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“Sit down, we’ll split a can of peaches,” Sam instructed.
“Peaches?” Riley squealed. “You’ve found peaches?”
“No, I didn’t find these. Hattie, my sister, packed them for me before I left. She knew how much I loved them.” Sam smiled and hunted for something to pick them out with. “Don’t have but a couple of cans left of them.”
“You must have been pretty close to your sister. You talk about her a lot.”
“I wasn’t but about five when my Ma got kidnapped and my pa was hung. Hattie, she was like a ma to me after that happened. We was real close. That is ‘til I got older. After we moved to the Indian village everyone sorta took me under their wing; I was the only black boy in the camp.”
“You’re lucky. I didn’t have a sister nor a brother. Ma died when I was pretty young, so dad and I became close I guess you would say. He just didn’t know how to handle a girl.”
“He learn you ranchin’?” Sam asked.
“Mostly him…and some of the hands. Back when I was little we had lots of hands on the ranch.”
“How old are you, Riley?” Sam asked as he hunted for something to dig the peaches out with.
Not finding anything to eat with, he picked up a twig, sharpened it with his knife and stuck it in one of the peaches and handed it to her. “Have one.”
“Nineteen…how old are you?” She looked at him.
“Twenty-five…” he answered.
“Somehow, I didn’t picture you with brothers or sisters.”
“Well, I had both, but the rest of them got killed.”
“Killed…how?” Riley’s eyes widened.
“They called themselves White Knights, they go about the night killin’ black people. My two brothers tried to run and escape them, but they shot them down, in the back; they hung my pa, kidnapped my ma, and my two other sisters…well, they eventually killed them too.”
“White Knights, must be what I heard tell of the Klan? Least ways that’s what they called themselves.” Riley’s mouth flew open. “I never understood what that was about, but I did see a hangin’ once. And I don’t care to see another either. But why do they pick on black folks, do you know?”
“Don’t want them takin’ over the land or the vote for one thing. Don’t like them because of their skin color for another. Anyway, they hung my pa, kidnapped my ma, killed my brothers and raped and killed a couple of other sisters. I was the baby of the family. I was fishin’. When I heard ‘em comin’ I hid out in the woods. Hattie…she waited ‘til they weren’t lookin’ and escaped.”
“Oh Sam, I’m so sorry…” Riley put her hand on his. “That must have been a hard time for you and your sister.”
He glanced down at their hands and she removed hers. “It was. It was a long time ago…”
“Didn’t realize you had family, Sam. Guess I just figured you were alone. Where does your sister live?” Riley asked, taking the peach.
“She lives with the Shawnee, up north a ways,” Sam said flippantly.
“Why does she live with them?” Riley asked, her curiosity obviously getting the best of her. “I mean, I never heard tell of black people living with the Indians.”
“Lots do these days. Only place we can live like equals. People don’t have to live in shame there, and can love who they want. There are many that live with the Cherokee Nation. Belong there, they say. But Hattie is married to a white man, and the Indian camp is the only place they could live together in peace as a couple. The old Shaman of the tribe married them,” Sam told her without thinking. “The only place their marriage would be recognized. Lee, my brother-in-law, had a good friend from the Shawnee and he wrote and asked them if we could come. They invited us with open arms.”
“I never thought of that. So your sister married a white man.” Riley eyed him.
“That’s right, but you gotta understand, she’d known him a long time,” Sam insisted. “Yes sir, a long time…”
“Did she love him?” Riley continued to quiz him.
“Oh…she shore did. She was crazy in love with him. Sounds strange I guess, but it happened. When she thought he died in the war, she buried him proper like. She cried forever it seemed. But then so did I. Lee was special. He was that kind of man, a caring man, a good man. He took us in when our folks died. He buried my pa. Seen after us. But he went to war. That was a hard time for Hattie, my sister. She shore did love him. Lee didn’t die in the war like everyone thought though, but he did lose an arm…” Sam shook his head. “I took one look at my sister when he came back and knew she was crazy in love with the man. Losing an arm was nothin’ to her, she loved Lee. She loved the man he was. A missing arm meant nothing to her, and Lee he could hold his own, in a fight, with work, and I guess with lovin’ my sister, ‘cause he made her happy. She’s been happy ever since.”
“And his losing the arm didn’t bother her? I’d like to meet her someday. She must be quite a woman.”
“Not a bit. You see, Lee was still Lee to us. When we were kids, Pa taught us that white people were mean, no goods. We believed that ‘til we met Lee. Lee acted like there was no difference in color. Kinda like you.” He stopped and thought on that for a moment. “And he took care of us, paid money for someone to see after us. Can you believe that? He paid a white woman to take care of us, didn’t want to come back and see us slavin’ for someone. That’s what he told her. Then he came back to us and made a real family out of us. There just isn’t anyone better than that man, in my books or hers.”
