Killing Cynthia Ann

8 The Cowrie-Shell Dress

II The Cowrie,Shell Dress "you may not wear that dress around here, Cynthia Ann," said Amelia Parker, indicating her Comanche sheath with the cowrie shell decorations. "I won't have it. Maybe Uncle Isaac couldn't scrub your heathenish ways out of you, but I certainly will." Amelia stood in the doorway of their small white, wood-frame house with green trim. To her right was the rectangular, two-story cracker-box house so common to frontier homesteads; to her left was the one-story kitchen area with a front porch furnished by a two-seat swing. Two small girls clung to Amelia's skirt, their eyes as big as coat buttons, staring at the wild Indian. She-Mourns looked down at her dress. She did not understand her snake-eyed sister-in-law's words so much as she understood her challenge. She touched one of the cowrie shells that ringed the neck like a big yoke. This was a handsome garment, the dress of the wife of an important leader, a badge of distinction. When she wore this dress, she was called Preloch among people of the Noconi band, a name-title of honor and position. "But we won't go into that now," Amelia continued, detaching herself from the two clinging children. "I know you must be tired 86 after the trip. Not that Van Zandt County is at the end of the world, but still, being shaken around in a coach for a couple of days leaves one needing a bath and some rest. Come along," she went on, making a motion of invitation, "we'll heat some water, so you and Topsannah can have a bath." She-Mourns gazed after her a moment but did not follow. She did not quite know how to act or what was expected of her. Uncle Isaac had declared that he and Bess were too old to continue taking care of Cynthia Ann. So he hired an escort to take her and her baby to live with her brother, Silas, in Van Zandt County. A new house, new people, new demands-it was all very confusing to one who mourned the loss of so much. Amelia Parker, the one She-Mourns called Kwasinado nabituh, Snake Eyes, was a thin, wiry woman in her mid-twenties, wearing a white, puffy blouse and a long, straight dark skirt. She and Silas had three children of their own and looked after Amelia's sixteenyear -old sister, Elizabeth, who had lived with them since she was ten. Elizabeth, also fashionably dressed in a white puffy blouse and long straight skirt, came out to meet Cynthia Ann. Both women had long, dark, luxuriant hair that balled out in a thick bouffant, then swept up to be tied atop their heads. She-Mourns noticed that Elizabeth had larger breasts than her sister and thicker, healthier arms. She looked ready to make some man a willing wife. Elizabeth smiled at Cynthia Ann, said "bienvenidos," and offered to take Topsannah in her arms. "I don't really speak Spanish," she went on, "but I know a few words. I'd heard that you know more Spanish than English, so I asked a friend how to say 'welcome.' I do hope you're happy here, Cynthia Ann. I'll try to be your friend." She-Mourns liked the girl at once. She had understood enough of her words to catch the thrust of what she said. "You, me," Elizabeth continued, pointing to Cynthia Ann, then to herself, "amigos. Okay?" '~migos," agreed She-Mourns, and she allowed Elizabeth to take Toh-Tsee-Ah into her arms. "Oh, you're getting to be a big girl, aren't you?" Elizabeth cooed 87 to Topsannah, who held up three fingers to indicate her age. Silas and his oldest child, Elijah, a boy of nine, came in behind She-Mourns, after putting the horses away. "Welcome, Sis. We all hope you'll be happy with us here." "Come, Cynthia Ann," said Elizabeth, "you must be thirsty, after eating all that dust on the road. Maybe you'd like a drink of water?" She-Mourns looked at her questioningly. "Agua?" said Elizabeth, with a drinking motion. "Para tamar." She-Mourns nodded. She was parched. How thoughtful of the girl. She followed Elizabeth and the small children into the kitchen, where Elizabeth was already dipping water from an oak bucket and...