New Money

An imagined history. This revision shortened to less than 600 words.

 

New Money         575 Words (give or take)

 

            The women must think I am deaf, or a child. They say my granddaughter is to marry a white man.  When the pain goes away, I will rise up and kill them both.  Better for her to be dead, and it is a long time since I killed a white man.

            The French priest comes by every day now.  He brings medicine in a blue bottle.  He reads from the black  book, and I sleep.  I do not think I ask for his medicine, but I am no longer sure.

            I was a man once. Now my belly grows like a woman with child.  I travail like a woman.  I lie here listening for the wagon that brings the priest and the medicine.

            A guest, Crooked Nose, has come from Ft. McLeod. When he was a boy his father and I rode with the Lakota and the Arapaho. Cheyenne were men in those days. Now he walks with a long stick; all the way from Ft. McLeod with his long stick… this will end soon; he would not have come otherwise.

            “Can you see?” Crooked Nose raised the lamp wick until it began to smoke, and then lowered it a little.  He pulled a tobacco sack from his pocket and emptied it into my hand.

            “What is this?  What have you given me?”

            “A piece of money, but not from Canada.  Look, American money, no fat queen , no fat king, new money, a new thing.”

             There was a buffalo.  I had not seen a buffalo in many summers.  “Tatanka, in your father’s time they covered the Earth, the dust of the herds put out the sun.”

            “Yes, yes I know all this. The buffalo is good medicine, but there is better, turn the money over.  Tell me what you see.”

            “One of the People, an Indian.”

            “Look closer at this Indian.”

            ”It cannot be.”

“Look again, and tell me that!” Crooked Nose ordered.

 He looked older than I remembered. His fierceness vanished into stiff dignity, like those reservation Indians who stayed in America and posed for any photographer who offered a drink of whiskey, but it was him.  I was certain it was him.  “Two Moons.  This Indian on their money is Two Moons.”

 A grin broke across Crooked Nose’s face and he laughed.  He held my hand and laughed until I forgot the fire in my belly.  I joined him; I was, for a moment, once more a young man.  I felt summer heat; I heard blood sing in my ears; a taste of salted iron filled my mouth; and all that was then became now.  I saw the sloping hill above the Lakota village on the Greasy Grass River, that water white men call the Little Big Horn.  I saw horses, blue shirts, and arrows.  I watched Two Moons raise his arm, bloody to the elbow, high above his head.

 

I saw the yellow hair in his hand.

 

“May I keep this?” I asked Crooked Nose.

He put the money back into the tobacco sack and tied it around my neck with a leather thong.  It was a good sign that he came to see me.  I no longer think I asked the French priest for his medicine.  I do not think I have ever asked a white man for anything.

 

 

 

Author's Note

Any comment will be read respectfully. Some readers may have seen a longer version of this story.

Reviews

[Marie]

I felt v-e-r-y emotional as I read this v--e--r--y beautiful story, Delmar. I feel the French priest was giving sedative drugs to Tatanka, but cannot ascertain the reason why. I ssssssoooooo loved reading all the names of the Native American tribes. Crooked Nose brought healing with him on his visit from Ft. McLeod. So kind and generous of him to allow Tatanka to keep the new money and thanks also to his visit, Tatanka no longer needed the 'medicine' from the French priest! You are a natural storyteller. For me, the story was a very gripping one and I was captivated from the first to the last word, a very willing prisoner! An amazing write, eloquently inked. I so enjoyed reading. A heartfelt THANK YOU! for sharing, Delmar...

[Delmar Cooper]

Thank you for reading and for your comment. This tale has a built in backstory that allows it to be related in a few words. That backstory may be peculiar to Americans though. Tatanka refers to the bison on the buffalo five cent piece that came into circulation during the time reference of this story. The obverse of this coin had an American Indian. I took the liberty of naming this person Two Moons and giving him credit for the scalping of General Custer. This fact known to the two men but not known among white men. The priest brought laudanum of course.

[Marie]

Thank you so very much for so kindly taking the time to explain the story behind your story, Delmar. It makes more sense to me now through knowing the background. I am most grateful and thank you again...

[CD Campbell]

I have been watching Ken Burns "The West" on netflix for the past week so reading this comes at a weird time. Everybody feels bad about what happened and all, Manifest Destiny, but I still see those same people throw their McDonald's wrappers out their windows while they're driving down the road, wishing for more concrete. Crocodile tears? I do have a few tribal friends and it's not really a topic of conversation. So what's for this white boy to say? Anyway, I thought your story was pretty bang up. The dialogue was great and I never felt wanting for description at all. Mostly, it kept my attention, which nowadays is hard to do. CD

[Delmar Cooper]

Thanks for reading and commenting. I have only the stereotypical white guy knowledge of the stereotypical red guy native American. The people in the story are convenient actors with a built in story that saves an acre of backstory, as long as my reader knows at least a smidge of history that is. The story is about bitterness and irony the characters could have been chosen from a lot of different ethnic groups. If you know a smidge of history.

[KCthelastboyscout]

A beautiful crafted tale.very rare reading native American content these days and that's a shame.so many wonderful stories to share...

[Delmar Cooper]

Thanks for reading and for your comment. Yes, lots of stories in that culture and all the cultures that make up America.

[Great Aunt Astri]

I felt this was very 'real'. You made the story very believable and you told it well. I enjoyed it. thank you.

[Delmar Cooper]

Astri, so good to see your voice. Keep on making poems we are almost out of poets and other songbirds.

[Great Aunt Astri]

Thanks Delmar. But I thought there were many many poets on line. Why do you say 'we are almost out of poets and other songbirds'?

[Great Aunt Astri]

Almost out of poets and other songbirds? I thought there were loads on WC. Please explain.

[Delmar Cooper]

Poets? yes certainly, sure, no doubt. I stand corrected.

[Annette Pisano-Higley]

The currency of lives- bought and sold at what human price...skillfully written story backed by truth and history. Masterful, tale-telling style.p and technical excellence. Powerful, sad, authentic voices heard. Native pride acknowledged. Kudos my friend!

[Delmar Cooper]

Thank you, you are kind. I am glad you read this piece.

[Annette Pisano-Higley]

You are very welcome and most talented. Glad to meet you!

[h d e rushin]

Mothers asleep now, so I can muse without musing; smile without cracking / the American Indian argument of an Imperfect savagery is a misguided one. Their lust for medicine like your lust for story telling is the stuff of legend. Impressive.

The moment one realized that others walked the earth before us is the moment the earth becomes unmappable. And only you can weave a scalping into a short story about currency..The voice parts I can almost hear.....nicely written mr Delmar....dana

[Delmar Cooper]

I am obliged by your comments and kind nod to me. Did I ever tell you I saw a queen once, the real McCoy, Elizabeth II. She waved to me. Yes me, I was alone on the pavement. She may have thought I was a Canadian, but she waved. I don't know why the queen wave came to mind when I read your comment. But did.

[Keshan mitchell]

This was a captivating story I really loved it

[Delmar Cooper]

Keshan,
Glad you read it and happy you told me so. Looking forward to more excellent writing from you. Best of luck.

[Keshan mitchell]

Thank you best of luck to you too

[W.k.kortas]

There are two things which I am especially fond of in this piece. First, the dialogue is wonderfully done--it captures speech just so, which sounds easy until you try to write it. A close cousin to that is how well the first-person narrative is put together; it very much reads as someone musing to himself, with just the right changes in emotional pitch. Again, sounds easy, but let me see you do it. The technical skill allows the piece to have real depth and texture which belies its relative brevity. First-rate writing.

[Delmar Cooper]

Thanks, you are too kind. I have always had a fondness for this piece even when it was a barely legible and barely intelligible notebook hen scratch. I liked the idea and I liked the unlikable character. These barely five hundred words have been revised almost that many times, or maybe it just seems like it.