A Snake Falls to Earth: Newbery Honor Award Winner

by Darcie Little Badger

In my dreams, I tried to sing, but my voice was drowned by the screams of trees. “Why are you shouting?” I asked the forest. “It’s okay. You’re home.” “Then why are you here?” the trees asked. “If this is our home, who are you?”

Maybe she liked the rings their glasses stamped on every flat surface of her kitchen and living room. Did they keep her company when she was alone?

It pained me that I couldn’t escape the current. Couldn’t delay my inevitable arrival at the result of a million actions, whatever it would be. All I could do was make the most of the time I had and hope that my actions mattered.

But until Ami got sick, it was never personal. It didn’t affect me.

The path to anywhere-you-please cannot be found, and I never expect it to find me again. That’s okay. I’ll always be grateful for our single encounter, and for its grace to guide me home. A place where the water binds two worlds; where coyotes confide in monsters; where hawks and mockingbirds discern revelations from ancient trees; where my best friend basks in the sun beside me; and where I can spend long days in the company of new family, as I search for the family I left behind. I don’t need the path anymore.