Chapter One

You live in a world different from my own, but it used to be the same. This is a story about the Lakota, though I am not one of them. The way I tell this story is not the same way they would. If you want the truth in your world, I urge you to seek stories written by them. But if you want to hear how the Lakota changed my world, it begins with two sisters.

Beth and Seal entertained themselves in the cramped backseat of their dad's pickup. Beth picked at the brittle edges of a Lakota college parking sticker.

"Beth, stop picking at that decal. You'll ruin it," their dad said.

"I'm sorry, daddy," Beth said, her fingers still fidgeting.

"Are we almost there?" Seal asked, unburying her face from her book.

"Almost. Look at the signs," he said. Seal turned her attention past the rhythmic sway of the windshield wipers.

Their dad drove towards Happy's Haunted Hayride. Hand-drawn signs, wilting from the rain, occasionally marked the way. "Watch your sister. Never let her out of your sight," he instructed his oldest daughter.

Seal acknowledged him with a nod into his rear-view mirror. She began talking to her sister. He could not hear her over the noisy engine. Beth responded in ventriloquy through her doll, Paintchip. No one knew why she named it Paintchip.

Seal giggled in response.

Their dad activated his turn signal. The indicator lit up, but never blinked and made no sound.

"Dad, is it going to be really scary?" Beth asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Not for you, sweetie. You're brave," he replied. He gave her a reassuring smile she could not see, but they could hear it in his voice.

"It's just the kiddie ride, Beth. No big scares. I promise," Seal chimed in, giving her sister's hand a gentle squeeze. Beth nodded, trying to muster a smile, but the knot in her stomach remained.

Their dad handed Seal two ten-dollar bills. "Have fun. Get a treat to share with Beth, too."

The two sisters lunged forward from their seats and hugged him from behind.

"Thank you, Daddy." Seal took the money and pushed hard on the door. Its hinges groaned and made a cracking noise. A light drizzle fell on her head as she helped her sister down. The two sisters ran off, leaving him behind.

Soon after, Beth carried Paintchip in one hand, and the other gripped a marshmallow treat shaped like a witch hat. Chocolate already covered most of Beth's chin. Seal used her sleeve to clean it up like her mom had done so many times for her.

A farm tractor idled ahead; rust stains crept out from the seams of its hood. The sisters climbed aboard the back of the hay wagon and once full, the rear gates crashed together, locking them in. The tractor lurched forward, nearly spilling them off the straw bale seats.

"I can't see daddy's truck anymore," Beth said, using her doll voice. She wobbled the doll back and forth in her hand as she spoke through it. Beth always called her sister "Seal." She couldn't manage her full name: Cecile.

"He's there waiting for us." She reached out and squeezed Beth's hand, which grasped the soft hide that clothed Paintchip. The doll and younger girl never separated.

They both wore costumes. Seal was a lamb, same as last year. She thought her costume made her look childish. Beth dressed in a homemade campfire costume made of orange and red felt cut into flame shapes. Fuzzy cotton balls stuck on twigs dangled from her hat. They were supposed to be marshmallows. Their mom made their costumes. She had sewn Paintchip as well. Sewing was a hobby, but she wouldn't win any prizes at the county fair.

Beth kneeled, wide-eyed, peering hard into the hazy distance. She used Paintchip again to speak. "Seal, I think I see someone." She bounced on the hay bale, scratching her knees as she faced outwards.

"You have not. It hasn't started yet," Seal answered. "Sit down and be careful!" Seal pulled her little sister down hard next to her.

Beth pouted for only a moment. "I still think I saw something," the doll voice said again.

Seal knew the attraction did not start until they passed between the grain silos; one painted, 'Danger!' and the other painted 'Turn Back', the 'a' painted like a skull. All the other kids in the wagon sat with at least one parent, except the boy sitting alone in the frontmost seat. She knew him. He was Javin.

When they climbed into the wagon, Javin waved at her and motioned for them to sit with him. Seal shook her head and settled at the back of the trailer instead. His mom must have stayed behind in her car, thankful for the break. They were the same age, but Javin was immature.

"Javin is a silly boy," Beth said, recognizing their neighbor.

"Javin is an annoying boy," Seal replied. She avoided looking his way. He had already lost interest in the sisters and focused on the spinning tires. Little flecks of mud rained on him.

The tractor passed the silos. Two scarecrows staggered out of the cornfield and the tractor squealed to a stop. One wore blue overalls, and the other, a red flannel shirt.

"Can't you read?" the blue one shouted.

"I can't read," the other said, an exaggerated drawl to his voice. "I'm a scarecrow. I got no ears."

"I said read, ya dullard. You don't read with ears, you hear with 'em. And besides, I was talking…" He pointed exaggeratedly towards the hayride, "to these people HERE," emphasizing the last word.

"I says I can't!" the dumb red scarecrow replied.

"No here. H-E-R-E." He then reached into his blue overalls and pulled out two ears of corn. "But if you insist, here are some ears!" He handed them to the red scarecrow and walked out of sight, shooing away the nonsense behind him with wildly flapping arms. Most of the kids laughed.

"Thanks, old fellow," the red flannel scarecrow said, suddenly smart. He raised the corn to the sides of his head, one covering each ear. "What my flustered companion meant to tell you is you've passed the warnings. Stay in your seats and remember rule number one. Do not touch anyone in the cornfield. They will not touch you. They will not be mean to you, if you're not mean to them."

He pointed at Beth, ear of corn in hand. "Little girl, what is rule number one?" Beth shrunk against her older sister. The blue scarecrow hopped onto the back of the hayride, towering over everyone. Some children gasped. "Who is in charge of this girl?"

"I am!" Seal raised her hand.

He smiled at her. "Please tell your sister about rule number one."

"Don't touch anyone."

"Correctomundo! Don't touch anyone in the cornfield, and they will not touch you. What is rule number two?"

No one could answer before his blue overall companion leaped from the front, startling some children. "Have fun," he called out.

The scarecrows hopped off and waved. The tractor revved, shifted into gear, and continued deeper into the cornfield. Beth relaxed, moving further from her sister.

The ride went as Seal remembered. Beth enjoyed it, laughing and gasping throughout, though the bits were silly. Halfway through, cackling witches performed over a smoking cauldron. One witch hopped onto the wagon and asked Beth for her marshmallows for the s'mores. The riders laughed. Beth enjoyed being the center of attention, but still blushed.

At the end of the ride, the tractor turned towards the return road. Another farm worker waved the driver down using a bright flashlight, its beam reflecting across the misty rain. He said something to the driver too low to be heard.

The driver faced the riders. "Alright, the service road is flooded. We're going to take a quick detour." He wiped the rain from his face. "We'll have you back soon."

The tractor backed up and turned the opposite way along the fencing marking the property. Parents hugged their children close to them as they bounced over the rough ground. Everyone grew quiet. They turned from the fence line. It disappeared into the darkness. Javin stared at Seal, a blank expression on his face. Seal mistook it for creepiness, but he was worried.

The tractor jumped, making a farump sound. The engine whirred out of gear, and it jerked to the left. The driver stopped the vehicle, applying the hand brake.

"Just a rock. I think. Let me make sure everything is a-okay." He hopped off his seat and checked the connections. The brake lights flickered as he wiggled the wires.

"I see something," Beth said, again using Paintchip as her voice. She peered over the guardrail into the rainy dark.

Seal turned to tell Beth to sit, but a man jumped from between the cornstalks and screamed. His voice hurt Beth's ears, and she covered them. Her dad never yelled that loud, even in a rare mood of anger.

"Off! Get out of here! This is my land!" The wild-looking man wore a ratty trucker's hat. He carried a long object in his arms. "Get off!" he yelled. "I ain't gonna warn again." He approached the back of the trailer. Seal pulled Beth down and they ducked below the wood guardrail.

The driver peered from the edge of the trailer. "Hey man, calm down. I made a bad turn. We're going! Stay cal…"

The man lowered the object he cradled in his arms. Seal thought it must be a gun. The tractor jolted forward, leaving the crazed man behind in its wake. He continued yelling. Children cried into their parents' arms.

Beth looked at Seal, "I told you I saw something." She didn't use Paintchip's voice this time. Seal responded with a glare.

As they sped off, the tractor slid sideways against the deep mud. Panicked, the driver saved them from one calamity but led them into another. The wheel lost its grip, slipping into an embankment. The tractor spilled sideways and abruptly stopped, throwing the driver from his rusty seat.

The trailer, hay bales and the passengers continued their forward momentum, flipping over the prone tractor. Seal felt weightless for several seconds before hitting the ground hard. A hay bale landed on her. It scratched her arms and bare neck, pinning her into the muck.

Parents and children cried around her. The bale pressed Seal's face into the mud, some oozed into her mouth and coated her tongue. It tasted like chalk. She tried turning her head to look for Beth, but the hay bale held her fast. The pressure on her chest made it impossible to take a deep breath. She tried to scream, but she couldn't make any noise.

Someone pushed the straw bale from above. It rolled over her, across her left arm. She pulled against it, bracing with her legs to free herself. She took several deep breaths. Javin stood above her and held out his hands to help her stand. "Are you okay, Seal?"

She ignored him and crawled towards the overturned wreckage. The adults struggled to turn the hayride over. "Beth!" she called, over and over. Her hands slipped into the mud as she ambled forward. She grasped something squishy and pulled it out to look. Deep down she knew what she had found. The expressionless Paintchip stared back at Seal. Then the world turned black around her as she lost consciousness.