Am dying. White-man is here. White-man shot Cat. Must take form of human kit.
Don’t let white-man find us, she thought. Fear raced through her.White-men are killers only.
Will shift to human shape. Will shift back to hunting Cat. Will be hungry. Will not be able to feed.
Okay. Take my form, she thought.But keep away from white-man.
Looked back. Did not see white-man, but he was making loud paw noises as he walked. Was too close, but Cat was dying. Cat found image of snake in deeps of human kit. Shifted. Cat screamed. Human kit screamed.
—
Coldcoldcold. Winter was early. Hunger hit my belly, an ache for meat and forelisi’s fried corn-cakes. Hunger in my middle liketlvdatsiclaws when panther and Wesa fought and merged. Bad hunger. Bad cold. Looked at body. Had human shape. Dried blood made flakes and fell from body. Remembered knife and killing white-man, long ago. Had been good. But Wesa-in-human-shape had no knife. Wesa had lost father’s knife long ago. Wesa-in-human-shape crawled under pile of branches and curled up in leaves for warmth.
Heard footsteps. Crouched tiny. Thought. Water is near. Could reach water and swim away.
Footsteps went past. Saw shape of man in white-man-clothes, with white-man-stink, of sweat and poison and stinky things that make the Earth and the children of the Corn Mother sick.
White-man passed on by. Air and ground fell silent. We shivered in Wesa-human-shape, bare skin with no pelt. Would die soon in this shape.
Time moved. Birds flew on air. Squirrels peeked out of nests, staring at Wesa-human-shape. Hunger made belly ache. Noisy silver metal bird with strange beak flew overhead. Owls hunted and claimed territory. Finally decided that white-man was gone. Crawled from pile of sticks and looked around. Tried to smell with human nose, sniffsniffsniff, and did not smell white-man. Stood. Heard river. Place of safety. Wesa was thirsty.
Feet hurt in human-shape as Wesa raced to small river. Wesa climbed down many rocks to edge of water and drank. Was hungry. Wanted corn-cakes fried in fat. Water was not enough. Wesa still hungered. Touched chest, ribs were sharp like knives against flesh. Wesa fingers found a scar, round shape on bare skin of chest. It was a new scar. Had nearly died from white-man-gun.
Sank down on back feet, bony knees to bony chest, arms around knees. Was cold. Skin of fingers was blue. Thought about hunting Cat shape. Thought abouttlvdatsishape. Shifted. There was much pain.
—
Was Cat. Was healed. Stood. Walked toward water.
Heard crack of white-man-gun. Felt sting in rump. Spun and raced toward water. Jumped into water. Raced up far bank. Reached top. Felt tired. Looked at rump. Was white-man-metal-thing sticking out of rump.Rolled over, pulling white-man-metal-thing out. Was not much blood. Cat ran and ran. Stumbled over own paws. Cat was hungry and tired. Too tired to run. Too tired to fight. Eyes almost closed. Rolled over. Saw white-man boots walking closer. Knew was about to die. Slept.
—
Woke. Light was bright. Body did not move. But was not dead yet. Slept again.
—
Woke. Hurt. Hurt bad. Taste in mouth was bad, like eating dead thing, rotting in mud. Bright lights. White-man-lights. Smell of Cat-piss. Smell of metal. Smell of white-man-poisons.
Rolled over. Found had pissed on pelt. Was bad smell. Sick smell. Cat was... in cage. Eyes did not work. Tongue did not work. Was... incage. Cage not on ground, but up higher. Nose said was on top of other cages.
Eyes began to work. Mouth began to work. Was not dead. Smelled own blood. Tried to stand. Could not stand. Cage was too small. Hair had been removed from legs, above paws. Could see skin and lines where blood ran. Small wound was on each leg on bare skin. Licked. Tasted Cat-blood and white-man poisons. Claws had been cut smooth. Not sharp. But not broken. Could regrow claws. Could make claws sharp again. Touched tongue to teeth. Killing teeth were still long and pointed and sharp. Pulled body in tight. Paws beneath chest and belly. Tail around feet, tight. Watching. Waiting. Eyes saw slight movement. White-man sat with back of head to Cat. Was prey position, but Cat could not make kill from cage. White-man did not know Cat was awake. Did not look at Cat.
Other cages were across space. All cages had animals inside. Cats and dogs and wolves and foxes. All predators. All smelled sick. Smell of piss and excrement was strong. No creatures looked at Cat. All looked away. Even wolf. Afraid. Ashamed to be in cage.
Wesa woke too. Thought into mind,White-man-gun made sick. Hate white-man.
Heard noise. White-man moved to cage. Smelled of strong plants and cooked meat. Onion and garlic, Wesa thought. Onion-and-garlic-white-man face came close enough to kill fast, but cage was in way.
“Well, I see you’re awake. How’s my prettyPuma concolor?”
Did not know sounds. Tried to growl. Mouth did not work right yet.But smelled water. Found white-man-metal that held water. When tongue worked, Cat drank. Metal taste was bad.
White-man opened tiny door in Cat-cage. Put stinky meat into cage. Smelled of water and thin blood. Was part of bird. Cat did not want to eat, but Wesa thought,Eat. We need strength to escape.
Cat ate strange chicken. Could not stretch out. Was not room. Muscles hurt. Pissed and shat and slept. Dreamed of hunt and roaring water and white-man in bloody killing teeth.
—
