Brave Beginnings

by Ruth Ann Nordin

  Across from him, Gary made eye contact with him and said in the Mandan tongue, “Women are sentimental, especially those two. You may want to carry a handkerchief at all times.”

  Woape shook her head. “It is not fair to speak another language when they can’t understand what you’re saying.”

  Gary glanced at her. “You’re speaking Mandan right now.”

  “Only to suggest you not speak it,” she replied. “I don’t know if it’s good you caught onto the language as fast as you did.”

  Gary picked up another piece of toast and spread jam on it. “Of course, it’s good. I had to be sure no one was making fun of me.”

  Chogan grinned. “Achai’s always had a tendency to joke.”

  “And a fine one it was,” Gary said. “If you’re going to hand someone something that disgusting to eat, you should tell them the proper name for it.”

  “Rattlesnake is not disgusting if you season it right.”

  Gary shuddered. “It’s the idea of eating something that can kill a man if it bites him that’s disgusting.”

  “You’re too weak. You need to toughen up. You white men will make boots out of snakeskin but will throw out the rest.”

  Gary shot Chogan a pointed look. “Because they’re disgusting to eat.”

  “You’re wasteful. You need to find a use for everything you hunt.”

  Gary laughed. “I don’t care if it’s wasteful or not. I’m not going to eat a snake.”

  Despite the shake of his head, Chogan’s lips turned up into a smile. A glance in Julia’s direction showed him that she and her aunt were watching him and Gary. “He no eat snake.”

  Julia gagged. “For once, I agree with my brother. That’s disgusting.”

  Gary looked amused. “I told you so. You’re not going to try to feed her snake are you?” he asked in Mandan.

  “She has a hunter’s spirit in her,” Chogan replied, also reverting to Mandan. “She is tougher than you.”

  “Tougher than me?” Gary asked, as if he’d been insulted.

  Woape wiped her daughter’s mouth. “Speak English,” she said in English.

  Gary put his arm around her shoulders. “I’m sorry.” He picked up a piece of bacon and put it in Penelope’s mouth. “She will never eat snake. I don’t care what anyone in the tribe thinks.”

  Erin let out a loud sigh. “I don’t want to know what all that was about.”

  “I agree,” Julia replied. “We don’t need to know everything.”

  “I tell him you tougher than him,” Chogan whispered in her ear. “You look better too.”

  She laughed, and Gary narrowed his eyes at them.

  Chogan chuckled. “I teach you Mandan? You learn to understand?”

  Julia nodded. “Alright. It’ll take me awhile though. I don’t think I can learn it as fast as Gary did.”

  “I be with you. You do fine,” he assured her.

  She reached under the table and placed her hand on his thigh.

  He took a good look at her and saw that she continued to eat a forkful of eggs. She didn’t even glance in his direction. This time when he smiled, it was for a different reason. He knew she had fire in her, a great passion, but it didn’t occur to him that she had a playfully mischievous side to her. He took her hand in his and squeezed it. He noted a slight grin on her face before she talked to her aunt about what they would make for lunch.

  After breakfast was over, Chogan waited until Woape was alone so he could talk to her. She had just changed Penelope and was coming down the steps, leaving Gary, Julia and their aunt in the parlor to talk.

  “Julia told me what you did for me,” Chogan softly told Woape who held Penelope’s hand. “Thank you.”

  “I know you wouldn’t have been happy with Sarita or anyone else Citlali would have you marry,” she replied. “And I know how you and Julia felt about each other. I’ve been granted the blessing of loving my spouse. I cannot wish anyone anything less than the same.”

  “I’m glad Gary makes you happy. It would not have been the same with Citlali.”

  “No,” she softly acknowledged. “I’m sure he would have been kind, but he’d never love me.”

  “There is a difference. You made the right choice.”

  Penelope tugged on her mother’s arm.

  Woape chuckled. “I’m coming. Children are impatient. They cannot sit still for longer than a minute.”

  Satisfied that he had the chance to thank her, he followed her to the parlor.

  ***

  The collar around Chogan’s neck felt unbearably tight, and the tie didn’t help matters. But he was determined to press through. He straightened his coat and glanced at Julia. “Butcher?” he motioned to the building where she stopped.

  “Yes. His name is Jed Wilson.” She smiled up at him. “You’re much better than the other men who hunt game.”

  “I marry you so I hear good things,” he slowly joked.

  She laughed. The nippy air made her cheeks rosy, though he’d like to think it was his words that made her blush. However, there was no denying that the sparkle in her eyes was due to the fact that they were together.

  “I go.” He opened the door and waited for her, now understanding the customs of her people in regards to who opened the door and why. “You come?”

  “No. I need to pick up a few things from the general store. Do you know where that is?”

  His gaze scanned the businesses lining the street. “Down there. I go there before.”

  “I won’t be long. Good luck.”

  He waited for her to stroll away before he directed his attention to the task at hand. Upon entering the place, he took off his hat, finding the thing a sore substitute for his headdress. He shook off the longing for the familiar and stepped up to the counter and waited.

  An overweight middle-aged man with thinning brown hair sauntered in from the back of the store. He paused when he saw Chogan. “May I help you?”

  Chogan straightened to his full height and noticed the slight wince on the man’s face. He wondered if the man was intimidated or upset but held off on questioning him. “I come for job. Anthony Perkins say you need hunter. I hunt.”

  Jed’s eyebrows furrowed as he inched a little closer to the counter while maintaining a good distance from it—and Chogan. “Anthony sent you, huh?”

  “He recommend.”

  “Hmm...” He rubbed the stubble on his jaw. “So he will represent you?”

  Chogan blinked. “Represent?”

  “He will deal with me on your behalf?”

  “No. I come here.”

  “But when you hunt, he’ll bring in the animal?”

  Chogan didn’t understand the logic in that. “Anthony make clothes. He not hunt. I hunt. I bring animal here.”

  “Oh.” The man winced again.

  Chogan was beginning to understand the problem, and he chided himself on thinking just because he had short hair and dressed like a white man, it should make any difference. “I represent me.”

  “Yes. I gathered as much.” The man glanced up at him and swallowed. “I’m sorry, but I think Anthony has me confused with someone else. You see...I...” He shuffled from one foot to another. “That is to say, I have enough meat. Yes. I have meat already. If I had more, the meat would rot. I have fresh meat at all times.”

  Chogan knew Jed Wilson was lying. He might not have understood all of the man’s jumbled words since he spoke too fast, but he got the gist of it. Venturing for a different avenue, he asked, “Where can I work?”

  Jed rubbed his jaw again. “Didn’t Anthony Perkins tell you where else someone might need a worker?”

  He shook his head.

  Jed sighed. “I’m not sure who would hire...” He glanced uneasily at him. “That is to say that Bismarck has plenty of workers.”

  Chogan waited, wondering if the butcher would tell him anything useful or continue to stall. He knew he made Jed nervous, but he didn’t appreciate being turned down from a job
he was perfectly capable of doing—one he even excelled at—just because of his skin color. He bet he could hunt better than any of the white men that Jed had bringing meat to him and that the quality of game would be superior as well.

  Jed shook his head. “I’m sorry. I don’t know who’s hiring.”

  He’d get nothing out of the butcher, and he knew when to pick his battles. This was not the time for forcing the issue or trying to prove he could do the job as well as any white man. He stiffly nodded, muttered a “thank you” that felt like bile in his throat, and calmly left the shop. He stood still for a moment with eyes closed and focused on relaxing the tension in his muscles. Not everyone was like Jed Wilson. He couldn’t assume that every employer in this town would react to him the same way.

  He longed to wrap his buffalo robe tighter around himself as he’d done in the past when he reined in his self-control. It was a habit he’d developed over the years, a way he’d mentally and physically closed himself off from external sources of aggravation. But now he wore no robe. He wore a white man’s winter coat, and all he could do was cross his arms.

  He promised Julia he’d wait for her, so he remained outside the store, probably creating an even greater worry for Jed Wilson. Jed stayed by the counter and kept darting frantic glances out his window where Chogan stood. Finally, Chogan had enough of the man’s unfounded fears and moved to the next building along the street. Just what exactly did Jed Wilson think Chogan was going to do? It was not the Mandan way to seek vengeance. They desired peace. How could white men live so close to the tribe and not understand this? The Mandans had made enough concessions to prove themselves, hadn’t they?

  Chogan took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. He imagined himself by a campfire on one of his fasts where he’d often sat to close his eyes and take deep breaths to gain a sense of peace. Except, this time when he imagined the soothing campfire in his mind, Julia was beside him and he unwittingly recalled the scent of cooking rabbit on the fire. His anger cooled, and the tension in his body eased.

  He opened his eyes and saw Julia heading his way. He greeted her with a smile, and when her eyes met his, she smiled in return.

  “Did it go well? Did Jed hire you?” she asked as soon as she reached him.

  “No. He not need me.”

  She frowned. “But that Bernard who works for him can’t stay off the moonshine to save his life, and Lester isn’t much of a shot. Maybe I should tell Jed how good you are.”

  She started toward the butcher shop, but he wrapped his hand around her elbow and stopped her. “No. I not work there.” The determined expression on her face warmed his heart. She cared for him enough to be angry on his behalf. The last of his anger subsided. “I work other place.”

  Her eyebrows furrowed in a way that he thought looked absolutely charming on her. “Well...” She glanced at the shop and tapped her foot on the sidewalk for a good three seconds. Then with a sigh, she said, “Alright. Jed Wilson isn’t that great of a person anyway. What kind of man wants to have those kinds of workers? They’d probably all just take advantage of you since you work hard and they don’t.”

  “I keep looking.”

  “Do you want to go back to Anthony’s store and see if he knows anyone else who’s hiring?”

  “Yes. This time I get more places to go.”

  “That’s a good idea. Bismarck is growing, and that means more jobs. Something’s bound to come up. I’m sure you can do better than Jed Wilson.”

  Whether or not she was right was left to be seen, but she believed it and that made all the difference.

  ~~********~~

  Chapter 10

  Within the week, Chogan dropped off the last Bismarck Tribune newspaper at a house before he headed back for East Front Avenue where people were arriving to work for the day. He turned the collar of his coat up and braced himself for the biting chill. The route was simple, but the two hours outside delivering the papers in the dark made his body go numb by the time he was done.

  He pulled his wagon into the side entrance and sat by the potbelly stove so he could get some feeling back into his fingers and toes. He’d been doing the same routine for two days now and had a good feel for it. It wasn’t as good as hunting, but it did get him out into the fresh air and the pay was decent, from what Julia had said when he told her what his wages would be. Anthony assured him that the man in charge of circulation was a fair and honest person who would treat him right. So far Chogan had no complaints.

  Noah came into the large room and sat beside him. “How are you handling your route?”

  Chogan glanced at the bearded thin man and shrugged. “It is job.”

  Noah laughed. “That it is. It probably doesn’t bother you to be out in the cold. I mean, your kind lives in teepees.”

  Chogan hid his apprehension at the joking tone in the younger man’s voice. He estimated that Noah was eighteen or so, but he should have known more about the Indians he lived near. “Mandan use teepee on buffalo hunt or to seek a vision,” he slowly explained, careful to weigh each word so he could better form sentences in English. “We live in lodges made of the earth.”

  “Oh, really? I thought all you people lived in teepees.”

  “No.”

  “Hmm...” Noah shrugged and laughed. “Learn something new every day, right?”

  Unsure of how to respond, Chogan simply nodded and turned his attention to the potbelly stove. So far, his tasks remained simple. Deliver papers on his route, bring food to the other staff, and run miscellaneous errands. It wasn’t a place Chogan wanted to stay at forever, but he figured as he gained knowledge, he might go on to advance. He had no desire to be a journalist, but running the printing press might be something he could enjoy. For now, he’d bide his time and do his best. One did not become an expert hunter right away. It took time.

  Their supervisor came up to them, so they looked up.

  “Noah, take the mail down to the post office. Chogan, get some coffee,” the lean, middle-aged man said. “Time to get the day started.”

  Chogan stood to his feet, reluctant to leave the warmth of the building but determined to prove Larry Bleier didn’t make a mistake when he hired him. He had no idea how difficult it would be to find employment when Anthony Perkins took him around town. Chogan suspected that if Anthony hadn’t been with him, Larry wouldn’t have agreed to give him a chance.

  Chogan didn’t like or dislike Larry. The man wasn’t condescending in his instructions, but there was that note of authority in his voice that left no room for argument. In some ways, Chogan respected that about his supervisor. Perhaps the man was fair. If that was the case, then he might not judge too much on skin color.

  Noah rubbed his hands together as he got to his feet. “Another day begins.” He smiled and whistled as he headed for the mail room.

  Chogan went about his task and then headed out for breakfast items the other employees wanted. Even if the setup was different, it did occur to him that he was out gathering food as he’d done at the tribe. Only, instead of going out into the great expanse of the prairie, he made a trip to the bakery.

  Once he came out of the bakery with a box of donuts, he headed down the street back to the Tribune when he recognized Ernest who laughed at something his male companion said. The only reason Chogan knew it was Ernest was because he’d seen him with Julia that day in her house, not too long ago. Julia hadn’t told him much about Ernest, except that Ernest had once proposed to her but she hadn’t loved him enough to say yes.

  When their paths crossed, Ernest paused from the conversation he was having with the other man and asked, “Have I seen you before?”

  Chogan was surprised he recognized him at all without his traditional clothing and long hair. “We meet. Briefly.”

  Ernest studied him, as if trying to place exactly where and when this took place, and Chogan wasn’t eager to remind him so he kept quiet. Finally, Ernest shrugged and said, “All you people look alike to me, though if I’d seen y
ou dressed as you are now, I would’ve remembered. You’re somewhat out of place, aren’t you?”

  “No more out of place than any other Indian,” he replied, resisting the urge to look down at Ernest who was three inches shorter than him. He didn’t care much for the smirk on Ernest’s face. It reminded him too much of that day when he staked his claim with Julia. Reminding himself that he won her in the end, Chogan relented on his annoyance. “I return to work.”

  “And where would that be?”

  “Why do you ask?”

  “Mild curiosity.” Ernest glanced at his friend and smiled a message that only his friend would understand before he turned back to Chogan. “A pleasantry. That’s all.”

  “Oh. Then I ask where you work.”

  The friend laughed. “Quick-witted. I like it.”

  Ernest gave a slight scowl but hid it with another smile. “Fine. I’m the vice president of a bank. Now, what do you do?”

  “I deliver papers,” Chogan replied.

  “Ahh, I see.” He nodded to the box of donuts. “I also see your job extends beyond delivering newspapers.”

  By the way Ernest said it, Chogan knew the man was putting him down.

  Ernest’s friend leaned close to Ernest and softly said, “To be fair, who else would hire him?”

  Had Chogan not been able to read his lips, he wouldn’t have known what the man said, and he suspected no ill will from Ernest’s companion, so he turned his attention back to Ernest who looked amused.

  “Well then,” Ernest began and motioned to the box, “I’m sure you’ll do a fine job. You should probably hurry along. You shouldn’t let a good donut go to waste.” He tipped his hat in a way that indicted a mock politeness and continued on down the sidewalk with his friend.

  Chogan gritted his teeth and went down the other way on the sidewalk. Whatever was Julia thinking when she let Ernest court her? The poor woman probably had no other prospects in the small town she’d been in. Even then, she had the good sense to say no when he asked her to go to Fargo with him.