-----------------------------------------------------------------------
POTTERY-SHARDS-6 (Raw, unfinished...) "To Dance Within"
{Part #6 of 9} Copyright 1997 by Vince Water
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"To Dance Within"
| A white youth of twelve has been left in the care |
| of a Shoshone medicine man while his uncle is away |
| to trade. The Indian boys have shown David their |
| exciting and different ways. When his uncle |
| returns, David hopes that he'll be able to stay on |
| the reservation. The boy wants to become an Indian. |
David held the delicate thing in his hand. It felt cool. There was
some mud staining its angry crimson color. The boy knew that in
nature, red often meant danger. That was very true for what he would
be attempting with the mushroom on this night of the full moon.
A Red man had used it, and survived. His name was Sha-sa-took, a
medicine man of the Shoshone Indians. He had performed the dangerous
ritual so that he could dance like the other men around the tribal
fire. His dance was not in the flesh but had been performed from
within; his spirit.
The shaman had explained it to David as being a part of a waking
dream that had allowed him to perform whatever he wanted. He ate a red
mushroom in the ritual. That was what had given Sha-sa-took the use of
his legs back so that he dance. The mid-summer celebration had been to
honor the 'Great Mystery' and that had been worth the risk to his life.
David carefully wiped mud from the mushroom with some spit from his
fingers. He studied its crimson cap. It was a rather small mushroom.
The only one that he could find as Sha-sa-took had directed. The
rotting trees he had searched bore other of kinds of mushrooms. The
delicious grey were the most plentiful as well as the white ones. Only
one red-capped mushroom had been found. The boy hoped that it would be
enough for him to perform his own dance within.
Sha-sa-took had told the boy that he was of age to attempt the
dangerous rite. It rarely killed the dancer. A boy who performed the
ritual was sometimes given visions of his future. The hope of seeing
what will come to pass had interested David. He desperately wanted to
learn which path his life would follow.
David eagerly headed for the Indian reservation. He darted from the
forest cover of sparce trees, leaped over a small creek and ran towards
the flat lands. That creek had marked the boundry of Shoshone territory
given to them by the United States Government. White people were
discouraged from entering the reservation of the Red man but he was
allowed. The shaman had taken the boy into his lodge as the son he'd
lost long ago.
David smiled when he looked down at himself while he ran. He felt
cooled where the wind flapped his two deerskin cloths against his body.
Sha-sa-took had gifted him with a real Indian breechclout. The youth
may be white skinned, but in his heart, he already felt like an Indian
boy.
He flew along the path as a free spirit. The boy was very happy
today. He laughed at the stare an Indian girl gave him when he passed
her gathering basket. David knew that he stood out from the others in
the tribe. His pale body looked strange in his scanty breechclout.
David thought back to the day when he had removed his pants and
shirt in favor of wearing his new breechclout. At first, he had been
embarrassed to walk around the reservation practically naked. The two
cloths barely covered the front and back of his body.
The Indian boys had giggled at the sight of his butt sticking out
from his rear flap. Their butts were flat and lean. They had been
curious about the Christian cut of the White boy's penis under his
front flap. He had been amazed in turn by their thick-skinned dicks.
That day with David's new friends had begun as one of exploration.
The Indian boys had examined his body while he had sheepishly looked
over theirs. Some of the boys went about nude. Their bodies were slim,
sun-burned red and smooth skinned. Tommy had hair covering his back,
arms and legs. That had amazed the Indian boys.
Their curiosity had turned to boldness. One youth had held David's
penis. He had tried avoiding the Indian boy's naughty handling but it
had become erected from the touching. When he had seen that the other
boys had stiff dicks his uneasiness had turned to excitement.
No boy had spoken any words that David could understand. It was only
through gestures and touching that they had communicated their intent.
The Indian boys had showed their new friend how his erection could be
pleasured.
The Indian boys had begun to masturbate. Some had stood back to
back, butts touching while performing their naked act. Their skin
rubbing game had been a simple one so David had performed it for
himself. He had giggled when an older boy pulled over the erected skin
of a younger boy who had resisted playing along.
That youth struggled free and had run to David. He had taken the
White boy's free hand to his stiff pole so that it could be handled.
David had let go of his dick to offer his left hand instead. The
youth's burning dark eyes spoke of the pleasure his pulling had given
him.
The youth had reached his climax quickly. After crying out from the
sweet pain in his dick, David had released the youth's stiff pole to
finish masturbating his own aching dick. Many of the Indian boys had
watched. He had tried to ignore their sly grins and embarrassing
gestures of encouragement. It had all been too new to him. Their naked
game of pulling over each other's erections and rubbing butts had been
something the White boy had never imagined before.
David giggled to himself. His sweet thoughts of naked boys was
giving him a hard on. It pushed the front cloth from his body while he
ran. He carefully cupped his left hand around his prize. That hand was
the one he had used to play the Indian boys' rubbing game. If that
mushroom hadn't been so difficult to gather, he would risk moving it to
his right hand so that he could satisfy his aching dick.
The boy glanced down at his free hand. It disappointed him that he
couldn't use it to touch his erection. Christian teachings forbade one
from using the right hand for 'dirty' acts. He had to use his left hand
to wash his genitals or when wiping himself after emptying his bowels.
None of his Indian friends had observed that restriction. They had used
both hands when pulling over themselves or their friend's dicks.
David shook his head in confussion. He wanted to become an Indian.
Theirs was a different kind of life. More free. Yet it was hard to
forget the strict upbringing his parents had given him. The Church had
been a strong part of their lives. Its Christian teachings would take
much time to forget.
The boy looked down at himself and frowned. His dick was small under
his front flap. Once more, he became the proper acting boy in God's
eyes. He had lost his erection from thinking clean thoughts. A pang of
guilt filled him. His life amongst the Indians seemed too good to be
true.
David wondered when his uncle would come back for him. He secretly
hoped that it wouldn't be for a long while. There wasn't any ill-will
between the two of them; he hardly knew uncle Renolds. He felt that his
life as an Indian could come to an end upon that man's return.
Where else would Renolds take him, David wondered? As a trader in
hard goods, he had no proper home and was no longer accepted by the
Amish. The boy was also considered an 'outsider' by Christian folk
because of the manner of his parent's deaths. The Shoshone had welcomed
them. David hoped that his uncle will let him remain with them.
David slowed to a walk when he neared the Indian village. Their
earth lodges came into sight. They were roughly shaped huts made of
dried mud and grass which formed a single room sunken into the ground.
It remained cool inside because the floor was lower than ground level.
The entrance was wood framed and had dirt steps going down into it.
Sitting before some of the lodges were Indian women performing
chores. One wrinkled-skin squaw was grinding dried corn seeds between
two stones. Another was sewing a pair of mocassins. David ran past them
bare footed. Like the other boys, he wouldn't be wearing their leather
shoes until becoming an adult. A Shoshone warrior wore mocassins,
leggings, a long cloth breechclout, a war shirt and feathers of the
eagle in his hair. When David grew older, he too would dress like a
proud Red man.
Sha-sa-took's earth lodge drew the boy to it. He slowed to a walk.
There was the feeling of butterflies in his stomach. The precious
mushroom was held between his tightly clenched fingers. It reminded him
of the ritual he'd be undergoing in the next few days. The boy wondered
if he'd survive it.
David descended the few steps into darkness. It was quiet inside.
There was the smell of burning wood and scorched fat. No fire. The
center pit was smoldering. David's eyes grew adjusted after a few
moments to see that the old man was asleep. He was laid out on his mat.
An old buffalo skin covered him. The boy sat down nearby and waited.
David's thoughts went deep. He counted the number of moons that had
passed since his uncle had left him with the Shoshone. It had been
three months. After the death of his parents last winter, Renolds had
become responsible for looking after him. Yet the man was constantly on
the move.
Uncle Renolds had been 'a loner'. That's what he had told the boy to
explain why he couldn't care for him properly, and his reasons for
leaving him on the Indian reservation. The man's years of friendly
trade with the Shoshone People had permitted this.
The only Indians who could speak English with David had been the
chief and the medicine man. The White boy had been welcomed to stay in
the chief's lodge of two wives and three daughters. David felt more
comfortable with Sha-sa-took who had lived alone.
The medicine man once had a family. Though he wouldn't give David
their names, he had described their faces and all the things that he
had loved about them. Sha-sa-took's wife had been a good worker and
beautiful. She had died while giving birth to their only son. The boy
had grown up strong but was killed at the age of twelve by blue
uniformed men for reasons no one ever explained. That had happened five
winters ago.
David was twelve years old when his uncle had left him in the care
of the Shoshone. Sha-sa-took had seen the boy as a replacement for his
dead son. The youth was welcomed to stay with the medicine man for as
long as he wanted.
David hoped that his uncle would permit him to stay with
Sha-sa-took. He's learned so many fun things in the three months with
the Indians. He could ride a horse, throw a spear, swim in the river,
track and identify animals, dance, perform rituals and play games with
the other boys. Their Indian speech has been slow to understand. Yet
David felt that if he were allowed to stay that he'd eventually become
one of them.
Sha-sa-took shifted his position over the mat. His breaths remained
even. David knew that he was still asleep. He would have to wait.
Patience was one lesson that the medicine man had already taught him.
The boy wondered how patient Death would be before claiming the ailing
shaman.
The White boy looked around Sha-sa-took's lodge. It was a poor one.
The man had few belongings. Most of them, like his buffalo blanket,
were old and worn. The shaman was respected by the others but it wasn't
reflected in material goods. The medicine man seemed content though.
Food had been brought to them daily by the women. Yet none lingered
to stay and chat. Sha-sa-took received few visitors. He couldn't easily
leave his lodge because of his crippled legs. David wondered when the
shaman performed his duties as healer. In the three months that he's
stayed with Sha-sa-took, no one had ever come to be looked at by the
medicine man.
David knew that Sha-sa-took could cure hurts. The man had used a
white paste of buffalo fat and crushed plants to ease the boy's sore
penis. The skin of it had become red and chafed from playing the
rubbing game too often. A brown cream had also been given him to
protect his pale body from the harsh sun.
The medicine man had also known how to heal a person's inner pain.
David had often been crying when he first came to the reservation.
Sha-sa-took's words of comfort had helped the boy to overcome the loss
of his parents and to put him at ease from the worries that sometimes
arose in his head.
Sha-sa-took sat up. His words startled the White boy from his deep
thoughts. "You make sad?" he asked while pointing to the youth's head.
David nodded and smiled. "I found the red-capped mushroom. Only this
one."
"You are small," the medicine man answered. "You spirit soar high to
the full moon. More mushroom not good. Take you away from us."
David understood the broken sentences. The shaman's English had
improved since they've been together. His own attempt at their Indian
language had not gone as well. The boy was glad that Sha-sa-took didn't
press him about it.
"You pleasure with boys today?" The shaman made a rubbing gesture
with his hand over the boy's front flap.
David blushed. When his dick had hurt him, he had told the shaman
about the naked games his friends had shown him. The white paste had
eased its burning pain. His dick had become used to it after a few
months and had no longer chafed from being handled. He wondered why the
old shaman asked.
"You like pleasure with a man?" Sha-sa-took carefully asked.
David rapidly blinked his eyes. He often did that out of
nervousness or from the unexpected. The boy wondered what the shaman
was asking. No man had ever touched him. Only the Indian boys.
Sha-sa-took awaited a reply so the youth asked his own question. "Which
man?"
"A good man," the shaman replied. "Gho-re-tree-sa wants you. He
asking me to you."
David was startled by the shaman's words. Yet it explained a few
things. The boy suspected that he even knew who the shaman named. There
had been a young brave showing an interest in him recently. The man was
of medium Indian height, long haired and he had a handsome face that
often smiled. He was unmarried.
A few days ago, David had spied the young brave in question taking a
sweat with two warriors. Their small lodge had been set up on the bank
of a river where the Indian boys often played. The lodge had been
formed of elk hides hung over four willow branches.
Two naked men had startled David when they had left the sweat lodge
to rinse off in the river. What had surprised the boy was seeing the
warriors' long dicks sticking up against their sweaty bellies. He had
wondered if the men had been playing the 'rubbing game' with each
other.
David had approached the steaming lodge and peeked in. He had seen a
young man sitting inside it. The brave invited the boy to join him.
Reluctantly, the youth had dropped his breechclout to the ground and
had went inside. The young man had brought the white youth to sit in
his lap.
It had been very hot and steamy inside the sweat lodge. The heat had
burned David's face. Some cool water had been poured over his head to
ease him. Sitting with the brave had been a strange experience. The boy
felt a little scared, a bit too hot but very excited because of the
slippery nakedness of their touching bodies. The brave's erection had
pressed against the boy's bottom.
...
There had been several instances when David had spied the young
brave. The last time had been yesterday afternoon. The man had watched
him skinny dipping with his Indian friends in the creek. When the boys
had come out to dry themselves in the sun they had performed their skin
rubbing game on the bank. A few boys had even pointed at the brave's
interest in them. Yet the man hadn't approached.
The Indian brave had never tried speaking with David. He probably
didn't know one word of English. That lack of communication hadn't kept
the White boy from playing games with his Indian friends. David
wondered what the young man had asked of Sha-sa-took.
"He wants be one," the shaman explained while joining the index
fingers of his two hands together. "You do?"
"To do what?" David asked.
The shaman smiled. "Boys play it as game," he explained.
"Gho-re-tree-sa with you... make good in both hearts!"
"What will he do with me?"
"He want naked bodies touching to pleasure flesh, and make good
inside."
David stared down at the ground. He sorted through the shaman's
words for their complete meaning. The idea of what the young brave
wanted with him was both exciting and a bit frightening. Why did a full
grown man want to be naked with a boy?
David's thoughts went deep. He knew that the Indian youths played
their skin rubbing game because it felt good. He knew that it was
naughty behavior yet he did it himself in defiance to the Church which
had abandoned him. Sha-sa-took had taught him new ways. Good things
that had made him feel good about himself and his new life. If the
medicine man wanted him to be with that Indian man, then it must be for
a good reason, David reasoned.
The boy raised his eyes to the medicine man's before he spoke. "If
you say it is good, then I will do it with him."
Sha-sa-took nodded his head. "You will do the rite when moon rises.
Gho-re-tree-sa in my lodge be with you to morning. If good in both
hearts, you go to live him."
David became alarmed. "You want me to leave you?!"
"No," replied the medicine man. "You be with Gho-re-tree-sa is
good. I alone in my earth lodge is good. Rituals are that I must do."
The boy stared at the ground between them. He sorted through what
Sha-sa-took had said. It seemed that the old man needed to be alone so
that he could perform his rituals. Perhaps that's the reason why no one
had been coming to his lodge, David reasoned. A person needing to be
healed had to be alone with the medicine man.
...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
{end of file: POTTERY-SHARDS-6 The stories continue in: -7}