Free Soft Rain by Cornelia Cornelissen Page B

‘Don’t forget the bag. Don’t forget the bag.’ You said it over and over. New supplies came while you were asleep. Look!” He stood on one foot, showing her the other one. “Wool stockings from the white man. You have some, too. They’re warm.”
    Soft Rain pulled one foot out from under the blanket. “Warm,” she repeated.
    Aunt Kee handed her a piece of bread dipped in soup. “Warm your insides, too,” she said.
    While Soft Rain chewed, the voices around her faded to silence. She felt herself falling into a vast, warm, dark emptiness.
    The sun was gone when she awoke. Her stomach was making noises. She opened her eyes and sat up. “Aunt Kee, I’m hungry. Is there more bread?”
    “That was yesterday.” Hawk Boy giggled. “You’ve been asleep again.”
    Just then Father rode up. “Soft Rain, you are better! While you slept, we crossed the border of our new land. Tomorrow we reach the river where we will live. There’s someone here who wants to see you.”
    Soft Rain couldn’t believe her eyes when a large figure climbed into the wagon and sat himself between her and Hawk Boy. “Uncle Swimming Bear!” she exclaimed. Her uncle’s big arms surrounded the children. They cried together—sad tears; happy tears—until Soft Rain asked, “How did you find us?”
    “My travel to the West was much earlier than yours—and faster, too. I have been at the river a long while. Every time I learned that new arrivals were near, I’d ride out to meet them. At last you have come! My search has ended, and I am sad and happy, both.”
    “We’re going to live close to Uncle SwimmingBear and Aunt Kee,” Hawk Boy said. “He has already started building his house, and he says he’ll teach me how he fishes and—”
    “Shhh,” Uncle Swimming Bear interrupted Hawk Boy. “Tomorrow’s travel will be long. Soft Rain needs to rest.”
    He lifted Hawk Boy down from the wagon. Then, before he also jumped out, Uncle Swimming Bear whispered, “I found a puppy for you, Soft Rain. She’s brown. Hawk Boy says you’ll need this.” He laid Pet’s rope across Soft Rain’s lap.
    Shivering with excitement, she touched the rope. Then she felt inside the pocket of the dress. Grandmother’s doll was still there.
    Lying down, she pulled the blanket over her. But sleep didn’t come. Instead, memories of the past year whirled round and round inside her head.
    Father said that tomorrow we will be home in the West. The journey has been hard. How long we have traveled I cannot remember, but I will ask Aunt Kee, for I want to know. I want to tell the story about why we left our beautiful mountain home and how we traveled to the West. In the story I will tell about Pet and Grandmother, who were left behind; about Green Fern, who died; about Old
Roving Man, who vanished; and about the soldiers and the doll. I’ll begin
,
    “When I was a young girl the soldiers came. We cried and cried, sad to leave our home and our loved ones. We traveled west across rivers, valleys, and mountains …”

ABOUT THE CHEROKEE NATION
    I N N OVEMBER OF 1785 A TREATY BETWEEN the Cherokee Nation and the U.S. government was signed. This Hopewell Treaty “solemnly guaranteed forever” the boundary between the Cherokee Nation and that of the United States and placed the Cherokees under the protection of the U.S. government. Just six years later, white settlers were already crossing the lines set by this treaty.
    The history of the Cherokee Nation is one of constant struggle to enforce its rightful boundaries. As early as 1817 the U.S. government had begun its attempts to relocate the Cherokees to the West; in exchange for their eastern land, the Cherokees would receive an equal area in Arkansas. But those who chose not to move were soon evicted. By 1821 the majority of Tennessee Cherokees had already been forced out.
    Between 1828 and 1830 the Georgia stategovernment enacted a series of laws that annexed all Cherokee lands (then later distributed the