ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

The Trading Post Part 4

Updated on October 10, 2011

Ellie vaguely remembered the passage through time. She wasn't even sure that she had done so. She shivered as the bite of Winters cold touched her skin. It took a moment for her to realize that not only did she feel the cold, she could see the snow on the ground that was causing her to wrap her arms tightly around herself. Tears flowed and froze against her cheek. She took in the fields of snow like a child going to an amusement park for the first time. The excitement of seeing again took some of the chill away for a moment. An Indian maiden approached her, carrying what looked to be the hide of a bear. She placed the hide over Ellie's shoulders and as quickly as she had appeared, she was gone.

Tee-pee's lined the rivers edge in front of her and a small fire burned inside a circle of stones. She walked to the fire and held her hands above the flames to warm them. Children ran in and out of the tee-pees, sometimes nearly naked. Ellie wondered how they could stand the bitter cold dressed that way. A young girl came to her and slowly, as if afraid of Ellie, touched the fabric that her jeans were made of.

"What is your name?"

The little girl looked up at Ellie for a moment and then ran back to the tee-pee she had come from. Ellie tried hard to understand where she was and why she could see again. The latter part mattered only for reasoning's purpose. She was only happy to have her sight back. She was startled from her surveying of the beautiful landscape by a voice she recognized as the Chief's. She turned to face him.

"You have many questions for us that will be answered when You are ready to hear them. You are free to walk where you wish but do not wander in to the trees. There are others out there that would Not be kind to you. You are safe as long as you stay near our people."

"Where is Daniel? Why isn't he here with me?"

"Daniel too is on a journey. He must find what is important to him and what is not. Many take life as a given and do not think of what their actions may bring to another. You sought to cause a time gone long ago to be reborn. You did not give thought to those your actions would effect. Because of your blindness, you lost your sight."

"Then why can I see here? Why did you give something back to me when I know you are simply going to take it away again?"

"You must see with your eyes why our people, our lives, faded into what is only a dim memory, even for my own people. To truly see all of this, you must meld with the past and become party of it."

As the Chief spoke, Ellie could feel a change inside as well as outside of her body. Her hair was suddenly longer and cold black. Her eyes lost their brightness and became brown. She could sense a difference in her body and mind. "What is happening here?!?!?!? Why am I changing? What are you doing to me?????? Please stop! You took my sight and Now, you want to take my identity!"

"In your tongue, Ellie is from Ellen or Helen, meaning "most beautiful woman." In my tongue, you are Nizhoni-kimama meaning "beautiful butterfly." We knew you would leave us one day and join the white man. You always followed their ways. This is who you were many times gone by. Now see our life through the eyes you once looked through."

"What are you talking about? I am not Native American!" As she spoke, she could feel herself changing. Things began to look as if she had always been right where she was. The camp was now familiar, though she was still not sure how or why. The other women came out of their tents. They hugged her and smiled as they led Ellie into "her" tee-pee. As she walked with them, she looked across the fields. She prayed she would see Daniel coming to save her. She whispered his name as she softly cried. "Daniel, my love, please... come take me away from here. Please..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He stared at the man behind the counter. He wanted to believe he had Not heard what the man had asked him for. He felt a bit weak and dizzy. As he stepped back towards the door, another man held it shut, blocking Daniel's only exit. He could feel his leg healing again. His world went dark once more and when he awoke, he was in the dress of a soldier from long ago. A Long Rifle lay beside him, along with a map, showing an Indian encampment not Far from the Trading Post. He picked up his rifle as if he had carried it forever. He saw men's lips moving but he could hear nothing. He asked one of the men what was happening to him.

"Oh shoot, deaf guy, I fergot you couldn't hear us. We are going to that camp on the map to wipe out some indian. They keep messing with our rail road supplies. It won't take long at all."

Daniel didn't understand it all yet. He only knew he needed to go with them. All he really wanted was to find his beautiful Ellie.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)