Little Ann



  “Little Ann”

  By M. L. Humphrey

  Copyright © December 2012

  Published by: Maurice Humphrey

  All Rights Reserved

  Cover art copyright of the author, © 2012 Maurice Humphrey. All images used are personal property of the author.

  Quiet Flower

  Hanging softly in the shadows,

  Standing proudly in the sun.

  Colors shining through the raindrops,

  Playful fragrance on the air.

  Beauty lasting but a moment,

  Gentle always on my mind.

  There you are, always beside me,

  Never forgotten, my quiet flower.

  -- M L Humphrey --(C) 2012

  Table of Contents

  Authors Forward

  Chapter 1: - Retrospect

  Chapter 2 - Quiet Flower

  Chapter 3 - Hot Summer Days

  Chapter 4 - Back Home Again

  Chapter 5 – Summer Break

  Chapter 6 - Mr. Dodd

  Chapter 7 – Squirt

  Chapter 8 - A New Home

  Chapter 9 – Mr. Babcock

  Chapter 10 - Mr. Halsey

  Chapter 11 - Reflections

  Chapter 12 - Time Passes On

  Chapter 13 - Sad Goodbye

  Chapter 14 – High School

  Chapter 15: - The School Play

  Chapter 16: - First date

  Chapter 17: - The box

  Chapter 18: - Spring Fling dance

  Chapter 19: Let the party begin

  Chapter 20: Let's Dance

  Chapter 21: Tell me all about it

  Chapter 22: Saturday night

  Chapter 23: Disaster

  Chapter 24: Officer Mellon

  Chapter 25: Principals office

  Chapter 26: Inquisition

  Chapter 27: Doctor's opinion

  Authors Forward

  This is the story of Ann, growing up as a young orphaned child under the guardianship of her Aunt Margaret who was not really her aunt but a distant relative. The story line was originally conceived as part of the book "For Lorne" but didn't quite fit in. Looking back at this fragment I had saved I decided that it could be turned into a storyline all it's own. This, then, is the story about young Ann from just after her parents were killed up through young adulthood. It is purely fictional as are the characters.

  Chapter 1 - Retrospect

  "Tell me about yourself." The voice spoke from above where I lay.

  "Well" I replied softly, I was born in the small southwestern town of Durango Colorado, on the 22nd of August, 1984"

  A smile came upon my face as I fondly remembered, "My father named me Gisselle Antoinette Lyndes but Mom always called me Ann. Just to spite him I think. Actually she just didn't like long names, sort of a family thing I learned later on."

  "Go on" the hollow voice commanded echoing through my hazy thoughts.

  "We had a happy home until I was about five. That was when my mother died and my father disappeared. I was taken in by Aunt Margaret who isn't really my aunt, but a distant relative."

  "She told me later on that my mother had been murdered and there was some speculation that my father was also killed by the same person after he went in search of the killer." I paused for a moment but the voice was quiet, silently waiting for me to continue.

  "Before father left" I droned on, "he told Aunt Margaret to look after me until he came back. But he never did and they never found his body or my mothers's killer."

  "What happened next?" the voice asked from further away.

  "We moved around from time to time even living on the reservation for a short time."

  “Why did you study Languages?” the disembodied voice asked.

  “Well, during the summer when school was out I began to hang around with one of the older Indian elders. When I could I listened to them talk."

  "Can you tell me more about it?" it voice gently asked.

  Slowly Ann settled back as her memories drifted back to those first painful years living as an orphan with Aunt Margaret.

  Chapter 2 - Quiet Flower

  It has been four years now since my parents died" I began, "Four years I've lived with my Aunt Margaret, who isn't really my aunt, but she takes care of me. It's not all bad though. I have enough to eat and clothes to wear but every time we move I have to make new friends all over again. We've moved so many times that I don't remember them that well. Some were only for a month or two.

  This time we're living on the reservation and Aunt Margaret is the bookkeeper for the casino they built last year. I have to go to the same school as the Indian kids do but it's not too bad. Most of the kids are friendly, not like my cousin Julius said. He told me scary stories about them, but they're not like that at all. He said with the color of my skin I should fit right in. He went crying to his mother after I slugged him.

  Mary Deering lives next door and we usually walk to school together. I like Mary but her older brother is scary. I don't think he knows how to smile and sometimes he doesn't talk right. He says things I don't understand. He'll run around like a wild man saying all sorts of strange things that don't make any sense. And he smells even worse.

  Then one day the state police came and took him away. He said some really bad things to them and even spit on one of them. I heard the sounds of a scuffle as Mary pulled me back into the house. We hid in her bedroom until they were gone.

  After school gets out I'm supposed to go right home and stay inside until Aunt Margaret gets home at five thirty. She doesn't always get home on time and calls me if she's going to be late. At the end of the day she would let me play outside with Mary until dark. If I had homework I'd have to be in early to get it done before dinner.

  After the first semester, I knew all of the other kids and which ones to stay away from. Mary knew other girls our age and we'd often meet at the playground for an hour or so before I'd have to be home, but I never got very close to them. They'd only play with me because of Mary.

  At the end of the semester we got our report cards. Aunt Margaret was pleased with my marks in math and science. School hadn't started off very good, but after getting to know the teacher and what she wanted, it wasn't hard at all. She had been patient while I'd gotten used to things.

  When school ended in June, I was looking forward to my tenth birthday. I knew what I really wanted, a piano. There was one at school and the teacher would sometimes play for us and we would learn songs and it was fun. Fun was not something that there was a lot of on the reservation; the only places to play were at the school or in the casino and you couldn't go in there without an adult.

  School ended just before my birthday and then Mary moved away. I was very sad as she was my very best friend in the whole world. With summer here it would be hot and dry and I wouldn't have anyone to play with. So I started hanging around at the outpost store.

  The store was small, but it had a lot of cool stuff in it. They even had a wooden Indian sitting in a chair out front. At least I thought it was until he spoke to me.

  "What are you doing, little one?" he asked one day while I was sitting on the front steps.

  I was so shocked that he had spoken.

  "Spirit got your tongue does it?" he growled.

  "Are you really real?" I asked. "I thought you were a wooden Indian."

  "Hrmph!" Then with a hint of a smile, "I am hardly petrified child." He leaned forward and intently studied my face. "Your name is Quiet Flower" he stated.

  "No, silly, my name is Giselle. But my friends just call me Ann"

  "You be Quiet Flower to me" he replied. He paused and looked at the sky. "Umm, storm coming, you should be getting home, your Aunt will be worried."

  Then he closed his eye
s. I could hear him slowly breathing as I went down the steps and ran home.

  I had just gotten my shoes off when Aunt Margaret drove into the yard. She had two bags of groceries with her so I held the door for her.

  The wind was beginning to blow as I closed it behind her. I locked the door and went into my room to read a book. The wind quickly turned into a thunder storm as the sun went down. Aunt Margaret called me to dinner just as there was a big flash of lightening and a huge roll of thunder. The lights flickered a few times but the storm passed just as quickly as it had arrived.

  Chapter 3 - Hot Summer Days

  With little to do during the summer days, I hung around the outpost and talked with the old man. He told me his name was "Silent Runner" and he was the eldest of his tribe but not the chief.

  "How come you're not the chief?" I asked him one day.

  "Hrmph!" he replied as he muttered something under his breath. I gave him a questioning look and he said "Not want to be chief, waste of time." Then said some other things in words I'd never heard before.

  Occasionally some of the other elders would stop by to talk with him but they also spoke with words I didn't understand. At first they seemed wary of me, but after awhile they just ignored me.

  I asked Silent Runner what words they were speaking. He told me they were talking in the true tongue, the language of their ancestors. I asked him if I could learn the true tongue. The old man was amused at first and taught me a few words. As the weeks rolled by, the more I listened, the more I could understand them. I learned other words from the way they used them.

  One day as they were discussing something about the weather, I asked a question in the true tongue. They were completely taken by surprise. I was a little scared at the silence, until Silent Runner asked me a question in return. Some of the words sounded odd, but I thought I understood. He had asked how I had learned to speak the true tongue.

  "From the words you taught me" I told him I didn't mean no harm, I was loved the sounds and how the words went together. All I did was to keep listening until I was sure that I could understand what they were saying.

  He then spoke to the other elders who didn’t seem to understand what we were talking about.

  "Quiet Flower is a chosen one" he said. "She speaks the true tongue better than any of you." He told them how he was disappointed in them.

  After they had all left he asked me, again in the true tongue, what I would tell other people. I told him I hadn’t told anyone that I could speak an Indian language. I’d probably be banned from coming back if they knew.

  I was surprised as Silent Runner smiled. "You are like your name Quiet Flower. You bring joy and beauty to me each day. Yet, you have wisdom beyond your years."

  "Please let me learn more" I cried with tears in my eyes. "I think it’s a fascinating and beautiful language and I’m not about to tell anyone anyway, they’ll just think that I’m wasting my time."

  "Fear not, Quiet Flower" He replied. "Come back when you can and I will teach you the true tongue as it was taught to me long ago by my grandfather. Too often the white man doesn’t trust us and looks down on those that don’t like and think as they do."

  I spent the rest of that summer learning the true tongue to his satisfaction. Then, he taught me three other languages of the south west. By the time summer was over I had learned more than most men do in several years of study.

  Ever so slowly the dry days of summer eased into the cloudier days of August. One hot and dry day I sat on the porch outside the store beside the old man. I was lost in thought staring out at the empty horizon. With Mary gone I felt an emptiness within me.

  "What troubles you Quiet Flower" he asked, "you are wilting before me?"

  Sadly I told him that school would be starting next week and I wouldn't be able to spend as much time with him and I missed my friend Mary.

  "Fear not little one" he smiled at me then gave me a small box. "I will be leaving soon, and I want you to have this."

  I opened the box and stared at what he had bestowed upon me.

  "One last thing Quiet Flower" he told me solemnly, "there are those who would not understand why I have given this to you. Treasure it as my parting gift to you, and keep it safe." He smiled once more and closed his eyes; forever.

  Ann paused in her narrative until the voice prompted her. "And what was in the box?" it asked.

  She used a tissue to wipe the tears from her face as she silently lay there.

  Unperturbed the voice asked "What grade are you in now?"

  I am now in fourth grade but school wasn't fun anymore, not with Mary gone. I had really missed her during the summer until I met Silent Runner. But he had gone away as well; and now I was alone again. It seemed that I was now an outsider with no friends. I felt awful and didn't want to go to school anymore.

  One day after school a few weeks later Aunt Margaret asked why I was crying.

  "I don't want to stay here anymore, everybody hates me!" I cried.

  "Well you won't have to worry about that much longer" she told me bruskly, "we'll be leaving soon.

  "Where will be going this time?" I cried emotionally.

  She sat down on the couch beside me. "I have been working at the casino long enough to discover that some of the counsel members have been stealing from the proceeds. I blew the whistle on them; and now we must away."

  "What does blowing a whistle do to them?" I asked numbly.

  She chuckled at that. "Thank you Ann, I needed that." She sighed. "What that means is that I informed the law about what they were doing and now they are going to jail."

  "Is that why they all hate me at school?"

  Bitterly she breathed a few words she told me never to repeat, then wistfully.

  "I really liked that job though, and now we have to leave. Don't worry Ann, we will be going back home; at least for me anyway. We'll be moving to my cousin Marty Sue's farm. She and her husband Tom have a small cottage that we can live in for awhile and the school is just down the road a couple of miles." She tousled my hair and went off to make supper.

  "When are we leaving?" I asked.

  "In the morning, Ann" she replied, "you better start packing right after supper."

  Chapter 4 - Back Home Again

  The voice was quiet for awhile so I continued.

  We packed the car in the morning, it was a school day but I wouldn't miss much, Aunt Margaret had already called the new school. I sat in the back seat and didn't look back as we headed down the dusty dirt road. In some ways it was nice to get away from the reservation. I hadn't really belonged there and now I would have to make friends all over again, but I wasn't leaving any behind either.

  Uncle Tom and Aunt Marty Sue were nice people; they weren't really my aunt and uncle, but it was what they wanted me to call them. They had three young children and Rusty was the oldest; he was seven years old and in second grade. The youngest was two years old, just a toddler, and his name was George. April was the one in the middle; she was five and definitely the one in charge. At least that's what she thought.

  Their ranch, as they called it, was on a side road off route 160, several miles west of Durango. It had its own little two room school with about thirty two students between the two rooms. I was placed in fourth grade in Miss Riley's room. Next year I would graduate to Mrs. Stark's room with three other kids.

  Being in the fourth grade, the lower grades looked up to me, including Rusty. We were expected to help them when Miss Riley was busy with lessons with the other grades. The only time we were all together was for music class.

  The other kids in my class were Brenda Stark, Mrs. Stark's daughter, Randall Kingston, and Joey Brewster. Brenda was a very outgoing girl with red hair to match her fiery temper. Her younger blonde haired brother was in second grade. Randall was quiet and shy; you'd hardly know he was there most of the time. He had two older sisters, poor guy. Joey was the tough guy. He was the one that would swing higher than anyone else or jump off the high
est stump. He would probably have climbed the highest tree if there were any around to climb. He was, of course, an only child.

  As the oldest we were to watch over the younger students during recess. Mrs. Stark's classes only did recess after lunch while we were doing music class.

  At the end of the school day I would walk home with Rusty carrying what few books I needed to complete my assignments. Occasionally, Aunt Marty would ask me to help Rusty with his homework or to babysit the kids while she went shopping. Uncle Tom worked for a rich local guy that owned a mine up north of Durango. He didn't talk about it to much though. When I had asked him about it, he'd just laughed and said he got paid good money to dig a hole in the rock.

  One day Brenda Stark and I got into a fight during recess. Miss Riley took us both into the small room in the back of the school we called the closet and spoke with us. We had been fighting over Jeremy Buxton, a boy in the sixth grade. She quietly laughed at us for awhile then gave us a stern talk about boys and a few facts of life. I learned later that a lot of what she had told us had been just to scare us.

  Brenda and I have been best friends ever since.

  Chapter 5 - Summer break

  School ended and I was really looking forward to exploring the area out behind the barn. Brenda knew of some old ruins out there but Rusty said we weren't allowed back there. I was anxious to go see for myself but winter had closed in not long after we moved in. We could also go over to the school grounds and play on the swing sets too. But I really wanted to explore out back.

  "Maybe I can get Dad to take us up to Columbus Basin or over the gap. I don't think he'll let us walk up there alone. Too many odd people coming in and out of the camp grounds this time of year" Brenda told me. "So until we get older we have to stay close to home."

  As it was, we found plenty of trouble to get into. I still had to babysit some nights and on weekends as did Brenda. And sometimes we got to do it together. The summer went by very fast and before we knew it was over and school was about to begin; next week!

  I had a lot to look forward to though; April Waite had turned six in August so I would have two kids to watch over on the way to and from school. I found that I had been looking forward to going back to school; I really felt at home here. HOME?