In early
summer, in the sparsely populated new country, a small village of five families
existed. Janie, a happy little girl was one of the in habitants. Tall, slender,
with honey blond hair and hazel eyes, she was quite strong for her build at the
age of seven. She adored her parents, especially her father, Samuel and trailed
along behind him helping him as he did the chores.
Three
of the five homes faced the other two which faced the river that flowed past
the village. There was an open common area separating the homes and a barn and
pens for the farm animals and the end of the common area. Janie’s family lived
closest to the woods and their cabin faced the river. The homes were made of
logs and had no windows because getting glass this far west was near impossible
by wagon. All of the families were quite large except Janie’s. She was the
oldest child of only two because after her little sister was born her mother
became barren and they were no more babies. Her sister, Hope, was just a
toddler and spent the days near her mother by the cabin.
Robert
was Janie’s best friend and lived in the house across the common area from her.
Robert, a young man with blond hair and striking blue eyes, was four years
older than Janie. She and Robert had shared all their secrets and dreams of
leaving the village someday. Janie’s mother Gwendolyn, having once been a
teacher, was teaching both of them to read and write when she had time so they
had learned of faraway places.
One
day after Janie’s seventh birthday Robert and Janie sat on a large boulder that
was in the common area. Chickens and chicks were scattered over the common area
pecking at the ground for food and Janie had been watching them intently as she
tried to think of something to do. Janie suddenly jumped off the boulder, ran to the cabin grabbed a basket and headed toward the woods to get to the creek.
Robert
followed her and they only caught about thirty crayfish because they spent more time
splashing water on each other like the kids that they were. When they thought they had
enough they walked back to the village. Along the way Janie
picked the pinks for her momma to put in her beautiful glass vase that had been
her grandma’s and Robert and Janie talked about his new friend he called Runs-Like-a-Deer.
Later
that day a group of men claiming to be French Traders came to the village. The
families of the village were quite generous, feeding the traders and offering them
places to sleep clueless to what was going to happen the next morning.
Very early the next morning as the sky lightened before sunrise, Janie's father sent her into the
woods before breakfast to get morels for the eggs her mother was going to fix.
Janie wondered why she was going to get the mushrooms for eggs since they never
ate them that way, but she was an obedient child and knew better than to
question her father.
She
skipped down the half-mile long dimly lit path through the forest happily with
the empty basket. The little girl in her was side tracked by the sights and
sounds in the woods along her way. She listened to a woodpecker drumming on a
tree and searched the trees to see if she could spot it. She caught a glimpse
of it flying and smiled before starting on her way. She finally started looking
for the morels about a quarter-mile down the path. Suddenly she heard screams
and gunshots in the distance coming from the direction of her village. Then she
smelled smoke, which was much stronger than the fires in the hearths. Janie
dropped the basket running back up the path toward the village. Once she was close
she crouched down peering cautiously between trees and shrubs at her home. The
houses were burning, thick black smoke rolled up toward the sky. She saw the
bleeding bodies of several people, including her parents and baby sister in the
common area. She saw one of the traders run after Robert who was running toward
her. The man knocked Robert down and used his knife to scalp him. Janie was
horrified beyond belief when the man then repeatedly plunged the knife into the
Robert's body. She opened her mouth to scream.
A hand
clasped tightly over her mouth, someone picked her up and dragged her away from
the path deep into the forest. Janie struggled bravely at first and finally gave up
figuring that her rescuer was not going to hurt her. Thirty minutes from the
path she was set down and a deeply tanned face with beautiful dark eyes stared
into hers shushing her before uncovering her mouth. The young man was only
about fifteen and was dressed only in a loincloth, leggings and moccasins his chest
was bare showing him to be lean and muscular. His long hair was braided into to
waist long braids and his smile showed beautiful white teeth. He spoke to her
softly although she had no idea what he had said and he motioned for her to come.
Janie's tears streamed down her cheeks as she nodded and followed him. She knew
what had happened to her parents and friends and knew there was no going back.