Darryl Babe Wilson

lack volcanic glass.
oldnti
ing cup of coffee. Grandfather looked long
the ciniort of his jumbled little bungalow. It
Grandlather stood back and I entered
warmth!
arom
1
ploded from the open door, Coffee.
-.t the man I’m lookin’ for.” Coffee
Then, with a quiver in his voice, he started
waters.
Rainbow[, Diamond Island. In our legends,
were told to go when they searched for a
thought that he might he crying silently.
that’s where the Mouse Brothers, the twins.
always knew it as Allisti Ti-tan in-rniji [Rock
for it. To our people, in our legends. we
ago. Alcatraz, that’s the white man’s name
runs into the sea is where I was born, long
“Alcatraz island. Where the Pit River
telling the story that he wanted me to know:
ic blend. hut it was so good!
good. it was not a fancy Colombian, aromat
father s collections. It was like a museum.
that every part of the clutter had a history—
Everything was very old and worn. It seemed
origin of the earth, like the bent pail filled
Glass Mountain many summers before,
with obsidian
healtrv handshake we huddled over steam
clean, delicate aroma—a perfume. After a
wood. Juniper. cured for a summer, has a
was G)ZY in there. He was burning juniper
sometimes a history that remembered the
the old moon began to tell the story of his
escape from “the rock” long ago. He gath
into purchasing when he was a young work
“just in case.”
at me I think that he was not totally con
vinced that I was there. The hot coffee was
ing man in the 1920s. The radio cost $124. I
got the -dectric company to put a line to his
the episode magnified in mystery when he
think he got conned by that merchant and
recalled that it was not until 1948 before he
and he did not remember to turn it on until
home By that time he forgot about the radio
ness——like a mouse that died then dried to a
stiffness through the years—a redolence of
1958. It worked. There was an odor of old
3, obid1an (b sid’ t n) n.: Hard. daikcoIored or
ered himself together and reached back into
a painful past. The silence was long and I
We were surrounded by years of Grand
He also had a radio that he was talked
The old person in the old house under
4lected newspapers.
3 that he had collected from
ter. We were always told that the ‘diamond’
was a thought, or a truth. Something worth
They brought it back. But it is lost now. It is
end of It A-juma [Pit River}. They fhund it.
long, long ago. They were to go search at the
all our people, everywhere.
said, the ‘diamond’ was to bring goodness to
and it shined, but it was not a jewelry. It was
very much. It was not a jewelry. It sparkled
mond’ on an island near the great salt wa
with every movement. That is why we al
more. Colored lights came from inside it
ways called it [Alcatraz[ AUisti Ti-taniri
Grandfather spoke of a time long past.
words filled with enduring knowledge,
mUL” With a wave of an ancient hand and
of the Pit River country, his pregnant moth
er was taken captive and forced, with other
to Alcatraz in the winter. At that same time,
Some of our people were “removed” to the
Indians, to make the long and painful march
the military was “sweeping” California.
during the winter to Quapa, Oklahoma. Still
Round Valley Reservation at Covelo; others
were taken east by train in open cattle cars
others were taken out into the ocean at
healing treasure for our troubled people
Eureka and thrown overboard into icy
chains to Quapa are still there. Some of
“We always heard that there was a ‘dia
In one of the many raids upon our people
I)esceiidants of those that were taken in
Diamond Island: Alcatraz 99