Where Birds Land by Mary Ruth Barnes, Excerpt

WHERE BIRDS LAND, Mary Ruth Barnes

Ella McSwain is a Chickasaw woman raising her family amidst evolving turmoil within the budding state of Oklahoma. After Ella is left with an unusable plot of land, she finds herself fighting for her family’s rightful allotment. Faced with crooked businessmen, land grifters, and grueling court battles, can she summon the strength to persevere against all odds? In this stand-alone companion to Little Bird, Mary Ruth Barnes crafts an engaging family saga that spans from Indian Territory to Oklahoma statehood against the backdrop of the state’s changing landscape.

EXCERPT

Chapter 1

Indian Territory was my home, but I would never feel ready for it to be a state. The white men were taking over and making so many changes. I was born here and wanted it to stay the same.

The day burst with smells of spring, a day worthy of spending time outdoors. I opened my window to smell the fresh air and watch the sun rise over the hill.

I needed to talk to my sister Belle without Mama overhearing. I wanted to make sure Belle understood what our Mama was going through, and why she was always so worried about us two. I thought it would be a good time to get her up early, give the horses a little exercise, and talk. I loved to ride in the early morning, when the only sounds were the wind and the caw of a distant crow. I shook her, begging her to awaken. She never wanted to get up because that meant doing chores, which I did more of than her.

“Wake up, Belle. You want to go for a ride and exercise the old nags before we do chores? We can have a nice little sisterly talk over by the old big tree.” I tickled her sides. She nearly fell off the bed, and groaned and rolled, arms outstretched. Growing pains of a teenage girl—we both had them.

“Stop tickling me, okay? I will go, but I am not getting blamed if we get scolded for being late with the chores, Ella,” she moaned. She was two years younger than me and did not like the outdoors as much as I did.

Her horse was old and slow. I galloped ahead to our special resting place by a big bois d’arc tree about a mile up the road. Our Papa, Houston Brown, used to ride with us there. He was full-blood Chickasaw, we felt proud to hear people call him “Constable Brown.”

Belle arrived, slapping the old mare’s sides and grumbling. She hated being the little sister and was always competitive with me. “What did you want to talk about, Osi?” she asked. “Osi” was short for the Chickasaw name Papa gave me, “Ososhi,” meaning, “Little Eagle.”

“Oh, I just wanted to talk about Mama and how things have been so hard on her lately. Do you think she is going to be all right?” I stroked my horse’s mane.

“Well, our Mama is strong,” Belle said. “I heard someone in town talking about her. They said Esther Wolf was the bravest woman they had ever known.” She motioned for me to sit by the tree with her.

“Do you ever think about what it was like where Mama grew up, in Cherokee country?” I asked. “I would like to go see that place someday, wouldn’t you?

Belle gasped. “No. Why would I ever want to go to Mayhew, of all places?”

“Well Mama’s papa and mama, Jesse and Annie Wilson, were missionaries there, you know,” I said. “That is where Mama was born. I know it’s not the same as when Mama’s family was there.”

“I don’t think I want to ever go there,” she said. “I am not sure it would even be safe for us—or that we would be welcome—being that our Papa was a constable, and was shot and killed there.”

Belle said. She got up with the reins in her hands, looking ready to go home.

“Well, if he was still alive, I know he would take us there, if we wanted to go,” I said. I was getting frustrated. The morning was not going the way I had hoped. I remembered the day they told us he was shot and killed, but did not want to bring up that painful story to Belle. She was so young then and did not remember much about Papa.

I handed her a brush from my saddlebag. “Since you are already up, why don’t you brush her mane instead of just arguing with me?” I bossed.

“Where are you going with this, Osi? Why all the questions this early in the morning?” she asked.

I pressed my back against the tree and sighed. “Well, I just felt like talking about Mama today. It’s the mood I am in, all right?”

“Well, you are just being really odd.”

“Did you know Mama was a twin?” I asked.

“I know that, silly,” she snapped. “His name was Rufus, and he was killed by bandits before I was born. She told me all about that. She said she had a sister Lottie, too, that we never knew. She died a long time ago. Do you think Mama doesn’t ever tell me anything?”

I didn’t answer. We were all born in this strange land we wanted to call home, I thought. I picked up a stick and rustled the grass with it, to scare off any snakes. I confessed to Belle how emotional I felt. “Sometimes, when I think of Mama’s past, it brings tears to my eyes, Belle.”

Belle looked at me, her eyes wide. “Don’t be upset. Mama is going to be just fine.”

I smiled, as I reached out for her hand, threading my fingers into hers and squeezing.

“I am fine, too. Let’s head back.” Mama always expected chores to be done first thing, and I was going to hear about it if we didn’t get back soon.

Mama’s story, our family’s story, was no different from any other that came before us. It hung over my mind like the shadows of trees across our road. I wasn’t sure Belle remembered anything, and I so wanted her to understand how I felt. On our ride back to the barn, I tried to shake off some of my morning’s emotions and push my thoughts back to the business of the day.

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About the Author 

Mary Ruth Barnes graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree from North Carolina State with high honors and a Master’s Degree from Montana State. After college, Barnes taught high school and college English, Art and Computer Science for 14 years. Barnes has received numerous awards for her art and writing on the state and national level from 2011-2022. Barnes recently published her first novel “Little Bird” with the Chickasaw Press about her great-great-Grandmother’s journey in Indian Territory. “Little Bird” won two 2022 Ippy awards, receiving gold for the cover design and silver for best Midwest regional fiction. 

Barnes is extremely active in her community through Rotary (a member since 1996), P.E.O. (Philanthropic Educational Organization), and Kappa Kappa Gamma Alumni Association. She is also a current member of the National Watercolor Society. 

In 2022, Barnes was inducted into the Chickasaw Hall of Fame and Capitol Hill High School Hall of Fame for leadership in her community. She also won the 2022 “55 Over 55 Inspiring Oklahomans” award for making a difference in the lives of others. In 2019, Barnes won the Women in the Arts Recognition award from the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. And in 2015, Barnes was selected as the Chickasaw Dynamic Woman of the year.

Barnes has had many short stories and watercolors featured in several issues of the journal of Chickasaw History and Culture, Ishtunowa. She was also honored as a Chickasaw Artist in the July 2015 issue of the Distinctly Oklahoma magazine. Her story of inspiration leading to painting and drawing was featured in a book by Allison Fields, Chickasaw Artisans. In 2017, Barnes was selected for the registry of Native American Artists located at the Heard Museum in Scottsdale, AZ. While traveling and vacationing in South Texas with her art, Barnes was interviewed and featured in the RV Wheel Life Magazine for the 2017 issue. Barnes retired from a career as the Director of Planned Giving for American Cancer Society in 2017, where she raised over 35 million dollars for cancer research. Her artwork “Fight of Hope” is currently featured in the Cancer Journal of Native American Research and is on display in the surgery waiting room of the Chickasaw Nation Medical Center. Her watercolors can also be found at several locations across the State of Oklahoma, including the Artesian and the Welcome Center located in Davis.  

She has been a long-time equestrian, Barnes and her husband, Mike live on a ranch in south central Oklahoma. They have two sons, Wiley and Selby Barnes, and six grandchildren. Both sons work for the Chickasaw Nation. Mrs. Barnes enjoys traveling with her husband in retirement. 

 

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: On Writing