He tells me that mesquites are really bushes, with soft trunks that bend to survive monsoon winds and fold to the ground under the weight of their own tops. To make them into trees, we need to stake a tight circle around each mesquite. A storm can level a tree any place we forget to lay a stake. And we must bind each trunk to a strong pole. If the poles hold, he tells me, the tree will eventually grow around and absorb it into its own skin.
Nature is slow.
Learn to think like an Indian. It will go better for you out here. We are busy staking trees when Little Cloud walks the medicine woman over to us. She has seen a century of change on the reservation. She knows she will bury some of the youth she has blessed this morning.