Long ago...Excerpt 1

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.