Shoot the Horses First by Leah Angstman

Author:Leah Angstman [Leah Angstman]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: KERNPUNKT Press
Published: 2023-02-07T00:00:00+00:00

And so the days passed like this. Not a word was exchanged between Ishkodhonck and Grace. He stayed away, fishing and hunting, making trips to the mainland as if to add insult, even farming in his small field where Grace could see him plainly, but never once did he turn to her or speak to her. There’d been no fishes. She hadn’t realized how much she had come to rely on the fish he’d once given her, but now that she’d picked her garden clean—his garden—she was hungry, and there was nothing more to eat. She’d have to learn to hunt and fish for herself, and it was doubtful any of the island people would help her learn.

She’d just gotten her morning fire going, when Mary appeared at the door with a rawhide cord full of flopping fish. The initial smile Grace wore vanished when she saw none in return.

“You have stayed away long,” Grace said. “You are angry with me.”

“No,” Mary returned. “I am disappointed, not angered. The women of the elders council will be meeting tonight. You will be expected. They want to see what you can offer in exchange for a land plot of your own.”

Grace looked down at her underwhelming fire. “Then Ishkodhonck wants me off his land.”

“That is for him to tell you, not me.” Mary went to the door.

“I am worth more than a few beads,” Grace murmured, her face reddening as she said it.

But Mary turned to face the young woman with narrowed eyes. “Is that all you heard in his offer?”

“Well, I’ll tell you what I didn’t hear.”

Mary scoffed. “You were not listening.” She walked out the door, taking the fishes with her.

The rumble in Grace’s stomach prompted her to grab her crutch and drag herself to her feet. Though not as swift as Mary, Grace had learned to move fast enough when the need arose.

“I listened!” she cried out after her. “I listened, and I saw! Wampum, animal hides! Things spread out before me like I can be bought!”

Mary called over her shoulder, “It is our way.”

“Well, it’s not mine.”

“Isn’t it?” The sachem’s wife came to a halt and turned to face Grace, insult darkening the older woman’s features. “Your white men do not buy you? With jewels and furs, fine houses of wood, promises … handshakes to fathers?”

Grace didn’t dare answer.

“K’wommonsh.” Mary hung her head, just as Ishkodhonck had done when he’d said it. “It is I love you. Wommon is love. It doesn’t get any plainer than that, Whitebird, if you must have the words. But remember they are only words, and any man can say them. There are some things, though, that speak plainer than those words.”

A patch of dirt on the ground became all Grace could focus on. If she looked into Mary’s eyes, Grace would crumble. “You didn’t tell me he said that.”

“No, I did not.”

“That’s not fair. I relied on you to—”

“One does not need to know language to hear it. If you couldn’t see it in his face, you did not deserve to be told.

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