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Cheering Woman passes on and Sunny embarks on the next leg of her life's journey as she goes to live with her Auntie Rose in Tennessee. We travel with Sunny on the bus, remembering that she has not been outside of the reservation or without the protection of her grandmother. She will live with Auntie Rose in close proximity to her father Sam. Everything seems large and noisy to her but also beautiful as she surveys the green grass, trees and flowers in the area where her Auntie lives and gives thanks to Creator for her new home. However Sam has plans of his own for Sunny that will place her in his home helping her stepmother, Hazel. Sunny will be tested as we survey Sam's home, the tar paper shack, rusty old trucks and broken-down farm equipment in the yard as well as the conditions inside the home. Already there is a schedule for ten-year-old Sunny cooking, cleaning, washing, ironing, and taking care of the vegetable garden. But at the end of the day Sunny can teach Hazel's children of Mother Earth's gifts on walks into the woods as her grandmother had taught her. Sunny's relationship with her father is difficult since his main form of communication is nonverbal. She soon learns to read his cues. She also keeps her emotions to herself since he sees emotion as a sign of weakness, but above all following his orders is paramount. In instances where her safety is at stake, it makes no difference to Sam, especially when he is drunk and sends her for liquor thinking she has lied when she returns home without it. She stands between him and another drink. This is an instance when Sunny is savagely beaten. However, that night she isn't the only one to receive a beating. Sam's wife is knocked unconscious and miscarries, and it is Sunny who buries the baby and prays for its soul. Sam walks out on his family, as he has done often in the past, leaving Sunny responsible for the household. When Sam returns it is the Rope of Hope that Sunny uses to protect her pipe from her father. Sunny stands her ground and Sam feels his mother's presence when Sunny swears to protect the sacred objects. Fearlessness is the key to managing Sam. From then on they move as predator and prey, without words. School is the next hurdle for Sunny. It surprises the principal when Sunny is good enough to enter fifth grade since he had already voiced his prejudice towards her as another child of Sam's. Soon Sunny decides that school is worthless since the textbooks were written by whites. This is not to say that Sunny doesn't care about learning, but it is the library that Sunny turns to for this source, and this thirst for knowledge is to continue. But there are other things she learns in the library, such as double standards, when she overhears a conversation about her father's sexual escapades with many of the white women in town. Life for Sunny cycles between Sam's absences, homecomings, beatings and hunger, until the day that she is nearly beaten to death when she is unable to close a gate, letting Sam's prize bull loose. Fortunately Sunny is moved into Auntie Rose's house to recuperate. She places Sunny into dance classes to help her heal her mind and fulfill her grandmother's plans. At the end of the school year, Sunny retaliates against everyone. She remembers her grandmother's words and secretly begins to pave her way to her dreams of a career in the theatre. |
© 2000 The Red Pathway Learning Center & Foundation, Inc.
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Wind Wolf Woman |