Kindred (3 page)

“Oh. So now you gwine talk’um wid him. Wuffuh not me?” Rozina objected, the swinging of the lamp in her rigid grasp testimony of her anger.

“Because ’Zina, my old girl.” Douglas chuckled. “You would not talk with the Reverend. Only maim him. Or worse.”

“Yaas. Uh wud.”

“’Zina, please place the lamp on the table. Its swaying is giving me motion sickness. Also, please get a pan of water, some lamb’s ear, soap and the yellow basilicum ointment.” Joshua was crying now. Kindred started to hug him but paused because her hands stung so much. “Kindred, hold out your hands so I can see them. “Good. Good.

Even better. One abraded knuckle. Kindred, you will refrain from heavy chores for a week.” He patted Joshua’s forearm. “Longer for you Joshua.”

Rozina returned with the items.

“’Zina, take Kindred outside to wash her hands completely and apply the ointment. I’ll tend to Joshua. Do not forget a musket, ladies!”

“Yaas. Come on girl.” Rozina took the weapon by the door.

Outside while waiting for her granny to fill the water bucket from the well, Kindred saw a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye. As she pointed toward the bushes with the musket, Lelaheo stumbled from the foliage.

“Lelaheo!” cried Kindred, placing the gun on the ground. The boy had suffered the worst of the reverend’s fury. Both hands had terribly lacerated knuckles.

“Kindred, Kindred,” he murmured, sinking to his knees. “Help.”

“Gramma, Gramma, look!” Kindred hurried to the boy and helped him up. “Lean on me. Lean on me. Do not use your hands.”

Kindred hauled Lelaheo over to Rozina.

“Po’ boy!” Rozina clucked her teeth. “Both of you put yo’ hands out. I’ll wash.”

Kindred stood behind a faltering Lelaheo. It was difficult, but she managed to slip her arms around his waist and propped her hands under his.

“You can wash us both this way, Gramma.”

Rozina gave her granddaughter the chunk of soap. As she slowly poured water from the wooden bucket, Kindred lathered up their hands.

“
Owww
!” Lelaheo yowled as Kindred worked the lather.

“I’m sorry. But we have to do this. Get all the dirt off.”

Lelaheo shifted and smiled at Kindred.

He leaned in and kissed her cheek.

“Oh, I am sorry. I do not understand.”

“Thank you very much.”

“Oh. It is no problem,” Kindred uttered, haltingly. “You are very, very welcome.”

She smiled and nodded, continued to clean their hands. Lelaheo winced, but didn’t mind it so much as he watched his new friend. Rozina sluiced away the blood-stained lather, the water drenching the soil at their feet.

Chapter Three

The week passed slowly and so did the healing. Dr. Twain schooled Kindred and Joshua at home. Dr. Twain paid several visits to the vicarage to tend to Lelaheo, or the newly christened Cassian Harkness, as he was now called by the Reverend. The boy almost received another beating when he objected to the cleric’s derision of the Haudenosaunee’s belief of how the world had been created. Contentious was the only way to describe Cassian’s relationship with the minister. On Douglas’ latest visit, he initiated conversation about it with the Reverend.

“Reverend, I hear you and Lelaheo are at odds.”

“His name is Cassian Harkness now,” the cleric corrected curtly, making his usual dismissive gesture with his hand. “I have given him a Christian name. Yes, he resists authority. Bible lessons everyday and he still clings to that absurd story of the Creation that his people believe in. That tale of Sky-world, Sky-woman and the most incredible

one, the creation of Earth upon a turtle’s back! He must learn humility.” He screwed his face up as if a bad smell wafted past him. “If he does not, how will he, or for that matter, Kindred and Joshua, function in civilized society if they cannot see logic and obey?” He

looked at the doctor, a hint of annoyance lingering in his eyes. “I have my work carved out for me. But my path is clear. God has chosen me to lead these … lost souls, and I shall.” The cleric stopped and inhaled a deep, self-satisfied breath.

Douglas’ eyebrows shot up in amazement and anger.

“Logic? Lost souls? ” remarked Doctor Twain. “I beg to differ. Lelaheo’s belief in how the world was created is no more absurd or logical than yours. As for your selection as their leader, God has not chosen you to lead these children anywhere.” His timbre was so ominous, he startled himself and cleared his throat slightly.

“Doctor Twain, your job is to heal, mine is to save and to set an example,” Reverend Harkness insisted shrilly, puffing out his chest at the insult.

The doctor chuckled low. He regarded the reverend with a sudden dislike. “I had forgotten why I have avoided following the tenets of any established religion. Thank you for reminding me. Save and lead, indeed! Where does the beating of those children fit into that mission?”

Harkness straightened his shoulders, pulling his carriage erect. “Doctor Twain, you are overstepping your bounds ....”

“No, Reverend, I am not. You have. In fact, I am taking that child home with me. Today.”

The doctor stomped past the cleric and walked into the hallway. He trod the narrow staircase leading to an attic room. He knocked and entered. Lelaheo was on his knees in a corner of the cramped, damp space. The boy looked around at his visitor.

“Doctor Twain!
Shekóli
! Hello!” strained the boy, his voice almost a cry.

“
Shekóli
, Leloheo! Boy, would you like to come live at Twainhaven?”

Joy danced in Lelaheo’s black eyes, but abated some when the scowling reverend loomed behind the doctor in the doorway. Doctor Twain sensed the man behind him. “Pay him no mind, boy. Do you want to come live with us? Yes or no?”

Lelaheo got to his feet, and strolled directly to his bundle of personal belongings on a chair by a tiny window. He hoisted the pack over his shoulder and ambled over to Douglas.

“Yes, Doctor, yes. I am ready.”

“Come, then … Lelaheo.” Douglas wrapped his arm around the boy’s shoulder and guided him out the door. “I have a nice, cheerful room waiting for you.”

“Doctor, Doctor, you cannot just come in here and take that boy.”

“I can and I have. You, Reverend, have one less to save and lead. Good day.”

Once outside, the doctor helped Lelaheo with his possessions and they climbed up onto his horse. As they trotted away, Lelaheo shifted in the saddle for a parting view of Harkness.

“You are kidnapping him,” he yelled, standing in the vicarage’s doorway, shaking his fist. “What will I tell his people, Doctor?”

“That I delivered him,” Douglas retorted over his shoulder.

****

Lelaheo arrived at Twainhaven Hall to an impromptu welcoming committee.

Joshua ran out first. “Lelaheo, you visiting?” he asked, taking the reins from Dr. Twain as the pair dismounted.

“I am staying,” replied the smiling boy.

Rozina bustled out the front door. “Stan’? Iz dat right, Doctah Twain?”

“It is, ’Zina. You have another mouth to feed.”

“Uh dun’ min. He needs fattenin’ up. Come’yuh, chil’. Uh got sump’n fuh you now.”

Kindred bounded out the door.

“Lelaheo, you coming to live with us? We can have fun. And Gramma will feed you ’til you pop. Would you like that? What does your father think of this?”

Lelahelo skipped up the steps and into Rozina’s embrace. He viewed Kindred around the woman’s comforting frame.

“Well, I do not know about the popping part.” Rozina squeezed a laugh out of him as she hugged him tighter. “But I think I will like it here. The decision is not my father’s to make. Only my mother and her family. They rule our longhouse.” Lelaheo spoke of matrilineal rule in the Iroquois society. The woman had the power in his world.

“No different here. This way, Lelaheo. I will show you to your room,” Dr. Twain said, squeezing past the trio gathered on the front steps.

****

Kindred, Joshua and Lelaheo assembled at the kitchen garden after helping the Oneida boy get settled, and after Rozina spoiled them with hard molasses cakes.

“And this is what I do every morning,” recited Kindred. “I pick what Father needs.”

“Joshua, come’yuh. Uh need you ta fetch sump’n frum de attic,” Rozina called out the kitchen window.

“Yes, Gramma,” he answered. “I’ll see you two later. Teach him well, Kinny.”

“We also have elderberry and slippery elm trees here for the bark and the flowers,” Kindred pointed out.

“Medicine is my clan’s calling.”

“Good, you know herbs and what they do. You can help Joshua.” Kindred noticed the still healing scars on Lelaheo’s hands. She touched the knuckles. “Still hurt?”

“I am feeling fine. How are you? Truly.”

“I am well,”
piped back.

“You want to learn my language, Kindred?”

“Teach me, Lelaheo. I want to know about you.”

“And I about you, Kindred.”

****

With the increase of Lelaheo to Twainhaven household, life became even more happily hectic. He was as grave as Kindred and Joshua were mischievous. They played practical jokes on him almost daily, just to see his reserve dissolve. Lelaheo gave as good as he got, surprising the duo with jaw-dropping reprisal. Life fell into a pleasant pattern, but a harsh reality was playing itself out around them.

Dr. Twain slammed down the daily gazette on the side table next to the tufted chair he was sitting in, in the parlor. He tore off his reading spectacles, muttering under his breath. “Damn greedy bastards, all!” The low fire snapping in the English style fireplace, reflected its dance in the paneled surround and mirrored his mood.

Yes, the world was encroaching upon his piece of heaven. The French and Indian War had ended years before, but discontents were far from over. It had all begun when a Delaware chief entered into negotiations with the British to rid the Valley of the French and other enemy Indian nations that supported them. That pact with the devil allowed two

foreign powers to play out a war on a land that was not their own and unwittingly made the native Haudenosaunee unwanted guests. The front page of the gazette proclaimed that Britain and the Colonies were gearing up for a tug of war over the Valley.

In the past when such life-or-death matters raged amongst whites, Dr. Twain had noted that the Haudenosaunee always had watched from a distance, had made certain not one member of their League was unduly injured. Disastrously, this agreement with the

British had, for the first time, caused a rift. He had seen the Iroquois League of Nations in horrible discord for the first time in his life and probably theirs. When the French and Indian War had raged, the Western nations of the Seneca, Cayuga and the Onondaga had supported a French alliance. The Oneida, Tuscarora and the Mohawk had held fast to a British association as that power protected them from sporadic colonial attacks.

Dr. Twain wondered how his calm would weather this conflict. His estate had survived the aftershocks of battles, skirmishes and sieges. Self-sufficient, his household had withstood the upheaval. Gunfire, clashes and raids happened all around as the unrest moved closer and his rising anguish, paralyzed him. He did not know how to secure his family’s safety. He did not like the disturbing quakes in his serenity. He favored no side.

He just wanted to be left alone. This period was truly the calm before the storm.

“Suh, uh brung yo’ tea, jis’ the way you likes it. Doctah Twain?”

Rozina’s voice snatched him out of his glum musings. “Yes? Thank you, ’Zina. Please put it on the table.” He hurriedly shifted the tabloid on the table top. “Thank you.”

“You ah’right, Doctah? Dat’s one ‘T’engky’ too many jis’ fuh tea.” She noted the tense lines around his mouth and the way he rubbed his hand across his brow. “T’inkin’ on sump’n een dat gazette?” She waited for a reply. Douglas reached for the brew, took

healthy gulps and contemplated the whirling leaves.

“’Zina, things are changing and they are going to get worst before they get better. I am worried for the first time in my life.” He placed the cream ware cup back on its saucer on the tray.

“Whew! Worried? Dat a tall order fuh a buckruh!”

“’Zina! No witticisms please!”

“Wuffuh, suh?” His tone made her catch her breath. “Wut be wrong?”

“This land is changing. Our world is changing. Dangerous flux.”

“Dis’ flux, dis’ change. Da’dey iz da one sho’ t’ings een dis’ life. ” She sighed, her distressed spirits quieted. “Done?” She pointed to the tea.

“Yes, ’Zina, thank you. Remind me to check our ammunitions store. May have to make more. Got to keep my boots oiled, my powder dry and my guns clean.”

She retrieved the tray, turned and without looking over her shoulder pronounced, “We kin abide. Me and the chillun did six yeah ago. Do it ’gen. You kin too.”

****

“Lelaheo, define the noun, ‘
terra
’,” commanded Kindred. “Gender, singular number and case.”

All three children were seated on the stone bench in the cobblestone courtyard behind the hall.

“
Terra
, umm.” Lelaheo scratched his head, chewed his lip. “
Terra
, huh?”

“He doesn’t know it, Kinny,” Joshua stated. “I do. Let me.”

“No. Only if he cannot recite it.” She looked to Lelaheo. “Well?”

“I know it! Wait! Wait! I know it.”

Lelaheo’s recitation began and ended without a hitch.

“Correct!” cried Kindred. “See, I told you Latin was easy!”

“But Oneida is not. Now let’s have my language lesson,” Lelaheo insisted, patting his chest with an open palm.

“What is today’s lesson?” Kindred queried.

“Parts of the body. I say it in English, you tell me in Oneida.”

“Not me, I’m leaving. I did not study,” said Joshua. “You are excused for now, young man.” Lelaheo imitated the Reverend Harkness’ exasperated tone exactly. “Be ready tomorrow.”

“Yes, Reverend,” Joshua mocked, then left.

“Chicken!” Kindred shouted after him.

Lelaheo tapped Kindred on the shoulder to get her attention. “Ready? Head, hair, eye.”