eyes staring into hers.
She had been so relieved when it lost interest in her and found its way into a storage bin of grain.
So tired, so displeased with herself and the predicament she found herself in, Dorey sighed.
She again closed her eyes and welcomed escape in the black void of sleep.
Not far away, in a hut where soft flames burned in the firepit, a snack of corn cakes was being eaten by Joshua and Twila.
Twila sat beside her father, looking slowly around her.
“Pappy, this house the Seminole gave you is so nice, and you say it is yours for as long as you wish to remain on Mystic Island?”
Twila crunched on a corn cake, filling the empty void in her belly. She had missed the evening meal when she and Lavinia had
left the mansion so hurriedly to look for Dorey. “Chief Wolf Dancer is a kind man,” Joshua said. He stretched his long, lean
legs out before him; the new buckskin breeches fit him snugly. “He took me to his shaman, who made me well, and he gave me
this home and as much food and as many blankets as I want. They are all free, Twila. I doesn’t have to pay anything fo’ them.
It’s like heaven, ain’t it, daughter?”
“Pure heaven,” Twila sighed, as she looked around her at a bed made of blankets and pelts, enough for her father to give her
some for herself when they were ready to sleep.
There were other things of comfort, too: benches upon which to sit if a person so desired, and mats of various colors spread
over the wood floor.
There were eating utensils, and jugs of water.
And there was even a bow and a quiver of arrows! That alone proved how much these people trusted and cared for her pappy!
“I still can’t believe that this is all yours, Pappy, for as long as you wish it to be,” Twila said. She swallowed her last
bite of corn cake. “Can I stay with you? Can we be a family again? Or will it be forbidden? Will I be sent away? Will I have
to return to that horrible plantation? With Dorey no longer there and Lavinia ill, perhaps too ill to return there herself,
I want to stay here with you, Pappy.”
She shivered, then reached for a blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders. “If’n I return to that place where Massa Hiram
is in charge of every-thin’, I don’t think I’ll last long, Pappy,” she murmured. “Without you and Lavinia there to protect
me, I ’magine I’d not last for long. Massa Hiram sho’ nuff likes his whip and usin’ it on we poh slaves.”
She broke into hard tears. “Oh, Pappy, where is sweet Dorey?” she cried. “Where could she be? Those mean boys. They did this
to our Dorey. They should be the ones at the end of Massa Hiram’s nasty whip. I’d laugh while they were bein’ whipped, I would.”
“Now, now, daughter, don’t talk like that,” Joshua scolded. “No one deserves to be at the end of that horrible man’s whip.”
He laughed throatily. “But that whip did do one good deed. It took the evil man’s eye, it did. I saw it happen. I had to fight
off laughin’ out loud when I saw that eyeball pop from its socket. What a sight. Yes’m, what a sight.”
“I saw it, too,” Twila said. “Lordie be, I thoughthe’d wet his breeches right on the spot like I’se seen the poh chillen he’s
whipped do.”
“We don’t have to worry ’bout that one-eyed scoundrel ever again, Twila,” Joshua said. He reached out and wrapped her in his
arms. “I know de young chief will allow you to stay with yore pappy and let you share dis house with me. I knows it, Twila.”
“That would be pure heaven, Pappy,” Twila said, snuggling closer to him. “Now if only we knew Dorey was somewhere safe and
that Lavinia would soon be well, we’d have a reason to smile ’gain, Pappy. Wouldn’t we?”
“Yes, chil’, we’ve got plenty to smile about, thanks to de young chief,” Joshua said thickly. He softly rocked Twila in his
arms. “He saved my life, and we’ve become fast friends. Now dat I know
She had been so relieved when it lost interest in her and found its way into a storage bin of grain.
So tired, so displeased with herself and the predicament she found herself in, Dorey sighed.
She again closed her eyes and welcomed escape in the black void of sleep.
Not far away, in a hut where soft flames burned in the firepit, a snack of corn cakes was being eaten by Joshua and Twila.
Twila sat beside her father, looking slowly around her.
“Pappy, this house the Seminole gave you is so nice, and you say it is yours for as long as you wish to remain on Mystic Island?”
Twila crunched on a corn cake, filling the empty void in her belly. She had missed the evening meal when she and Lavinia had
left the mansion so hurriedly to look for Dorey. “Chief Wolf Dancer is a kind man,” Joshua said. He stretched his long, lean
legs out before him; the new buckskin breeches fit him snugly. “He took me to his shaman, who made me well, and he gave me
this home and as much food and as many blankets as I want. They are all free, Twila. I doesn’t have to pay anything fo’ them.
It’s like heaven, ain’t it, daughter?”
“Pure heaven,” Twila sighed, as she looked around her at a bed made of blankets and pelts, enough for her father to give her
some for herself when they were ready to sleep.
There were other things of comfort, too: benches upon which to sit if a person so desired, and mats of various colors spread
over the wood floor.
There were eating utensils, and jugs of water.
And there was even a bow and a quiver of arrows! That alone proved how much these people trusted and cared for her pappy!
“I still can’t believe that this is all yours, Pappy, for as long as you wish it to be,” Twila said. She swallowed her last
bite of corn cake. “Can I stay with you? Can we be a family again? Or will it be forbidden? Will I be sent away? Will I have
to return to that horrible plantation? With Dorey no longer there and Lavinia ill, perhaps too ill to return there herself,
I want to stay here with you, Pappy.”
She shivered, then reached for a blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders. “If’n I return to that place where Massa Hiram
is in charge of every-thin’, I don’t think I’ll last long, Pappy,” she murmured. “Without you and Lavinia there to protect
me, I ’magine I’d not last for long. Massa Hiram sho’ nuff likes his whip and usin’ it on we poh slaves.”
She broke into hard tears. “Oh, Pappy, where is sweet Dorey?” she cried. “Where could she be? Those mean boys. They did this
to our Dorey. They should be the ones at the end of Massa Hiram’s nasty whip. I’d laugh while they were bein’ whipped, I would.”
“Now, now, daughter, don’t talk like that,” Joshua scolded. “No one deserves to be at the end of that horrible man’s whip.”
He laughed throatily. “But that whip did do one good deed. It took the evil man’s eye, it did. I saw it happen. I had to fight
off laughin’ out loud when I saw that eyeball pop from its socket. What a sight. Yes’m, what a sight.”
“I saw it, too,” Twila said. “Lordie be, I thoughthe’d wet his breeches right on the spot like I’se seen the poh chillen he’s
whipped do.”
“We don’t have to worry ’bout that one-eyed scoundrel ever again, Twila,” Joshua said. He reached out and wrapped her in his
arms. “I know de young chief will allow you to stay with yore pappy and let you share dis house with me. I knows it, Twila.”
“That would be pure heaven, Pappy,” Twila said, snuggling closer to him. “Now if only we knew Dorey was somewhere safe and
that Lavinia would soon be well, we’d have a reason to smile ’gain, Pappy. Wouldn’t we?”
“Yes, chil’, we’ve got plenty to smile about, thanks to de young chief,” Joshua said thickly. He softly rocked Twila in his
arms. “He saved my life, and we’ve become fast friends. Now dat I know
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