am's wife thought that the old Taiga people had killed him with magic.
             In Chapter 2, the reader also learns that the cat is the Florida Panther. The Taiga people call it Sisa. People of the Panther Clan believe they are related to the Florida Panther. Ama loves the panther and watches for it. Omishto's mother is jealous of Ama because Ama is close to the old Taiga ways. Omishto was told not to visit Ama, but she still does.
             As the women continue to sit on the porch, Ama asks Omishto if she dreamt the night before. Ama says that she did and goes inside the house. She returns and tells Omishto that she dreamt about a sickly, skinny panther. As Omishto and Ama sit on the porch, four women from the tribe walk down the road, almost as if they are floating. Ama refers to them as messengers. The two women then go inside. As they do, a storm starts. It is a hurricane. They try to board up the house. Rattlesnakes start to come toward Ama's door, but Ama shuts the door on them. Omishto realizes that she has not tied up her boat. She runs to do so, but struggles to get the boat ashore as she slips in the mud. When the boat is ashore, Omishto ties it to a tree. Suddenly, the wind is calm. It starts up even harder. Omishto is clinging to the ground. The wind stops again. While it is still calm, Omishto tries to run back to Ama's house. The wind starts up again. Omishto can see Ama blown against the outside of the house. She also sees Methuselah fall.
             After the storm, Omishto realizes that her dress is in a tree, and she is naked. Snakes were flung against Ama's house during the storm. Janie Soto and Annie Hide, old women of the Taiga tribe, would say this is a good sign. Omishto goes to the shed to get a shovel because she wants to bury the dead animals. Ama gets Omishto a dress. Ama sees a deer with a broken leg and tells Omishto that they are going to follow it. Omishto think...