The spittin' image of--What was your dead friend's name?"
"It is not to be spoken. He is dead, no? To say his name would not show respect. What is this to do with spit?"
"It's just a saying. When someone or something looks just like something else, it's called a spittin' image. I don't know why."
"You do not know, but you say the words? The words from your mouth say who you are, Blue Eyes. I make a lie; I am an , storyteller. I speak hate; my heart burns with hate. The People do not make talk if they do not know the words. If it is spoken, it must be. A man is what he speaks. This is not so with the ?"
Loretta shrugged and bit back a smile. "I seriously doubt I'll become spit. It's just something everyone says."
"You will learn the meaning of this spit image, no? And say it to me. When we meet again?"
Loretta tightened her hand on the reins. "Yes, we meet again."
He glanced over at her, his expression suddenly solemn. "We walk backward in our footsteps, eh? Maybe you will walk forward a new way when we reach your wooden walls. You could be a little bit happy as my woman, no?"
Loretta fixed her eyes on the horizon ahead of them. They were only a day and a half's ride from her home. A day and a half from real clothes, a chance to wash her hair, to eat her own kind of food. Yes, he had been kind to her. As reluctant as she was to admit it, she'd even come to like him a little. But not enough to belong to him. Never that.
"To be happy, I must be at my wooden walls," she said shakily. "That's my home and where my people are."
There was only tonight and tomorrow night to get through, and then she'd be home. It was almost finished.
"It is not to be spoken. He is dead, no? To say his name would not show respect. What is this to do with spit?"
"It's just a saying. When someone or something looks just like something else, it's called a spittin' image. I don't know why."
"You do not know, but you say the words? The words from your mouth say who you are, Blue Eyes. I make a lie; I am an , storyteller. I speak hate; my heart burns with hate. The People do not make talk if they do not know the words. If it is spoken, it must be. A man is what he speaks. This is not so with the ?"
Loretta shrugged and bit back a smile. "I seriously doubt I'll become spit. It's just something everyone says."
"You will learn the meaning of this spit image, no? And say it to me. When we meet again?"
Loretta tightened her hand on the reins. "Yes, we meet again."
He glanced over at her, his expression suddenly solemn. "We walk backward in our footsteps, eh? Maybe you will walk forward a new way when we reach your wooden walls. You could be a little bit happy as my woman, no?"
Loretta fixed her eyes on the horizon ahead of them. They were only a day and a half's ride from her home. A day and a half from real clothes, a chance to wash her hair, to eat her own kind of food. Yes, he had been kind to her. As reluctant as she was to admit it, she'd even come to like him a little. But not enough to belong to him. Never that.
"To be happy, I must be at my wooden walls," she said shakily. "That's my home and where my people are."
There was only tonight and tomorrow night to get through, and then she'd be home. It was almost finished.
( Catherine Anderson )
[ Comanche Moon ]
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