Brave Beginnings by Ruth Ann Nordin

themselves, hadn’t they?
    Chogan took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
He imagined himself by a campfire on one of his fasts where he’d
often sat to close his eyes and take deep breaths to gain a sense
of peace. Except, this time when he imagined the soothing campfire
in his mind, Julia was beside him and he unwittingly recalled the
scent of cooking rabbit on the fire. His anger cooled, and the
tension in his body eased.
    He opened his eyes and saw Julia heading his
way. He greeted her with a smile, and when her eyes met his, she
smiled in return.
    “Did it go well? Did Jed hire you?” she asked
as soon as she reached him.
    “No. He not need me.”
    She frowned. “But that Bernard who works for
him can’t stay off the moonshine to save his life, and Lester isn’t
much of a shot. Maybe I should tell Jed how good you are.”
    She started toward the butcher shop, but he
wrapped his hand around her elbow and stopped her. “No. I not work
there.” The determined expression on her face warmed his heart. She
cared for him enough to be angry on his behalf. The last of his
anger subsided. “I work other place.”
    Her eyebrows furrowed in a way that he
thought looked absolutely charming on her. “Well...” She glanced at
the shop and tapped her foot on the sidewalk for a good three
seconds. Then with a sigh, she said, “Alright. Jed Wilson isn’t
that great of a person anyway. What kind of man wants to have those
kinds of workers? They’d probably all just take advantage of you
since you work hard and they don’t.”
    “I keep looking.”
    “Do you want to go back to Anthony’s store
and see if he knows anyone else who’s hiring?”
    “Yes. This time I get more places to go.”
    “That’s a good idea. Bismarck is growing, and
that means more jobs. Something’s bound to come up. I’m sure you
can do better than Jed Wilson.”
    Whether or not she was right was left to be
seen, but she believed it and that made all the difference.
     
     
    ~~********~~
     
     

Chapter 10
     
    Within the week, Chogan dropped off the last
Bismarck Tribune newspaper at a house before he headed back for
East Front Avenue where people were arriving to work for the day.
He turned the collar of his coat up and braced himself for the
biting chill. The route was simple, but the two hours outside
delivering the papers in the dark made his body go numb by the time
he was done.
    He pulled his wagon into the side entrance
and sat by the potbelly stove so he could get some feeling back
into his fingers and toes. He’d been doing the same routine for two
days now and had a good feel for it. It wasn’t as good as hunting,
but it did get him out into the fresh air and the pay was decent,
from what Julia had said when he told her what his wages would be.
Anthony assured him that the man in charge of circulation was a
fair and honest person who would treat him right. So far Chogan had
no complaints.
    Noah came into the large room and sat beside
him. “How are you handling your route?”
    Chogan glanced at the bearded thin man and
shrugged. “It is job.”
    Noah laughed. “That it is. It probably
doesn’t bother you to be out in the cold. I mean, your kind lives
in teepees.”
    Chogan hid his apprehension at the joking
tone in the younger man’s voice. He estimated that Noah was
eighteen or so, but he should have known more about the Indians he
lived near. “Mandan use teepee on buffalo hunt or to seek a
vision,” he slowly explained, careful to weigh each word so he
could better form sentences in English. “We live in lodges made of
the earth.”
    “Oh, really? I thought all you people lived
in teepees.”
    “No.”
    “Hmm...” Noah shrugged and laughed. “Learn
something new every day, right?”
    Unsure of how to respond, Chogan simply
nodded and turned his attention to the potbelly stove. So far, his
tasks remained simple. Deliver papers on his route, bring food to
the other staff, and run miscellaneous errands. It wasn’t a