Howdy Do, Kinfolk: Chapter 4
by Tami B.
Disclaimer: The following work has been written solely for the enjoyment of fans and not for monetary profit. The rights to the characters initially created for the Daniel Boone series belong to 20th Century Fox and Fess Parker. All other characters are of the author's own creation. No copyright violation is intended.
Virginia followed Darla to the middle of the fort where she found Israel standing with nothing but an animal skin wrapped around his waist. Gillam, who stood beside him, was bedecked with ivy vines about his. People had gathered around them, and were laughing at the spectacle. Israel and Gilliam joined in the merriment as well.
"Ma, them two snuck off, and I didn't know where to," Lydia explained to Virginia, whom she had met halfway to where the practically-naked boys were standing. "We were lookin' for them when they came walkin' in the front gate, big as you please, wearing very little. I didn't know what to do. So I sent Darla to fetch you."
"Gillam! Israel!" Virginia shouted as she approached the pair.
"Ma, our names is Adam; Adam from the Bible," Gillam insisted. "I'm the fig-leaf Adam and he," he pointed to Israel, "is the animal-skinned Adam."
"Boy, you haul yourself and your fig-leaf ivy to your clothes this instant. And the same goes for you, Israel Boone," Virginia said sternly. She turned around to her son-in-law. "Alvin, go with them to make sure they don't lose what little they have on, and get back into their clothes." She watched as Alvin nodded his head. "Once you're dressed, Gillam, you'll fetch me a nice switch. I'm goin' to cover your backside in somethin' more than what you have on right now."
Gillam gulped and then looked towards Israel.
"C'mon on, boys," Alvin said as he guided them to the front gate.
Virginia shook her head as the gathering broke up. "What am I goin' to tell Becky? The first day here, and Gilly's already puttin' bad ideas into Israel's head."
"It's all right, Mrs. Garner," Jemima said comfortingly. "Ma won't be angry. Israel has plenty of bad ideas of his own. Just be glad they didn't go looking for a fig-leaf or an animal-skinned Eve."
"Or a no-clothed-in-nothin' Eve," Yadkin added with a grin.
When Rebecca heard the tale of her son's and Gillam's antics at the fort, she roared with laughter. She was dismayed to learn, however, that Gillam had been punished for his part in it. After lecturing Israel on maintaining propriety in public, she sent him to gather vegetables from the garden with a word of warning for him to stay out of trouble.
Not long after the verbal reprimand, when Daniel and Mingo returned from hunting with their pitiful catch of a few squirrels and opossums, she informed them of Israel's and Gillam's recently acquired clothing preferences. After a moment's shock, they too let loose with hearty laughter. Then they prepared the meat for cooking.
Rebecca, along with Virginia and the older girls, had the evening meal already prepared and served. After they had all eaten heartily, it came time for the hoe-down. Cincinnatus had joined them, and he picked up his fiddle and began to play.
"May I have the honor of this dance, ma'am?" Daniel asked gallantly, with a bow towards his wife.
Rebecca paused before answering. "Well, I was hoping another handsome man would ask first, but I suppose my husband will have to do." She giggled as Daniel led her to near the center of the cabin.
"Carolina?" Virginia turned to her brother who was seated at the table beside Mingo. "Shall we?"
"Shall we what?" Yadkin asked.
"Shall we dance, silly," she replied.
He stood immediately. "All right, but don't come cryin' to me when I step on your toes." Then they joined Daniel and Rebecca.
Taking a lesson from her mother, Dineen approached Mingo. "Sir, would you..." she asked hesitantly, "....would you dance with me?"
"No, with me, " Darla interrupted as she quickly came to stand beside her sister.
Rising to his feet, Mingo said, "Since Dineen asked first, I will dance with her. Darla, your turn will come on the next song Cincinnatus plays. That is fair to each of you."
Darla wasn't convinced of the fairness of Mingo's decision, but accepted it without complaint. In the meantime, Jemima accepted Gillam's offer to dance.
"You wanna dance with me until Mingo gets done, Darla?" Israel asked. He had been nearby and overheard the arrangements the Cherokee had decided were equitable.
"You are better than nothing, I suppose, and there is just the two of us left," Darla sighed, resigned to her fate.
Cincinnatus grinned as he continued to play a lively tune and tapped his foot in time with the music. When the song came to an end, there was much applause. Then the couples paired up again with Darla quickly claiming Mingo as her dance partner for the next song. She smiled broadly as Mingo twirled her about.
Cincinnatus played several songs until he had decided he had earned a well-deserved break. As he paused, they all gathered around the table near the fireplace for apple pie and cider. Some stood and others sat. When Mingo opted to sit at the table, Darla and Dineen quickly slid to either side of him. Darla on his right and Dineen on his left. The adoring eyes they trained on him did not escape his notice. These two were definitely infatuated with him.
Quiet conversations among pairs or trios of people abounded. After adjusting the feather in her hair, Darla chose to speak as well. "Mingo, I must commend you on your dancing. You rank as one of the best I have ever danced with."
"That's because most of the time you dance with a broomstick," Gillam teased when he heard what she had said. He was carrying a plate that held a slice of apple pie and on his way to sit with Israel near the door. Still, he felt he had to stop and offer his opinion. . "And you should see it when she's done dancin' with that ol' broom," he told the Cherokee. "There ain't hardly any straw left in it 'cause she's done shook it all to pieces."
Darla glared at Gillam as Dineen attempted to stifle a giggle. She decided to remain calm in spite of her brother's teasing. "You are not funny, Gillam. Please join Israel. He is patiently waiting for you," she said pleasantly.
"All right," he answered equally as pleasantly as he went to set his plate on the floor near Israel. Then he retrieved the broomstick from the corner. With a sly smile, he presented it to Darla. "Show him how it's done."
Darla grew angry. She was attempting to have a polite, intellectual conversation with Mingo, but her brother insisted on bothering them with this broom nonsense. Well, she had had enough. Rising slowly to her feet, Darla's hands formed into fists. "You...you...you little..." She paused as she decided what name to call him. It had to be something fitting.
"Toad," Dineen said for her, suddenly switching sides in the sibling rivalry. "He was spawned in a pond, and Ma should have left him there."
"Yes, a toad. That is what you are," Darla said. "The most contemptible person in all of the thirteen colonies.'
"I ain't no toad and I ain't condemnable!" Gillam said loudly.
"Now, children," Mingo cautioned as he positioned himself between the squabbling pair, "This can be settled amicably, and preferably without bloodshed. Gilly, you have not touched your pie. You must be famished. You had better eat it before Israel decides to. But, first, please take the broom back where you found it. We would not want Mrs. Boone to discover it is missing."
Without a word, Gillam did as Mingo requested. Then he joined Israel and began to eat his pie.
Mingo found himself between Virginia's daughters again as he returned to the table and sat back down. "What were we discussing?" he asked them.
"Shakespeare's Hamlet," Darla replied.
"Princess Dino don't want to talk about that anymore," Dineen said.
"We did not ask what Princess Dino preferred, " Darla pointed out. "Mingo was enlightening us with his thoughtful insights into the character and-"
"I think Mingo should talk about Mingo," Dineen suggested brightly.
Darla blinked quickly a few times. "That is an excellent idea, Dineen. I am surprised you thought of it on your own."
Dineen narrowed her eyes at Darla, but said nothing to her. "Mingo, tell us about yourself. We want to know everythin'."
Mingo looked from one girl to the other as he decided how to begin to tell them about himself. They had unwittingly encroached upon a subject he usually avoided. He had seen much tragedy in his life, but there had been many good times as well. He decided to focus on those. The question was, where to commence?. "I am not sure where to begin. Is there something particular you want to know?"
"How did you learn to speak so eloquently, articulately, and properly?" Darla suggested.
Not wanting to be left out, Dineen offered her suggestion. "And how did you learn to dance so very well?"
"I learned how to speak and to dance while I lived in England-" Mingo began.
"England?" Dineen asked. "The England across the big ocean?"
"Heaven forfend." Darla sighed. "Of course, the England that lies over the Atlantic Ocean. Is there another England? No, there is only one. Sometimes, Dineen, your ignorance is incomprehensible. ." She threw her arms up in despair. "Did you not learn anything from the little time you spent in school?" She had become a little snippy, knowing she was competing with her sister for Mingo's attention.
"Princess Dino knows more than you," Dineen shot back. . "And why don't you shut your bear trap of a mouth up?" She placed the back of her hand to her forehand. "I grow weary in having to talk to you."
"Good. Then, perhaps, you will hush up long enough for Mingo to tell us about himself," Darla said. "Please, Mingo, do go on."
"Well, as I was saying..." Mingo sat up straighter in his chair. "I had a tutor that-"
Jemima had been standing nearby listening to the conversation between Mingo and the two girls. She turned to take her empty plate to the table located in the alcove. Her mother was there stacking plates and utensils in preparation for washing.
"Ma, why are Darla and Dineen fawning over Mingo? He's just Mingo," Jemima said as she handed her mother her plate.
Rebecca chuckled. "His charm has enraptured them. You don't see it," she placed her hands on her daughter's shoulders, "because to you Mingo has always been your father's friend and nothing more. But Darla and Dineen see him as a sophisticated and most dignified Indian. He is someone different from anyone they probably have ever known, and they find him appealing."
"I find it positively nauseating," Jemima said. "All they've done since they met him is talk about him and giggle. They must have asked me a thousand questions about him. I was running out of breath answering them."
"Darling, you'll just have to tolerate their obsession until they get over it or leave for home," Rebecca stated.
"Both could be a long time comin'." Jemima sighed and walked towards her father who was sitting on the bench seat.
At that moment, Hannibal began to honk loudly and continuously from the yard. Something was greatly upsetting the goose. Israel's head snapped up in response, and then he scrambled quickly to his feet. "Hannibal!" he shouted. "Hannibal, I'm comin'." After taking a few steps, he reached the door and placed his hand on the handle.
"Isra'l, no!" Daniel shouted, rising from the bench seat. "Don't open the door." He feared that whatever danger the goose had been alerted to might come flying through the door and endanger all of them as well. He snatched one of the rifles from over the mantle as Mingo gratefully escaped Virginia's two girls and took hold of the other. Even as he did so, his son failed to heed his warning and threw open the door.
Hannibal flew in and knocked Israel to the floor and then bounded away. Puppy Dog followed, bounced off Israel as he was attempting to rise, and then chased Hannibal through the cabin. As the animals came near them, everyone tried to catch them, but the creatures always managed to slip away.
"Puppy Dog!" Jack Miller yelled from the door as he leaned his rifle against the wall near it. "C'mere, you good- for- nothin' dog."
The canine ignored him, and began to bark incessantly as he continued his pursuit of the goose. Hannibal continued his loud squealing as he ran or flew in an effort to get away. At last, Israel was able to corner him underneath his parents' bedroom window. He picked him up and mounted the ladder to the loft. Puppy Dog jumped after the boy and his goose, but as Israel ascended, the canine's prey was taken out of his reach. Puppy Dog barked with greater intensity until Jack knelt and clamped a hand around the dog's muzzle. Gillam raced past them and climbed the ladder to join Israel in the loft.
The stillness in the cabin was eerie. Not a sound was heard from mortal or creature alike. It was Israel who finally broke the quiet by directing his anger towards Jack and his dog. "Keep your dog away from Hannibal!" he yelled. "He coulda killed him!" The boy petted the goose and then hugged him. Gillam showered Hannibal with his affections as well.
"Sorry, Israel," Jack apologized as he tied a long thin leather strap around the dog's neck. "Puppy Dog wouldn't kill Hannibal. He was just playin'." Standing, he said, "I'm sorry for all the fuss Puppy Dog caused. We was out 'coon huntin'. When we crossed this way, he took after Hannibal. We weren't havin' any luck catchin' 'coon, so I reckon Puppy Dog decided goose was better than nothin'. Sorry to bother y'all. I'll be on my way now."
Rebecca reached for Jack's arm as he came by her. He stopped and looked at her; his eyebrows narrowed in confusion. She had noticed his shirt was torn in a few places, and there were scratches on his face. Dried blood trailed from one particular scratch that was deeper than the others. . "Jack, you're not leavin' here until I attend to your face."
"Whyfore you need to do that, Mrs. Boone?" Jack asked. "It'll just get all dirty again."
"Jack, your face isn't dirty," Rebecca explained. "It's bloody and scratched."
"It is?" He brought up a hand to find where he had injured himself. "We was crawlin' in a thicket. I reckon that's where I got-" Jack's face blanched. Then he looked down at his dog. "Puppy Dog, are you all right?" He knelt beside his pet and checked him for injuries. "Please be all right. Please be all right, " the boy continued to repeat with concern.
Daniel joined Jack, took the leather strap, and checked the canine as well. "He's all right, boy." Rising, he said, "I'll tie the dog outside while Mrs. Boone cleans you up. We can't havin' you go home lookin' like that."
"Why not?" Jack asked, giving his dog a pat on the head before he stood. "I've gone home lookin' much worse."
"Come on, Jack. Sit at the end of table and I'll have you fixed up in no time," Rebecca said as she pulled him towards the table. He had no choice but to do as she insisted.
"Yad, why don't you take the dog out and tie him to a tree?" Daniel suggested. He held the leather strap out so Yadkin could take it.
Uncertain as to why Daniel wanted him to take care of the dog, Yadkin, nonetheless, compiled with his request. When he stepped towards the dog, the canine bared his teeth, growled, and then barked several times. The dog's posture suggested he was about to attack. The woodsman immediately stopped. "I reckon you best do it, Dan'l. 'Pears like that dog don't cotton to me."
The group watching the scene laughed. "'Pears like you have that trouble with many of God's creatures; geese, dogs, young 'uns..." Daniel teased; his smile broad. "Women." He then took hold of the dog's leather strap again and made his way to the door.
Yadkin favored him with a disparaging look. He turned on his heel and walked towards the table to find Rebecca just beginning to clean the scratches on Jack's face. He sat down and sipped his cider in silence.
"I can trap anything," Jack told the females that had gathered around him, whom he had just been introduced to. They included Rebecca, Virginia, Darla, Dineen, and Jemima. "Big or small, lean or fat, tall or short, mean or nice, walk or fly, four-legged or two-legged, or even no-legged."
"No-legged?" Dineen asked.
"Fish or snakes," Darla replied.
"That's right, " Jack agreed. "You're smart for a girl, and that's a right smart purty feather in your hair. Looks like a turkey feather."
Darla decided to ignore Jack's remark about her intelligence. Instead, she fingered her feather and smiled with a touch of red gracing her cheeks. "Yes, it is a turkey feather. It is from the first turkey my father ever hunted and killed."
"He's a passable hunter then?" Jack asked.
Virginia laughed. "Her pa is an excellent blacksmith and farmer, but a terrible hunter. If there's any huntin' to be done, it's Alvin, my son-in-law, that does it for us."
"He's the strong- lookin' man sittin' by Mr. Boo...Ouch!" Jack hollered. In response, Rebecca quickly removed the cloth from his face. "Good golly, Mrs. Boone, by the time you get done cleanin' my face, I won't have no face a'tall. That hurt."
"I'm sorry, Jack," Rebecca apologized. She had been attempting to clean the biggest scratch on his face when the cloth had caught on something. "You have a small thorn inside the scratch. Hold still while I pull it out."
"That's all right, Mrs. Boone, leave it there. It don't need to come...Ouch!" Jack yelled again.
Rebecca showed him the thorn that she had removed with her fingernails. "It's out, Jack, and it didn't hurt a bit, did it?" Then she began to wash her hands.
"It hurt, Mrs. Boone," he insisted.
After drying her hands on a cloth, Rebecca picked up another to finish cleaning the scratch. She applied it as gently as she could. "Now, Jack, for a renowned trapper such as yourself, I would think that that was nothing compared to the time a bear knocked you on the side of your head and sent you flying. Your head hurt for two weeks, or so you said." She smiled, remembering when Jack had told that tale at the fort. They had been hunkered down because of the threat of an Indian uprising, and Jack had entertained them with his fanciful stories.
"Don't forget, Mrs. Boone," Jack added. "I kilt that bear, and me and my family made good use of him. I got a mighty fine coat for the winter from him."
"So you said, , Jack," Rebecca repeated, knowing that he had never come within a mile of a bear, let alone come close enough to kill one. After she dabbed the scratch dry, she laid the soiled cloth with the others. "I'm finished. You may go, but do try to keep that big scratch on your face clean," Rebecca advised. ". It can fester, you know."
Standing, Jack said, "Thanks, Mrs. Boone." He then turned to Darla and Dineen. "I hope to see you girls again. Goin' be around awhile?"
"A spell," Virginia answered for them.
"Maybe I can come a'callin' sometime," Jack said. He waved his hand and headed towards the door. "Bye, everyone." Daniel met him there. After all in the cabin had uttered their farewells, Daniel escorted Jack outside to get his dog.
"Jack and his tall tales," Yadkin said, shaking his head as he watched the big man leave. "That boy can't help but make them up."
"What do you mean, Uncle Carolina?" Dineen asked.
"I mean that boy is full of hot wind. Ain't nothin' comes out of his mouth the truth. He's as much a trapper as Dan'l is a lord of an estate in England," Yadkin explained.
"Mr. Boone is a lord and I am a princess," Dineen observed. "We bring nobility to the dark and bloody ground."
Yadkin rolled his eyes and then drank from his mug, wondering which one of them lived in a more fanciful world: Dineen or Jack Miller.
Rebecca sat on the porch, churning butter, and keeping a watchful eye on Israel and Gillam as they climbed and played in a tree not far from the cabin. It had been three days since Virginia's family had arrived, and her friend's three youngest children had settled in at the Boone home. There hadn't been a moment of trouble with any of them. Certainly, there were times they needed correction, but nothing Rebecca would have classified as trouble.
Israel descended from the tree and skipped to the cabin. "I'm fetchin' my slingshot, Ma," he announced as he went past her and into the cabin.
She nodded her head as she continued to plunge the dasher into the churn and back up again. Then she turned the dasher slightly and pushed it down again. As she continued this process, she sang quietly one of the butter churning tunes most sang as they waited for the cream to become butter,
- "Come, butter, come,
Come, butter, come.
Samantha's standing by the gate
Waiting for her butter cake.
Come, butter, come."
Her best guess was that it would be another half-hour to an hour before the butter would come. Rebecca imagined the end of the dasher with its crossed slats agitating the cream and slowly turning it into butter. Then she resumed singing her butter churning song.
After only a few moments, Israel emerged with his slingshot in his hand. He started to make his way to the tree, but turned and came back to his mother. "Ma?"
"Yes, dear," she replied. She could tell he had something serious to say since he had bit down on his bottom lip.
"Gilly says that Mrs. Garner ain't his sisters' real ma, 'cause their ma died. He's says that his ma is really their step-mother. Is that true, Ma?"
She stopped churning and put an arm around her son's waist, drawing him close. "It's true that Gilly's sisters ma died when they were very little. Sometime later, Mrs. Garner married their father, and she has loved and taken care of them ever since. In her heart, Israel, they are as much her children as if she had given birth to them."
"But, Ma, just because she feels that they are her young 'uns, don't make it so," Israel reasoned.
"Darling, if the girls didn't think of Mrs. Garner as their mother, why would they call her 'ma'?" Rebecca asked.
"Maybe sayin' 'step-ma' is too hard," Israel said with a smile.
She returned his smile. "Israel, it's like this, God saw that the girls needed a mother and Mr. Garner needed a wife, so He sent Mrs. Garner to them," Rebecca explained. "Now, if God considers Mrs. Garner the girls' mother, are we so wise to say different?"
"No, Ma. God always knows best," Israel agreed.
"Yes, he does, Israel," Virginia said. She had just emerged from the trail and was walking across the porch towards them. She had overheard his last statement.
"Go play with Gilly," Rebecca instructed her son. Then she embraced him. After she released him, he skipped to the tree and began to climb.
Gillam waved to his mother and she waved back. "I hope Gilly has been behavin' himself," Virginia said as she took a seat beside Rebecca.
"He certainly has. Israel and he are getting along splendidly." Rebecca began churning again, but she noticed that her friend looked very tired. Perhaps, she had stayed up late conversing with Lydia. Or maybe she was tired from the walk. She hadn't ridden her horse this time as she usually did when she came for a visit. Rather than calling attention to what she had observed , Rebecca decided to converse in their usual manner. "I sent Jemima and the girls to take Irish stew to the fort to Cincinnatus. As you know, Dan left yesterday to pay the Cherokees a friendly visit, but he should return by suppertime tonight. We are alone today - except for the boys, of course."
Virginia was watching Rebecca move the pole up and down, when suddenly her stomach began to roll like the butter in the churn. She leaned back in the chair, rested her head against the cabin wall, and placed an arm over her eyes. A slight moan escaped her lips.
"Virginia, what's wrong?" A concerned Rebecca immediately came out of her chair and stood beside her friend. She laid her hand on her forehead. "No fever," she announced, "but your face is flushed."
"I was sick this mornin', Becky," Virginia admitted. "But I felt better so I decided to come here and be with the young 'uns. Maybe that was a mistake."
"Well, whether it is or isn't, you need to lay down. Come inside," Rebecca urged as she helped her to stand.
As they proceeded to the confines of the cabin, Virginia suddenly stopped. "Becky, I know what's wrong with me. It just came to me. I know. I know. I know." Her voice grew more excited. "This has happened a few times before." She turned her head towards the taller woman, smiled, and said, "I'm goin' to have a baby."
Rebecca grinned and said, "Well, 'howdy do to more kinfolk." Then she embraced Virginia.
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