{This is a response to Friday Fictioneers, a weekly prompt, that challenges us to write 100 words, inspired by the chosen photo. Lakota is a Native American tribe and a dialect. My husband’s family history includes a great grandmother who was Lakota, and who resided in North Dakota. The name “Sioux” refers to Lakota, Dakota and Nakota tribes, named for their various dialects. The term Sioux itself, is believed to have pejoritive roots, coming through French from the Ojibwe word for “little snakes,” according the The Black Hills Visitor blog. Thank you for the prompt and for commenting. All errors are my own.}
Shoeless, Ravenna glided down the exhibit’s long dock. Morning sun scaled a glass wall, bathing the dock in light.
Early to work, she had the entire “Nations” exhibit to herself.
In the set of her jaw and brow, a barely perceptible iota of Lakota–once branded “Sioux,” by enemies—stirred.
She longed to peruse that unprinted history, to run barefoot, through those painted woods and plains.
Overhead, fluorescents flickered on. They vibrated with visual white noise, shattering the beam of sunlight she so quietly inhabited.
Time for work. Trapping each foot in a leather cage, she tramped back towards civilization.
Really great writing- loved your descriptions!
Thank you theorangutan!
You’re welcome!
To get closer to your roots you have to break out from those leather cages… great write.
Thanks Bjorn!
You drew me in with your powerful, descriptive writing. Great contrast between the noisy fluorescent lights and the quiet beam of sunlight.
Thanks magarisa!
My pleasure, Andrea!
There is so much packed in here. A great write. I like the character.
Hope she will finally escape, one day!
I think escaping into and escaping out of are two very different things. I think she is escaping into.
Yeah, right.
Some wonderful imagery here!
Thank you Dahlia
My wife has some native American blood and tends to go barefoot more than she’s shod. Beautifully descriptive piece, Andrea.
She sounds like someone I’d like Russell. I have a ready Affinity for those who prefer comfort over fashion.
Loved the way you have described the shoes at the end – leather cage. Yes, sometimes they feel just so.
Thanks Anshu. Babies are not born with shoes on, so I guess its no surprise that our feet want to go au naturel sometimes. ?
You really took us there and made us feel for Ravenna and in the process perhaps capture part of ourselves. The trapping each foot in a leather cage was perfect.
Thank you Irene. We all need to reach out to that wild part of ourselves, sometimes.
I want her to just run away and find that part of herself!!
I’m sure she is tempted. ?
This was fabulous in every way, Andrea. Like everyone, I loved the leather cage reference. You can so feel her longing to belong to the old ways.
Thank you Dale!
Damn that civilization! Nice images.
I was tempted to put that word in quotes!?
Trapping her feet in leather cages. Great picture there. I love this story.
Thank you granonine!
A brief escape. Maybe her next holiday can be to the wilderness.
Good plan, draliman!
“leather cages” – such a graphic description.
Thanks Sandra.!
Bringing a balance between her intense desire and her duty is some task. Glad she got back to what she had to do.
Yes Abhijit. I hope she will find a healthy balance.
Sensitive portrayal of the suffering of a (nearly) lost culture.
Clever personalisation of a nation’s betrayal.
Thank you ceayr. As if words could encompass the breadth of the wrong.
shoes can cages, too, for feet longing to be free. 🙂
Yes Paridel. Freedom for feet! ?
What a shame that it is only in an empty museum she can experience her roots.
True, Iain. The clash and clamor of the modern world does not lend itself to stillness and contemplation.
Nicely done, the yearning for her roots and feel of her people. There weren’t many of us who used the painting in the background as a theme in the story.
Thanks Trent. Its funny the title of the picture had to do with children’s shoes, but i had already done a similar piece not long ago, for a different prompt site. I tried to reconcile the wooden planks in the foreground, with the painted background,and the only locale that made sense to me was a museum exhibit.
Heres my other shoe story, if you’re interested:
https://frlcnews.com/2018/08/01/good-thing/
Running barefoot in the sun is the best, not those nasty leather cages and flourescent lights. Beautifully painted scene.
Thank you Brenda. A contrast of worldviews.
I’ve got some real woods she could run through barefoot or not, if she wanted.
And I liked leather cages too. Sometimes I just have to look at a shoe to feel pain. Barefoot is lovely and much healthier. Nicely told story.
Thank you Jilly! High heels have never been my friends.
You packed a lot into 100 words, and now I want to know the rest of Ravenna’s story! I love “the beam of sunlight she so quietly inhabited.”
One of the first photos I put on my blog was an 1898 stereoview of a handsome couple who were probably Ojibwe: https://tokensofcompanionship.blog/2017/06/22/mazaicasuawin-and-his-wife-anpaohdinajin-1898/
Thank you Brad! Oneness with nature seems in keeping both with ancient tribal traditions and modern mindfulness.
Very interesting photo. As a teen in Minnesota I had to learn very basic and no doubt stereotyped information about the Sioux And Chippewa tribes, now Lakota, Dakota, Nakota and Ojibwe, i believe.
I do not know how warm and fuzzy such museum offerings would make actual Native Americans feel. It is my understanding that many items of Native American heritage, found in museums, were misappropriated or removed from graves. This puts some of them on a footing with Klimt’s portrait of Adele block-bauer, the subject of the movie Woman inGold, about the niece’s fight to get the painting, stolen by the Nazis from her family, back from the Austrian government.
I suspect that the appeal of museums to Native Americans depends a lot on who puts the displays together and who tells the stories. Museums today try to give Native peoples opportunities to tell their own stories, but I don’t know if it’s enough. I like how your Minnesota roots appear from time to time in your own stories!
You can take the girl out of Minnesota…
The leather cages image is wonderful
Thank you so much Neil! In keeping with the Native American them I could not resist referring to traps and cages as in the old fur trade.
Dear Andrea,
Trapping her feet in leather cages…love that. I HATE florescent lights with a passion and their nasty little hum, too. Love this story. It’s filled with longing with a side of humor. Nicely done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
I too prefer bare or stockinged feet. My arches aren’t as supportive of this preference though!?. And those lights are buzzy, irritating things, while LEDs in my book are MUCH TOO BRIGHT! Give me a good ole incandescent, any day.
Yes, I can feel that need to escape to another world she’s got running in her blood. Thank you, keep going, it’s different.
Thank you for the encouragement, Frankie. Must be a strong impulse, if, even generations after the source, she still feels it!