Chapter 3 - Buck's POV

I don't know why the bald boy had come to get me. I don't know why he didn't seem to want to hurt me. I don't know why he wouldn't talk to me. I just didn't understand. I followed behind him silently and returned to the mission. I wanted to ask Sister Margaret about the boy but I could not find her. I wanted to speak with the boy to find out why he hadn't hit me and why he wouldn't speak to me but every time I went near him he ran off. I decided to just give up.

A few days later the sisters took us into town on a shopping trip. The other children would often earn money for chores done around the mission to use for penny candy but any money I earned was always stolen by the older boys. So since I had no money I decided to walk down to the livery and look at the horses. I had only been there a few minutes when the livery owner ran me off.

I was on my way back to the wagons to wait for the sisters and the other children to finish shopping when four men stumbled out of the nearest saloon. One of them looked up and saw me, his face twisting into a devilish smile.

"Well, well what do we have here boys?" he sneered.

"Looks like a filthy little breed." Another one stated with an evil chuckle.

I tried to ignore them and just walk away but they surrounded me. "What's the matter injun think yer too good to talk to us?" the third man said.

"He probably is too stupid to know English." The last one sneered.

"I know English. I just don't want any trouble." I said simply.

"Well what do you know; them sisters done educated the breed." The first one said with a laugh.

"Let me pass please." I asked politely.

"I don't think so injun. I think you need to learn that ya ain't welcome in this town." The third man said shoving me.

"I don't want no trouble." I spoke quietly.

"Too bad." The second man said as he swung at me.

I caught his right hook hard on my jaw. He sent me sprawling in the dirt. I stood back up just in time to see the bald boy come flying out of nowhere and jumping on the ring leader's back. It was enough of a distraction for me to be able to get my bearings and to knock the third man onto his backside. The bald boy wasn't much bigger than me but we put up a good fight. I know we both got some good licks on the men, but we were just twelve year old boys and these were four grown men. If the marshal hadn't shot his gun into the air when he did I think they would have ended up killing us.

I was already lying in the dirt, holding my sides. I was pretty sure they had busted a couple of my ribs. After the gunshot the men took off running. The boy who had come to my defense collapsed onto the ground beside me. I managed to get to my knees beside him, trying to see if he was still alive. The sisters rushed up then with the town doctor hot on their heels.

"What happened young Mr. Cross?" Sister Martha asked me, I wasn't very familiar with this particular nun.

"I tried to ignore them sister, honestly I did, but those men decided that I needed to be taught a lesson because I'm an Indian." I tell her.

"So you did absolutely nothing to warrant their actions." She stated her disbelief evident in her tone.

"Sister, this really isn't the time for these questions. These boys are badly injured. I need to treat them." The doctor spoke up then.

"Very well we shall discuss this with Mother Superior after the doctor tends to you and young Mr. McSwain." Sister Martha said eyeing me.

After the doctor tended both our wounds he sent us back to the mission with the nuns with orders for us to stay in the hospital wing until we were healed. As soon as we were settled into two different rooms Mother Superior came in to speak with me.

"Mr. Cross, Sister Martha tells me that you and Young Mr. McSwain were in a fight in town. Care to tell me what happened?" Mother Superior asked me.

"I was just looking at the horses at the livery. When the owner told me to go away. I was on my way back to the wagons when four men came out of one of the saloons. They had been drinking and when they saw me, they decided that they would amuse themselves by tormenting me. I tried to ignore them and walk away but they surrounded me. When I continued to ignore them one of them punched me. Then the bald boy came out of nowhere and jumped on the leader's back. He just came to my defense." I explained quietly.

"That fits with what some of the other children saw and what the marshal said. You were very lucky, that you didn't suffer worst injuries." Mother Superior said to me.

"The boy is he alright?" I asked.

"He's sleeping right now, but he will be fine in few days." Mother Superior said.

"I don't understand why he helped me. Every time I would go near him before he would just run away. And just a few days ago he was sent to find me in the woods but he wouldn't even speak to me. Why would he help me?" I ask her.

"You don't know about Isaac do you?" Mother asked me.

"Is that his name?" I asked.

Mother Superior smiled at me, "Isaac McSwain is the boy who helped you in town. He came to live here when he was just nine years old. He had lost his family after they were killed by bandits. Young Isaac saw the whole thing. He hasn't been able to speak since that day."

"He can't talk?" I ask.

"No, he tries but no sound ever comes out. He hears just fine and he's a very bright boy but some of the others do not see it. I'm afraid that the other children are just as hateful to him as they seem to be to you." Mother Superior said.

"What happened to his hair?" I asked.

"He lost in after he suffered from Scarlet Fever. He's not contagious despite what the other children might think. You won't go mute or lose your hair if he touches you." Mother said.

I laughed but it hurt my sides. I held them as I bit back a groan. "Can I go see him?"

"I'll let Sister Margaret know to come get you when he wakes." Mother replied moving to leave the room, "Get some rest Mr. Cross."

I had been lying there for a few hours when my door opened and Sister Margaret walked in. "Isaac is awake Buck if you would care to visit him."

I struggled to sit up; Sister Margaret came forward and helped me to my feet. She kept her arm around me as she helped me walk across the hall and into the room that Isaac McSwain was in. He looked up as we entered, he offered a weak smile. Sister Margaret helped me into the seat by the bed and then stepped outside to give us some privacy.

"I wanted to thank you for helping me today. I also wanted to apologize for my behavior the other day at the stream. I did not know you couldn't talk." I told the boy.

He gave me a small nod and looked down at his lap. "Can you write Isaac?" I asked.

He nodded his head and pointed to a notebook on the bedside table; I picked it up and handed it to him. "I'm still learning to read but I think I can read enough for us to get by for now."

He grinned and wrote, "You look really bad."

"You don't look that good either. I'm Running Buck, I mean Buck Cross. Mother Superior said your name was Isaac McSwain." I replied with a slight grin.

"Call me Ike." He wrote on the paper.

"Alright Ike, I think I can help you talk." I said.

"What do you mean?" he wrote.

"Well I can't give you a real voice but I can teach you to speak with your hands. My people have a sign language that we use with other tribes when we don't know their language. The signs are pretty standard among the different nations. Would you like to learn?" I explain to him.

Ike smiled and nodded his head. We spent the remainder of our time in the hospital wing together. Every minute of it was pretty much used to teach Ike signs. Sister Margaret and Mother Superior would often sit in with us so they could learn too. That way Ike would be able to talk to them as well without me having to translate for him.

I was actually thankful to those men that decided to beat me up that day, if it hadn't been for them, Ike and I may not have become friends. But because of them I had found a friend. I had found someone who accepted me. Someone who saw past the color of my skin, I had found a brother that day.

Ike's POV

Buck spent every minute of our time in the hospital wing giving me a new voice. By the time we were allowed to return to our dorm I could carry on a conversation with him without having to write anything down. Every day we would practice and he would teach me more signs. I realized my wish had been granted, I had a voice again and I had a friend.

We became inseparable after that. With Buck by my side I didn't have to make faces and drool at the other children. I had someone to watch my back, the same as I watched his. The older boys left us alone for the most part after that, it wasn't fun to beat us up when there were two of us because it was no longer an unfair fight. We could hold our own against them now; we could even beat them if the need arose. After the first fight we won we were left alone.

Now when we went with the sisters into town we both had money to buy candy if we wanted it, the other boys were no longer taking it from us. Only problem was that the store keeper wouldn't do business with Buck, so I had to deal with him. Other than a few ignorant comments from the other children and people in town life was alright in the mission.

I had a voice and I had a friend. But Buck was more than a friend he was a brother. He accepted me despite my inability to speak. He had given me a voice, he had given me friendship. For the next three years life was pretty normal. We did the things normal teenage boys did, we teased the girls, played pranks on the nuns, got into fights sometimes, skipped classes to go fishing or hunting. It was a good three years and then we turned fifteen and were sent from the mission.

I found out that life outside the mission walls was cruel and painful. Almost all the towns we went into would run us out immediately because of Buck. Sometimes we would both find a job, they were never good jobs and the pay was always terrible but at least it put food in our bellies. Other times I was the only one who could find a job. During those times, I would share whatever food I had with my brother after everybody had gone to bed and I could sneak it to him.

And then there were the times when there was no work at all for either one of us. Buck would set up snares and traps or would go hunting with his bow. We never went hungry. We may not have had much but at least we had each other and food in our stomachs. But I knew the insults thrown at Buck hurt him. He would never say anything, he would never fight back, not even when he was spit on, but I could see how his shoulders would slump even more with each mean word or punch thrown at him. I was worried that one day, the weight would be just too much for him to bear and I would lose the only friend and family I had.