Buffalo Before Breakfast Read Online Free Page A

grass:
Shh—shh—shh
.
    It’s the voice of the Great Plains
, he thought. Then he drifted off to sleep.

Jack felt Teddy licking his cheek.
    He opened his eyes. Gray light came through the smoke hole.
    The fire was out. The tepee was empty.
    Jack jumped up. He grabbed his bag and hurried outside with Teddy.
    In the cool light before dawn, everyone was taking down their tepees. They were loading them onto wooden platforms strapped to two poles. The poles were pulled by horses.
    Grandmother and Black Hawk piled tools and clothes onto their platform.
    Annie stuffed buffalo meat into a rawhide bag.
    â€œWhat’s happening?” Jack asked.
    â€œIt is time to follow the buffalo,” said Grandmother. “We will camp somewhere else for a few weeks.”
    Jack pulled out his notebook. He still had many questions. But he tried to choose just a few.
    â€œCan you camp anywhere?” he asked. “Even when you don’t own the land?”
    Black Hawk laughed.
    â€œPeople cannot own land,” he said. “The land belongs to the Great Spirit.”
    Jack wrote in his notebook:

    â€œWhat about school?” said Jack. “Don’t you have to go to school?”
    â€œWhat is school?” Black Hawk said.
    â€œIt’s a place where kids go to learn things,” Jack explained.
    Black Hawk laughed again.
    â€œThere is not only one place to learn,” he said. “In camp we learn to make clothes, tools, and tepees. On the plains we learn to ride and hunt. We look at the sky and learn courage from the eagle.”
    Jack wrote:

    Grandmother turned to Jack and Annie.
    â€œWill you walk with us toward the sunset?” she asked.
    Jack shook his head.
    â€œWe have to go the other way,” he said, “toward the sunrise.”
    â€œThank you for the eagle’s feather,” said Annie.
    â€œLet your thoughts rise as high as that feather,” said Grandmother. “It is good medicine.”
    â€œWhat does that mean?” Jack asked. “
Good medicine?
”
    â€œGood medicine connects you to the world of the spirits,” she said.
    Jack nodded. But he still didn’t really understand.
    â€œGood-bye, Buffalo Girl and Rides-Like-Wind,” said Grandmother. “We wish you a safe journey.”
    Jack and Annie waved. Then they started walking back the way they’d come.
    Teddy ran ahead of them.
    At the top of the rise, they looked back.

    Grandmother, Black Hawk, and the rest of the tribe were watching.
    Jack and Annie both held up two fingers for “friend.” Then they took off down the slope.
    They ran across the prairie … through the tall, whispering grass … all the way back to the tree house.
    Annie put Teddy in the leather bag. She and Jack climbed up the rope ladder.
    They looked out the window one last time. The ocean of grass was golden in the early sunlight.
    By now, the Lakota are walking west
, Jack thought.
    â€œSoon everything will change,” he said sadly. “The buffalo will vanish. The old way of life for the Lakota will vanish, too.”
    â€œBut the Great Spirit won’t ever vanish,” said Annie. “It will
always
take care of Black Hawk’s people.”
    Jack smiled. Annie’s words made him feel better.
    Arf, arf!
Teddy barked, as if to say
Let’s go!
    â€œOkay, okay,” said Jack.
    He picked up the Pennsylvania book and pointed at a picture of Frog Creek.
    â€œI wish we could go home to our people,” he said.
    The wind started to blow.
    The tree house started to spin.
    It spun faster and faster.
    Then everything was still.
    Absolutely still.

“We’re home,” said Annie.
    Bright sunlight flooded the tree house. Teddy licked Jack’s and Annie’s faces. They were back in their jeans and T-shirts.
    â€œHey, silly,” Annie said to the dog. “Now we have the second thing to help free you from your spell.”
    She took the