Rabbit

A Last of the Mohicans Fanfiction

(I own nothing, I make no money of this, please don't sue me)

My name is Alice Munro; I am the youngest daughter of Colonel Edmund Munro of the British army. I am sixteen years of age and am traveling alone for the first time in my life. As I look out over the town of Albany, a new world mecca of trade that hugs the Hudson River, I can't help but feel a small shiver of anticipation running through my veins.

I have arrived here by ship, into what I sense must be a great hubbub of noise. In the briefest of moments I will see it all very clearly; the family I am about to join, a country in turmoil, and my own life turned upside down. At the moment however, all I know is that I have been sent to live with our distant relations, the Cameron's, in the colonies of the New World. As I look around the bustling port of Albany I think to myself 'This is why you came, it's what you chose.' And that is where my story begins.

People are pushing past me as I stand at the top of the gang plank, searching the gathered crowd for Mrs. Cameron, who I was told would be meeting me. My nose is assailed by the many smells of the port; fresh fish, sweat from many bodies in close proximity, and the faintest odor of perfume from further inland. I rely on my sense of smell, as well as my eyesight, to let me know what is going on around me.

I exist, and have always existed, in a world of complete silence. Sound, for me, is something imagined though I can sometimes get a feeling for what something must sound like; the thunder of horses hooves on a cobbled street, the vibration of music through the floors of the London opera house, and the faintest vibration of my sisters voice when I used to lay with my face against her chest.

I have been deaf, you see, for as long as I can remember. An illness when I was very young robbed me of my hearing and, as such, I never learned how to speak. Though I was graced with a pleasing face and raised with the impeccable manners expected of a noble woman, my deafness has made me un-marriable among the British elite. I believe they fear that I would pass the deafness on to any children I might produce and therefore, disregard me as a candidate for their sons. I think Papa hoped that the men of the colonies would be less choosy.

I see Mrs. Alexandra Cameron waving to me from farther down the port, and gathering my skirts I hurry down the plank to meet her and the children I will be responsible for looking after. Her husband if my father distant cousin. John Cameron's father and my own were boyhood playmates and exchanged letters for years until John father past several months ago. My father felt the need to check in on his favorite cousin's son from time to time and it was that letter that changed my life. Alexandra smiles at me warmly as I approach and holds out her arms to embrace me.

"Ah, our little English cousin," I see her mouth forming these words and though I cannot hear them I sense they are spoken warmly. I allow her to kiss me and smile as she lays her hand against my cheek.

"How was your journey?" she asks. I grin and sign back that it was fine, fair weather and calm seas. She watches my quick gestures and appears unperturbed by them, something I am unaccustomed to with anyone other than Cora.

"I am Alexandra," she introduces herself "I am the mother of these two ruffian's." I nod, smiling, as I turn my face down upon the two children that hide shyly behind their mother; a boy and a girl, young, no older than three and five respectively.

"You have come a very long way, my girl," Alexandra comments, looking a bit sad for me. "I hope you will be content in our colonies."

Looking around her to the wilderness beyond, I don't know how I could not be content, surrounded by all of this nature. Back home, the pastures and fields of our family home have been my refuge, much to my father and my governess's discontent. I often escape to be with the horses and have learned to be more comfortable with the non-judgmental animals than I have most people.

It does not show on my flesh that I enjoy being out of doors, along with my deafness I seem to have an inability to tan. My skin, when exposed long term to sunlight, merely burns. Once the burn heals my skin ultimately returns to its natural translucent state, making me look rather sickly. The only evidence that I spend any time out of doors is my nearly platinum blonde hair, which I'm currently wearing in a braid that wraps around the back of my head.

I find everything here so very beautiful at first glance and so very different from where I have come from. The air feels charged and wild, and the people as wild as the air. I see all kinds milling about the market, English and Red Man alike. The Red Man is so unlike anything I had expected, even with Duncan's stories. They wear so little clothing, and painted faces and hair longer than any woman's. How could I not be excited to be here?

"I'm afraid this land can be deceptive," Alexandra says to me after she lays a hand on my arm to draw my attention back to her. I can read lips well enough, as long as the person in not speaking too quickly.

"Your father has sent you to a very troubled, dangerous territory. We have many Indians on the frontier, some friendly, some not. I fear this will not be the experience you were expecting."

I give her as reassuring a smile as I can and sign 'It cannot be worse that the high society of England, those people will eat you alive.' At this Alexandra laughs and loops her arm through mine, leading me into the bustling town.

"Well, we don't have tea time here or grand parties, but I do hope you'll be happy with us." Alexandra says as she pats my arm.

She leads me through the market place as the children run a head to look at the array of dresses, dishes, toys, anything a household in the city might need. Alexandra smiles fondly at them before turning her face back to me.

"John will meet us at the wagon, after he collects your luggage." she explains, moving her fingers nimbly and expertly. I notice a few people staring at us but choose to ignore them. "Your father has arranged for you to be brought back to town several times a week for tea with Lady Corwin."

I make a face at this. Tea with noble women is something I have been expected to engage in my entire life, but not an activity I particularly enjoy. I am unable to join in their conversation and the ladies are typically ill at ease in my company as they do not know how to talk to me. I spend these events bored out of my mind and staring into space. Still, it is part of the requirements my father set for my coming here so I will have to endure it.

"Why would you send her at all?" I remember Cora demanding of my father at that first dinner after it had been agreed that I would go. Cora did not like the idea of my being sent away and especially not to somewhere as dangerous as the Colonies.

"I am sending her because she is useless here." my father had answered, forgetting that I could read lips and probably assuming I wouldn't follow the conversation if he didn't sign. This happened a lot back home and I learned how he truly felt about me at an early age. Cora was his favorite, my tall dark haired sister with her quick temper and clever wit. I was simply the shadow he walked around. "Besides, she wants to go."

"Only because you continually make her feel unwanted." I watched Cora admonish him. My father had hardened his face and glared down at his mutton.

"She's wasted in the high society of London." he had mouthed brutally. "Perhaps the Colonies will have more use for a deaf girl than the families here."

These were the words that, though said rather bitterly, were not quite the insult one might take them for. What my father referred to was my way with animals. I had coaxed and tamed many of the more skittish of my father's horses, even the ones the Master of horse had been ready to give up on. I did this with no words, no riding crop or whip. I calmed them with my presence, my hands, and my way of mimicking their stillness. I had yet to meet a horse, or any animal for that matter, that I couldn't calm and bring around to trusting me.

Alexandra taps my arm to get my attention. I blink at her, coming out of my bittersweet thoughts of home.

"There is John now." she mouths. I turned to see her tall, lean husband hoisting my trunk into the back of a wagon. I have never met John Cameron, but I could see a vague family resemblance in the eyes and he turns to smile at me in welcome.

The children run to him and I imagine they must be squealing with delight. He pulls the boy into his arms and swings him about affectionately while the girl tugs on his pant leg, wanting to join the fun. He turns to take in his wife as she and I approach and puts an arm around her.

"This is Colonel Munro's youngest, then?" I see him mouth to her. When she nods, he hands her the boy and comes forward to wrap his fingers around mine.

"You are most welcome in our home." he mouths, I can see by how wide he's opening his mouth that he is yelling these words. The children giggle and his wife lays a hand on his arm.

"You don't have to yell, dear. Just speak while looking at her and try not to talk too quickly." Alexandra corrects him kindly. He looks embarrassed as he releases my hand. I am used to this as well, those that aren't immediately put off by my handicap try to compensate by yelling, as if that will make me magically hear them. John Cameron means well and I forgive him for the mistake.

"Journey went well?" he asks, following his wife's advice by speaking more slowly. I nod.

"Good, that's good. It seems you are to stay with us for the foreseeable future. Is your sister to join us at some point?"

I sign that she might come to Albany, but not likely to the Cameron's. She will be traveling with her fiancé, Duncan, to the fort in several weeks time. It is possible I will be sent for at some point thought I doubt it. Alexandra translates these words for me and Johns brown furrows.

"You are not to travel with them?" he mouths, obviously confused that I may be expected to travel there on my own later. I give him a smile that I'm sure is sadder then I intend it to be.

"He may not send for me at all," I sign to him "I am more his cross to bear than his child."

John appears scandalized by this revelation and exchanges a glance with his wife. John Cameron has a lot to learn about his father's favorite cousin and not all of it will be appealing I am afraid. He shakes himself after a moment and smiles at me again, leaning down to cup his hands so that he can help me crawl into the back of the wagon. I thank him with my smile for this and scramble into the back with the children. The girl, Lucy I will learn is her name, crawls into my lap and pets my hair in wonder. The boy sits across the way, simply grinning.

Alexandra and John crawl into the front and have a conversation that I cannot see as the wagon begins to move. I don't need to see their lips to know they are talking about me, about the strangeness of Colonel Munro sending his youngest to live rustically with distant relations and the strangeness of not having me travel to the fort with my sister.

It is not a decision that anyone other than myself will understand. I do not expect my father to send for me, I do not expect to see him while I am in the New World, and I do not expect to find a husband in the colonies. All I expect is to make myself useful to the Cameron's in whatever way I can, and maybe have control over my own life for the first time.

The Cabin:

When I first enter the Cameron's cabin I think to myself 'Perhaps Cora was right when she told me I would regret this decision'. The log cabin is small, cramped, and one room for the, now five, of us to rattle around in. The floor is dirt and the surrounding area is nothing but woods. I think then about how stern my sister had looked, putting me on that ship, how she refused to wave until the very last second.

She doesn't understand that there is nothing for someone like me in England, a girl with no prospects for a good marriage. Papa had agreed to let me come, partly to be rid of me and partly to let me find my own way. This New world would be a test for me, one I was determined to pass.

John brings in my trunk and Alexandra helps me store it under a bed that has been constructed for me where the children sleep. Once I am settled in, the children head outside to play and I help their mother begin dinner. I have never been allowed to cook anything with my own hands before and I find this prospect exciting, though it is harder than I imagined it to be.

Alexandra is an amazingly good sport about my lack of knowledge and helps me peel back the husk on the corn, shows me how to set it in a bowl to soak until it is ready to be cooked, and walks me through the process of preparing it. She is very good at making me do all this myself while giving instruction rather than doing it for me. I am grateful for this because I so want to learn.

As evening rolls in we are joined by one of John's friends, Jack Winthrop, who is quite kind to me. Even when he learns that I am deaf and cannot speak, he seems unperturbed. Between Alexandra and I he manages to grasp a few simple signs before dinner is ready. If the entire New World is this understanding, I believe I will like it here indeed.

We are just about to eat when I smell the individuals approaching the cabin. It is odd, not because they smell badly, but because they smell like the forest itself. I think for a moment, rather childishly, that perhaps the forest is moving closer to the cabin. I imagine myself in a living version of Macbeth, At the scene where crone's prophecy is about to be fulfilled. It is soon after I have this thought that John and Jack hear something outside.

Both jump to their feet as though someone has lit a fire under them. I see them shushing the children and Alexandra as they take up their rifles. Alexandra sends the children and I to the very back of the cabin and picks up a small pistol from near the fireplace. I pick up Lucy and hold her tightly as John junior, little John as I have started thinking of him, moves in front of me protectively. The men open the door and disappear out into the darkness, we are left inside waiting.

I am watching Alexandra's face for instruction as to what I should do and watching her features go from wary and scared to happy. Lucy twists in my arms until I am forced to put her down and both she and little John run out the door. I turn baffled eyes up to the door as John sticks his head back in, grinning.

"Alexandra, set three more places." I see his lips say. Alexandra shakes her head, bemused instead of frightened and gestures for me to help her. I do so, but wish that someone would explain to me who has arrived and why they smell like the forest itself.

I receive my answer anyway, when that same smell wafts in from the open door. I turn curiously, with a bowl in my hands, and jump at what I see, the bowl tumbles from my fingers to land on the dirt floor. There are three native forest dwellers standing in the doorway.

Author's note:

(I think I should explain where this story came from for a minute. I recently watched the film, mostly to get my facts straight for 'Coming Back to you', and I recalled and interview I read with the actor that played Col. Munro. In the interview, they asked him what he thought of Jodhi may (Alice) and he was rather disparaging. They asked him what he thought of her as a person and he said something to the effect of 'She's much like she is in the movie, walking around with her mouth hanging open.' That struck me as really mean but it did give me the idea for this story.

I thought, as I watched the movie, 'wow, Alice barely has any lines and she does spend the movie looking shell-shocked.' Then I wondered how someone who was deaf would respond to a situation like that…thus the plot for Rabbit was born. I think a lot of this is going to be an at home story, I am going to pull some things from the movie into it but I already did a story where I retold the script. I want to try their story from a completely different standpoint.

I also don't know how often this story will be updated. I've hit a very tiny wall with 'Coming back to you', one I hope to have scaled by tomorrow. So I will write on this one when I'm feeling stuck on the other. Once 'Coming back to you' is done, I can give this one some more focus.

As always, feel free to read and review. Comments are always welcome!)