The Visitor - The Final Ride 1875-1928

by Barbara Svetlick

  “Thank you for your hospitality.”

  Yukpa told her that she would sleep with her daughter and her family across the compound while Jonathan would sleep with his brothers. Yukpa took her to the tent where her daughter was sitting in front of the tent working on a basket. Maggie asked what she was to do with her horse and Yukpa told her that Jonathan would take care of her horse and bring her things to her.

  The first week brought great curiosity from the younger members of the Village while the older members kept their distance but were always watching her. Jonathan spent most of his time away from the Village while she learned the daily life of the women of the Village. The work was no different than the days at home with her mother except this family was so much larger. She learned how to prepare skins for use as clothing, how to make waterproof bags and the meaning of their beading patterns.

  Maggie found most of their customs to be easy to understand except she didn’t particularly find being submissive easy to swallow. She watched closely as Jonathan seemed to be at ease with the ways of the Village where at home he was always dotting on his sisters and teaching them to be independent and strong. Maggie didn’t particularly like the fact that she had to follow protocol to speak to her own brother. She helped at meals to not only cook but serve the men while the women waited to eat. Maggie found it interesting that the women found the submissiveness to be completely normal.

  Jonathan was aware of her growing unhappiness with being treated like she was irrelevant but he hoped that she would gain a better understanding of the ways of the people. Dog Moon frequently watched her for her expressions were very guarded much like her mothers. The evening meal had been prepared and served when he rose. Everyone stopped and watched. Dog Moon gave instructions to the brave sitting next to him who immediately left the circle. He returned a few minutes later with two horses and waited. Dog Moon walked over to Maggie and took the serving platter away from her. She looked from Dog Moon to her brother afraid that she had somehow insulted him and that would cast a bad light on Jonathan.

  Jonathan watched as she mounted her horse and followed Dog Moon out of the camp. They rode along the path and crossed over the river until they reached an outcrop of rocks over a deep valley. He dismounted and waited as she slid off her horse. Dog Moon gathered wood and built a fire in what appeared to be an old fire ring. He sat down and motion for her to sit with him. She felt like a small child waiting for punishment wondering what she had done to upset this man.

  He added sage to the fire turning the smoke white. Dog Moon closed his eyes and put his hands out as he brought the smoke over his body. Mirisa was standing in the kitchen when she felt his presence and it scared her. She walked out to the porch and down to the edge of the river as she listened. Maggie was so much her father in her rigid defiance of what she considered injustice based on nothing more than the sex of one’s birth. It did not surprise Mirisa that Jonathan would have the ability to live a life that filled him with purpose but his hope that Maggie would choose to live this life was a gamble Mirisa was surprised Jonathan would take.

  “Maggie?” She looked at Dog Moon. “It does not surprise those of us who know you well that you are struggling with the ways of our life. Your patience has been admirable considering the strength of your mother’s teachings but you are too young to know that strength does not come from the teachings of another but from learning on your own. Acceptance is something that comes from your heart.”

  “I do not believe that one must experience something unpleasant to know that they do not think it is acceptable. I have found that my upbringing by a very strong mother is enough to direct my beliefs. If she has learned that lesson and she has taken the time to teach it to me, I can hardly understand why I must put myself in a position to experience it myself. That seems very unwise.” Mirisa smiled at her reasoning as Dog Moon considered her words. “Have I brought shame upon myself and my brother?”

  “You have not. I brought you here because there is someone you need to meet.” Dog Moon threw the red powder into the fire as the red smoke rose until the moon was no longer visible. Maggie looked across the fire as everything seemed to fade into the background and Conrad stood in front of her. It startled her so much that she slid back away from the fire. He looked so much like Jonathan and Matthew that it scared her for she didn’t know if he was real or some sort of magic.

  Conrad walked around the fire until he was standing over Maggie. He put out his hand as she looked around trying to find a way to get off the rock. “Maggie.” His tone was so firm and demanding that she finally put her hand in his and stood. Conrad thought she looked like Mirisa did the first time they met. He brought her closer as he felt her tremble. “It is rare that someone from outside the people is allowed to be part of their life. Their ways and rituals have always been sacred and guarded from those who do not share their ancestry. I believe these ways may seem unbalanced to you but the balance is based on things that you don’t yet understand.”

  “Who are you?”

  “It is a long story…”

  “I obviously have all night.”

  “You do have your mother’s wry sense of humor.” Conrad placed his hand over her eyes as her body went limp. Maggie struggled in the fog as the sound of fighting rang in her ears with cries of pain and death. She crouched attempting to determine the danger. The cries rose and the smell of gun smoke started to fill the fog. Maggie moved slowly forward as she began to see shapes and colors moving in the fog but the pain was screaming in her ears. She covered them and stood watching as the shapes became women and children running from the horses. Maggie tried to cry out but her voice was lost in the sound of the gun discharging next to her. She fell as the large black horse seemed to jump over her while a woman in the background wailed over her dead children. The grief in her cries tore at Maggie as she cried out in the enormous pain that rushed through her blood.

  Maggie pushed herself up and held on to the tree as the smoke stung her eyes. She looked down and was dressed in a torn deerskin dress that was stained with blood. Maggie staggered around the tree and crawled over to the body. He was lying on his stomach and a large stain was spreading across his back. She rolled him over and laid his head on her lap as she prayed while rocking back and forth. He was so handsome and so strong. She listened to the death of her people and she bent down and kissed Conrad, took his pistol out of his hand and emptied it into the mounted soldiers. She reloaded the gun and reloaded it again until there were no more ammunition and no more soldiers.

  Maggie’s body jolted as she opened her eyes. She was lying on the rock with clear skies above her head. She felt like she had been beaten as every muscle began to ache. Maggie sat up as Conrad watched her.

  “It is the women who are the strength of the family and the heart of the people. It may appear that she is not loved or respected. Not everyone is brave and it takes a lot of discipline and work to become brave when you are not. Men strive to be cunning and swift so that they are victorious and their people are protected. Their whole life is being prepared, being smart and never losing sight of the greatness of the women they serve for she is the breath of their future. My wife was my equal, she rode with me and she killed when necessary but she was also the reason I lived. She was my entire world and I would have died a thousand times to save her.”

  Mirisa knew she couldn’t connect with her daughter and couldn’t comfort her as she sat confused and vulnerable. Maggie’s eyes were her fathers and Conrad watched as she struggled with the memory that made no sense to her while she tried to shake off the fear and sorrow that were wrapped around her.

  Conrad stood up and looked out into the lush valley while the call of the owls seemed to hold the night firmly. Conrad knew that they would guide her to understand.

  Jonathan spoke her name softly as she looked up and he was squatting next to her and Conrad was gone as was Dog Moon. Jonathan sat down next to her and pulled her back as they talked about the stars. “The Ow
l sits in the western sky following the summer and shall guide you to listen with your heart and your mind.” He opened a pouch and handed her stewed meat and corn meal wrapped in a husk. She ate it slowly as he talked about his dreams.

  Maggie fell asleep as soon as she laid down but the dreams were so vivid that she whimpered in her sleep. The summer seemed to slip by so fast. Maggie spent many hours listening to the women talk as they would be working. She slowly grew to love and respect these women as much as her mother.

  Mirisa dismounted in front of the new house and tied up her horse. She climbed the porch and ran her hand along the railing as she thought about all the homes and all the places. Garnett and Charisse had returned to Washington with Matthew and Dominic. It had been such a great summer and even though she never thought Garnett would ever settle down he seemed at peace. Of course, the fact that Charisse had developed a wild side probably created the perfect relationship. They both laughed when Meeks drew the jury box incident hanging it in the library. Jonathan and Maggie returned before everyone headed east so they celebrated their birthday early.

  She opened the door and stepped inside. There were several men working on the details but it was really a simple house that was spread out. Mirisa talked to the workmen and made some changes before she headed into the library. It was a very bright room with bookshelves only half way up the walls with large windows. There were many paintings lying against the wall waiting to be hung. It was set on ten acres that had been fenced in with wood fencing setting it off from the land around it. Meeks walked across the road and found Mirisa standing on the back porch looking out over the pastures.

  “I used to sit up on Buffalo Hill with Dominic’s glasses and watch them build the Adobe but every day before I headed back to the tents I would go down and walk around feeling the walls. It was like watching a cocoon slowly envelope all the fear and pain.”

  Meeks kissed her neck. “I didn’t know that. We always assumed you spent your days reading or lying around like women do until the day you rode up.”

  Mirisa laughed and turned to him. “You always knew everything I did, you just didn’t acknowledge it.”

  The girls returned to school while Maggie decided to spend part of her week helping to teach and part of it helping her mother around the house. With winter setting in, there was so much to do but it was nice to have the small town just down the road.

  1887

  The wind settled down and the night was slowly waking to the sounds of the night owls and coyote. Maggie stood at the top of the plain looking out across the land. They had delivered over one hundred head of wild horses across the border earlier in the week and decided to take some time off to just enjoy the land before the cold air set in. He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her putting his chin on her head. Maggie reached up and wrapped her hands around his wrists. She loved to run her fingers over the little beads in the bands he wore. She turned looking up into his golden brown eyes. He was fierce and handsome but always so gentle when he held her.

  “Tomorrow shall come soon enough; tonight I want to drink in your beauty.”

  Maggie ran her hand over the amulet he wore and up his chest which was so smooth and bare but taunt like the deer skin pulled across the drum. Maggie had been his since the first night that they met which had been almost by chance and if she thought about it maybe destiny.

  Maggie and Jonathan had been descending from the east slope above Denver when her horse had been spooked throwing her. Jonathan had decided that her leg wasn’t broken but badly twisted so they needed to just camp for a few days to give it time to rest. As small as she was in stature, Jonathan was tall and muscular.

  After the summer in the mountains, Jonathan talked Maggie into running with him daily. He was so much faster than she was but her determination drove her. The first few weeks she didn’t have the stamina but slowly as he patiently paced himself she gained the strength necessary to run along side of him. After that he taught her to run through the woods before they slowly graduated to the foothills and mountains. She never questioned why he ran and in fact she never questioned much of what he did because it really didn’t matter as long as they were together. Jonathan told her that agility would help her overcome her short legs.

  At first her emotions were overwhelming at missing her family but Jonathan never gave any sign of emotions. They would sit by the campfire at night and Jonathan would tell her stories of another life but she didn’t know how he knew them or why but she learned that they were lessons on how to survive in the wilderness.

  Jonathan wore his hair long and braided but other than that showed no obvious sign of his Indian heritage. She on the other hand looked identical to her father, curly light brown hair and green eyes. There were no similarities between them that would make one think they were related except the way they smiled. Maggie missed her father every day and would often think about returning home just to see him.

  Maggie was lying in front of the campfire as Jonathan put the fish on the spit over the fire. They ate mostly off of the land unless they were near a town then they would spend a few nights in a hotel. Maggie like Mirisa loved biscuits and Jonathan just loved to eat. Jonathan suddenly stopped talking and Maggie listened knowing he had heard something. He signaled to her and stood moving back out of the circle of light before disappearing. Her injury to her ankle made them more vulnerable.

  She sat with her finger around the trigger of her gun which was under the blanket next to her. Within seconds of hearing the sound, she rolled pulling the gun and pointing it at the man standing just at the edge of the opening. She didn’t know why she didn’t immediately fire but she didn’t. He stepped into the light as Jonathan came up behind him putting his knife across his neck. He said something in another language and Jonathan dropped his arm and put his knife in his belt responding in the same language.

  Maggie knew enough to understand the conversation. His name was Chi Ley which meant the Energy of the Earth and he was from the Creek Nation.

  Jonathan invited him to share their campfire and Chi squatted down next to the fire as Jonathan took the fish off the spit and handed a piece to Maggie before handing the fish to Chi. He nodded, took a piece and handed it back. Chi was wearing buckskins with a buckskin vest covered with beads and bones. He had on sandals that laced up his legs, wore a large knife around his waist and carried a rifle.

  “Is this your woman?” He motioned toward Maggie who had not taken her eyes off of him.

  Jonathan sat down and looked across the fire at her. Conrad was standing behind her and just nodded to Jonathan who moved his eyes back to hers. Chi acknowledged Conrad silently knowing that he was not of their world.

  Jonathan began the story in his language of their mother from the moment the coyote drug her from the river. He told it so perfectly and with such great detail that one would have thought he was with her the entire time. The children had been told some of the stories but Maggie found this story so fascinating and fell in love with her mother from an entirely different viewpoint. Conrad watched her surprised that she would find nothing wrong with anything she had heard. Jonathan went on to tell her about the night she was conceived and why her father pursued their mother.

  Maggie put her head on her knees and the tears rolled down her cheeks. Conrad smiled because he had begun to think that she was losing that part of her mother that he loved so much.

  “She is your sister?”

  Jonathan turned to Chi. “Yes, we were born on the same morning but of different fathers.” Chi nodded knowing that this was not possible unless the great mother had willed it so.

  “Do you not comfort her when she is bringing the rain upon the night?”

  “It has been a long time since she has shown her pain. I think maybe it is time to go home so that she can bring harmony back into her soul and I think only our mother has the ability to do that. There is only so much a brother can do to comfort a lonely heart.”

  Chi got up
and walked over to her. He lifted her chin looking into her eyes. She was such a beautiful woman and yet so simple. He put his hand on her face and ran his thumb across her eye lash. He took his thumb and ran it across his heart. Jonathan watched him knowing what he was doing and knowing she didn’t understand at all. Chi put out his hand and straightened her leg examining it as she bit her bottom lip to keep from crying at the pain. Chi told her that it would be better in a few days and she should sleep. She thought he was being awfully presumptuous for someone she didn’t know but Jonathan didn’t seem at all taken back by his even touching her.

  Chi was older, was high up in the Creek Nation but had recently lost his wife and child to the sickness. In an attempt to deal with the loss, he had gone on his journey from which he was now returning when he found them. Chi told of the changes with the government stealing everything and forcing them onto reservations and how many of them had instead traveled into the mountains to live.

  They traveled with him to his home and stayed for two moons before heading home for the holidays. There had been no physical contact between Maggie and Chi since he was still mourning. Maggie’s appearance in their camp bothered many of the tribe at first but after a week they accepted her as a guest of her brother.

  As Maggie and Jonathan mounted their horses to head out of camp, Chi pressed something into her hand and closed it before anyone saw him. Maggie slid it into her pocket and turned her horse following her brother as they descended the mountains into the flat plains east of the Rockies. They rode hard and long neither of them wanting to waste time with the beckoning of snow coming down the mountains.

  Maggie left the object in her pocket feeling it there but not ready to bring in out. They made it to the lodge before Thanksgiving and decided to stay until it was safe to travel again. Mirisa found Maggie sitting in the music room watching the snow.