TRIBE ARPEGGIOS
by
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BLACK BEARD
...“Ahoy
dare mate!” were the words that accompanied the hawk call. Suddenly hooks crossed the deck rails
attaching lines that ran over the water to another ship that had pulled
alongside the AVENGER, in the stealth
still calm of the morning, in surprise.
Sharp
Claw leaped to his feet with rapier in hand.
He found himself face to face with a colonial black-bearded one whose
beard nearly touched the waist of the face of the one that supported the
growth.
The
greeter, holding a pistol in his hand, smiled, “Ya wouldn’t be da Captain Roger
Makeele, now would ya? Na, a-certain ya
not be he. Me thinks ya be
a-heathen. Me thinks ya be more than
Makeele. Me thinks ya be the claw as ya
flag behind ya says ya be. Me thinks I
hear tales of ya, tales of how ya kill da colonials and chase dem out ya lands
fer years, ya paw’s paw and his paw, who killed bar’ alone. Does ya face da bar alone today,
heathen? But, whar be me friend da
Roger?”
The
entire crew of naturals had awaken and were witnessing from deck view two
towering figures poised in stares at one another as the voice of the black-bearded
one rang in their ears.
The
bearded one continued, “Ya not be a Roger so who be ye,” pointing his finger
toward Sharp Claw? “Aye, mate I be
Edward Thatch, a poor English man of the sea, I be. What say ye?”
...A
reply was needed directly to the one with the long black beard, braided and
tied in rope, an answer that would give them no excuse for bad behavior.
Sharp Claw remained poised, silent and intense in posture as the bearded one spoke. He had been surveying the situation, offering remorse for allowing the stealth of the bearded visit. But he also wished that he had his spear in hand, whatever good that might do on board a ship. Nevertheless, he attended the words, knowing his reply may make or break the day. “I am Sharp Claw, great-grandson of Bear Claw, who was father of Rachatack, who was father of Many Feathers, who was my father, all chiefs of the Tuckahoe tribe of the naturals from the east shore lands in Mary’s Land. I seek no harm and wish only to pass to the sea, free....
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About the Book
The naturals (native Indians) on the eastern seaboard of the United States during the years 1500 AD through to the present suffered beyond the reasonable as collateral-damage innocents. If the invasion of colonials to the extremes of forcing movement, assimilating-in or killing-off in order to occupy and to control the new world proved anything, it established the need for the justice of law and order to be in the hands of a third party or a benevolent despot. The Tuckahoe, an extinct tribe with roots on the Eastern Shore of Maryland near Cambridge, was forced to choose from the following list: war, sell, run, or join and hope for the best. Running away over land, whether west, north or south, meant bumping into others exercising the same option. In TRIBE ARPEGGIOS, the Tuckahoe chose a flight to freedom, afloat in a ship. Circumstances allowed for a schooner, conditions fed the need, and heritage nourished the will under leadership with unrestrained imagination. The organization was tribal with a benevolent chief and a controlling tribe council as the government. Generations of Tuckahoe floated to and in freedom while forming into a flotilla that moved down the eastern seaboard, through the Bahamas and Caribbean, and around Florida into the swamp shielded mangrove covered sands of the 10,000 Islands. When given the cause of threat, harm or attack, they fought violently. Tribes voluntarily joined in freedom and the theme of survival repeated itself relentlessly. To offend a friend, harm or degrade an innocent, or break tribal rules meant judgment rendered. Life was as the chief said it would be after blowing pipe smoke to the left, smoke to the right and smoke straight ahead, “Let it be so!”
About the Author
When Rev. Dr. Weagley was a very young child, World War II was little more than a possibility, something distant from reality. His favorite costume during those years was an Army officer uniform with a shoulder strap. The voice of wisdom that announced, “You have nothing to fear, but fear itself,” rang nearly as loud and equally as clear as the click of two marbles in a dirt circle, propelled by a thumb that struggled to coordinate the over-sized shooter. Uniforms, bombs and rifles joined the chorus as a young boy took to his bicycle to fish in the local creek, to chase game in the local fields and to dream that one day he would walk the path of adulthood, free to pursue his destiny without encumbrance. Four professional and academic degrees later, one two-year tour in East Africa with the U.S. Army, multiple years of reserve duty in the U.S. Naval Reserve, a decade of business experience at the management level with a finance corporation, as technical support for a trucking company president and nearly two score years of service in the faith business as counselor, administrator, executive and entrepreneur reduced the quotient of sand in the hourglass to a few grains. An abiding and profound love of nature, a healthy respect for survival and an intense appreciation for values such as family, freedom, integrity, dignity and honesty, most of which were formed and forged while holding a fishing pole, grasping a rifle and leafing the pages of a book, were deposited into his psyche that fueled a need to see the innocent win.