Thank you for joining me for Wednesday’s Words. Again, this week I am doing a small excerpt from Finding My Faith which will be out in March. If you’ve missed other Wednesday’s Words, please visit the tab above to read more.
Here is the book blurb:
Faith Cloudfoot locked the door the coffee house and looked around the street. She hated the closing shift, but needed the money, so she had worked a double shift tonight. The sky above was clear, but the stars weren’t exactly shining brightly. That was what happened in the big city, though, and she found herself missing the mountains of Arizona where she grew up.
She unsnapped the clasp that held her waist length red hair in a ponytail, shook it out and wished she had brought a light jacket. Her brown t-shirt with the company logo on the breast and her mandatory black shorts weren’t really doing enough to keep her warm. She inhaled deeply, and even though the sky was clear, it smelled a little bit like rain. Rain in Phoenix was a treat, and she relished every blessed drop.
She exhaled slowly, trying to calm her jittering nerves. The past few weeks she had felt as though someone were watching her. She could never pinpoint a specific person; it was just a feeling she had.
She began her short two-block walk home, trying to keep her thoughts on happy things. Like her upcoming trip home to her parents and the hiking and fishing they would do in the forest. She couldn’t wait to get back into the fresh air of nature. It did something to her—it was some type of renewal for her spirit, for her soul. She also missed her mom, and she was excited to feel her mom’s arms around her in the big bear hug she knew was coming when the saw each other. And then there was the party her and her roommate, Terry, were throwing—Boas and Baseball. They had thrown theme parties before…Fedoras and football. Bathrobes and basketball. Capes and Coyotes, which was the pro hockey team. Everyone had to wear the particular clothing, and those parties were a blast.
Faith had moved to the big city of Phoenix two years ago. She had wanted to explore how the city folks lived. Her father often described her as a bit of a hell raiser, and he had been especially hesitant about her moving away, but eventually she wore him down. Her mom had actually been pretty supportive in her need to experience something besides what a small town had to offer. She loved the city life—the clubs, the parties, the concerts that came through town, but she always looked forward going home.
She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and scratched them to hopefully make the feeling go away.
Her experience in the city had been…interesting. That was a good word. Faith knew she was different from most women. First, there was her upbringing. Her parents were Navajo Indians, and kept the old legends and customs alive. It was as though they had one foot in the past and the other in the present. She fingered the silver necklace at her throat that her aunt had made for her. It was a bear claw, which symbolized inner strength. Her aunt and her mother continued the old Indian tradition of making jewlery, as well as spinning and weaving wool to make blankets.
Faith’s facial features were strong and bold as those of her ancestors. Her skin was brown, her lips full, her wide eyes a deep brown. Her long, wavy hair, however, was something that you would see on a full-blooded Irish woman. She smiled, thinking about the time when she had asked her mother where she had gotten her flaming red hair.
Her mother had grinned and said it meant that she was special, then told her of the legend of The Woman With Fire for Hair.
“Once every twenty-five years, there is a red-headed woman born to the tribe,” her mother had said with a smile. “One day one of these women will meet with a man who has red eyes and a warrior wolf spirit, and they will produce a child that will help heal the Earth.”
Well, that was it in a nutshell. Faith wasn’t sure she believed in the legend. She thought that perhaps one of her ancestors had met up and gotten busy with someone of pure Irish descent, and that was how she got her hair. And really…a man with red eyes?
She exhaled again, glad she was one block away from her apartment complex. She felt the need to put her Reeboks into use and sprint the rest of the way, but she refused to give into her fears, fears that she was certain were ridiculous.
However, she had always been one to listen to her instincts. She had been taught to listen to her instincts, what her spirit told her, and they hadn’t let her down yet. Like the time she was at a bar with a couple of her friends, and her instincts told her to get home ASAP. She had found out the next morning that there was a shooting at that bar. Or the time that her instincts told her not to get on the bus, but wait for the next one. That bus had been involved in an accident. They hadn’t failed her, as long as she listened to them.
Except this time, she was certain she was overreacting. She had been on edge for weeks, and her nerves were frayed. She had to be overreacting, right?
Copyright Carly Fall 2012