white turquoise
at Native Spirit Lodge it was the
descriptionthe association with the white buffalo that sold him
he had a deep abiding affection
for buffalo since he was a boy
he traveled to Wisconsin Janesville when he read an account of the birth of a white male buffalo threw together some clothing toiletry
tent sleeping bag and lit out drove
crosscountry
threefifty down the road it
occurred to him he might want to call into work regarding his absence
pulling over to refuel he used a
pay telephone
Yahhello Abigail he
said to the receptionist Would you take
a message please Yahright Joe Im here somethings come up I suspect Ill
be out a week anif Im longer Ill call Yes Thank
you
he pictured Abigailnot Abby at
the telephone she had a habit of trying
to hold the receiver between a crept shoulder and her ear the phone always slipped offaway and down she captured
it if thats accurate
in her scoopedneck pullover it got
hungup in her freakingamazing cleavage
he stuck around to watch her
rescue it anevery time he found himself jealous
of the inanimate object
finally on more than two handfuls
of occasions he emphatically told her that every time she lost the phone he was
tempted to save it
save it from suffocation
Abigail smiledreplied You’re all talk, Joe.
next time it slipped he dipped into her neckline played a bit with the
phone with his fingersbrushed its supple surroundings
she didnt protest
which led to some
extraordinary games and playtimes turns
out Abigail was as fond of natural hot springs as he
anas fond of
unbridledbridled sex as he
unfortunately she was looking for
a serious relationship
he was not
he fondled the white turquoise
pieces they were tumbled smoothed
polished
he found one that he turned
several times in his hand it reminded
him of a buffalo in repose head left rump lifted lying in his palm in that pose it seemed
animated it reminded him of when he laid
eyes on the white calf
he leaned against the stout fence before the pasture where the buffalo
had been born hed been there nearly an
hour the herd he read was nearly twohunred
head feed had been scattered prior to
his arrival and they ate an milled about
he stopped a ranch hand and the young
man mentionedpointing to the tree line above the pasture Beyond the trees was where the cow birthed and
she often takes the calf up there. If she has, there was no telling when she might
return. She been secretive, but that might be expected, this is her first calf.
he thanked him
it felt like another hour
passed
Aah nuts
hed return tomorrow
he started for the main gate
several hunred metres off but after sixtyseventy something gripped himchanged
his mind made him doubleback
he returned to where he had been
standing
anthen remarkably like a stage curtain parting the herd before him separated wandered sauntered
to opposite side
forty metres off laid a white lamb a cow buffalo stood just directly behind it
all he could think was how odd it
was that a lamb was inside the compound by itself
how odd was he
it
was the white buffalo
what a fantastic reveal
after a halfhour it stood and
nursed then it stood with its mother
wandered around her kicked it heels fell stood up kicked its heels
again rushed towards the fence where he was pulledup halted pranced back to his mother
he watched until nearly nightfall
the same hand approached him and
said they were closing since hed been
the only one there they let him stay on usually the ranch closed at six so not to disrupt the herd though he said he thought hed never seen them
more at ease
he thanked the young man waved to the calf and its mother yelled Thank you his yell didnt disturb the animals
he left
possibly the most fulfilled he ever
felt except for his wedding and attending the birth of his children
the white turquoise had a nice heft
to it it felt right in his hand
slips of paper were in the tray
with the stones
WHITE TURQUOISE
White
buffalo is a remembrance of times past yet still remembered. So also is white
turquoise.
“And now the purple dust of twilight time/Steals across the meadows
of my heart/High up in the sky the little stars climb/Always reminding me that
we’re apart.”
he spent another day at the ranch
but only caught glimpses of the white buffalo his mother had taken him up to the tree line and behind the hill
he left the following morning
two days after his crosscountry return
sitting in his covey his spiteful work station Ya
gotta do whaya gotta do he read in the LA paper that the
day before the world-famous three-week old white buffalo and his mother were killed
struck by lightning during a savage rainstorm
he folded the paper and set it
down on his keyboard
he grabbed his coffee cup left
his cubicle went through the tall swinging door into the lobby past Abigail up
the staircase to the kitchen via a switchback ad hoc balcony above the lobby
he made then poured himself some black coffee and wandered out onto the balcony
he watched Abigail from above
she looked up waved to him
he waved back
she pulled her hair back with one
hand
he sipped his coffee and spent
probably five minutes absentmindedly watching Abigail work answering phone
calls transferring them entering notation into her computer watched her juggle and press her breasts together she was pale was a redhead
he hoped she wouldnt be struck by
lightning
1452, Day-between-Two-Ts, 19 5.
21
1012, Thursday,
20 5. 21
