Pie Fall
PIZZA FELL FROM the sky.
The wood planks of the door creaked as Leywa peered out. She sighed, “Do you think we’ll ever get chicken bacon ranch in Holy Circle?”
Grandma Wayra turned away from the hearth on the dirt floor. The beads in her long, white hair glistened in the sun’s light. She gave Leywa a wrinkled, teasing smile. “Child, you eat what falls.”
Leywa sighed.
“By the cheeses! It sounds like the biggest pizza storm we’ve had in a long time,” said Father. Leywa was now as tall as Father, but he was a much bulkier person than she. He picked up Mother from where she sat near the hearth and carried her in his arms like a baby.
Mother’s long, dark hair, and kind face were mirrored in Leywa. Her scarred, useless legs rendered her unable to walk. Father didn’t like to talk about how she became crippled and so Leywa had given up asking long ago.
Grandma picked up Leywa’s younger sister, Elloe, and with effort put the girl on her back. She was thirteen — just a year younger than Leywa. Like Mother she couldn’t walk, but her case was more severe. A year ago she had a horrible accident that put her into a persistent vegetative state.
They left their domed house and headed north. It was round and made of stone slabs. The dirt and grass covering it stopped more than halfway up the walls. Every house they passed along the way was the same.
A hard wind blew, carrying ash in from the wasteland outside the village. Father turned to shield Mother from the ash. She looked upward and told Father to move away from the incoming cheese pizza.
Leywa followed a large pepperoni pizza with her eyes as it fell just beside the net outside a nearby home. A wry smile crossed her lips.
Really? Right beside the net?
Heading down the path, Leywa noticed the tiny figure of a girl, completely covered in cheese standing next to the path. She looked up with large, innocent eyes and Leywa recognized her cousin.
“Adsila! What are you doing here? Where’s your mother?”
“I got lost,” sobbed Adsila.
Leywa bent down and the smell of the hot mozzarella cheese mixed with the rich, ripe tomato sauce made Leywa’s mouth water. She pulled the various layers of pizza cheese off Adsila’s shoulders, neck, and head. Adsila grinned and gave Leywa a big hug around the neck.
Leywa lifted her up.
“Let’s go find your mommy,” she said with a warm smile.
After they caught up to Father, a pack of boys ran by, stopping to stare at Elloe.
“It’s the vegetable girl!” shouted a boy with a painted face.
The boys could barely get out a laugh before Grandma swatted at them. “Leave her alone, cheese heads!”
“She doesn’t look like a pizza topping,” said another boy as they ran away.
“Not a mushroom, dummy. She just stares and drools,” another boy laughed.
Leywa blushed with embarrassment for her sister, and for the secret guilt she carried because of her part in Elloe’s misfortune.
“Don’t let them bother you, Elloe,” said Grandma stretching her neck to look back at Elloe. “They don’t know what they’re saying.”
In that moment a pizza landed on the tallest boy’s head. Adsila burst out laughing and his friends tripped over themselves making a show of him.
When they passed the boys, Adsila rubbed Leywa’s wool dress with her little hands and then stared into Leywa’s face with a cute, oversized grin.
“Your clothes are funny. Did you get them while you were gone?”
“I sure did, Adsila. I got them in Pepperoni Ridge, far, far away.”
“Does everyone dress weird there?” she asked.
Leywa dodged a falling pizza.
“Me? I don’t dress weird,” said Leywa tickling Adsila. “I think you’re the one who dresses weird. Why would you wear leaves from trees? Wool is much warmer.”
Adsila shrugged innocently. “That’s what my mother made for me.”
“Do you know what else is weird in Pepperoni Ridge?”
“What?”
“They have this magical flavor of pizza called chicken bacon ranch, and it’s delicious.” Leywa’s stomach growled at the thought of her favorite flavor. She had only been back in Holy Circle for two days, but she already missed it.
Adsila’s eyes widened. “Wow. Why don’t we have it here? Did you bring any?”
Leywa laughed. “No, but I should have, huh?”
They entered a large clearing filled with thousands of people sitting on the grass. Leywa looked up to see Mother Leaf, a great oak tree, their silent sentinel towering in the sky.
“There’s my mommy!” Adsila bounced out of Leywa’s arms and charged through the crowd yelling for her mother.
The crowd was a sea of hand-woven clothes made of leaves and tree bark with beads in their hair and paint on their faces. The gathering was as much celebration as it was ceremony.
A stiff wind carried ash into Leywa’s face. Mothers covered their babies to shield them. Leywa wiped her eye clear of it.
Father pushed his way through the crowd to an empty spot on the grass. Leywa and Grandma followed, saying hello to every familiar face they saw. When they found a spot and sat, Mother put a supreme pizza on the grass between them and Father took out his pizza cutter.
It was a sturdy stick, carved with Father’s name, Tecumseh, which held a crude, obsidian blade. The blade was a rough circle that was sharp enough to cut a finger off. Father roughly sliced the pizza up into eight slices.
“Well, supreme is better than just pepperoni I guess, but it’s no chicken bacon ranch,” sighed Leywa.
“You’ll get used to the flavors here soon enough,” said Mother. “As they say — ”
“I know. You eat what falls.”
At the end of her second slice of pizza, Leywa saw Chief, the village chieftain stand near Mother Leaf. At once the whole crowd was silent.
He was a large man, much taller than Father, but just as wide who was held in high respect. He had a large, slightly crooked nose and a wide mouth that gaped open when he spoke. His eyes were steady and proud beneath his commanding eyebrows.
Tonight he wore a special headdress made of leaves from Mother Leaf herself. They stood up on his head and flowed downward to his chest. He wore a special robe woven from pond reeds dyed with small red circles.
“Let the windbirthing dance begin!” he commanded.
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