96- Please don´t leave me

Catkin'd gone under now, yay, she lay still'n'stiff as an icon, jus' a whis- pin'-breathin' scratched in her throat. Meronym's griefsome face jus' said, Nay, she's too far gone I can't do nothin', an' she kissed my sis's fore- head g'bye, walked back sadsome into the rain. Oh, see the Prescient, Leary crowed, their Smart can move magicky ships o' steel but only the Holy Chant o' Angel Laz'rus can tempt back the girl's soul from them des- pairin' marshes b'tween life'n'death. Despair I felt, my sis was dyin', rain was drummin', but that same voice din't shut up in my ear.Meronym.

I din't know why but I followed her out. Shelt'rin' in Munro's pott'ry doorway she was starin' at the rods o' rain. I ain't got no right to ask you for favors, I ain't been a good host, nay I been a pisspoor bad un, but … I'd ran out o' words.

The Prescient din't move nor look at me, nay. The life o' your tribe's got a nat'ral order. Catkin'd o' treaded on that scorpion fish if I'd been here or not.

Rainbirds spilt their galoshin'-galishin' song. I'm jus' a stoopit goat herder, but I reck'n jus' by bein' here you're bustin' this nat'ral order. I reck'n you're killin' Catkin by not actin'. An' I reck'n if it was your son, Anafi, lyin' there with scorpion fish poison meltin' his heart'n'lungs, this nat'ral order'd not be so important to you, yay?

She din't answer, but I knowed she was list'nin'. Why's a Prescient's life worth more'n Valleysman's?

She lost her calm. I ain't here to play Lady Sonmi ev'ry time sumthin' bad happ'ns an' click my fingers'n make it right! I'm jus' human, Zachry, like you, like anyun!

I promised, It won't be ev'ry time sumthin' bad happens, it's jus' now.

Tears was in her eyes. That ain't no promise you can keep or break. Sudd'nwise I finded myself tellin' her ev'ry flea o' true 'bout Sloosha's

Crossin', yay, ev'rythin'. How I'd leaded the Kona to kill Pa an' slave Alessio an'd never 'fessed to no un till that very beat. I din't know why I was spillin' this corked secret to my enemy, not till the very end, when I cogged its meanin' an' telled her too. What I jus' teached you 'bout me'n'my soul is a spiker 'gainst my throat an' a gag over my mouth. You can tell Old Ma

Yibber what I telled you, an' ruin me, any time you want. She'll b'lief you an' so she should 'cos it's true ev'ry word an' folks'll b'lief you 'cos they sense my soul is stoned. Now if you got any Smart, yay, anythin' what may help Catkin now, give it me, tell it me, do it. No un'll ever, ever know, nay, I vow it, jus' you an' me.

Meronym placed her hands on her head like it boomed up with woe an' she mumbed to herself sumthin' like If my pres'dent ever finded out, my hole faculty'd be disbandied, yay, times was she used hole flocks o' words what I din't know. From a lidless jar in her gearbag she got out a tiny small-as-an-ant-egg turquoise stone an' telled me to sneak it into Catkin's mouth so slywise no un seen, nay, nor even thinked they seen. An' for Sonmi's sake, Meronym warned me, if Catkin lives, an' I ain't promisin' she will, make sure the herb'list gets the hooray-hooray for healin' her, not that voodoo snake-oilster from Hilo, yay?

So I took that turquoise med'sun an' thanked her jus' once. Meronym said, Don't mention no words, not now an' never while I'm livin', an' that promise I kept tight. Into my presh sis's mouth I dropped it as I changed her sop-cloth, like Meronym'd telled me, so no un saw nothin'. An' what happ'ned?

Three days later Catkin was back learnin' in the school'ry, yay.

Three days! Well, I stopped lookin' for ev'dence that Prescients was spyin' to slave us. Leary from Hilo crowed to the toads on the roads an' the hole wide world, no healer was greater'n he, not even the Prescients, tho' folks mostly b'liefed Wimoway'd done it, yay, not him.

Coneys'n'roasted taro we was eatin' one supper 'bout a moon after Catkin's sick when Meronym made a s'prisin' 'nouncement. She meant to climb up Mauna Kea b'fore the Ship returned, she said, for to see what she'd see. Ma speaked first, 'ready worrysome. What for, Sis Meronym? Ain't nothin' up Mauna Kea but never-endin' winter an' a big heap o' rocks.

Now Ma'd not said what we was all thinkin' 'cos she din't want to look barb'ric'n'savage, but Sussy din't hold back none. Aunt Mero, if you go up there Old Georgie'll freeze you an' dig out your soul with a cruel n'crookit spoony an' eat it so you'll never even be reborned an' your body'll be turned into a frostbited boulder. You want to stay here in the Valleys, where it's safe.

Meronym din't mick Sussy none, she jus' said Prescients'd got Smart what'd ward Old Georgie away. Climbin' Mauna Kea was ne'ssary to map Windward, she said, an' anyhow, Valleysmen needed more lowdown on Kona movements over Leeward'n'Waimea Town. Now time was, such words'd o' roused my s'picions buzzin', but I din't think that now, nay, tho' I was diresome worried for our guest. Well, the yibber was busy for days when this news jumped out. The Shipwoman's climbin' Mauna Kea! Folks dropped by warnin' Meronym not to go pokin' her nose into OG's 'closure or she'd never come back down. Even Napes visited, sayin' climbin' Mauna Kea in a story was one thing, doin' it for real was cracked'n'crazed. Abbess said Meronym could come'n'go where she pleased, but she'd not say-so no un to guide Meronym up, jus' too unknowed'n'risky that summit was, three days up'n'three more down, an' dingos'n'Kona'n'Sonmi knows what on the way, an' anyhow prep'ration for the Honokaa barterin' was needin' all hands in the dwellin's.

Now I s'prised ev'ryun, yay, me too, when I settled to go with her. I weren't known as the bravest-balled bullock in the barn. So why'd I done it? Sim- ple 'nuff. One, I owed Meronym for Catkin. Two, my soul was 'ready half stoned, yay, surefire I'd not get rebirthed, so what'd I got to lose? Better if Old Georgie ate my soul'n someun else's who'd get rebirthed else, yay? That ain't brave, nay, it's jus' sense. Ma din't act pleased, a busy 'nuff time in the Valleys 'cos o' harvest comin'n'all, but come the dawn Mer- onym'n'me set off she gived me journey-grinds what she'd smoked'n'brined an' said Pa'd o' prouded to see me so growed'n'gutsy. Jonas gived me a spesh sharp'n'fine rockfish spiker, an' Sussy gived amulets o' pearlshell to dazzle'n'blind Georgie's eye if he chased us. Kobbery my cuz was over to minder my goats, he gived a bag o' raisins from his fam'ly's vines. Catkin was last, she gived me a kiss an' Meronym too, an' made us both promise we'd be back in six days.