Life after the Lottery Ch. 58

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Oh...sure."

Everyone finished dressing and walked back to the house. Dawn and I were in the bedroom changing.

"Honey, are you sure you are okay with this?" I asked.

"Yes. It would have been wrong."

Samantha and Amy came in and changed clothes.

"I like your great-grandfather," Amy said.

"He is special," Dawn said.

Once we were all changed, Dawn and her great grand-mother were cooking a very late breakfast when her grandmother showed up. We all ate. After we finished Dawn and her great-grandfather left the house together. We were all sitting around in the den with her grandmother and great-grandmother talking about the ceremony.

"He does that to the young women too," she said as we talked about him making the girls take their clothes off.

"It was okay," Linda said.

"Linda, did you learn what you need to know," she asked.

"Yes, I did. I understand now, and I guess we will all have to work through it."

"Everything will be fine. Rachel, are you okay with what happened?" Great-grandmother asked her.

"I am. I think this will help Linda understand."

We all talked until about 2:00 before great-grandfather came back. We came in and sat down.

"Where is Dawn?" I asked.

"Outside," he said.

We all talked for about an hour, and Dawn had not come back. I got up and went outside to find her. I saw her behind the house staring off at the mountain in the distance again. I walked up to her.

"Honey?"

She didn't move.

"Dawn!"

"Oh...what?"

"What's going one?"

"Nothing, just thinking."

We walked back inside the house.

"Ahyoka, the book of ancestors is now yours. You are the end of our line for now," great grand-mother said. "You need to study it."

"I will."

"Child, there is much more you need to study. What you have learned is not the end. It never ends," great-grandfather told her.

"I know."

"Ahyoka, you need to spend more time here." He said.

"I know."

"You have one more journey you need to make," he said. "Soon."

"What is it?" Dawn asked.

"Before Winter comes, you need to return," he told her.

"Is there something you need to teach me?"

"There is something you must learn. Time is traveling fast, my years are growing toward the end."

"Great-grandfather, no."

"It is beyond my control. Not soon, but there are things I need you to learn. Can you come before Winter?"

"I will try. I have obligations," Dawn said.

"You have obligations here," he said.

"I will come, great-grandfather."

Dawn held him for a few minutes.

We all talked for a while longer. Dawn and her grandmother disappeared for a long time. Once they came back, other relatives kept coming by now to see Dawn. We ate a late dinner before we decided it was time to leave. Dawn promised to visit more often. We all went to the Tahoe and got in and left. When we got to the entrance, another black Tahoe was waiting.

As we drove to the airport, Dawn was quiet.

*****

"Dawn, thank you for allowing me to see all this," Linda said.

We had been in the air for about 15 minutes, and it had been quiet.

"It was something we all needed to see," Dawn said.

"Are you going to change clothes?" I asked.

"No, I'm fine."

Dawn was still in her traditional clothes with her hair braided and all her beaded jewelry. She had brought an old book onboard, and it was in a seat across from her.

"What do you think he meant by other things to come?" Linda asked.

"I don't know, but I am sure he and great-grandmother know something," Dawn said.

"I wish I knew more about that baby?"

"We will find out. James is looking for an expert genealogist to research everything."

As we flew, the girls had some laughs about her great grand-father getting them naked.

"Where did you and your great grand-father go?" I asked while the girls talked.

"We had to talk about some things. He wanted to make sure I understood everything that happened, I did."

"Are you happy about the way things turned out?"

"Yes, I am. We will all be fine."

"Why do you think he wants you to come back?"

"I don't know."

"If you come back, I'm coming with you."

After we had landed, we were walking through the terminal at about 8:00. Dawn was carrying the big book. She got a lot looks as she walked through wearing all her traditional clothes. Once everything was in the SUVs, Linda came to us.

"Dawn, thank you again," she said.

"No problem," Dawn said.

We all kissed and headed out.

*****

When we got home and unpacked, Dawn put her book in her special room and got undressed and put away her clothes. All of us went down to the kitchen to get something to eat.

"That is amazing that you and James are actually related," Samantha said.

"It actually makes sense," Dawn told her.

"We still don't know why we are so close to you two though," Amy said.

"Maybe we are related too!" Samantha said and giggled.

Later we all went to bed. The girls were tired, so they went to their room. When I came out of the bathroom, Dawn was sitting up in bed.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Just thinking."

"About what?"

"What I do not know yet."

-

NOTE -- I have been asked about James and Dawn before the lottery. So, I am working on the prequel to Life after the Lottery. Look for it this summer.