back. Perhaps it's time she looked into her little sister's life. Something was horribly wrong.

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