Preserving a Story:

The Novel Begins:

"The day began with an accident. I was playing with a string of old wampum-- I knew I was not supposed to touch it-- when it broke apart, scattering beads on the ground. Wampum belts were important things , taken out and passed around by old people on special occasions...

My father located one pale white bead of mollusk shell that had stopped within his reach, turned it over in his palm...

'We'll ask your grandfather if he remembers how they were set. You don't understand, Moss. The design held a story from long ago, a story that took place one way and no other. If the arrangement is confused, even a little bit, so is the story along with it."