Wild Splendor

m, his stomach growling from hunger.

Wiping his eyes sleepily, Runner had looked so innocent and sweet as he waited for them to stir from their bed. Sage had playfully pulled him into the bed with them, and Runner had been oblivious that they were naked. Sage said it was best to allow him to see their nudity as a natural way of life, to see nothing in it that might embarrass him.

A sound of scampering feet and giggling drew Leonida from her thoughts. She spun around just in time to see Runner and Adam come into the bedroom. Runner’s eyes were dancing as he gazed up at her.

“See Adam?” Runner said, smiling broadly. “Pure Blossom made him a breechclout. Does he not look Navaho now, like me?”

Stunned, fearing Sally’s reaction, Leonida gasped, then knelt down before Runner and Adam and placed a hand on Runner’s shoulder. “Honey, I know that Pure Blossom meant well,” she murmured. “But I don’t think that Adam’s mother . . .”

“No, Adam’s mother does not approve,” Sally said, bursting into the hogan, her face red with anger. “I saw Adam running toward your hogan dressed—dressed as a savage.”

Sally grabbed Adam’s hand and jerked him away from Runner’s side, then up into her arms as she turned to stamp away. “I was wrong, Leonida, to offer you my friendship again,” she said across her shoulder, her voice breaking. “You might want to turn Trevor into a savage. But never will I allow you to even get near my son again.”

Adam was crying as he was carried from the hogan. Runner went to Leonida and wrapped his arms around her legs, his tears pooling in wet spots on her blue velveteen skirt. “She’s mean,” he wailed. “She’s mean. I’m no savage. Go and tell her I’m no savage.”

Although Leonida expected no less of a reaction from Sally, she still found it hard to accept. She wove her fingers through Runner’s thick black hair, then bent down and lifted him into her arms. As he straddled her with his legs, his arms clinging to her neck, he continued to sob against her bosom.

“I’m sorry that had to happen, darling,” Leonida murmured, rocking him back and forth. “You aren’t a savage, nor is Adam just because he wears a breechclout. Nor is your new daddy a savage. That word is ugly, Runner. Never should it be used in the same breath as Sage. He is more civilized than most whites I have known.”

“My new name is savage, though?” Runner said, leaning back and gazing with red and swollen eyes up at Leonida. He wiped his nose with the back of his hand. “Some of the other children who were my friends while I lived at the fort called my name savage when they heard that Sage had assigned me a Navaho name.” His lips curved into a pout. “I want to be called Trevor again.”

Leonida was torn. Here was a child having to adjust to the loss of a mother, as well as many other new things all at once.

Yet she saw the importance in his not giving in to those who wrongly tormented him. In truth, Leonida felt that perhaps the children were jealous of the special attention that Runner was getting in the Indian village. Jealousy fired much ugliness among people, children as well as adults. It was up to her to make sure that Runner knew the difference between jealousy and sincere feelings and learned how to react to both when confronted by them.

“Darling, I think your new name is beautiful, and I don’t think you should toss it away just because of what a few children said to you about it,” she tried to explain, placing a gentle hand on his cheek. “Do you think Sage’s name is savage?”

“No,” Runner said, sniffling. His trusting eyes gazed into Leonida’s. “I like his name. It is Navaho like my name, Runner? It is not a savage name?”

“I like his name also,” Leonida said, smiling at him. “And yes, it is Navaho. Now you tell me. Do you think it is a savage name?”

“No,” Runner said, his eyes innocently wide.

“Nor is your name, Runner,” Leonida said matter-of-factly. She drew him close and hugged him. “Now let’s not hear any more talk about not wanting a new name, or about the word ‘savage.’ Run on outside. There are plenty of other children that you can play with if Sally keeps Adam in his lean-to.”

As Leonida put Runner on the floor, her gaze stopped at the breechclout. She saw it as nothing short of precious in the way it fit his tiny body. And his skin was becoming tanned, soon perhaps to be the same shade of copper as the skin of the other Navaho children.

She so badly wanted life to be fair to him. He had lost so much already, and at such a young age. She hoped that Sally would see the wrong in her behavior today. Runner was just a child.

“I wish I could play with Adam,” Runner said, taking Leonida’s hand as they left the bedroom. He looked trustingly up at her. “Do you think I’ll be able to play with him again? He likes me. I know he likes me.”

Leonida walked Runner on to the door, then knelt down before him. She put her hands on each side of his face and drew his lips to hers. She gave him a kiss, then drew him into her arms again. “Yes, Adam likes you,” she murmured. “And I’m sure he’ll play with you again. But not today, honey. Play with the other children today.”

Runner nodded, then eased away from Leonida and left the hogan.

Leonida sighed as she got back to her feet. She eyed the steaming stew, realizing that it needed stirring again. As she went and knelt before the fire, she was not aware that someone entered the hogan. She jumped with a start when a movement beside her revealed that she was not alone.

Dropping the spoon into the stew, Leonida scrambled to her feet. She sighed and smiled down at Pure Blossom, who stood with her arms filled with freshly made bread.

“Pure Blossom, you weren’t supposed to be working over a hot stove today,” Leonida scolded, glancing from the bread up at Sage’s sister. Her cheeks were sunken. Her eyes were dark pits. “You were supposed to be resting. It’s extraordinarily hot today. Even I feel weakened from the heat.”

Pure Blossom leaned shakily toward the floor and placed the bread beside the fire. “Pure Blossom happy cooking and weaving,” she said softly.

Leonida placed her arm around Pure Blossom’s waist and helped her back to a standing position.

“Pure Blossom same as dead if she does not do what makes her happy,” Pure Blossom said, breathing hard. “Please not fuss over me. Please?”

Sighing, Leonida nodded. “All right,” she said. “I promise not to fuss over you. But please try not to do so much, especially in this sort of heat.”