by Danny Jewell
The fire was bright against the evening sky and Zeke had forgotten who he was for a time and felt happy to be among these people.
A dance of celebration and chanting began around the fire.
Zeke’s heritage was flowing deep in his veins and he joyfully danced with the warriors in celebration and thankfulness of life.
Elk Horn came face to face with Zeke and in a swift move he pulled Billy’s knife from Zeke’s belt, grabbed Zeke’s right hand, cut his palm then did the same to himself and clasped hands with him in a fierce grip. He boldly announced “We will always be brothers and one day in the spring we will hunt in the land of the Apache”.
He took the knife, flipped it around while admiring the craftsmanship and motioned for Zeke to take it back. Zeke thought of the knife’s history; placed it back in Elk Horn’s hand and said “Always”.
Zeke sat back down and wondered just what else was in the bag. He reached back in and as many of the braves watched, pulled out a bottle of whiskey.
The Chief spoke “It is only one bottle and we shall all get a taste to celebrate the future of the Sioux Indians and thank our brother…………. What is your name young buck”?
Zeke thought for a moment and said “I am Black Buffalo and my squaw is Kicking Bird”.
He did not know that some of the Indians had witnessed the event at the shack and one announced “Sounds right to me” and there was laughter.
There was a shout and all turned to see Billy hobble up to the group amid yelps for defeating death only to watch his whiskey being passed from brave to brave and with each passing became less and less.
The bottle reached Zeke, he looked at Billy, raised the bottle in a toast, tilted it back to take the last swallow then toss the empty bottle into the fire.
Billy hobbled off in anger and heard an Indian say “You make squaw angry, she must think you drink too much” and there was a roar of laughter from the fire.
Billy ate his fill then because he was still weak laid down to get some rest.
Zeke came in a short time later and when he laid down exclaimed “What a day”.
He went on to tell Billy of the last two days, the hunt, the treaty and the soldiers.
Billy became alert “What was the date on the treaty and the name of the Chief”?
Zeke told him and Billy exclaimed “Oh God; go to sleep; we must leave early in the morning”.
Zeke thought “You are jealous again. I am having a good time and you don’t like it”.
Zeke woke up to find Billy gone.
The sun was just coming over the horizon and as Zeke came out of the Tee Pee he could see Billy sitting on a fallen tree.
He went over to him and asked “So why the big rush. For the first time since we came here we have felt welcomed. They even brought you back from the dead”.
Billy let out a sigh and said “On this date of December 29th of 1890, 297 Sioux Indians were murdered by Federal Agents and members of the 7th Calvary who had come to confiscate their firearms. Obviously they felt that not all the Indians gave them up. 200 of the 297 victims were women and children. Yes; even your “little princess”. Twenty members of the 7th Calvary were deemed “National Heroes” and awarded The Medal of Honor for their acts of heroism”.
Zeke was stunned and as he stood up he felt a tug on his pants. It was “little princess” with her hand out. Zeke’s eyes were wet when he reached into his pocket and gave the little girl a piece of candy.
Last thing he heard was her humming as she skipped away.
12
DIVIDED WE STAND
Zeke had to fight the desire to look back, knowing there was nothing to see, only the echoes from a massacre, long, long ago.
Billy rode further ahead asking himself why he was here and what it all meant.
The silence was deafening and Zeke wanted to break it so he rode up alongside of Billy, reached into his pocket and produced his last two pieces of candy. He handed them over to Billy and said “I saved them for you; you need them”.
Billy took them grudgingly and said “Thanks”.
Billy’s blunt reply was too much for Zeke and he said as much “Look; Injun; I did not ask to be here. Especially with a man that has killed another man”.
“Look; City Boy. You have no right judging me unless you have walked in my shoes and Cochise had no right telling you”.
“He didn’t tell me a thing, you told me while you were drunk out of your mind”. Said Zeke.
They stopped in the shade for a break from the sun and Billy announced “I was brought to this place just as you were and so far in this realm of my ancestors you have gotten to interact with them much more than me and I don’t like it. To dream of these times and not get to live them is making this life a continuance of my past one”.
Zeke said “Don’t blame me for neither”.
Billy walked over, mounted his pony and said “Maybe it is time we went our separate ways”.
Zeke had grown up hard and one thing that bothered him was self-pity. He looked at Billy in disgust and told him “Have you forgotten these people see you as a squaw and that Cochise said we should see this through, together”.
Wryly Billy said “No more than you have forgotten you are a black man playing Indian”.
Zeke said “So be it” and watched Billy ride off.
The night was closing in and Billy could make out the glow of a campfire in the distance.
Like the Indian he was, Billy felt the games he played as a child come to life.
He was thirsty and hungry. The fire was a signal to resolve both of those problems.
He crept up on the encampment to see five men sitting around a campfire.
Billy waited till they fell asleep and slowly he crept up to the place where the fire was to find some beans left in the pot.
He took the pan and made it back to the rocks. While he was eating he heard the click of a pistol and felt the barrel of a gun in the back of his head. “Well, look what we have here. A hungry Squaw”.
The man eased around the front of Billy and motioned with his pistol for Billy to get up and said as much.
Billy rose to his feet and while walking the short distance to the fire finished off the beans.
They stopped and his captor announced “Hey fellas; get up; look what we have here”!
The men stirred and looked to see what was going on and one of them said “What ya got there, Jack”?
“One fresh, young squaw” he said.
Someone else said “What you think we should do with her”?
Jack made a mistake he would not soon forget. He side-stepped Billy and when he did, slapped him on the butt “Maybe have a little fun”.
The word “fun” had barely escaped his lips when he caught the pot between his eyes.
Jack hit the ground like a Coal Sack and Billy started to run only to be grabbed by the ankle, brought to the ground and held there by two of the men.
One said “Hey Jim, she is mad. What do you think we should do with her”?
Jim Bagley was an honest man and was the foreman and leader of this bunch. They were on their way back from delivering a bunch of steers.
Jim said “Tie her up, keep an eye on her if you want to keep your scalps. We won’t hurt her. We will take her to Jake Sterwell at the Bar “C”. He may know what to do with her.
Billy was tied by his feet and his hands bound in front of him.
Jack came too and said “I’ll kill her”!
Jim sternly told him “Not on my watch, Jack”!
Billy looked at Jim and made the motion to drink and Jim opened a canteen, put it in Billy’s hands and said “Wonder what brings you out here all alone”.
One of his men said “Slick said from what he heard, the
army has killed and scattered Injun’s all over the west”.
Jim was still looking at Billy “I ain’t got no use for Bureaucrats, Lawyers or government officials that carry out orders against humanity. The same God that made them made us”.
Zeke waited, thinking that Billy would show up.
As the afternoon wore on Zeke felt more and more like he was out of his element.
He mounted his horse and said “Lead on”.
Further down the trail his horse wondered to the right and before long Zeke was looking at an old broken down buckboard. He rummaged through it, found some beans and little else he could use.
He had a hard time opening the can and when he finally did he ate half and gave the other half to his horse. “Wish you could tell me some good news”.
He was met with silence and after a while he climbed into the buckboard and fell into a deep sleep.
13
DRESSED TO KILL
Billy woke in foul mood. All he could think of, was “How am I getting out of this one and where is Cochise when you need him”?
It was early in the evening when they rode into Wichita and Jim took him Jake Sterwell’s office.
In the office Billy’s eyes adjusted to see a portly man dressed in a vested suit with a gold fob chain hanging from its rightful place.
Jim said “We found this one trying to steel our food on the trail. Jack took a cook pot off the side of his head before we could get this she-cat under control.
Jake Sterwell rose from behind his desk, pulled the chewed cigar from his lips and as he rounded the corner of his desk spoke as if he had just bought a prize stallion at the auction. “Well now; looks like we have a conundrum here. Let her go or find a good use for her”.
As the man walked around Billy he could smell the stale cigar and sweat from the man and it disgusted him.
“I have it! Two years back, the low life Walter Worthington set me up in New Orleans after a night of drinking and all I can remember is waking up with a hangover and everyone but me knowing what happened. He owns several wash houses in San Francisco. If she is the hell cat you claim her to be we will take her over to Megs place tonight and have the girls bathe her and then ship her out on the morning stage to Walter.
Billy did not like this man and as he looked him in the eyes said “Nchaa Gochi” which meant “large pig”.
“This ought to be a hoot! Nobody; I repeat; Nobody is to touch her”!
Billy walked across the boards that lead to the saloon. The sounds of boots echoing on the boardwalk echoed in his ears. He thought to himself “Anywhere but here” as he came to the window that read “MEG’S PLACE” and saw his reflection in the glass.
He saw what in the beginning was a proud and vibrant Apache Maiden looking back at him. She looked bedraggled and worn. The past several days had taken their toll.
Billy looked at her reach up and run her fingers down the side of her face as if she was giving in to defeat.
Jim tugged at his arm and said “Let’s go”.
They walked through the saloon doors to a packed house.
Everybody turned and Jim yelled; “Hey Meg, special delivery from Mr. Sterwell. He wants a couple of your girls to bathe her and get her ready for the morning stage”.
Billy felt everyone staring at him as the noise died down.
As they made their way past the tables Billy heard a familiar voice “Hey Missy, come back for more”.
Billy looked past Meg to see Snuffy with his knees spread apart and patting his lap as if to say “right here” and Billy moaned.
Snuffy announced “Hey fellers; this is the squaw I told y’all about and she has come back for more”!
Billy had been accused of a lot of things in his life but a “slow thinker” was not one of them.
As they came to the table with the old miner Billy slid sideways as if he was going to take the old man up on his request.
As he turned to settle in, He steadied himself with his left hand on the table while sweeping up the full mug of beer on the table then downing it all but a mouthful and coming to his feet; all in one motion.
Billy faced Snuffy, looked down at him then poured the remaining mouthful of beer on his head and dropped the empty mug on Snuffy’s lap.
The bar erupted in laughter.
Snuffy started to come out of his chair all the while stating “Why you Heathen Squaw, that was my last beer”!
Jim pushed him back into his seat and Meg said “You’re lucky, you old fool that she only lifted your beer instead of your hair; Oh wait, you don’t have any”
The crowd erupted once more and Meg yelled to the bartender ‘MACK, GIVE HIM A BEER; ON THE HOUSE”.
They proceeded up the stairs to a room and Meg had two of her girls, (Sandi and Misty) get busy making her bath water.
Meg looked at Jim and said “You need to leave” and he replied “Uh, uh, you ever seen a cat put into a tub, this should be fun to see”.
Meg grabbed the cow puncher by the shoulders and guided him to the door under protest.
Billy was sitting in a chair and she looked down at him and said; ”Look Honey; we can do this the hard way or the easy way; now take off those buckskins”.
She stood him up and with the help of Sandi and Misty peeled off Billy’s clothes.
He was embarrassed to say the least and when they guided him to the tub, he climbed in and settled into place to Meg’s astonishment.
Poor dear ain’t seen a bath “in a coon’s age” Okay girls; get her clean”!
Everything was going great until Meg picked up Billy’s clothes and started to make her way to a small trash can by the desk.
Billy thrashed to and fro and tried to come out of the tub to rescue the only pieces of what was left of the life he had lived before Cochise had dragged him into this nightmare.
He shouted (DAH) which meant “no” in Apache and Meg knew just what Billy was upset about. She put the clothes right back on the chair where she had picked them up from.
In the commotion Sandi had caught a face full of soapy water and Misty was pointing and laughing at her.
Billy took a handful of soapy water and splashed Misty in the face to make them even.
Both women took their hands, put them on top of Billy’s head and pushed him under.
14
STICK-EM UP
Billy slept better than he had in a long time and in the morning found himself to be wakened to the smell of eggs; steak, coffee and Buttermilk Biscuits.
Just as he finished Meg came through the door with a light blue dress and matching Blue Bonnet in her hands.
Billy was in a nightshirt and the sight of the dress with the realization of what it was for was something no dignified Apache Warrior would ever get caught in.
He threw himself into the corner trying to figure out and escape.
Jim Bagley came through the door “Meg, everything alright”!
She just motioned to Billy and said “She don’t like the clothes I picked out”.
Meg pointed at the dress and then at Jim. She then put her hands on her hips.
Billy knew what it meant; “Dress yourself or he will do it for you”.
Meg told Jim to wait in the hall and as he did Billy reluctantly put on the dress she had brought.
When he was done; Meg stood him in front of a mirror and said “Now that ain’t so bad, is it Honey”?
Billy looked at himself in the mirror and told himself how nice it would have been to have met such a beautiful Indian Maiden in his other life.
He shook his head and crossed his arms in a small act of defiance.
She handed Billy the clothes he had worn into town and he took them and held on to them as if they were a lifeline.
Jim and Meg h
ad no idea that Billy understood every word they were saying and what they said next left Billy without hope.
Meg said to Jim; “Poor dear has no idea where she is headed. Those wash houses are no more than work camps and brothels for those who can’t make it on their own”.
Jim said “I know it; it seems wrong for anyone to have to live that way”.
As they made their way to the Stage Depot they were greeted with whistles and shouts by many of whom were on their way to a ranch or going about their daily routine in the town and had seen Billy come into the saloon the night before.
Meg helped Billy onto the coach and handed him some food for the trip.
Billy saw the tears in the woman’s eyes and as she grabbed Billy’s hands he gave her as squeeze in return as if to say “Thank You”.
Zeke was exhausted despite the night of restful sleep.
Very little food, No water and No Billy. All he could do was to give his horse the lead and let him take him where he wanted to go.
It was his second day and he had visions of his kids, family and back home. He knew he was in trouble when the last few days played out like a bad collage in his mind.
He dismounted when he noticed his horse paused as if to say “no further”.
Zeke looked the animal in the face and said “You are part of this land and if we don’t get help soon we will both fade away like a bad memory”.
He was sitting on a rock when his horse peered over his shoulder and said “To survive you must think like an Indian and you must take what you need in order to survive. Even a young Indian would have noticed that this is a well-traveled road and someone soon will be coming through here. That tree over there has many branches that hang over the road, you climb out onto one and when someone comes along you jump down and take what you need to survive”.
Zeke said “I can’t do that; It might mean having to hurt someone or lose my life in the process”.
His horse flatly said “Okay; you sit here and fade out of existence, I don’t have a previous life go back to and am just fine going back and laying in the shade until I get called up to help someone else”.
