Touching Spirit Bear Flashcards
Cole Matthews in the bow of the aluminum skiff as he faced forward into a cold September wind. Worn steel handcuffs bit at his wrists each time the small craft slapped into another wave.
Defiantly
Cole strained at the cuffs even though he had agreed to wear to waer them until he was freed on the island to begin his banishment.
Banishment
Cole feigned surprise as if he had made a horrible mistake, then twisted at the handcuffs again.
Feigned
Several weeks earlier, Edwin, the Tlingit elder from Drake, had built a sparse one- room wood shelter for Cole on the island
Sparse
This island is covered with Devil’s club. Don’t grab it or hundreds of tiny Thistles will infect your hands and make them swell up like sausages.
Devil’s Club
Spewing a barrage of venomous curses, he took the blanket Garvey had given him and flung it to the ground.
Barrage
Cole walked sullenly around the room. cursing he swept his arm across the table and sent the baking ingredients
Sullenly
Wrapping broke open. Plastic containers ricocheted off the wall.
Ricocheted
My parents- that’s a joke,” Cole scoffed. “they don’t care if i’m dead or alive”
Scoffed
Peter walked awkwardly, shuffling his feet and glancing timidly around around the room.
Timidly
This circle carries only two Obligations-honesty and respect
Obligations
He shook his head to clear the Illusion, but it was no Illusion this was the same spot he had been at a thousand strokes.
Illusion
All he could Conjure up were fleeting nations; he couldn’t stand up, He needed warmth
Conjure
“Cole has will and Courage, but he also has ugly anger
Will and Courage
Cole swatted at the Persistent mosquitoes and studied the bay. His only mistake in trying to escape had been forgetting about the incoming tide
Persistent
Steady blowing soon coaxed a weak flame to life. This time he would leave with his body warm and his belly full of food.
Coaxed
Cole turned his head and stared into the the black nothingness of the shrouded woods
Shrouded
For two hours his mind roiled with turbulent thoughts before he fell into a restless tortured sleep
Turbulent
A blur of white motion deflected the shaft down into the grass as the bear lunged
Deflected
What would happen when the last bit of warmth seeped from his body
Seeped
Desperate tears welled up inside and squeezed past his eyelids.
Welled
Watching the bird made Cole curse every second of his miserable and haphazard life.
Haphazard
he felt himself slipping into darkness and blinked hard, doggedly clinging to life, willing himself to not let go.
Doggedly
All his life he had squandered his choices, wallowing in revenge and self-pity, keeping himself down
Squandered
This mouse was his quarry, like a gull catching a herring or an owl catching a rabbit
Quarry
He dropped them into his mouth, and chewed. the animals weren’t the only one who could forage to survive
Forage
The wretched insects sucked life from him faster than he could replenish it. He closed his eyes to the bloodletting, but that did not stop the torment,
Wretched
A second time it dipped its head then stepped back away. with one fluid motion, it swug around and ambled silently down toward the waterline
Ambled
The screaming of the engine grew muted, replaced by anxious voices shouting to them.
Muted
