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Show I ll <Z~~ "Soak it in the cold stream until I make my way down to help you," Chua said. He knew what to do because he had watched his father work with medicine many times. Chua slid down the shale. He picked his way carefully over the boulders to the streambed where Toho bathed his ankle. "The beautiful purple red flowers we saw here yesterday are gone," Toho said. "That's because the flowers of the visionary plant don't open up until late afternoon," Chua said. Toho's ankle was beginning to swell even in the cold water. He had also cut his leg on a piece of shale. "I can't walk," he said trying to stand on his foot. "How will I ever catch the eagle now?" "I'll make a paste of the visionary plant roots," Chua said. "It will deaden the pain." He took some com meal from his food pouch, and sprinkled it around a visionary plant to send a message to the universe that it was needed for Toho's pain. He gave thanks to the universe for it, and began pulling at its big root. He cleaned the root in the water and pounded it into a paste with a rock. He spread it over Toho's ankle, as he had seen his father do many times. Then he took pine gum from a nearby tree and spread it on Toho's cut. J& "You must tnink that your ankle is getting better," Chua said. "Youf-thonghijs {W**^ wiH4ieJri^urhrjayfeeal. Picture yourself running across the desert." "I will," Toho said. "It'll be too hard for you to climb back up on the bluff," Chua said. |