Two Roads

“I’m drawn backward. I find myself in the middle of someone else’s life. Not remembering or seeing it. But living it moment by moment.”

With these words, Cal describes his unique ability to clairvoyantly see things that he was not present to actually witness or that have not yet occurred. In the first instance of this phenomenon, Cal experiences his father’s memories of fighting in the trenches in World War I. At this point in the novel, Cal has no knowledge of his Creek heritage and does not know anyone else who shares a similar talent.

“Sometimes in addition to finding myself in the past in someone else’s body, I can also sort of look ahead to what’s coming.”

These words describe another aspect of Cal’s special ability. The ability to catch glimpses of possible futures becomes important later in the novel when he starts to have visions warning of his father’s potential death in the midst of violent protests in Washington. In this way, the author uses Cal’s ability both to hint at the secret nuances of his heritage and to foreshadow the climactic events to come.

“We never know where life is going to take us.”

The bleak, stark simplicity of this statement belies the deeper sense of foreboding and tension that it conceals, for in the early stages of the novel, profound changes are afoot both for Cal and his father, and neither can predict what challenges they may meet or even whether they will see each other again anytime soon. Coupled with Cal’s imminent struggle to comprehend what it means to be Creek instead of white in a world where minority groups are treated poorly at best, even such a simple statement of fact harbors depths of unspoken emotion and serves to foreshadow the many adventures and challenges that await the characters in the coming pages.