Off To See The Wild West Show Part 1, Chapter 12 (2/7) By Frank Beill 1886: Hull, Yorkshire

(1/7), (2/7), (3/7), (4/7), (5/7), (6/7), (7/7). Part 1 Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. Part 2 Prologue, Chapter 1, 2, 3.

'Ger off!' I yelled. One of the children tried to nip a chunk out of my arm. I'd felt in less danger when the warriors took me prisoner. Laughing Waters just giggled at my predicament. A woman intervened and shooed the others away. From her manner and the deference shown to her by the others she was obviously a senior squaw. She looked like an older version of Laughing Waters but for some time most of them were going to look like Laughing Waters to me, although none were as pretty as my new sister. 'Are you my mother?' I asked.

The woman gave me a look of incomprehension. 'Yes, she is your new mother but she does not know it yet!' My sister was still finding the situation amusing. I was having second thoughts about my decision. Red Shirt believed the makings of a warrior were in me but I wasn't so sure. In my imagination I'd always been on the side of his sworn enemies anyway. There was still time to follow George back to the orphanage.

Laughing Waters began chattering with her mother and the others. They were using words I wasn't going to understand for a long while yet but my new mother's attention wasn't on her daughter. She was smiling at me. No one had smiled at me in this way for a long time, not even Mrs G. It made me want to cry but if I were to become a Sioux warrior I would have to start behaving like one. 'Our mother is called Yellow Flower.' 'Do I have a father ... and brothers and sisters?' I wanted to know all about my new family. 'Our father is called Dog That Stands.'

I was disappointed not to be the son of Red Shirt himself. 'And you have two more sisters. Red Shirt thinks our family needs a son!' The others sidled back to their places around the blazing logs. Laughing Waters continued speaking to our mother who was still smiling at me. It was making me feel embarrassed. I was unaccustomed to prolonged signs of affection. After receiving this information our mother went back into the crowd where she began shouting what appeared to be instructions to the others. 'Mother is getting some new clothes for you to wear.' 'Where from?' There were no wagons or tents and definitely no sign of a potential Mr Silver. The Emigrant Shed where I knew the Lakota were staying was miles away on the dockside. My inquisitiveness made her laugh. 'Someone else is wearing them.'

'Someone else?' Should I be appalled by what she was saying? 'Things do not belong to people. People are what belong. We belong to our land and we belong to each other.' Again miles of perfect white teeth gleamed. 'You are with your people now. Our world is different from the white man's world.' As someone who owned nothing but an old dime novel adapting to this new philosophy wasn't going to be difficult.

Continued... Next Page (3/7)

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