 
DAVID SHATH SQUARE Chapter Thirty-seven
I awoke early. The sky was grey, the air cold, and sleet fell on the half-frozen lake.
Thoreena and the baby were asleep. The baby had been awake twice during the night, demanding to be fed. Each time Thoreena had dragged herself out of a troubled sleep to accommodate our newborn daughter. I was amazed by Thoreena's intestinal fortitude. A lesser person would have given up. But not Thoreena. She fought through her pain and exhaustion and fed Hilda whenever she began to cry.
I went outside and searched the bush for a couple of dead tamarack saplings. with the snow almost gone, it didn't take long to find them. I used the knife to cut willow twigs. I wove and lashed the twigs between the two tamarack saplings, building a travois on which I could pull Thoreena and the baby.
I thought about making a harness for Shadow so he could help me, but I decided against it because I didn't want to waste more time. Thoreena needed a doctor. The sooner we got back to the Pointe the better.
I went back into the cabin and attempted to awake Thoreena. Her face was flushed and she was mumbling in her sleep. The baby slept contentedly on her breast. Embers were still glowing in the woodstove.
I threw on a few more sticks of wood to build the fire. I wasn't hungry. My desire was to awake Thoreena and get back to the Pointe as soon as possible. Finally, in desperation, I pinched Thoreena hard on her forearm. When her eyes opened, they were glazed and rimmed with red.
I leaned close and whispered in her ear. Thoreena I'm going to take you and Hilda back to the Pointe right away. I've built a travois to carry you both.
Thoreena looked terrified.
"I don't want to go back, Hardy. Please don't make me. They'll take my baby. They'll take Hilda and put her in an foster home. Please Hardy, please don't do this to me or to her."
I tried to reassure her.
"They're not going to take Thoreena from us. Don't worry. We're responsible adults. They'll leave us alone."
"No they won't. I don't trust them. Please Hardy let's stay here. I'll be okay and the baby will be fine. Look, she's warm and comfortable in the deer skin pouch we made for her."
Thoreena's eyes had a crazy look. I knew I couldn't reason with her. But I knew she needed medical attention right away.
"Thoreena , I whispered in her ear. "You've just been through a terrible experience. You could die. The baby could die. We've got to get help now."
"What do you mean the baby could die?" she said.
"Thoreena you could get an infection and die. Then who would feed the baby?"
"Why should I get an infection? I'm a healthy young woman," said Thoreena, her face flushed.
"Don't you remember anything? Don't you remember the birth. It wasn't normal. I had to cut you open with a knife to get the baby out."
"The birth doesn't matter. The baby matters. Don't let them take her away from me."
"I won't. They won't...I promise you that."
Thoreena looked at me through delirious eyes.
"I trust you Hardy because I know that you love me."
I felt like crying. I raised Thoreena's buckskin skirt and removed the cloth dressing I had applied to the incision. The skin was swollen and red around the puckered stitches. I looked up at Thoreena's face. My terror must have been obvious to her, even in her delirium she could discern my fear.
"Okay, Hardy, you win. Let's get out of here."
I don't know how Thoreena gathered the strength to stand up. I held the baby in one arm, while Thoreena placed an arm around my shoulder for support. We hobbled along the path to the lake where I had left the travois. I settled her and the child on the travois and whistled for Shadow to take the lead about ten yards ahead. If the ice was weak, he would go for an unexpected swim. But I figured better him than us. He was a retriever bred to swim and survive in icy water; besides we were only a few yards from shore.
The going was easier than I had anticipated. The ice was clean of snow and the travois skidded across the surface with little effort on my part. I estimated it was about 10 a.m. The snow showers and bitter northwest wind had given way to brilliant sunshine and a southeast wind that swept warmer temperatures in its path.
While the sun and the warmth were welcome to me as I trudged along, they were also a cause for concern. The heat was causing patches of water to form on the already uncertain ice, while the southeasterly promised a spring blizzard. March was known as 'blizzard season' in these parts; three feet of snow were not uncommon at one time.
After a few minutes, I stopped to check on Thoreena and the baby. I lowered the poles of the travois gently to the ice. The baby was snug in her buckskin and rabbit fur pouch, resting serenely in Thoreena's arms. I had packed swamp grass around Thoreena's body to keep her as warm and as comfortable as possible.
"Hardy?" she whispered. "Is that you?"
"Of course it's me. Who else could it be?" I said, trying to keep concern out of my voice for Thoreena's face was flushed crimson and her eyes glassy.
"I had a dream. I dreamt we were surrounded by men who tried to take Hilda away from me," she said, then looked about wildly and tried to get off the travois. "Tell me there aren't any men?"
"It was just a bad dream," I said, restaining her. "Try to relax and think of pleasant things. Think of Hilda and the nursery we'll build for her when we get home."
She lay back on the travois and smiled.
"It will be a lovely nursery with a rocking chair, and a pink crib and lots of toys, right, Hardy."
"It will be the most beautiful nursery in the world," I said, picking up the travois poles to resume the long trek home. As I continued, I must have become delirious myself because I could have sworn I heard men's' voices coming from the direction we were headed up the lake. My delirium was broken by a sharp crack like a rifle shot.
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The ice in front of Shadow had given under his weight and before he could avoid the widening fissure he was in the water and swimming for the shore. The fissure snaked toward the travois, stopping just a few feet in front of me. I stood still on the ice, uncertain what to do. Shadow had dragged himself out of the water, gaining the beach where he shook himself vigorously.
"Good dog, Shadow," I said, my voice trembling as I backed the travois away from the fissure. When I judged I was at a safe distance, I turned the travois toward shore and edged it onto the beach beside Shadow. I lowered the travois and wrapped my arms around Shadow's powerful neck.
"Good dog, good dog. That was a close one. But what are we going to do now? I don't think I have the strength to pull this contraption over solid ground. And I sure don't want to try again on that ice," I said, continuing to embrace his neck.
Shadow licked my face and looked forlorn. Then suddenly his ears perked and he lifted his head, sniffing the wind, nostrils twitching. He slipped out of my embrace and ran off down the beach, barking and leaping in the air. I watched him until he was out of sight behind a granite outcropping about a mile away.
What else could possibly go wrong? Now I had lost my dog. I sat down on the beach beside the travois with my head in my hands. I felt so forsaken.
To Chapter Thirty-six
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