River
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River - 23 free porn video
Chapter 23
So far: Kyle's Rube Goldberg invention is a huge hit, Alison's
tormentors are punished, and Mark makes a new friend in the Toronto
police force. Finally, the northern expedition is a huge success ...
until they return to Stone Ledge.
------- --------- -----
Rod reached the tree first, and Ria was amazed when he seemed to run
up the trunk in a display that was equal to those parkour moves she
had seen on the Internet. But Rod had never before done anything like
that, nor had he even been that athletic. But within a few seconds he
was lying along the branch that the rope was attached to, and had his
knife out, trying to cut through the rope. By then the two boys had
reached the tree, and were standing on either side of the girl,
planning to catch her when the rope broke.
"It's Ginny Audette," the one boy said.
"Yeah. I haven't seen her for months. I heard that she got sick or
something, and she didn't finish the term. She was in my class," the
other said, and then the rope parted and the two boys lowered the girl
to the ground.
This left Rod up a tree, literally. The adrenaline that had got him up
was gone, and he slowly inched his way back to the trunk, and then
slowly made his way down, jumping the last eight feet or so. When he
was down, he saw that the others had left, and the two boys, and Ria
and Shelly were carrying the girl to the river, urged on by Marilyn.
When he caught up to them the girl was lying three-quarters in the
water, with her head on the bank. Marilyn was fully in the river,
kneeling at the girls' feet. She looked up to Rod and somberly
announced. "She is dead. We weren't in time."
"But we saw her moving," Rod insisted.
"She was pregnant," Marilyn said. "Six or seven months, I would say.
And the reason she was moving is ... this." She scooped her hands into
the water and pulled up a tiny baby, unbreathing. She rapped on the
infant's back and suddenly it started to cry weakly.
Rod jumped into the water and used his knife to cut the umbilical cord
connected to the body. He felt knowledge about how to do it flow into
his mind from the river, and this led him to tie off the remaining
cord professionally. Then he was amazed to see that Marilyn had pulled
up her top and bra, and offered her breast to the child. And
astonishingly, the tiny child started to suckle, slowly at first, and
then faster.
Rod looked away. Marilyn's back was to the bank, but the boys were
still staring, aware of what was happening even though they couldn't
see much. "You boys head back to the reserve, and let people know what
has happened. One of you go to her parents' home first. I'll go pick
up the bags, if that is all right." He directed the last statement to
Marilyn.
Marilyn nodded thankfully. She was more comfortable with only Ria and
her sister with her.
"He is so tiny," Shelly gushed as she watched the premature baby
nurse. She reached around and unsnapped the bra from Marilyn's neck,
and was able to help her take it off with only a few seconds
interruption of the nursing.
"Thanks," Marilyn said. "And it is a she, not a he. She is way
premature, and normally couldn't survive outside of a big hospital.
But the river is helping. I can feel its power flow through my body
and to her through my breasts. I can feel her tiny, undeveloped organs
being completed."
"This is why your boobs were sore the other day," Shelly said in
realization.
"Yes, I think so," Marilyn said. She remained kneeling in the river as
people started running in from the reserve. The body was identified as
Ginny Audette, the only daughter of a couple who weren't yet there.
Several of the women gathered up the body and brought in up on the
bank some distance from the river. Many were crying.
Rod came back, and Ria went up to him. "I failed," he said miserably.
"My mission was to cut down on teen suicides and the first reserve I
go to, there is a suicide days later. Some Prophet I am."
"It isn't your fault," Ria tried to console him. "You did what you
were supposed to. I guess that sometimes things just go wrong."
"Maybe I didn't do enough, say the right things. I certainly didn't
help that girl."
"Why don't you go stand in the river for a while," Ria suggested. "It
might be able to help you understand." She pointed to a spot some
distance from Marilyn, and he slumped as he walked towards it. Ria saw
that Shelly was tending to Marilyn and the baby, so she walked up to
the crowd around the body. The native women were clearly undertaking
some type of ritual.
"That's her aunt," one of the boys from the trip explained. "She
married Ginny's father's brother. Ginny used to spend a lot of time
with them when things got tense at home."
Just then a smallish man of about 40 appeared, and wailed when he saw
the body, throwing himself on it in a display of grief.
"Her parents," the boy told Ria. "Her dad is okay, I guess, but her
mom rules in their house, and she is a real bit ... character," he
said, deciding not to finish the word he was thinking.
"Where is the mother?" Ria asked.
"I told her and she just said 'good riddance'," the boy said. "She
thinks she is better than the rest of us. Her husband works in the
mines in Sudbury, and only gets home a few weeks a year. She uses the
money he makes so that her house can be better than anyone else's and
her clothes better than the other women."
"Did she really say that?" Ria asked in amazement. Perhaps it was
shock at her daughter's death that was behind the callous statement.
"Yeah. It figures. If Ginny was pregnant, then her mom would have gone
ballistic. She kept her out of school since March, and Ginny failed
grade eight. She would have been going to high school with the rest of
us."
"Who was the baby's father?" Ria asked.
"Hmm, good question," the boy said. "She wasn't going out with
anybody. Wait ... she was running around with one of the high school
boys at Christmas time. He came back for a visit on March break."
"Is that boy around? See if you can find him," Ria said.
Just then Rod came back from his session in the river. "You were
right," he said. "It was not my fault. The girl wasn't at the session
we had with the young people."
"But you asked that everyone attend. She should have been there!"
"Apparently her mom is a real special case. She felt letting people
know that her daughter was pregnant somehow would diminish her status
on the reserve. She kept the girl locked up for months, alone in the
house. The father was more loving to his daughter, but he was weak,
and intimidated by his wife. The girl escaped earlier today, and
eventually made her way to that tree, with a rope." Rod choked up a
bit. "If we had only been sooner."
"Not our fault," Ria repeated. "Not your fault. It sounds like the
mother is nuts. Apparently she said 'good riddance' when the boys said
Ginny was dead. She still hasn't shown up. It is an aunt who is
leading the women."
"What do we do now?" Rod asked.
"Well, we will have to notify the police. And probably Children's
Aid."
"I don't think we are going to be able to pry that baby away from
Marilyn," Rod replied glancing over to the river, where Shelly was
protectively standing over her sister and the infant.
"I don't think the baby would survive without her," Ria noted. "She is
very premature, but Marilyn says that the river is helping keep her
alive."
-------- ------- -----
It was late in the evening when the canoes finally left the reserve to
head down river. Marilyn held onto the tiny baby. Her father had come
to see the child, sobbing that the little girl was all that he had
left of his daughter. His sister in law, and many others on the
reserve came to see the baby as well, with most certain that the tiny
child could not live through the night. The baby's father also
appeared. He had no idea that he had gotten Ginny pregnant. He jumped
at the chance to assign his parental rights to Marilyn. He still had a
year of high school to finish, and had hopes of going on to
university. Looking after a baby was not on his current priority list.
Rod also got permission from Ginny's father for Marilyn to take the
child, much to the dismay of the Children's Aid worker who arrived in
from Sudbury at about 6 p.m. The lady wanted to take custody of the
child immediately, and make Marilyn go through the normal adoption
process, which would have nearly no chance of success as a single,
unemployed, First Nations woman. But the permissions from the father
and grandfather trumped her right to take the child without a court
order, so Marilyn was able to leave with the child.
Ginny's mother did practically nothing through the entire day. She had
not even wanted to speak to the police officer until she was told that
silence was not an option. She refused to look at her granddaughter,
and insisted that the baby was not her kin.
The progression down the river was bigger, with five canoes instead of
just two. Three of the canoe builders in the Stone Ledge band wanted
their boats to be considered by River for sale though the Red Door
brand. These were paddled by young boys and girls from Stone Ledge who
wanted to attend the high school in St. Mary's in the fall, and wanted
to check out the school and the town.
Thus neither Marilyn nor Shelly needed to paddle a canoe, with the two
boys who had joined them on the hike up to Ice Spring providing the
manpower as they sat in Ben Stormcloud's largest canoe. Women from the
reserve had provided a good supply of cloth diapers for the baby, who
looked much healthier at the end of her first day than at the
beginning. Marilyn was continually either nursing the baby or holding
it as it slept. Between her and Shelly the sisters learned how to
change a diaper in a moving canoe.
Whenever Marilyn was nursing, she held the baby to her breast with one
hand, while the other trailed in the water outside the canoe, allowing
the river to feed the child through her. None of those on the trip
slept that night. They would dip an arm in the river whenever they
felt tired, and immediately were refreshed. This allowed them to
paddle through the night.
------ ------- ------
The next morning River was in a good mood as she walked in the dark
towards the river. Yesterday Connie had shown up for work at the
store. Apparently, the Bay had a buyout plan going, and were quite
willing to accept her resignation. What's more, they preferred that
she use up her vacation days instead of giving notice. They didn't
want to have to pay out for so many days. Between the buyout and the
vacation days, an excited Connie was back at the store eager to get
started. The store was opened but a grand opening needed to be
planned. Online sales continued steadily, with the store starting to
get a reputation due to the viral videos of the totem pole and now the
Rube Goldberg device.
When River stepped into the water she was shocked to learn that the
expedition was on the way back, and should return by early afternoon,
over a week early. The river did not explain all that went on at Stone
Ledge, but did say that five canoes were working their way down river,
paddling through the night, with an estimated time of arrival of 4
p.m. River knew that something was happening, but didn't know what.
The river told that more than a half dozen students from the smaller
reservation were in the flotilla and River was glad that she would
have a chance to meet some of her future classmates.
Once the sun was up River was chatting with Wayne when Nick drove up.
He announced that he was planning to make another trip to Toronto to
check on the sale of the two houses.
"Is it urgent?" River asked.
"Not really, why? I wanted to get it done before Marilyn gets back
next week."
"Well, there is a bit of news," River said. "They are coming back
today. They should be back by 4 p.m."
"Great," Nick said excitedly, a smile exploding across his face as he
thought about his girlfriend returning early. "What happened?"
"I don't know, exactly. The river is being close about it. Something
happened, but I don't know what. I do know that all the people are
well and returning, as well as quite a few new people from Stone
Ledge. Mostly students who want to start school here in the fall
instead of going to one of the cities."
"I wonder if the school will be ready for them," Nick said. "We should
head down and talk to the principal again. Are Rod and the girls going
to be going to many more reservations?"
"Yes. But not by canoe. They will go by truck. Those were the only two
other reservations on the river. The others are on other lakes and
rivers, and are best accessed by road. Edith and Harold have made up a
list of reservations within a couple hours drive. Stone Ledge is only
an hour away by road, but we felt the traditional method of travel
would be more effective for a first trip. It also allowed the team a
chance to bond."
"So how many reservations will they hit before school starts?"
"They will do two a week, so four before the first week of school, and
two others before the cutoff dates for changing schools."
"So if there are four students from each reserve, including the two
reserves already visited, that would make 32 additional students.
That's another class, and another teacher. The school will need to be
ready," Nick said.
"Actually," River said, "I think there are a lot more than four per
reserve. The river said that there were eight coming down from Stone
Ledge. But the other reserves may be smaller, or have fewer kids
coming to high school. Part of Rod's job is to give the kids hope, and
part of that is staying in school. I hope that there are at least one
or two kids from every reserve that planned on not going to high
school who decide to come after listening to him."
"It looks like you have a mission again," Wayne said. "I've got to get
ready for the JR crew. I'll leave you with Nick."
------ -------- ------
At nine Nick and River returned to the high school, where River had
been registered last week. At first Hugh Tweed thought that there were
problems with the registration and was relieved when Nick said that
they were just there to give advance warning of the potential for new
students.
"That's fine," the principal said cheerily. "A few more students are
good for the school. We are underutilized, and a few more students
will help keep the numbers up for the next four years, if they all
stay till graduation."
"That is the thing," Nick explained. "It might be 30 or 40 more, not
just a few."
River explained Rod's mission, and noted that there would be six or
eight students coming down in the evening to check out the school. An
appointment was set up to allow Mr. Tweed to show off his school to
the prospective students.
"I can take on eight or even 10 more grade nines," he said. "But if
there are 30 or 40 I will need a new class. That means a new teacher.
I have a pile of resumes from people down south who want a job, but I
don't know if we can get any of them in just two weeks. Actually,
teachers are expected next week, even though classes are not until
later."
"Here's an idea," Nick said. "I happened to give a ride to Patrick
George last week. He said he was a retired school teacher who taught
in Thunder Bay for years."
"Oh," River said excitedly, "if you hire one of the people, perhaps
you could offer classes in Ojibwe language and culture. I know that
some of the city schools that cater to kids from the reserve do that,
and it entices kids to go to those schools."
"Hmmm," the principal pondered. "There is official curriculum in
Ojibwe, although I'm not familiar with it, as we have never had a
teacher who could teach it. That might work out well. Do have your
friend contact me, today if possible."
Nick left to find Patrick, and drive him back to the school. River
went to the store, to find that Connie had everything in hand. At
lunch Nick reported back that Patrick and the principal had hit it
off, with Patrick excited at the opportunity to teach children from
his own reserve, and Mr. Tweed happy to have a teacher he could call
on if needed. The contract he offered Patrick was contingent on at
least 28 new students before the first day of school.
------ ------- -----
At about three people started congregating at the meeting place at the
river. River was there, and as soon as she entered the water the river
told her that the others were less than an hour away. Nick stood
nervously on the bank, waiting for Marilyn to return. His hands
fingered the small velvet-covered box he held in his pocket. He knew
what he planned to do, but wasn't sure if he should do it here, in
front of all the people, or later in private.
Carla and Liesl entered the river a few minutes later, and started to
sing the welcoming song that was traditionally sung for hunters or
warriors returning home. They interspersed it with other songs, until
on a cue from River they returned to that song. Soon they could hear
singing from up the river, and seconds later all the people on the
bank also started singing.
Then the first canoe came around the bend, paddled by two young boys
who were new to the people. Then another strange canoe came, paddled
by a boy and a girl. Finally Nick could see Ben's canoe, with Shelly
right behind the front paddler, another stranger. At first he couldn't
see Marilyn, then he noticed that she was bent over, looking down at
something. Finally she looked up and scanned the bank, eventually
noticing Nick. Her face smiled, and then she bent down again.
It was less than three minutes, but it seemed like an eternity to Nick
before the canoe reached him. Marilyn handed something over to Shelly,
and then took Nick's hand as he pulled her out of the canoe and into a
long and passionate kiss. They paid no attention as the others got out
of the canoe, but then Marilyn broke free.
"I have someone I want you to meet," she said, turning to Shelly who
handed her a small bundle. "This is my new love."
Nick stared at the tiny body who nestled into Marilyn and started to
nurse. As the flotilla had appeared, the river recounted everything
that happened to River, and she came over to the baby, with Carla and
Liesl following, with both girls pronouncing an 'aaah' in harmony. Ben
and Helen, Marilyn's parents also moved in close as well. "She is so
tiny," Carla noted.
"She is premature," Shelly explained. "Her mother died just before she
was born, and the river, and Marilyn, have been keeping her alive."
"Am I a grandmother?" Helen asked. Marilyn nodded yes.
"Then I'm an aunt," Liesl squealed.
Then Nick stood and took the baby from Marilyn's breast, much to its
annoyance. He held the baby high and announced: "I swear that I shall
treat this child as my own; to provide for her, and to nurture her as
a father should." He quickly handed the babe back to Marilyn, for she
was wriggling and twisting to get back to the breast that was keeping
her alive.
"Does she have a name?" River asked.
"I have just been calling her Luv," Marilyn said with a maternal
smile.
"The river suggests that we name her Beloved," River said. Marilyn and
Nick both nodded. "With a middle name of Virginia to honor her late
mother."
Nick then dropped to one knee, fishing the box from his pocket. He
held the box out to Marilyn. "Would you make me the happiest man in
the world?"
"I will," she said, grasping the rising man, kissing him even as the
tiny child continued to suckle on her breast.
"I pronounce you a family of the people," River said. "Mr. and Mrs.
Nick Summerstorm and Beloved Virginia Summerstorm. Cheers and applause
erupted from across the riverbank.
Cheryl
- 02.09.2022
- 20
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