Chapter One
The warm desert sand felt good under Mouse’s bare feet as he walked in the early morning. The fine grit rubbed between his broad toes, spilling over his toenails and the tops of his feet. Dust rose with each step in small cloudy puffs that clung to Mouse’s dark skin giving him grayish socks beneath his brown trousers. His steps made regular, faint scrunching sounds in the sand and lizards and small mammals froze, waiting until he passed.
Grains of the fine sand occasionally stuck between Mouse’s toes, but each step pushed it out. Mouse had a pair of white man’s shoes slung over one shoulder, the tied laces served as a built-in handle, but it was better in the early summer morning to walk in the warm sand with no shoes, even if it did stick between his toes. The shoes might be needed later, however, so he kept them. They had been given to him by the Mormons in St. Thomas, Nevada.
The Mormons gave Mouse the shoes; the long sleeved, collarless shirt he wore buttoned all the way to the top, and also the brown trousers which covered his legs. He believed the Mormons gave him these things because they wanted him to come to church with them and become a Mormon. In 1896, the Mormons were always trying to get the Southern Paiutes to join their church. Mouse would take everything they wanted to give, but he would never become a Mormon.
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