Vignette Assignment # 1

Vignette Assignment



         It was hard for the Lancer family to live happily in the small town of Garrett Kentucky. In 1939, hill folk did not agree with mixed marriage. Seventeen year old Chenoa had been an Indian maiden. While George Lancer was a twenty four year old was Garrett Sheriff.

          Chenoa was given to George after he had saved her father, Rising Sun, from a bear attack. Though many of the Cherokee Indians no longer believed in arranged marriages, and most of the Indian tribes had moved to reservations long before. Just a few small clans were left to die off leaving the remaining land to the white government. However, Chenoa's tribe were true to their customs. George knew that declining such a gift would be an insult to her people.

          Chenoa stood taller than most women. Her black hair hang long down her back with two small braids running down the sides of her face with decorative feathers and beads in the strands of hair. Her cheek bones were high. She stood proud. Her back arched and pride in her eyes. She knew that this would be the life that she would have to live, and her Cherokee blood would be tarnished by her disobedience.

         George allowed Chenoa to live in his house without any physical contact for years. He taught her English and sent her to school. The one room school had many students that were not happy with an Indian squaw attending their school. She had been teased, pushed, and tortured by the other white students. George could see the warrior coming out in the beautiful young maiden’s eyes. That was when George begin to pay the teacher for private lessons.

         One evening George had come home from a hard day. There where Chenoa the Indian girl should have been standing, was a tall dark woman. She was dressed in a pale blue dress. She wore her hair in a bun with strains waving around her face. Dark eyes shining. Her feet was the only tale of who this woman was earlier in the day. There at the end of her long skirt was a pair of worn moccasins.

         George smiles as he realizes that this was when his young wife finally wanted, not from custom, to be his wife.  He runs his fingers through the strains of hair flowing around her face. “You are so beautiful.” He allows his hand to rest on her cheek for a moment. Then George walks over to the bed. He picks up her Cherokee dress. “But you are more beautiful being my Cherokee wife.” He brings her into him with the softest embrace that she had in her life. Her people did not show this kind of affection. She looks up at George not sure what was next. Their eyes meet. Their lips meet. The couple fell into each others arms.

         As time past, the two learned to love each other. George visited Cherokee ceremonies and made sure to spend time in her village. Chenoa did the same. She attended baptist sermons, attended town functions, and participated in the white-man's holidays.

         Cheona was twenty when she began to be sick. She found that she was to have George's first child. She was so happy to be giving him this child. She gave birth to Yancy meaning Englishman because his father was white. Though Yancy did not have any of the white-man's features. Next child to be born to the Lancer family was Biziil. Bizill was born weighing over ten pounds. His name meant “He is Strong”. If he were born in the Cherokee village, Biziil would have be one of the Noble Braves. The last child that the couple had was  Illanippi. She was born with her mother's same skin and features with two exceptions. She had blue eyes and blond wavy hair. Her name meant amazing.

         Their family was both respected and despised. George's job as sheriff gained the respect of the town's folk. However, their family was an abomination against God in their community. The religious fanatics who still believed that God only made people with one color skin, White. Everyone else was a mistake created by other powers such as Satan. These were the people that were dangerous for the Lancers. George had to arrest a twelve year old young man for burning his barn the year before. It was a few that made life hard, but they were a dangerous sort of people.

         The children had little time to play. However, Sunday was a different story. Chenoa would take them to the lake near her village. She would visit her family while the children played. This was the one day a week that they could be children no different than the one they were playing with. They were excepted.

         One of their favorite times were sitting in the circle with the other children. Listening to their uncle, Chenoa's brother, tell stories that had been passed down from generation to generation. Though he was a great it was easy to see why his is called Majag which in English means “Never Silent.” The children love Majag and  woke up early waiting their mother for their trip.

         One night after Chenoa read her children a Bible story and told a story from her tribe. She kisses Yancy good night. The tucks his two younger siblings into their beds. Illanippi was a tiny girl. She was only two, but wore her braids as well as any Cherokee. Bidziil was six. He had a deformity. One of his eyes turned into his nose, and he was missing three fingers from his right hand. They all had their good night love just as they did every night.

         Yancy wakes up choking. His room was filled with smoke. He could not breath. Grabbing the door knob, Yancy feels the metal burn the palm of his hand. He manages to open the door. The hall grew darker with smoke the closer that he got to his mother's and sister's room. The screams of his parents were more than he could handle standing in the smoke filled hall. He fell over unconscious.