Black Angels

by Linda Beatrice Brown

  “I need to start at the beginning. A long time ago in the old time, it was a cold, cold day. Mother Bear Yona was fishin for dinner. She had to eat a whole lot so she could nurse her babies when they come. She had to eat most everything in sight, and get ready for the cold time. She needed berries and fish. She fished all day and she’d sleep at night.

  “Finally she get fat enough. One real cold day, Yona saw a snowflake drop, and then another and then another. Soon the whole world be white, and the snow be thick and deep. Yona knew it was time to go to the dream lodge and sleep for the winter. Under the great mountain, she found a cave just right, and deep inside was a place for her to have her babies and take care of them until spring.

  “So the babies come, and Yona nurses the babies, and then one day after a long, long winter in the cave they are ready to go outside. When she gets to the opening of the cave, she is very surprised, for there all by himself is a little boy standin in the shadows. He is scared when he sees Yona, and she asks him to stop cryin. She say, ‘Why you cryin, little boy?’

  “‘Because I am afraid of you, and because my steppapa left me here to starve,’ he said. Now this is very strange to Yona. She would never leave her baby bears to starve.

  “‘Why he leave you?’ she say.

  “‘Because I have seven sisters and brothers and my papa can’t feed us all.’

  “Yona saw the little boy was startin to cry again. ‘Do not worry,’ she say. ‘I gonna be your mother. You have a name?’ Because he did not answer her, she said, ‘I will call you Nokosi.’

  “All spring Nokosi slept in the cave with his bear mother Yona and his little bear brothers and sister. He thought of them as his own family. They played together and ate lots of fish and berries. Sometimes they had honey when Yona found a nest of bees.

  “A whole year went by and Nokosi made friends with all the animals, the wolf, the eagle, the squirrel and the deer. Yona made blueberry cakes for Nokosi and his sister and his two brothers. He was very happy and he loved his bear family.

  “But sometimes bad things happen in life, and one day something bad happened in the woods. This one day, Nokosi heard a sound in the woods he had never heard before. Suddenly, he heard his mother bear crashing through the trees.

  “‘I heard a gun!’ she cried. ‘Run! Run as fast as you can to our cave! They are hunters! Go! Go fast, and do not stop!’

  “Nokosi and his bear family ran as fast as they could to the cave opening. Mother Bear was the last one to enter the cave. She heard the men coming closer and closer, for they wore boots, not moccasins, and they did not know how to run fast and be silent. There were many bear hunters, and Yona knew they could not run fast enough to escape.

  “Sometimes there is no way for things to be happy, but the Great Spirit will tell you what is best for you to do if you listen.

  “Yona knew how she could save her children, so she whispered to them in the cave, ‘I will go out to the men and make a big noise. When I do this, you must run out of the cave and hide. They will not see you, for they will be busy with me.’

  “Just as Yona thought, the men did not see her children, because they were too busy shooting at her and trying to kill her with their guns.

  “As his mother fell dead, Nokosi stepped out of the trees with the smallest bear, his little bear sister. Her name was Echo.

  “‘Please do not kill my little sister Echo,’ he said. ‘You have killed our mother, but we can do nothing to harm you.’

  “The men were so amazed to see a human boy that they spared him and his bear sister Echo. Then Nokosi cried over Yona’s body and he thanked her spirit for saving him and her other children. He promised he would never kill a mother bear when he grew up, for she had saved him from starving, and she had saved his life. And so he never did.

  “The hunters remembered how brave the mother bear Yona was, and they sang praises to her forever. Until the end of their time, the whole village never killed another mother bear.”

  Luke, Daylily and Caswell were very quiet. They all knew what it was like to lose your mother.

  Daylily broke the silence. “But Betty, who looked after Nokosi until he was growed?” she asked.

  “Well, his mean stepfather was punished for leavin Nokosi to starve. His mama was long dead, and his older sister looked after him until he was finished growin up. So you see, if you trust Great Spirit, He will always make sure you have somebody carin for you and you ain’t never alone. His angels are with you all the time. You might not can see them, but they with you all the time. But you gotta do your job too. You gotta be carin for your brothers and sisters and your animal brothers and sisters, just like Nokosi.”

  The fire burned slow, and it was close to bedtime.

  “You carin for us, Betty,” said Daylily, “but who’s carin for you?”

  “Betty Strong Foot carin for Betty Strong Foot along with a whole passel of angels and spirit animals.”

  Caswell’s eyes opened wide when she said “animals.” “Can you tell us about the animals, Betty?”

  “Another time I will. Time now for sleepin.” She stood up. “Still rainin,” she said, and they knew she was not in the dream lodge any more. Suddenly she wrinkled her forehead. Daylily noticed the change on her face.

  “What’s the matter, Betty?”

  “Nothin, thought I heard something. Just the wind and rain, I reckon. C’mon, you young’uns, y’all need to get to bed.” As they all got bedded down, the rain kept up even louder on the tin roof, and they all fell asleep to the dance and drumbeat of the rain.

  CHAPTER 17

  MYSTERIES

  Morning brought sunshine and an end to the rain, but it brought a shadow into their lives. Yaller Feet and Pretty Boy, the dogs, had disappeared into the rainy night. Betty went out to take them some fresh water, when she realized how quiet it was. She went to the lean-to shelter where the dogs slept, and there was no sign of them. Since the children had been with her, she had put the dogs out into the little lean-to her papa’s dog used to stay in. She had never used it for dogs, only for storage. So she cleaned it out and let the dogs sleep there out of the rain, that is until this morning when they weren’t there.

  Luke was just stirring when she went back into the cabin. He was sitting up, rubbing his eyes. Betty looked at him. “Don’t wake the others yet,” she said. “I got something to tell you. Come over here and sit at the table.”

  Luke rubbed his eyes. He could tell something was wrong.

  “You know, Luke, in wartimes folks do crazy things.”

  Luke looked at Betty, wishing she’d just tell him whatever it was.

  “Well, the dogs gone from the lean-to, and I afraid they been stolen.”

  “But Miz Betty, you think maybe they just run away?” Luke got up and pulled on his jacket that Betty had made him. It was a chilly morning. They were both whispering so as not to wake the others.

  “No, Luke, I heard something last night. And remember, I tied them up. I could kick myself!” she hissed. “I should have checked,” she said, putting another log on the fire.

  “But they was our good hunting dogs,” said Luke, “and good friends too!”

  Betty didn’t have the heart to answer him. As she put the kettle on the fire, she said, “Wake the young ones. They have to know.”

  Luke shook Daylily’s shoulder gently. ‘Wake up,” he said. “We got something to tell you and Caswell. The dogs gone. Maybe stolen.”

  “What you mean stolen?” she cried. “Who stole them?”

  “How do we know?” Luke retorted.

  This woke Caswell up. “What’s wrong, Luke?” he said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

  “The dogs,” explained Luke. “Some thief took our dogs!”

  Caswell was alarmed. “We gotta go find them then!”

  “They stole!” Luke and Daylily said together.

  Caswell began to cry and then Daylily’s eyes filled up with tears. Betty put her arms around both of them.
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br />   “Now stop your cryin,” she said. “We got food and each other. That’s a heap more’n most folks got durin wartimes.” Then she got busy trying to get their breakfast together. “Who knows,” she said, slamming down a pot for their morning mush. “Maybe they find their way home. Time for breakfast now. Day’s a-wastin.”

  Luke counted five days that Betty did not go out at night. He knew because he always woke up when she left. The sixth night she went out and returned just before dawn. Luke heard a whinny just before the door opened. Betty don’t have no horse, he thought.

  Before he could get scared, she brought in two boxes one at a time, struggling. They must weigh a lot, Luke thought. He had to lie very still to keep her from knowing she was being watched. He could have sworn he heard wagon wheels moving. There was almost no room now in the cabin with the four of them sleeping there, so it wasn’t hard for him to see even in the shadows of first light where she stacked the boxes and covered them with a quilt. Luke decided then and there that he’d get into those boxes the next time she went out at night.

  He didn’t get a chance for another two days. Betty woke him up, stirring around the cabin. He knew it was far into the night. The fire was low. He lay very still and thought maybe she was going outside to pee. Daylily turned over, sound asleep. She was right next to him on their pallet. Betty hesitated as if she was afraid she’d made too much noise. Luke didn’t dare move. He opened his eyes just a crack. Over the little lump that Daylily made, he could see Betty in the orange glow, and his breathing almost stopped. She was dressed in a uniform, a rebel uniform, with pants and boots, and she was carrying a rifle! As he watched her, she wound her hair around her head and pulled a large hat down around her face. Then she blew out the lamp, tiptoed out silently and pulled the door shut behind her.

  Luke didn’t take a deep breath until he thought she had to be far away. He was listening so hard, he could hear the leaves rustling in the breeze. He heard the logs shifting and sputtering in the fireplace, and then he eased himself up, trying not to wake Caswell and Daylily.

  He would need some light. The oil lamp was on the table. He turned the wick low and lit it with a piece of twig from the pile that he had to stick into the fire. The boxes were in the dark corner opposite the fireplace and next to the big loom. Luke pulled off the heavy quilt. He kneeled down in order to see better. When he realized he’d never get them open, his heart sank. He needed a crowbar.

  Then he looked again, and saw she’d opened one of them herself. A wooden slat had been pried loose. Luke pulled the loose piece of wood as far back as he could, and stuck his hand inside the box. First he felt sawdust. And then he felt the unmistakable barrel of a rifle. The long cold steel, the trigger, he knew too well what it was. Luke stayed on his knees.

  Oh, Lordy, now that he knew what was in the boxes, what did it all mean? The rifles, the rebel uniform, her sneaking out in the middle of the night? These boxes didn’t say “U.S.,” they said something else, a longer word. He couldn’t begin to guess what that meant.

  A bird called out in the night. Something rustled in the leaves near the side of the house. He blew the lantern out quickly and threw the quilt over the boxes and got very still. Nothing happened. It must have been some kind of animal, he thought. Luke hurried across the dark room and slid into his spot without disturbing his friends, confused and unhappy about what he had seen, but not a minute too soon. As soon as he pulled up the covers, Betty opened the door. For a long time he was afraid to move. He tried breathing like he was asleep. He had that feeling that scared him. A feeling they would have to leave Betty soon. In a few minutes he was asleep.

  CHAPTER 18

  SECRETS

  We have to know what them bags and boxes say!” Luke whispered to Daylily. They were outside, gathering wood for Betty’s fire. It had been two more days before he had a chance to tell her what he had seen, and they were both scared.

  Daylily especially looked distracted. “I don’t want to know,” she said, thinking of all the warm meals and the safety of Betty’s house. “She ain’t bad, you know. She just strange. She treat us real good. Real good. Let’s just stay, Luke. Where we gon go anyway? We don’t even know where we is! We get out there and get killed by some of them soldiers for sho!”

  Luke shook his head. “You a stubborn gal. You know what? It can’t be OK to be sneakin around dressed like a man and havin boxes of rifles in the cabin. It ain’t right! What she need with all them guns? Maybe one or two, but all them boxes? And a woman supposed to wear skirts! And we gon be in trouble sho nuff if we stays here much longer. Somebody gon come lookin for her and find us. She stealin, that’s what I think. You know what they do to niggers what steal! And we gon be hauled up fore the White man and be strung up for stealin!” A breeze ruffled leaves over their heads.

  Daylily looked up at the sky. “Luke, the trees have started losing their leaves. We can’t go now. How about if we leave in the spring? What we gon do? Caswell get cold in the woods, and maybe sick like I did? He too little.”

  She shivered even though Betty had given her a heavy shirt to wear. All three of them were dressed in the gray and blue clothes she made out of old uniforms that Betty said someone gave her.

  Caswell was about twenty feet away, making popping noises with a stick rifle, playing soldier. His hair had grown a lot. He ran in and out of the cabin every few minutes, said something to Betty about his game and ran back out again. Betty had tied his hair back Indian-style. She had laughed and laughed at Luke, whose black, curly hair was wild and uncontrollable, and standing all over his head now. But it was clean, at least. She made them wash themselves regularly.

  “Did you see her this morning?” said Luke, looking back to make sure Betty was still in the house. “She was all scratched up. Look like she’d been in a scrap, and she don’t look good, like she been hurtin. Somethin happened, I tell you, and she almost got caught stealin. That’s what I believe, and I say we should light out.”

  “Shh,” Daylily whispered. “She comin out the door. I got somethin to tell you. I’ll tell it later.”

  They didn’t have another chance to talk until late that night while Betty was gone. They were both restless and waiting for her to change clothes and leave. Only she didn’t dress up. She just left in her own clothes with a basket on her arm. It was close to dawn when she silently opened the door and left.

  The basket had a loaf of light bread, or something in it that was soft. Daylily was sure of that. She had peeked with one eye and saw her covering it with a napkin.

  Luke wanted to look at the rifles again. He was rarin to show Daylily what he’d found.

  When they leaned over the boxes in the corner, Daylily told him, “I got to tell you somethin, Luke.”

  “What? Hurry up! She might come back. Lemme show you what I found!”

  “No, wait! I gotta tell you,” she whispered. “I knows what these words are. I can read. I reckon it’s safe to tell you now.”

  “What? This ain’t no time to be funnin me, gal. You can’t read. You tellin a big ole lie. This here’s important, and we got to figure out what to do.”

  “Naw, I ain’t, Luke. I ain’t funnin you. Look-a here. This say ‘U.S.’ and this say ‘Union Pro-vi-si-on.’” Luke’s mouth stood open while he realized what this could mean.

  “How you get learnin?” he asked her.

  “Granny. She knowed how, and she learnt me,” she explained, a sly smile on her round face.

  “What’s that pro-vi-si-on?” Luke asked. Daylily shrugged. “And look-a here,” he said, his whisper careless and loud. “What’s this mean? This long one?”

  “Con-fed-er . . .”

  “—ate!” Luke finished the word he had heard so many times. “The rebs! She stole them from the rebs!”

  Too late to move a muscle, they were both aware of someone standing right behind them. They heard Betty’s low and very calm voice, speaking a language they didn’t understand. And then she said, “Betty Strong
Foot is not a thief. But you, you steal something from me cause you put your nose where it does not belong. Would you like to know what happens to the noses of thieves?”

  CHAPTER 19

  CAUGHT

  Daylily and Luke were too scared to answer as she grabbed both their noses and dragged them into the middle of the floor. They each gasped for breath. “Betty Strong Foot works for food. She has never been a thief!” She shook them by the nose and let them go so suddenly, they lost their balance and fell down. “You want to know what I do? I am a spy! I am spy for the stupid men who killed my man. I carry secrets for the Union, and I carry secrets for the rebels because I hate them both, because they kill and they are too stupid to catch me! And now you know what you should not know. Now you must stay with Betty. If you get caught, you get scared, and you tell. You stay till the war is over. I am not happy, you know. Now, get the little one up. You go and wash. Bah! It’s over. Get up, time we all eat. It’s morning now.”

  It was a long day. Luke and Daylily were now afraid to make Betty mad, and they could only make signs to each other when she was in the cabin. Daylily spent all day rubbing her sore nose, and wondering what secrets Betty carried, and what pro-vi-si-ons meant. A couple of times Luke tried to think how he could say he was sorry. Only Caswell seemed to be content.

  Luke knew a little about what spies did. There had been talk on Massa Higsaw’s place about spies. He knew they were shot or strung up if they got caught, that he was sure of.

  What did she mean, she hated them both? Luke asked himself. The South and the North? How could she say that? Everybody was on either one side or the other. The South hated the North, even though they were both White. The North hated the South because the rebs was against President Lincoln. And the rebs hated colored folks worse’n anybody at all, and didn’t want colored to be free.

  Was Betty Strong Foot for colored or White? Luke wanted to ask her but he didn’t dare. She said she was free. She said her Daddy was colored, and she had White folks hair, but that didn’t mean nothin cause so did Pecola back home, and she sure was one of Massa Higsaw’s niggers same as he was. She said her mama was Indian. Betty’s skin was as dark as his almost.