Chapter 7

From time to time over the years, Matthew—whose other name was Bear—would get a bellyful of Ma not permitting him to be “Indian” enough, so he’d take off to see Otter who let him run around in a breechcloth and be Bear. Matthew understood Ma was just doing her best to see we survived in a white man’s world, but that didn’t keep him from feeling his blood from time to time.

Spring a year ago, his pecker got him in some trouble. He’d taken to hopping on Wind Rider, his roan gelding, and riding off to see a family of new arrivals about four miles upriver. Supposedly, he was helping the Killpennys get their farm established. And there was some of that in it for him. He and Esau Killpenny, who was just a year older than Matthew, got along okay, but it was Esau’s sister Minnie who really got his attention. She was only sixteen, but the first time I saw her, I thought she looked like Mother Earth. She was full and ripe and luscious, even though she didn’t seem to know it.