Free Midwife of the Blue Ridge by Christine Blevins

he meant.
    After gutting and rinsing the plucked birds, she skewered them
    on greenwood sticks over the flame. Seth filled a battered brass
    kettle with water and set it to boil. He dug through the pack bas-
    Midwife of the Blue Ridge 57
    kets and extracted two small sacks and a pale sausage. Into the
    simmering kettle, he added a pinch of salt from one sack and
    sifted in several handfuls of pale meal from the other. Maggie
    watched him nip the end off the odd sausage and squeeze its
    gooey contents into the pot.
    “What is that?” she asked.
    “This? Bear butter.”
    “Bear butter!” Maggie wrinkled her nose.
    “Aye, rendered bear fat—very tasty.” Seth smacked his lips
    and used a stick to stir the concoction into a thick yellow paste.
    “We’ll let that set a bit while I see to yer moccasins.”
    He unrolled a half hide of tanned skin. Maggie stood on the
    hide and Seth used a piece of charcoal to trace the outline of her
    right foot. “I’ll cut the leather while there’s still light. You mind
    th’ birds and cook the dodgers.” He nodded toward the batter
    thickening in the kettle. “Dust the ashes away and bake the
    dough on the hot stone just as ye would a Hogmanay bannock.”
    Maggie flattened dollops of dough onto the makeshift griddle.
    The corn dodgers sizzled nicely. The bear fat sputtering on the
    hot stone reminded her of smoked bacon. Using Seth’s broad
    blade knife, she turned the dodgers to crisp the other side. Mag-
    gie washed out the kettle, refilled it with water, and set it to boil.
    She delved into her own supplies, tossing a handful of chamomile
    fl owers and rose hips in to steep for their tea.
    After Seth cut two matching shapes from the hide, he in-
    spected the birds and declared them fit to eat. Maggie slipped the
    dodgers onto a piece of birch bark peeled from a nearby trunk,
    and they sat together to enjoy the fireside feast. As soon as Seth
    gobbled his meal, he removed his damp moccasins and stockings
    and set them near the fire to dry. He stitched Maggie’s moccasins
    while toasting his bare feet on the fl ames.
    Maggie sucked every bit of tender pigeon meat from the bone
    before tossing it onto the fire and she licked the grease from her
    fingers. She relished each sweet berry, perfect and ripe, but the
    58 Christine
    Blevins
    corn dodgers were her favorite. A familiar preparation of unfa-
    miliar ingredients.
    For the first time in a long, long time her appetite was satis-
    fied. She sighed with content, sipped her tea, and paid close at-
    tention to what Seth was doing. The ability to manufacture
    footwear was an important skill, and she meant to acquire it.
    The leather had been cut in a clever pattern requiring but two
    short seams sewn at toe and heel. “Oneida style,” Seth informed
    her. When finished with the sewing, he pulled a tin from the
    depths of his pouch and rubbed the substance into the surface
    and seams of each moccasin. Maggie held the tin to her nose and
    sniffed.
    “Beeswax mixed with bear fat”—Seth answered before she
    had a chance to ask—“softens the leather and waterproofs the
    seams—helps t’ keep yer feet dry. Ye’ll do well in Virginia, Mag-
    gie Duncan, if ye remember this one thing: always care for yer
    feet. Upon my word, there’s nothing worse than rotten feet.
    There ye go, try those on fer size.”
    Maggie secured the “wangs,” as Seth called them—and took a
    few trial steps around the fire. She stretched onto tiptoes and
    back down, extending each foot in turn to admire her new moc-
    casins.
    “They might be a bit stiff at first,” Seth warned.
    “They’re lovely slippers! I’ve never owned a pair as fi ne.”
    Genuinely pleased, Maggie showed her appreciation by dancing
    a quick two-step jig. “ Losh! I’m ready to walk the whole of Vir-
    ginia. I am verra grateful to ye, Seth.”
    “Och, naught but a pair of moccasins . . . not much more than
    a decent way of going barefoot at best.” Seth dismissed her