Matthew John Mortimer
http://www.myspace.com/matthewjohnmortimer

August 1, 2009

On our Founding Fathers and native Americans

It’s common knowledge that the colonization of the Americas by Europeans was to the extreme disadvantage of native Americans; so this paper won’t address that.  The purpose of this paper, however, is to address what experiences the Founding Fathers (the signers of The Declaration of Independence, The Articles of Confederation, and The U.S. Constitution, and those who played active roles in the forming of the U.S.A.) had with the native Americans.

Some Founding Fathers had no exposure to native Americans.  Some had little exposure, and some had a great deal of exposure.  It goes without saying….  Nevertheless, I go on, it also goes without saying that some of their relations were “friendly” and some were not.  Here follows accounts of these relations (between our Founding Fathers and native Americans).

Thomas McKean, a Pennsylvanian and signer of the Declaration of Independence was being hounded by British troops, forcing him to move his family several times.  Finally he was forced to move his family a last time as a result of “incursions” of the Indians. (1)

Another signer of the Declaration of Independence as well as a Pennsylvanian was James Wilson.  In 1777 he was sent to form a treaty with Indians in his state of Pennsylvania. (2)  He also sat on Indian Affairs committees at the Continental Congress.(3)

            In 1756 Robert Morris of Pennsylvania declared war on the Delaware and Shawnee Indians.  “Included in his war declaration was “The Scalp Act,” which put a bounty on the scalps of Indian men, women and boys.” (4)  Later in his life he attempted a parallel maneuver in the form of a different sort of “fleecing.”  He heavily speculated in a land grab but the bottom fell out leaving him in debtors’ prison. (5)

Matthew Thornton, when only a child in New Hampshire, along with his family fled from his burning home, narrowly escaping death after being attacked by a band of native Americans. (6)

            In 1795-6, another Pennsylvanian, George Clymer, and another signer of the Declaration of Independence sat on a presidential council which negotiated a treaty with the Cherokee and Creek Indians. (3)

Nathaniel Gorham of Massachusetts succeeded in getting title to over 2 million acres of Indian land and attempted to sell it, but, as it seems clear to one today that this country is based solidly on religious principles, providence necessitated that an extreme swing in the value of the Massachusetts currency should leave him in financial ruin. (3)

            William Livingston of New York spent a year living among the Mohawks as a missionary man. (3)

William Few of Georgia was his state’s Indian commissioner. Roger Sherman of Connecticut, and signer of the Articles of Confederation, sat on Indian affairs committees. (3)

William Blount, signer of the U.S. Constitution of North Carolina was a Superintendant of Indian Affairs.  However the land grab bug got up and bit him too.  Land speculations led him to financial ruin.  He wasn’t finished yet though, his colonial, founding father spirit showed him the light in getting Indians (as well as frontiersmen and British naval forces) to attempt to seize control of Spanish territories for Britain. (3)

            Benjamin Rush of Pennsylvania, a physician, and signer of the Declaration of Independence, had extensive relations with native Americans.  I believe it could be relatively safely argued that Benjamin Rush, of all of the Founding Fathers, had the most extensive relations with native Americans.  He studied and reported on native American medicinal practices.  He logged the number and history of native American diseases.  He also investigated customs and traditions to determine the extent of their involvement in native American diseases.  He examined native American culture and reported on childbirth practices, diet and nutritution, as well as customs both “peculiar and common” to the sexes.  However, he believed that his reports and results on customs and diseases, etc., would yield the same results for every native American tribe.

            Benjamin Rush observed that because native American mothers breastfed their young for two years the children would have “extraordinary vigor” saying that mother’s milk is “nothing but wholesome nourishment.”  He observed that native Americans strengthened their youth against heat and cold by plunging their children into cold water everyday.  He also observed that Indian babies were strapped to a board for six to eighteen months to make it easier for them to carry around the child.

            He believed that the native Americans’ diet of wild animals and roots and fruits helped them maintain a healthy lifestyle.  He also believed that because native Americans restrained from drinking water before long trips that they were better able to function all around.

            Rush noted that the “firmness” of native American women was a result of being domestic laborers and that this condition facilitated them in their child birthing.  He believed that because native American women began menstruation much later than their Euro-American counterparts that they were better able to handle the “convulsions” of child labor.  He noted that native American women were usually always either pregnant or suckling and that this must account for their state of health.

            Rush thoroughly believed that native Americans need only keep to three simple rules in order to maintain optimum health – to anoint the body with oil, taking a cold bath daily, and restraining from drink before dinner, travel, or work.

            Rush further believed that the Indian lifestyle of sleeping outdoors, extremely long marches, and long periods of fasting were the reasons European diseases ravaged their culture.  He also believed the only indigenous diseases were “fevers” because they were diseases of the air (outdoors where native Americans sleep).  He also brilliantly deduced that wounds and fractures of native Americans were a result of the “type of exertion native Americans engaged in.”

            Rush concluded his comprehensive study of native American health by recording their cures and remedies.  He recorded that they first chose “natural” remedies, which meant drinking a lot of water or inducing sweat, letting fractures heal on their own, or purging the body or inducing vomiting.  And their second choice would be “artificial” remedies such as caustics, astringents, and other applied materials.  He lastly noted that they also used plants, herbs, and roots to make antidotes to poisons, painkillers, etc. (7)

            Before the French and Indian War George Washington made a trip to the Ohio River valley in an attempt to gain better relations between the native Americans and the British. (3)

In 1779, George Washington launched the largest ever military campaign by the U.S. when he ordered two of his generals (John Sullivan and James Clinton) to “not merely be overrun, but destroy” three of the six Iroquois nations (Seneca, Cayuga, and Onondaga) who either sided with the British or chose neutrality.  Sullivan’s Official Report noted 40 towns burned and the surrounding fields and food supplies.  Iroquoia was left homeless and foodless before one of the worst winters on record and was never able to recover from this (8).  After the war, Cornplanter, a Seneca chief who fought against the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign, played a role in negotiating peace with George Washington. (9) 

President Washington held a meeting at noon on July 11, 1794, in his temporary presidential residence with members of the Chickasaw tribe.  The Chickasaws wanted protection from the Creek Indians and Washington wanted the Chickasaws on the side of the revolution.  Washington brought his own “peace” pipe especial for this occasion.  It was large, long and made of leather, very unlike what the sort with which the Chickasaws were accustomed.  John Quincy Adams, who was also present, wrote in his journal of the occurrence -- “These Indians appeared to be quite unused to it, and from their manner of going through it, looked as if they were submitting to a process in compliance with our custom.” (10)

In 1792 President George Washington conferred with approximately fifty tribal chiefs in the then capital city of Philadelphia.  Red Jacket, at this time, was feeling that native Americans should become educated in the ways and customs of white civilization and should have closer friendships with the new American government.   George Washington was impressed with him and presented Red Jacket with a large solid silver medal that had a picture of the U.S. president extending a hand to an Indian.  Red Jacket was proud of this medal and wore it the rest of his life. (11)

On December 8, 1795, in his seventh message to Congress, Washington acknowledged that if the new government wanted peace with and from native Americans, it must give peace to them, that if the U.S. wanted raids by indians to cease, raids by whites must also cease. (12)

Of the Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson is widely considered to be the “friendliest” towards native Americans.  When Jefferson was a boy, he had encountered a Cherokee warrior by the name of Outassete, though by the time of his boyhood, only remnants of the once large tribe of the Powhatans remained. (13)

During the revolutionary war, Jefferson wrote that the King had "endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages."  Also during the revolutionary war, while Jefferson was governor or Virginia, he met with a delegation from the Kaskaskia Indians of the Illinois country.  This meeting was to discuss peaceful terms with them, as the state of Virginia had sent a force to attack those Indians and their British allies.  During the meeting Jefferson expressed that he wished that native Americans would adopt white “ways” so that it would be easier to live together in peace. (13)

In Jefferson’s only book, Notes On The State Of Virginia, he wrote that Mingo chief named Logan lamented the loss of his family and that this lamentation should be considered the equal of any great European oration.  Jefferson wrote to the Marquis de Chastellux that he believed native Americans to be equal in body and mind to whites if only they could be raised as whites to prove this (14).  While Jefferson, with the Delaware Indians, held that he wanted them “to form one people with us, and we shall all be Americans,” he was referring to native Americans living as whites. (9)

The extreme desire for land finally hit both the presidency and the new nation during Jefferson’s presidency.  It can be seen with regard to the presidency in a letter from Jefferson to future president William Henry Harrison, just before the Louisiana Purchase, Jefferson suggested that native Americans should purchase goods on credit so that when they get in debt land could be used to satisfy the debt.  And it can be seen with regard to the new American nation when Thomas Jefferson purchased for the U.S. the Louisiana territory. (15)

It’s a good thing the U.S. had Rush, Jefferson, and Washington’s “charitable” attitudes towards native Americans.  Without it, having to rely on the other Founding Fathers (many who apparently had little or no exposure to native Americans, as well as those who chose to fleece them of their scalps, lands, or both), we wouldn’t be able to stand as securely as we do on the moral high ground.

References

1. Mikkelson, Barbara, and David P., 1995-2009. (http://www.snopes.com/history/american/pricepaid.asp)

2. www.adherents.com, 2005.  (http://www.adherents.com/people/pw/James_Wilson.html)

3. www.archives.gov, 2009.  (http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_founding_fathers_pennsylvania.html)

4. www.LegendsOfAmerica.com, 2003-9. (http://www.legendsofamerica.com/NA-Timeline.html)

5. Evisum, 2000. (http://www.robert-morris.com/)

6. www.Ancestry.com, 2009.  (http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/SCOTCH-IRISH-CULTURE/2007-12/1196630275)

7. Unknown author, Dr. Benjamin Rush and His Interest in Indian Medicine. (http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~landc/2003/projects/projects2001/medicine/riindmed.html)

8. Spiegelman, Bob, 2004.  Sullivan/Clinton Campaign Then And Now (http://www.sullivanclinton.com/)

9. David Hurst Thomas, et al. The Native Americans; An Illustrated History. Turner Publishing, 1993.

10. A Boat Against The Current.  (http://boatagainstthecurrent.blogspot.com/2009/07/this-day-in-presidential-history.html)

11. Answers Corp., 2009. Red Jacket. (http://www.answers.com/topic/red-jacket)

12. Thompson, William Norman.  Native American Issues.  ABC-CLIO, 2005.

13.Monticello.org, 2003.  (http://www.monticello.org/jefferson/lewisandclark/virginiaindian.html)

14. Monticello.org, 2003. (http://www.monticello.org/jefferson/lewisandclark/enlightenindian.html)

15. Monticello.org, 2003. (http://www.monticello.org/jefferson/lewisandclark/presidentindian.html)

Still Waters

A novel by

Matthew John Mortimer

Introduction
The characteristics of flowing and non-flowing water are universally known. When water rushes by it seems clear and clean; when it’s stagnant, it becomes green, slimy, and murky. Frogs, lizards, and snakes seem to prefer this latter kind of water. Frogs hop and splash without care or want of care. Lizards dart here and there and snakes crawl all slimy and wet through the green growth to Our Lord.
One snake finds a home in a naïve and innocent Italian-American teen girl named Donna. Delbert (the snake) some how managed to sell or connive his way into Donna’s virgin vagina. As a result, Donna became pregnant, so, they HAD to get married, and did. They were wed in holy matrimony and, while Delbert sold his way in and out of job after job, they traveled the great USA having child after child. Donna was doing her catholic duty while Delbert went on selling.
They eventually settled in a very small town that’s divided by a set of railroad tracks. On the south side of the railroad tracks there is a three hundred year old ocean-fishing village populated mostly by Caucasian Americans. On the north side of the railroad tracks there is a Levittown-type development populated mostly by African Americans. In that development on a street called Lewis Avenue is where Donna and Delbert Templar settled with their ten children.
Delbert Templar is the father. Delbert means "exalted one," although he likes to go by the nickname "Buddy," meaning "friend." It would turn out that he was much more of a friend to everyone except his wife and children. Donna Templar is the mother. Donna means "lady." She liked to sing along to songs on the radio and had a very pretty voice. A little later in life she’d have a voice that would sing straight through to one’s bones. Donna and Delbert were married when Donna was sixteen and Delbert was twenty-one.
Delbert is of Irish/English heritage and from a catholic family. He likes his drink, especially beer. Delbert has two siblings, a sister and a brother. Donna is from an Italian catholic family and is an only child. She is somewhat of a devout catholic; she doesn’t go to church as often as she used to, but she agrees with and believes in nearly all of the church’s tenets. It’s something of a mystery how they wound up together, however once Donna became pregnant, nothing else mattered. They had to be responsible.
The first child they named Gemini. It turned out to be quite an appropriate name as he had two personalities, one of good and one of evil.
The second child they named Misha, which means "one who is like God." It would turn out that many people would look up to him so he also was appropriately named.
The third child they named Simon, meaning "rock" or "stone." He will one day become the rock upon which Donna leans.
The fourth child was named Danek, meaning, "God is my judge." Through most of his early life he was quite violent towards his younger siblings. Some time around Danek’s puberty, Gemini injected him with a hypodermic needle full of a household cleaning solution. Thereafter Danek was something of an idiot. He rarely spoke. It seemed the only one who could have communicated with him, as well as judge him, was God.
The fifth child was named Caitlin, which means "pure and virginal," and she was quite naïve and innocent. Later in life, as she struggled to maintain her air of innocence, that air of innocence would be to her detriment.
The sixth and seventh children were fraternal twins. Jarrett, which means "strong spear," came first. He would later be known for throwing quite a few zingers here and there. The second was named Pepi which means "God will increase," as He obviously did on this occasion.
The eighth child and the seventh son was named Ian which means "God is merciful." Ian spends the first year of his life in the hospital suffering from infantile seizures, and the rest of his life suffering from chronic asthma and several psychiatric disorders.
The ninth child was named Jamie, which means supplanter. He supplanted his father’s baldness, irresponsibility, and heterosexual libido, but in a one hundred percent friendly, mostly non-alcoholic way. Likewise he was a bit of a rambler, a traveler. He’d ramble all over town and in and out of school and in and out of bed with various like-minded female teen explorers.
The tenth child was named Tesa, meaning harvester. She harvested the savings of her dead brother, effectively robbing her nephew and nieces of their birthright.
All ten children are very roughly a year or two apart. Donna had given birth to all ten children by the age of thirty-two, and in accordance with the then-current medical thinking of the 1950’s and 1960’s, none of her children were breastfed.
So, here we are at the Templars’ residence on Lewis Avenue. The Templars are neighbors to the Storksbills, an African American family. Delbert hates being neighbors to a black family so he declares a family rule that Donna and the children are not to let any black people into the house. Delbert thinks all black people want to luxuriate themselves on welfare. Donna and the children never cared about race. When Delbert’s not there, they don’t follow his rules. J
Delbert, as a means of attempting to pacify Donna and the children (to prove that he’s not a racist), makes friends with a Puerto Rican family (the Garcias) who live across the street and on the next block. This is just a show; Delbert’s heart is clearly not in it, and everyone knows it. The Garcias have a son named Georgie who has a cleft palate. Georgie pronounces his name "nortny." All the neighborhood children make fun of him, including most of the Templar children.
Donna befriends the Storksbill family and attempts to make excuses for Delbert. The Templar children also befriend the Storksbill family. Donna likes Motown music, as does the Storksbill family, and most of the Templar children. She occasionally exchanges records with Mrs. Storksbill. One day, while Delbert is at work, Donna has Mrs. Storksbill over for a cup of coffee. Mrs. Storksbill tells Donna to get rid of "that snake" and collect welfare for the ten children. Mrs. Storksbill tells her that she and the kids would be much better off without the exalted one.
Nevertheless Donna and Delbert stayed together. Donna plodded on in homemaking drudgery while Delbert plodded on to save his family and country by working as a printer on the day shift. Only Donna brought it to his attention that he had no choice about working for his family, that he had a lot of mouths to feed, including Ian’s, despite Ian’s problems with food.
Ian loves the days when Delbert is at work, but hates the evenings because of dinner. Ian doesn’t eat his dinner. Occasionally it’s because he doesn’t like it, but mostly it’s because it upsets his stomach, so he doesn’t eat it. He starves. He starves day after day. Delbert’s dinner rules are strict. One must clean one’s plate. All the children do except Ian, consequently, Ian must go to bed without dessert, furthering his starvation.
There are only three bedrooms in the house. All of the brothers sleep together on two separate beds in one bedroom. Simon, Danek, Jarrett, and Pepi sleep in one bed; and Gemini, Misha, Ian, and Jamie sleep in the other bed. That’s, all eight boys, from toddlers to teens, sleeping together. The two girls have another bedroom and Delbert and Donna have the master bedroom.
One day, when returning home from a supermarket, Pepi was bringing a bag of groceries up the cement steps to the entrance of the house. Delbert was coming out of the house. Delbert bumped into Pepi, knocking him down the stairs and into a used kitty litter pan that was sitting near the bottom. Delbert, for the remainder of the day, as a punishment, made Pepi stay in the house. Pepi wasn’t allowed to play outside with the other children. Apparently Pepi inappropriately deigned to appear in the exalted one’s path. Donna gave Pepi a dish of ice cream in the kitchen.
On another occasion Delbert thought it necessary to baptize his children with a garden hose. Delbert and all of the children were on the front lawn. Delbert used a standard watering gun but depressed it all the way so that there was a concentrated high- pressure stream of water. (Ian was skin and bones, in addition to his illness). Ian said he didn’t want to get wet because it was too cold. Delbert sprayed him anyway. To Ian (a skinny, sickly four year old) it felt like a water cannon. Ian ran into the house crying. Delbert yelled at him, "Ya big baby!"
Still, on another occasion, there’s a confirmation. Donna wanted each and every one of her children to be a confirmed catholic. She wanted each one to have his or her own confirmation day, just as she had had in her childhood, with flowers and cake and presents. She also felt that they should receive the holy sacrament consciously and understand and sincerely feel the commitment. She knew that it was the father’s responsibility to see that it’s done. She knew that that sort of education is the father’s responsibility. She would tell that to Delbert over and over again. And over and over again he’d reply that he was taking care of it. And so he did.
Delbert got his wheels spinning and came up with a plan.
"Efficiency is the order of the day," he sold Donna. (Donna was an unwilling buyer, but she had no choice.)
One cold clammy and rainy day Delbert got all the children dressed up in their Sunday-it’ll-have-to-do, or as Donna liked to express, "dressed like soup sandwiches." He and Donna piled them into their two cars and off they went. One car was a rusty pink Rambler station wagon; the other car was a rusty green Rambler station wagon.
At the church, Delbert placed all of the children in line, including baby Tesa nearly a year old, and Jamie, only two years old. Obviously Jamie and Tesa could barely speak or in any way understand the commitment they were making. But Delbert got around that somehow. No doubt it was a head-spinning scheme that had all the angels in heaven cheering him on. Bishop Wolfcubson did his duty faithfully. All ten children were confirmed at once. To mark the solemnity of the occasion, Delbert took all of the children to a public park that had wet slides and wet swings with puddles underneath.
Despite some extremely trying times, these days at the house on Lewis Avenue contained a few of the most peaceful days of Ian’s life.
In the living room, there’s a birdcage of the type that stands on the floor and towers up to one’s height. It has yellow finches and canaries in it. They like to sing. Ian always felt comforted by their chatter. He liked to sit in the living room and watch and listen. Often the windows would be open and the sheer curtains would flutter in the breeze.
Many times, on a clear spring day, with that gentle breeze and the sound of the wind through the leaves in the trees, the music of Motown on Donna’s stereo would make the house seem heavenly to Ian. The Supremes lull Ian to peace. Their music is as light as air. He sits, alone, on the couch or on the grass in the shade on the lawn outside a window and listens. He thinks heaven must’ve smiled on him and sent him an angel in human form. The angelic voice of Lady Diana Ross wafts through the house with that gentle breeze, sailing through the air and into Ian’s soul.
Ian had his fifth birthday at the house on Lewis Avenue. His maternal grandfather (who is an Italian Catholic) came. Ian got a present, which was a board with a face on it and knobs on the sides. The knobs were used to change the characteristics on the face. His grandfather gave each of the children a quarter.
There were even a few times that Delbert acted almost human, usually only when he first began drinking. He’d give the children some spare change so they could go around the corner to a penny candy store on Walker Avenue. The candy store occupied a small storefront in an abandoned supermarket shopping plaza.
Occasionally, Ian, or one or more of the children, would ride in the far back of one of the Templar’s rusty pink or green Rambler station wagons while Delbert would drive to pick up beer or go drinking at a neighborhood bar. Ian and the other children would love to go to the bars with him as it always meant Delbert would be on good behavior, and because the environs of the inside and outside of the bar seemed quite an adventurous playground.
Within a year after Ian’s fifth birthday, Delbert managed to sell his way into the purchase of a much larger home on the other side of the railroad tracks. Donna’s father purchased it for them in his name. It happened to be next door to an old army drinking pal of Delbert’s named Patty O’Brien.
(The yellow finches and canaries had died only weeks before.)
 
 
 
 

Homestead Lane
Chapter 1
This larger home is located on Homestead Lane. It’s a split-level ranch on a half-acre property with a small pond in the front yard. The entrance is between floors. One would have to enter by ascending a large flight of stairs. Then one could decide to go upstairs or downstairs. The upstairs consists of a living room, a dining room, a kitchen, a bathroom, and three bedrooms. The downstairs consists of a very large playroom, a den, a half bath, and a two-car garage. Donna and Delbert sleep in one of the bedrooms upstairs. Another of the bedrooms is used by the two girls, Caitlin and Tesa. And the third of the bedrooms is shared by Danek, Jarrett, Pepi, Jamie, and supposedly Ian. Ian is supposed to share a bed with Jamie (now four years old), but Jamie wets the bed almost nightly, and Ian has long been attached to Misha, so Ian always sleeps downstairs in the den with his much older brother. Gemini also has a bed in the den. Simon usually sleeps on the couch in the living room, or on the couch in the playroom. Many times Ian and Misha would watch "Speed Racer" on the television in the playroom outside Misha and Gemini’s bedroom (the den).
Approximately a year after the Templars moved in, Delbert and Donna came home from a party at about four in the morning. They got into an argument. Delbert hit Donna with the butt end of a rifle, tearing her dress. Misha and Gemini chased Delbert out of the house. (Delbert had been cheating; he went to live with his mistress.) He was very rarely heard from thereafter. Donna called Mrs. Storksbill (her former African American neighbor from Lewis Avenue) to ask her if she could show her how to apply for welfare. Mrs. Storksbill came over straight away and took Donna to the welfare office. Mrs. Storksbill stayed with Donna all day while at the office, helping and consoling her. Mrs. Storksbill was a heavenly soul.
Often, through the years the Templars lived in this house, in the playroom downstairs, and sometimes upstairs in the living room, Gemini would gather his friends and neighbors and put on a show. The audience would usually include some of the five O’Brien girls who lived next-door. He’d force Jarrett and Pepi to strip naked and roll around on the floor. Sometimes he’d try to get Ian to do it too but Ian refused. He gave all three of them nicknames—Jarrett became Sergeant Schultz, Pepi became The Gestapo, and Ian became Mengele. He made them salute in the nazi fashion and with the nazi shout, "Heil Hitler!" He made them pronounce it perfectly. He dressed them up with some make-do facsimile of a nazi outfit and made sure they all had on shoes. When they saluted they would have to click their heels together and raise the arm straight up. It had to be done perfect else Gemini would threaten some terrible punishment.
Sometimes the punishment would be sending one or more of the three little boys down the dark hall upstairs and into a dark bedroom for some extremely important object that Gemini must have at that moment. When the victim would get to the location he would scream in a very loud and terrifying voice, "The Boogie Man is gonna get you!"
Another punishment would be to make the three little boys stand with arms extended straight out. Then he’d shout, "don’t you dare move!" He’d make them hold their arms up like that as long as he could, continually threatening much worse punishment should any of the little boys put their arms down. The show wouldn’t close but would dissolve into a drug-laced stupor. Gemini and his friends would blend into the sofa and the three little boys would fall asleep on the floor, never having left their spots. The three little boys wouldn’t know it until the next day, or how or why, that they had been given a reprieve.
One day Ian is returning home from a hospital with Donna and her friend Mrs. Vanderbilt. Ian (now six years old) doesn’t know why he was in the hospital, or why there’s a bandage wrapped around his head. He doesn’t remember any of it, and it doesn’t matter. The house is in chaos. Donna had kicked Misha out of the house. Misha went to live with neighbors three doors down. All of the Templar children were upset; they said Misha was kicked out of the house for selling marijuana. Everyone liked Misha. No one talked to Ian. Donna told Ian to go and sleep in her bed.
(After this hospitalization Ian becomes even more sickly, regularly. The slightest bit of stress exacerbates his asthma. His mother treats him with some care and lets him get out of doing housework. All the siblings tease him because he’s getting special treatment.)
Ian did as he was told but soon came out of the bedroom and into the living room where Donna, Mrs. Vanderbilt, and some of the children were sitting. Ian said that he didn’t want to sleep there but would rather sleep on the couch. Donna let him. Ian was in a fog and he didn’t know it. His mother and siblings moved about him without notice. It was as though he were watching them on television. No one would talk to him.
Ian couldn’t sleep. He tells Donna, "I’m bored."
Donna tries to make light of the situation, "Why don’t you try fishing in the pond? Use the cleaning bucket for your catch, but clean it out first."
"ok," says Ian. He went into the kitchen and opened the cabinet under the sink, picked up the bucket and brought it into the bathroom to wash it out. He washed it and carried it outside to a bench in front of the pond, placed the bucket on the bench, and began looking around for a stick. He found one approximately two feet in length and brought it in the house (upstairs to the living room) to ask Donna if he could have some yarn to tie on the end of the stick.
Ian asks, "mommy, can you put a string on my fishing pole?"
"Alright," answered Donna. Donna looks around in her sewing basket. She takes out a drapery hook and bends and shapes it into a makeshift fishing hook. She ties one end of a two feet length of yellow yarn to Ian’s stick and the other to the drapery hook and says, "I’ll give you a hook too, now go catch some fish."
Ian takes his fishing pole and goes back out to the pond. He places the bucket on the ground, then drops his line in the water and sits on the bench. The water is green and murky. There’s a green film on the water surface around the edges of the pond. Ian stares into the pond. He feels light-headed. He stares at the surface of the water and notices its qualities. When light hits the pond in certain ways the pond shimmers. The shimmer is broken by a small amount of tadpoles near the surface. He notices some larger tadpoles eating some smaller tadpoles. The tadpoles return to the depths and the shimmer returns. Ian stares fixedly at the shimmer, unaware of time. He begins to see images, moving images, as if it were a movie. He sees a man hiking along a mountain stream. The man seems happy and content. Ian thinks the image is tranquility. He puts his hands together and scoops up the water that displayed his images, pouring it into his bucket.
It’s getting dark and Mrs. Vanderbilt walks out of the house and towards her black Volvo. She says, "Goodbye Ian, it’s almost dinnertime, you’d better get in the house."
Ian says, "goodbye."
He picks up his bucket, leaves his fishing pole, and goes into the house. There’s a lot of noise coming from the kitchen, clanging pots and such. He brings the bucket downstairs to the playroom and sets it beside the couch. No one else is in the playroom. Ian turns on the television and tunes it to the PBS channel where he usually sees shows about nature such as Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. He sits on the couch and watches with extreme intent.
Ian hears from upstairs Donna saying to someone, "Go and see if Ian is eating dinner tonight."
Simon comes downstairs, "Ma wants to know if you’re eating dinner tonight."
Ian asks, "What’s for dinner?"
"Spaghetti."
"ok"
Simon runs upstairs, "Yeah ma, he’s eating dinner."
Ian is watching a show about Muskrats. The television says, "Muskrats live in large family groups that’re spread out over a large territory. If it gets too crowded, the females will drive the youngsters away. Sometimes female muskrats will even eat their young."
Ian hears from upstairs Donna bellowing, "It’s time to eat!"
Ian picks up his bucket and goes upstairs to the kitchen. The kitchen table has a cracked formica surface with a rusting chrome trim around the edges. The chairs are mismatched (from two different kitchen sets) and have torn vinyl seats and backs with various amounts of foam stuffing sticking out of the cracks. Ian finds a place to sit and commences eating. Donna, Jarrett, Pepi, Caitlin, Jamie, and Tesa are also seated at the kitchen table. Gemini, Simon, and Danek come into the kitchen to get a plateful, then go into the living room to eat while watching television.
Jarrett says, "Jamie, why don’t you put your bowl of spaghetti upside down on your head? Wouldn’t that be funny?"
Jamie smiles, and does it.
Donna moans, "Why’d ya tell him to do that? Are you gonna clean it up?" Donna doesn’t wait for a response, "Yes! you are!" She says to everyone, "When we’re all done, Jarrett will clean the table and floor, and he’ll wash the dishes too."
Donna asks Ian, "Why’d you bring the bucket? Catch anything?"
Ian is still feeling light-headed. He shrugs, "I don’t know."
They all finish dinner and go into the living room to watch television while Jarrett clears and cleans the table and washes all the dishes. Ian sits on the floor with his bucket. Donna sits on the couch. It’s a long black couch with rusting chrome legs that Donna got from the Salvation Army. Most of the other children pile on the couch. They’re watching the news.
From the television news, a snippet before it’s cut off, "…four dead at Kent State."
Donna changes the channel and says to Gemini, "I’ve told you so, so, many times, don’t put the news on when your little brothers and sisters are around! I don’t want them to see or hear about any of it!"
Ian says, "I didn’t look, mommy."
Ian had been listening to the news from the kitchen and was taken in by the worldly events. He liked to picture in his mind what far away places would look like such as China, Africa, Indonesia, and South America, but felt ashamed for lying about listening to the television news. He also felt exposed on the floor. Ian didn’t understand his feelings. He moves across the floor, curls up at his mother’s feet, and lays down. Ian was lost. He didn’t understand anything. He had become very shy. It was as if shame had been smacked into him. He could no longer look anyone in the eyes. His eyes would be from now on most often down-looking or sideways glancing. He was afraid people would see him.
Donna shifts her feet and says, "Don’t lay at my feet."
Ian begins to cry.
Donna says, "Here, lay down on the couch right here. Simon, Caitlin, and Pepi get up so your brother can lay down. Caitlin, go to my room and get me a pillow and the pink fuzzy blanket."
Caitlin brought out the pillow and blanket. Caitlin put the pillow on the arm of the couch and Donna says, "Ian, lay down here."
Ian lays down, places the bucket on the floor in front of the couch, and covers himself with the blanket. Donna doesn’t tuck him in and Ian knows it. Ian watches television and falls asleep on the couch. Donna and all of the children eventually go to their rooms to go to sleep.
 
 
Chapter 2
It’s night-time and dark. There’s a chilling gentle breeze flowing through the house, some windows are open. Ian wakes up and sits up. He pulls the pink blanket around the back of him to keep warm, much like a cape, and hops to the floor. He picks up his bucket and steps softly. "It’s oh so quiet!" Everyone’s sleeping. A cat quietly pounces to the floor. Not a stir. Ian walks around the house. He feels peace as if it hadn’t existed before. He doesn’t know, he’s only six years old. He goes downstairs to the garage. There are Big Wheels in there with a lot of room for wheeling. Ian situates the garage clutter in such a way so that he can have a race-track. Ian gets on his Big Wheel and peddles around the track. He is thinking of Iceland. He thinks it’s a magical place. He had seen a show on television describing its culture and history and was completely absorbed. He thinks Iceland is a paradise. Ian wishes he could live there. He gets tired and goes back to the couch and back to sleep.
Ian wakes up to a clear late-summer day and is ready to play. Here and there around the house is the noise of waking humans. Gemini comes upstairs. Donna is in the kitchen making breakfast.
Gemini walks into the living room and says, "Ian, come with me outside, I’ll show you how and where to pick some very good berries to eat."
"ok"
They go out the front door and around to the side of the house.
Gemini says, "Ian, check this out, this is a raspberry bush, and there’s more over there, and over there. Help me pick berries and put them in this bowl."
Ian eats a raspberry, "I like berries."
Gemini says, "don’t pick the green ones or the ones with the white tips cause they’re not ripe yet."
"ok"
"Hey little brother, wanna go fishing with me next week?"
"yeah, where?"
"Down at the docks."
"How will we get there?"
"We’ll walk, it’s not too far, and if you get tired I’ll carry you some ways."
"Which way?"
"Which way will we walk?"
"Yeah"
"Doesn’t matter to me, you wanna go down Kramer Street or Howells Street?"
"Howells Street, cause I like the trees."
"Hey, look at this, it’s a daddy-long-legs, it’s like a spider but not a spider, it won’t bite. Here."
Gemini puts the daddy-long-legs on Ian’s leg.
"It tickles."
"Yeah… do you think we have enough?"
"Yes"
"Good, let’s go."
Gemini scooped up Ian and the bowl of berries and walked towards the house. He went through the sliding glass doors to the playroom and up the stairs to the kitchen.
Gemini puts Ian down and says, "Ma, we picked some berries for breakfast."
Donna says, "Very good Ian, you can put them on your pancakes. Let me rinse them first. Gimme them. Thank you, Ian"
Ian says, "And Gemini too."
"Yes. And Gemini too, thank you. Oooo raspberry pancakes, mmmm. Everyone oughta be happy with breakfast today."
Jarrett comes in the kitchen, "What if they’re not?"
Donna says, "They’d better be, or else!"
Jarrett says, "Or else what?"
Donna says, "Or else what? I’ll slap you!"
Jarrett ducks and laughs.
Ian asks, "Where’s daddy?"
Simon answered, "He flew the coupe, he’s gone."
Donna adds, "And good riddance! That…." Donna bites her finger and leaves the kitchen.
Ian says, "Good, cause he’s mean. I don’t like him."
Caitlin says, "You’re not supposed to talk about your father like that. You have to show some respect."
"I don’t care. I don’t like him anyway."
There’s a sound of a thud, then the sound of Donna crying. Donna comes running out of her bedroom holding a broken wooden crucifix container with a broken string of rosary beads inside, "Who broke these?!! I wanna know right now and I want the truth. Do you hear me?!! Do you hear me?!! I wanna know who broke these right now!!! Gemini, did you break these?"
Gemini responds, "no ma I didn’t do it."
Donna says, "You know it’s a sin to lie to your mother!"
Gemini says, "yeah I know that"
Donna goes on, "Alright, I want everyone in the living room right now! Simon, go and get your brother Misha and tell him to come over here right now. Danek, give me your belt. The rest of you line up here and NOW!!" Donna slaps all the children into line (in age order), meanwhile, screaming and crying.
Simon and Misha come running up to the front door and into the living room.
Misha says, "ma, what happened?"
"Someone broke my mother’s rosary beads and I wanna know who did it. All of you line up here and now! Misha, did you break these? You know it’s a sin to lie."
"no ma I didn’t, I couldn’t have, I wasn’t even here."
Donna continues the interrogation, adding slaps, smacks, and whips of the belt as her mood and convenience allowed.
"Simon, did you do this?"
"No."
"Danek, did you do this?"
"no "
"Caitlin, did you break my mother’s rosary beads?"
"no"
"Jarrett, did you break my rosary beads?"
"no"
"Pepi, did you break my rosary beads," she adds a whip of the belt, "they were given to me as a present by my mother!!!!"
"no"
"Ian, did you break my rosary beads?"
"no"
"Jamie, did you do this?"
"no"
"Tesa, did you do this?"
"no"
"No, no one did it! You know it’s a sin to tell a lie. I wanna know who broke my mother’s rosary beads right now!!! So help me…I’ll whip each and every one of you until I find out who did it."
Donna proceeded to do just that. All along down the line from the oldest to the youngest. She required them to line up on the floor on their hands and knees so that she could whip their backsides with the leather belt. All the children were crying. When she got to Ian, Ian grabbed the belt and screamed, "I didn’t do it and you know it!" Donna did know that and made a show of hitting Ian with the belt, but she hit him very softly. She moved on to the next child and eventually completed the punishment for violating her infinitesimal house of prayer. Donna never hit Ian again. Later Ian realized that it was his brother Jarrett "queening out" and playing dress up with high heels who broke them. It wouldn’t be until much later that Ian would realize this is where his mother’s heart was broken. Donna’s mother died when Donna was near puberty; the death had hit her hard. Donna worshipped her mother and treasured the only heavenly linked remembrance she had of her.
 
 
Chapter 3
Later that month in Ian’s first-grade class a bit of fallout. All the children are sitting on the floor staring blankly. They just finished their milk and cookies and are waiting to go outside to play. Lily says, "Ian, you have new shoes."
"Yeah"
"They’re big shoes!" They were a half size too large. Donna started to buy clothes and shoes that the children could grow into rather than out of (to save money). They looked doubly large on Ian because Ian was "skin and bones."
"Yeah"
"Lemme hear you stomp!"
Ian proceeds to stomp his feet on the floor while walking in circles, trying to make as much noise as possible.
Ian and Lily laugh.
Lily takes a ball out of her bag. She says, "Ian, see how far you can kick this ball."
Ian kicks the ball with all his might. It goes across the classroom and out the open door to the playground.
Lily says, "I’ll get it when it’s time to go out."
Andy comes over to play. Lily tells Andy, "Tell him to kick something."
Andy says, "Ian, kick this backpack."
Ian kicks the backpack.
They all laughed and sat down.
Andy says, "Hey, maybe we can play kick-the-can when we go outside."
Ian and Lily agree.
Lily says, "My mommy made me a big pink birthday cake."
Andy says, "I want some."
Lily replies, "You can’t have any; it’s all gone."
Andy says, "Ian, I bet you can’t kick my hand when I hold it here." Andy stands up and holds his hand at about his shoulder level.
Ian says, "Yes I can, watch me." Ian walks away so he can have a running start. He runs and kicks up at Andy’s hand, just grazing it, then falls. He gets up, adjusting his pants and shirt, "see? I told you I could."
Andy says, "I bet you can’t kick Lily, cause she’s a girl."
Ian kicks Lily.
Lily (still sitting down) says, "hey, you can’t kick me."
Andy says, "I bet you can’t kick Lily in the face, cause you’re not supposed to hit someone in the face."
Ian says, "yes I can," and does just that.
Ian kicks Lily in the teeth. Lily begins crying, covering her mouth. There’s a little blood. Andy yells, "teacher, teacher, Ian kicked Lily in the mouth."
Ian starts crying. It takes a few seconds over the din of children talking for the teacher to realize what happened. She comes over and grabs Ian’s arm and says, "You’re going to the principle’s office young man." The teacher brings Ian, by the arm, lecturing all the way, "What in the world would make you do that? I don’t understand. You’re always so nice." They enter the principle’s office. "Sit in that chair and stay there until I tell you." The teacher leaves Ian alone and goes back to her class.
After a few minutes the principle comes into the room. "Ian, why’d you kick Lily?"
Ian is still crying, "I don’t know."
"Well, wait here while I phone your mother to come and get you."
The principle’s office has plush furniture. Ian thinks it’s luxurious. He stops crying. He doesn’t mind waiting because he likes the furniture. Ian is alone in the office. The principle called Donna to tell her about the problem and asked if she could come and get Ian. Donna said she was working and would it be ok to let Mrs. Storksbill pick up Ian. The principle said it would be ok.
Mrs. Storksbill drove up in a brown Ford station wagon. The back seat was down showing a cavernous cargo space so Ian had to sit in the front seat. He wanted to go in the back and roll around in the big open space of the back of that station wagon. It was carpeted all over, so it looked comfortable, but Ian just sat there. Mrs. Storksbill says, "What did you do? You kicked some girl?"
Ian says, "yes"
"Now why did you do that? That wasn’t very nice. Why’d you do that?"
"Lily said I couldn’t do it."
"So if someone tells you you can’t do something, you got to do it, huh?"
Ian doesn’t know what to say and doesn’t say anything. There’s a long silence.
"Alright. You’ll be fine long as you don’t kick no more girls." Mrs. Storksbill Laughs to herself.
Mrs. Storksbill pulls into the parking lot where Donna works. It’s a day care center run by the local co-op. Donna is the cook. Mrs. Storksbill says, "c’mon Ian, this way to the kitchen."
They go into the kitchen of the day care center. Donna is washing out some large pots. Donna says to Ian, "go over there and sit down in that chair and wait." Ian does as he’s told. He waits for what seems to him to be an extremely long time. He twists and turns in the chair but never dares to speak or stand up. He waits. Finally Donna comes over and says, "Ian, get your things, let’s go home."
When they got home, in the living room, Donna asked, "Ian, Why’d you kick Lily?"
"Because she said I couldn’t."
"Because she said you couldn’t, ok, why don’t you go fishing, Ian? And think about what you did!"
Ian does as he’s told. He goes out to the pond with his bucket and fishing pole. He sits down on the bench, drops his line into the pond, and stares into the blankness of the shimmering pond. He begins to see images again. He sees the same man again, hiking along a mountain stream, but this time the man has a wife and kids. Ian thinks that the image is serenity. He scoops up the water that displayed the image and pours it into his bucket.
 
 
Chapter 4
It’s early the following Saturday morning. Donna sleeps late because she doesn’t have to go to work. Ian and Jamie are watching Saturday morning cartoons.
One of the O’Brien girls knocked on the front door. It was Jane. She wanted to know if anyone wanted to get a game of kickball going in the street in front of their houses. Pepi, Jarrett, Caitlin, and Danek chose to play. Ian wanted to play also but they wouldn’t let him. They said he was too young and too sick to play. He was the same age as Jane. Jarrett told Ian, "If you’re well enough to play kickball you’re well enough to do your chores."
Caitlin furthered the point, "yeah, you must think you’re special!"
Pepi says, "he’s just faking asthma so he doesn’t have to help clean the house."
They all went outside to start the game. There were two other O’Brien girls playing, as well as some other kids from down the block. Ian went outside to sit on the curb and watch them play, but soon gets bored and goes back inside where Jamie, and now Tesa also, are watching cartoons. Ian asks Jamie if he wants to play cars in the gravel driveway. Jamie says he does. Tesa stays watching television.
In the driveway, Ian and Jamie use toy shovels to scrape along the ground, creating a network of roads and highways. The driveway is wide enough for two cars and long enough for two cars (a capacity of four cars). Sometimes they fill the whole driveway with their "town." Donna gets irritated by it but usually respects it and doesn’t park over this play area. They create super highways with turn-offs for McDonald’s or gas. They also make residential roads complete with a variety of "found" objects such as blocks of wood or cardboard boxes that serve as houses and other buildings. They create bridges, tunnels, office buildings, mountains, lakes, town centers, shopping districts, police headquarters, a hospital, a supermarket, a welfare office that gives out big blocks of barely edible cheese, and every institution of the society from which the Templars feel progressively alienated. They’d make all of the fascinating things little boys like to look at while riding in cars. Ian and Jamie were building a world of their own, for their own pleasure and leisure.
Ian says, "Jamie, let’s make the bottom of the driveway the beach, and the road can be the ocean."
Jamie says, "ok."