The Challege   Chittimico  and the Windigo

 I lay in the hut alone and shivered violently.I watched my brother running through the swamp until the pouring rain obliterated his form.I had convinced him to leave me and go for help.He didn't want to do it.He knew he would probably never see me alive again but there was nothing else to do.The rattler had struck me in the ankle and we had done what we thought we should do.Two kids camping out
what did we know?He made an x
over the wound and sucked it out .I told him it was no good but he said that he saw that in a movie once.We were both crying and shaking.I said Mikey you have to go find help.He knew it too ,he helped me into the hut we had made of palmettos and sticks and went off screaming into the storm.
  I passed out soon after that and awoke to the sound of a heartbeat.It was everywhere,a massive pulsating sound of blood rushing through a living heart.
 I thought I was dead or halucinating.I had heard many tales of the Windigo from my Seminole friends.The creature that travels through  the tops of the trees with the wind.
  I was sick and cold and terrified.I looked up in my delirium to see a misty form leaning over me.It was an old woman in buckskin ,dripping cold rain water on my face and smiling at me.

 Come now my little owl ,she whispered,we won't let Chitamico(rattlesnake in Seminole)win today will we?
No,no for the Stormy days belong to Windigo.
 I am here for you my Little owl.
 In her gnarled old hands she held a beating heart dripping
and red .As the livid drops landed one by one on the jagged x my brother had carved
a searing agony surged through my body and my mind recoiled at the sight .I screamed but no sound came from my throat.
Were not in time as we know it.
I saw the tops of palms and live oaks swirling around me
I heard the heartbeat and an ancient chant.

 The old lady picked me up and held me gently in her arms up to the sky."He is for you",she said and lightning filled the
world around us.
 She kissed my face and put me back down inside the shelter.
 "You belong to us now" she said ,"Your name is Salofcatchee,healing knife blade.You will save many as you have been saved."

 She left then and I heard a great rushing wind in the tops of the trees.Hours later my brother returned with help.
I was sitting up eating a guava when he crawled in to find me.
 He could not believe his eyes.
"Johnny !He yelled ,You're
not dead!"
I laughed and said ,"I'm not dead but I'm not Johnny anymore.My name is Salofcatchee and I am going to be a doctor."
I don't know how it happened
but it gave me back my life and I have spent it ever since
trying to save the lives of others.
Chittimico lost to the Windigo
that day deep in the stormy
forest and I am forever grateful.

Jonji Flowerstone