Oklahoma's Gold (16 page)

"Well?" Jess started, too impatient to wait for Daniel to break the silence. To her annoyance, he kept staring at the object in his hands. It was a small pouch made of deerskin with detailed red and blue beadwork on both sides. She watched while Daniel opened the drawstrings and sniff at the insides of the bag. He let his fingers run over the beads, all the while not speaking.

"What is it?" Jess tried once again.

Finally he looked up and spoke. "A pouch for herbs," was all he said, as if that explained everything.

"Oh," Jess uttered, and then sat there staring at the pouch with him, waiting.

"It's used to help cure ills and keep away the demons, I guess."

"Why did Louis give it to you?"

He put the pouch down and looked over at Jess. His worried look unsettled her somewhat, but she was more curious than anything. "What is it, Daniel

"It seems Louis and most of the other Indian farmers and ranchers believe there is some evil force at work here trying to destroy them."

If his tone weren’t so serious, Jess would have thought he was joking. Evil forces? What were these people thinking?

"Of course they believe this evil force is the white man's doing," he added.

"I don't get it. Everyone seems so twenty-first century. They use the same modern conveniences as we do, drive cars, go to school. Why would they even think of such superstitious and ancient crap?" Jess exclaimed.

"Whoa, there! First of all, watch calling it 'crap'. Someone might hear you and be greatly offended," he remarked with a raised eyebrow.

"I didn't mean …" Jess scrambled to apologize, but Daniel cut her off.

"It's okay," he said, a slight smile forming on his face. "I don't believe in it either."

She punched his shoulder playfully and smiled back. "Second of all?"

"Oh, yeah. I was going to say that there's a lot of excess baggage we carry around. Baggage in the form of culture. Not that culture is bad, mind you. It's just, some of it can be, well, it can make it difficult to cope. Anyway, it's hard to put that aside at times when many of us are afraid and can't explain what's going on. So culture has taught us about bad medicine and how to deal with it," Daniel tried to explain. "I know it's hard for you to understand, but our heritage is sometimes the only thing we can count on.

"In the past, our ancestors often lost land, lost freedom, and lost lives. Our culture was even threatened by Christianity and those civilized immigrants who wanted us to become just like them in order to fit in. But even secretly we held on to our culture," he finished. "Does that make any sense?"

"Yeah," she started. Then, reflected on it for a second before looking up at him, smiling. "It really does make sense," she added. Impulsively she reached over and gave him a hug before realizing how close the gesture brought her to Daniel. The grin on his face embarrassed her, and she quickly slid back toward the door.

"What was that for?" he asked, not willing to let her off the hook.

"Oh, it's just that you've taught me so much. You know, opened my eyes and mind to things I'd never even realized were there?  Feeling and thinking about them … it's, well, I just really appreciate what you've done," she finally ended.

"Well, I'll be," he exclaimed.

"What?"

"Here I've been throwing the wrong pitch, when all I needed to do was talk about Indian heritage to win you over," he teased, his eyes gleaming at her playfully.

"Yeah, right," she answered sarcastically and crossed her arms over her chest, as if to signal that was the end of this discussion.

Daniel shrugged his shoulders and didn't say anymore, but kept his grin. He turned down the next drive, headed toward the Stillwater farm. He was very close to Charlie and knew the man would respond honestly to the suggestions made by Louis. Daniel had to admit he was just as surprised as Jess about the explanation Tallfeather had given him, but for different reasons. Louis was always sensible-minded, not prone to Indian superstition. For him to buy into all this, well, it was a stretch, a real long stretch, in fact. He didn't feel comfortable with this turn of events. Daniel weighed the odds of how badly this could turn out. Indian medicine and the white man's law were not a comfortable mix. So, that left him a very worried man. Maybe his visit with Charlie would reveal more practical information. He certainly hoped so.

Chapter 28

"No." Charlie shook his head. "I don't agree." He had unsaddled his horse and just begun rubbing her down. "At the same time though, I still feel those snakes were no accident." He turned to look at Daniel, his arms now still at his sides, glancing briefly at Jess.

"Then what, Charlie?" Daniel questioned. "What or who did this?"

"Definitely a who. Plain and simple. The other question I have is why. Why would someone go to all this trouble? No one's been robbed. What are they gaining from this?" He fired the questions, not really expecting answers.

"So, are you going along with this foolish plan?" Daniel responded, getting to the center of their conversation, which he still found incredulous. "A shaman, Charlie? You agreed to that?"

"What choice did I have?" he defended. "There were so many at the meeting." He sighed. "You just don't know the powerful effect it had on them, everyone seeing this as the true answer to their prayers." His voice lowered to almost a whisper when he spoke again. "I want an end to it, too."

Daniel reached out and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "We all do, Charlie. But it has to be dealt with through the law, not with some religious folklore," he tried to reason. "You have influence. Try to talk some sense into these people."

"Daniel, you still don't understand. They think the law may be part of it," he whispered softly, hoping Jess would not hear. "They are truly ready for a fight. And quite frankly, so am I." He straightened his shoulders and looked defiantly at Daniel who was speechless.

Jess placed a hand on Daniel's arm. "Let's go, Daniel," she encouraged. "I think we did enough talking."

As they walked away, Daniel looked back once at Charlie who had resumed his task of rubbing down the mare. He wouldn't even glance up. Whether too embarrassed or angry, Daniel wasn't sure.

 "So, what will they do with a shaman?" Jess asked as they drove into town. They had planned to talk with Joseph Whitedeer last and see what he had to say in his defense.

"Have him perform an exorcism of sorts. Get rid of the evil spirits causing all their misfortunes," Daniel explained.

"They can hire someone to do stuff like that?" she said with skepticism in her voice.

"Why not? Catholic priests do the same thing. Haven't you ever read
The Exorcist
?" Daniel asked teasingly.

"No. I saw the movie instead," she quipped. "And it was full of crap. I'd give it two thumbs down."

Daniel laughed. He was enjoying his time with Jess. She was so friendly, funny, definitely easy to talk to, but so moody. "Well, crazy or not, that seems to be the plan."

"There." Jess pointed. "I just saw him go into that bar." She was referring to Joseph and she found it unbelievable. It was only eleven-thirty in the morning.
Who'd be going to a bar that
early
? She looked on in amazement.

"Up to his usual habits, I see," Daniel remarked.

Jess was shocked. "You mean he drinks at this time of the day?"

Daniel laughed. "I wouldn't be surprised if he poured liquor on cornflakes for breakfast."

"That's disgusting."

"And it's a shame," he added seriously.

"Yes, of course. You're right." Then a notion came to Jess suddenly and she asked, "Does he have a family?"

"Unfortunately. He has a wife and three children."

"I sure feel sorry for them."

"Don't feel too bad. From what I hear, his wife carries a mean wallop," Daniel informed her.

"You're kidding!" Jess found the idea too hard to believe. No woman in her world could do that.

Daniel nodded his head. "Yep. One time, the sheriff had to hall her in for disturbing the peace. She'd gone straight into that bar, kicked the daylights out of Joseph, and then proceeded to throw beer mugs across the room, breaking everything she could," he recalled.

"For heaven's sake, why?" Jess asked.

"She'd just found out he'd been fired for drinking too much."

"Wait a minute. I thought he worked for Uncle Fred."

"He does," Daniel agreed. "Your uncle is the only rancher around who will put up with his bad habits and not fire him."

"All the more reason not to believe he could've attacked Uncle Fred," Jess said.

"Hmm. No comment," he answered.

"Are you sure it's safe to talk to him?" Jess frowned at the thought.

"Don't worry. I'll protect you," he said, raising his eyebrows.

"As if I haven't heard that line in a million movies," she teased. They both laughed. The image of Daniel dressed in knight's armor and Jess in a full-length gown, riding on the back of his horse as they fled from the dragon was comical.

"Come on. Let's get this over with," Daniel said as he opened the car door.

Jess reluctantly did the same. She still had misgivings about going into that bar. She'd never been inside such a place and could only imagine what went on there. They'd probably walk in on brawl, a flying beer mug would strike Daniel, and a dozen drunken men would maul her. She shuddered at the vivid image her fears brought to mind.

"Everything okay?" Daniel asked, his eyes looking concerned.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Just a little over-imaginative, I guess," she explained, then smiled to dismiss his concern.

"All right then." He squeezed her hand as they walked up to the entrance. Reaching for the door, Daniel was nearly struck in the face when someone came from the other side. To their surprise, it was Joseph. Scowling, he practically shoved Daniel down to get by. Regaining his composure, Daniel managed to catch up to Joseph and Jess fell in right behind him.

"Mr. Whitedeer," Daniel started, but when the man wouldn't even look up, he added, "Joseph, please!"

Joseph suddenly stopped in his tracks, looked at Daniel as if he just realized someone was there. His face looked worn and leathery from the sun and drink. His eyes, bloodshot and glazed over, held no recognition of the man opposite him. Still, he remained. It was almost like he'd forgotten there was some place else to go.