Brave Beginnings (24 page)

Larry followed Gary as he walked toward the
four Indians who surrounded the dead animals. “My name is Larry
Bleier.”

Gary smiled. “I recognize the name. I read a
few of your articles.”

“Did you? I only write articles when one of
the reporters can’t do it. My job is to oversee the printing and
distribution of the paper.”

They stopped by the four men who seemed to
be arguing over which animal they could claim. Gary glanced at
Larry in amusement, and Larry wondered what the men were saying
that was funny. But this wasn’t for him to know, for in the next
instant, Chogan noticed Larry and stepped away from the group.

“Mr. Bleier?” Chogan asked, not hiding his
surprise.

“Hello, Chogan,” Larry replied. “May I have a
word with you?”

Chogan nodded and motioned to a vacant spot
between two lodges where they could have their privacy.

Once they reached the private spot, Larry
opted to forgo the formalities so he could focus on the matter at
hand. “I came to ask if you would return to work at the Tribune.
Mike and I went to the other employees to discuss hiring you back,
and they agreed that if Wilcox will not hire you, then we will go
on strike until he does. Ernest Freeman may have some clout in
Bismarck, but he can’t go against the entire staff. You wouldn’t
have to worry about losing your job again.”

Chogan didn’t answer right away. He took a
deep breath and replied, “I have returned here, and I am happy with
that decision. Thank you, but I will stay with my people.”

Larry sighed. “I’m sorry to hear that. You
were one of the best employees we ever had.”

“Thank you.”

After an awkward moment of silence, Larry
asked, “Do you know why Ernest Freeman wanted you fired?”

“He wanted to marry Julia, but she married me
instead.”

Larry waited for him to continue. Once he
realized that the explanation was that simple, he asked, “You mean
to tell me this is all because of a woman?”

“Ernest is not a gracious loser.”

“I’d say that is an understatement.” He
couldn’t believe all of this mess boiled down to a case of
unrequited love, but it made sense, given how petty Ernest was. At
least now he had something to go on. “Is there anything you know
about Ernest? Anything shady he might be engaged in?”

“No. His reputation is clean.”

So that was a dead end. Larry supposed he
shouldn’t expect Chogan to know if Ernest had something he was
hiding that would discredit his reputation. “I’m sorry that things
turned out the way they did for you at the Tribune. If you ever
decide to move back to Bismarck, you have a job waiting for
you.”

Chogan nodded and smiled. “You are a good
man.”

“You are too. Tell your wife she made the
right choice.” He pulled his collar up and got up on his horse. He
tipped his hat. “Until we meet again.”

He caught the glint of amusement in Chogan’s
eyes before he headed out of the tribe, wondering what the next
step should be in regards to Ernest.

***

Chogan returned to the other hunters and
collected the coyote he shot with his bow.

“What did the white man
want?”
Achai asked, nodding in Larry’s direction as he
exited the tribe on his steed.

Chogan looked away from Larry. “He was my
supervisor in Bismarck. He said I could have my job back, but I
told him I’ll stay here.”

“Shouldn’t you have asked Julia about it?
What if she wants to go back?”

Chogan headed for his lodge, expecting his
friend to follow. The others didn’t need to know his personal
business. As Achai joined him, he said, “Most of the white people
weren’t nice. You know how they treated us when we went into
Bismarck in the past. Only it was worse because of Ernest. Larry
was nice, but he was one of the few white men who didn’t see an
Injun when he saw me. Julia doesn’t want to go back to that.”

They stopped in front of his lodge.

“How is Julia adjusting to living with us?”
Achai asked.

“She has her brother and Woape here. She
spends most of her time watching their daughter.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

Chogan shrugged. “She hasn’t voiced any
complaints. No one has treated her with disrespect.”

“Maybe not, but it’s still a different world
for her.”

“You underestimate her. In her heart, she is
a warrior. She is not a weakling like her brother, and he got along
just fine here.”

Achai laughed. “You shouldn’t talk like that
about Gary. He does our tribe a lot of good. Because of him, we
don’t get taken advantage of by the white merchants.”

“But he’s not a hunter, and he didn’t kill
Hothlepoya.” Chogan glanced at the coyote in his arms. “She hunted
a wild turkey in November. I bet she’s ready for bigger game.” The
more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea. Julia’s
talent with the bow and arrow shouldn’t be wasted while she spent
her days watching children, and he had enough female relatives to
do the cooking. What his lodge needed was another hunter, and she’d
do well for that position. “Next time, I’ll take her with me.”

“Uh oh.”

“What? The women may not hunt, but Julia
isn’t like any other woman. She is better.”

“No. I mean, ‘uh oh’ your least favorite
person is headed this way.”

Chogan looked in the direction his friend
indicated and grimaced when he saw Citlali headed his way.
“Whatever can he possibly want now? I’m already married.”

“Who knows? But I’m not sticking around for
this.” Achai headed off and called out, “Good luck.”

Chogan purposely placed the coyote between
him and Citlali. “Make it quick,” he told Citlali. “I have to take
this to my relatives.”

Citlali adjusted his buffalo robe. “What I
have to propose won’t take long.”

He narrowed his eyes at him. “Propose?” He
didn’t like the sound of this.

“Yes. I notice that your wife has yet to bear
children.”

“You notice too much.” Chogan stepped forward
and glared at him. “You would be better off minding your own
affairs instead of taking note of mine.”

“This is a matter of survival. We need more
full-blooded Mandans.”

“I’ve already made my thoughts clear on this
matter.”

He turned to go into the lodge when Citlali
said, “I’m not saying to end your marriage. I’m saying you should
take a second wife: a full-blooded Mandan woman and have Mandan
children with her.”

Chogan dropped the coyote and stormed up to
Citlali. He grabbed Citlali by his buffalo robe and growled, “You
will never make this suggestion to me again. I don’t care how much
honor you have in this tribe. I’ll chase you out of here so you’ll
have to make your way in the white man’s world. Those white men
don’t care how many sacred bundles you have or which clan you
belong to. Then you will learn there are more important things in
this world than producing babies.”

He shoved Citlali away with enough force so
that Citlali fell against the side of the lodge. “It was just a
suggestion,” Citlali said.

“Is this the suggestion you’ll offer Onawa
when you marry her? Will you take a second wife to her lodge and
tell her it’s for the sake of having more full-blooded Mandan
babies? Or will you bring three or four wives to her and expect her
to understand?”

“She is full-blooded Mandan. I don’t need to
take another wife.”

“But what if she can’t bear children? My
first wife couldn’t. Just because you marry a full-blooded Mandan,
it doesn’t mean you will have children that will reach adulthood
and carry on our way of life.” Chogan collected the coyote and
glared at Citlali. “Life does not always go according to plan, and
marriage is more than having babies. If you don’t learn that and
learn it quick, Onawa will throw you out of her lodge and find
another husband. No woman wants to be second to someone else. She
wants first place in your heart and life.”

Citlali stood up and straightened his robe.
“You take offense where you shouldn’t.”

“I hope you remember that when Onawa wants no
part of it. There’s a good reason why Woape ran away.”

He blinked before his eyebrows furrowed ever
so slightly.

Chogan’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Don’t
strain yourself, Citlali. That’s the most emotion you’ve ever
shown.”

Citlali waited for a moment and then headed
off.

He hoped that meant Citlali would leave him
alone, but if he didn’t, then Chogan would be more than happy to
deposit him into the middle of Bismarck and let Ernest and his ilk
deal with him.

Chogan entered his family’s lodge, no longer
in a good mood.

His mother came forward to inspect the
coyote. “You did a marvelous job!” She ran her hand along the fur
and grinned.

“Where is Julia? I want to show it to her,”
he said. “I want to save the fur for her.”

“She’ll love this,” she replied. “She’s
helping Woape with Penelope.”

“I’ll tell her about the coyote.”

“We’ll divide this up and set the fur aside
for Julia.”

His mother took the animal beside the fire as
his aunt gathered the knives. With some of his enthusiasm
returning, he headed out to Woape’s lodge.

~~********~~

Julia shoved her hands into her coat pocket
as Woape pointed out where her family planted crops in the spring.
Penelope was a few feet away, rolling a snowball and giggling as
the ball grew bigger. Julia chuckled and turned back to Woape who
pointed further down the prairie that ran along the river.

“You will plant with Chogan’s female
relatives over there,” Woape said. “Chogan’s family is part of the
WaxikEna clan. You’re lucky. That’s the highest one we have.”

“Oh?”

“Citlali’s lodge is the primary one of that
clan.”

Julia looked at her in interest. “I’ve heard
the name Citlali before, haven’t I?”

“I was supposed to marry him.”

Julia briefly recalled her aunt telling her
that Woape was promised to one of the Indian men in her tribe, but
she didn’t love the man so she ran off in the middle of the night.
At the time, her aunt had told her the story in hopes that Julia
would sympathize with Woape instead of resenting her for coming in
between Julia and Gary. But at the time, Julia didn’t care why
Woape left. Now, the matter intrigued her. “Why didn’t you want to
marry Citlali?”

“He did not love me. Our parents arranged the
marriage because of his prominence in the tribe. My family is in
the Prairie Chicken clan, and the agreement was that I’d bring the
sacred robe bundle into the marriage. I had to transfer it to Onawa
so she can do it instead.”

Julia felt a smile tug at her lips. “You
don’t sound sorry to lose that bundle.”

“The bundles are just bundles. They contain
objects in them that were once believed to hold sacred items in
them. This specific bundle has a Good Furred Robe with a map of the
world on it, a pipe, white sage, a headdress, moccasins, a clay
pot, a strip of elk hide, dried gourd for a rattle, something that
looked like corn silk, three different ears of corn, a strip of
badger skin, blackbird heads, a head of a green-headed duck, a
skull of a whitetail deer with antlers attached, three dried
squash, one sunflower head, another robe, and a braid of
cornhusks.”

Woape rattled off the objects so fast, it was
apparent that she’d had to memorize what was in the bundle. Julia
waited to see if there was more—though with all those items crammed
into the bundle, Julia couldn’t imagine what else might possibly be
in it. When she realized Woape was finished, she said, “That’s an
impressive bundle, but I admit, some of the items sound gruesome.
Bird heads? Why are those important?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t know why any of those
items are necessary, but then I never could accept that they had
any special powers associated with them. They are a part of our
people and our past. This bundle is for the corn ceremony, so
Citlali has a particular interest in it.”

“Oh,” Julia said, her eyes lighting up with
understanding. “I see what you’re saying. He wanted the bundle and
the prestige it would bring him more than he wanted you.”

Woape nodded and glanced at her daughter who
had succeeded in rolling a sizable snowball. “I may have gone
through some harsh times to be with your brother, but they were
worth it. I never told your brother this, but Hothlepoya did more
than beat me. Until I saw Penelope with Gary’s nose, I wasn’t sure
who the father was. I thank God every day for the moment that led
me to Gary.”

Woape’s meaning dawned on Julia, and Julia
felt the color drain from her face. “Woape, I had no idea…” Tears
stung her eyes, their heat a drastic contrast to the cold around
them.

“I didn’t tell anyone,” Woape softly said. “I
still haven’t. It only brings up a part of my past that I’d rather
not think about.”

“So why tell me?”

Woape looked at her and shrugged. “I’m not
sure. It’s a feeling I have, a connection I share with you that I
don’t have with anyone else.” Then she laughed. “It’s ironic, isn’t
it? Considering how we didn’t get along at first, I never expected
to tell you something like that.”

Julia laughed and wiped the tears from her
eyes. “We’ve had our share of arguments, but I feel the connection
too.”

Penelope gave a startled cry as she tumbled
over her snowball and fell face first into the snow. This made
Julia and Woape laugh harder.

“She is my brother’s child alright,” Julia
teased as Woape picked Penelope up and brushed the snow from her
robe. “When we were kids, he was always tripping over himself.”

“He’s more graceful now,” Woape replied.

“I don’t know. I did see him run into a horse
the other day, but to be fair, someone called out to him while he
was walking. So I think he’s not so bad anymore.”