64
RUNS WITH COURAGE
I kept thinking about this bridge all through evening
meal and bedtime prayers. When the lights were put out, I
pulled the learning book from beneath my pillow and went
to the window space so I could see by the moon’s light.
There was something important about this bridge
drawing, about getting from one place to another safely. I
thought about the time I had spent trying to understand
the rules of the white world at the school. I had spent much
time wondering why I had been sent and what my purpose
was supposed to be.
We live in the white world
, Uncle had said.
We need your help
, Father had added.
And then I understood what Uncle had meant. He had
sent me to be a kind of bridge for my tiospaye.
I could bring my tiospaye understanding of the white
man’s world. I could help my people understand the ways
whites used stick marks for words and clocks for telling the
time of day. I could help my people walk the bridge the
whites were building for me at the school.
I felt so excited by this new realization I could hardly
sleep that night. I would work hard and make Miss Beatrice
proud of the bridges I was building. I would make my
tiospaye proud. It was my purpose.
