Killing Cynthia Ann

9 Preloch, The Queen

Preloch, The Queen A s soon as Preloch realized what had happened to her doeskin dress-and Toh-Tsee-Ah-ne's little antelope shift, too-she came out of her dutiful quiescence, and she was far from silent. She lunged at Amelia and hit her chest with a clenched fist, knocking the breath out of her. "You-you-" She could not get any words out. Silas and Elizabeth had to each grab one of Preloch's arm, to keep her from beating Amelia unmercifully . "Calm down, Sis," said Silas. "We can't be fighting like this in the family." Amelia lay on the floor, gasping for breath. "Get her out of here," she whispered. "And that little barbarian, too." Elizabeth led Preloch into the other room. "Peace," she muttered . "We make peace now. Okay?" Preloch nodded reluctantly, looking back to where Silas was helping his wife up from the floor. She felt a surge of great shame that she, a civilized person whom the tribe had taught the correct way to live, had lashed out blindly, the way a mother bear would. 92 Preloch simply withdrew. She sat on her bed or in the swing on the front porch, holding Toh-Tsee-Ah-ne and talking constantly in Comanche. "They are trying to kill us, Toh-Tsee-Ah-ne. Not with lances and war clubs or bullets but with sweet talk. They want us to take their words as our own, because they think we will then forget our own voices. They think we will forget the puha of the plains and the Palo Duro at Prairie Dog Fork. Then we will be theirs. They will have captured us completely. Then we won't know anything about Nuhrmuhr-ne, or about where we lived, or how we acted. When Our People are gone from our minds, they will have killed the Comanche in us. "We can't let that happen. We have to remember. We have to talk the language ofOur People. We have to refuse to listen to their sugar talk. We have to refuse to understand. They are world destroyers. And, worse, they do not even recognize that about themselves. They read their black book and convince themselves that they are the only people who deserve to live. All the rest are less than animals. And that gives them the right to kill everyone and everything in sight. They are trying to kill us. We must fight back; we must shield everything about us from them. "Your father is leader of the Noconis. They are the smallest but the fiercest band. When all the Quahada get together, Peta Nocona's voice is strongest in council. He is a great leader. He has many honors. I will tell you about them, so that you won't forget that you are a Comanche and know that you have a right to live with freedom and honor and integrity. "And your brothers. Remember them, too. Quanah is sixteen now; he has gone on his first raid. Perhaps he has counted coup and taken hair. Perhaps he has come home to the victory dance with a scalp hanging from his lance. "I wish we could go to them. These people can't hold us captive forever, can they? Surely, someone will come and ransom us, or raid this farm, kill all the Parkers, and take us back to Prairie Dog Fork. They've moved us so many times, I am now lost. I thought I could find my way home from Uncle Isaac's, but I was wrong. I need a guide. They have blinded my eyes and turned me around so many 93 times, I don't know where I am. "But I know what I am. I am Preloch, the wife ofthe leader. And you are a princess. We are both princesses. We are Comanches. We can be proud of that. We do not have to listen to their talk. We do not have to smile to them. We have our own path and do not have to set foot in the white man's road." When Amelia found them speaking Comanche, she scolded them. "I've told you and told you, Cynthia Ann. You may not speak that barbarous language. You've got to learn English. You're a white woman. You've got to talk like one." And Preloch would protest, "No! No!" both because...