The Comanche Girl's Prayer, Texas Women of Spirit Book 2 by Castillo Angela

Author:Castillo, Angela [Castillo, Angela]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2015-10-10T04:00:00+00:00

12 Tipi Talk

Soonie limped up to Uncle Isak’s tipi, leaning heavily on the walking stick Hershel and Felix had presented to her that morning. Seven days had passed since the injury. Molly had decided she had just pulled a few muscles, and said it would heal before too long. The pain had dwindled, but she still couldn’t rest all her weight on the foot.

Uncle Isak sewed a tear that ran up the side of the tent. Leathered fingers tugged a large, bone needle through the material with practiced technique.

He turned to Soonie. “How did school go today?”

“Pretty well.” Soonie picked up a second needle and poked holes along the sides of another tear. “Mira can read short words now, and Little Boar has finally learned how to write his name. Even the older boys have been on their best behavior since I hurt my ankle. Suppose I’ve garnered their sympathy.”

Uncle Isak nodded, intent on his work. Sweat stained his shirt where his heavy braids hung against the fabric. No one in the settlement was fooled by the warm air that had blown through earlier in the week. Each member worked to weatherize the shelters with what materials they had available.

At first, Soonie had been excited by the prospect of snow. Winter storms in Bastrop seldom brought more than a flurry. But when she considered the tipis and hastily-built shanties the people called their homes, she couldn’t believe they had already lasted through four winters in this place. She learned that during the coldest days, the people crowded into as few homes as possible, sharing fuel, food and body heat.

Tipis were not meant to stay in one place for a long time. In times before the reservation, the cone-shaped structures had been packed up and moved when a group traveled. Soonie’s mother had said when she was a little girl, she’d helped the older women take down these portable homes. The skins, stiff from the elements, were removed from the poles, then beaten with sticks to make them supple enough to roll into impossibly tight bundles. The tall, straight sticks were pulled down and tied together with leather strips. The whole thing would be done in minutes.

Molly had told Soonie the settlement’s members would have all preferred to live in tipis, but hides needed to create and repair them had become scarce. Deer and elk were rarely found in these hills, and buffalo had been gone for decades. Pelts from rabbits and the other small game found in the area could not be used for construction. A shame, for the Kiowa families owned tipis that had been passed on through generations, and paintings depicting decades of hunts and battles faded a little more with every season.

Some of the tipis had been repaired so many times, with various hides, blankets and cloths, that beneath the layers of dust they looked like patchwork quilts. Each piece of material added on had to be shaped carefully as to not waste any of the fabric, and then rubbed with tallow or animal fat to make it waterproof.

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