Writing "Alsoomse and Wanchese" -- Getting through the Tunnel
I see a light at the end of the tunnel. The problem now is getting there.
It isn’t helping that I just had a corneal transplant
operation on my right eye that makes reading uncomfortable. That difficulty should pass in three or four
weeks.
My main difficulty is linking fictional conflict with
historical events. To reiterate, I took
an actual Roanoke Algonquian – Wanchese – whom historians know nothing about
prior to 1584, gave him distinctive character traits, placed him in conflict
situations, and had him do decisive acts.
I gave him a sister – Alsoomse – a fictitious character, and did to her
what I did to Wanchese. Now I must
integrate seamlessly both characters and other fictitious characters into two
historical events.
The first event is the wounding of Wingina, the mamanatowick (king) of six Algonquian
villages along and close to the shores of North Carolina ’s
Pamlico Sound .
Historians are not certain who wounded him and where it happened. This has allowed me to designate Piemacum,
the weroance of Pomeiooc, and his braves as the culprits. I should not have much difficulty involving
Wanchese in this event. Alsoomse’s left
cheekbone was permanently damaged by a blow struck by Piemacum’s primary
subordinate – Sunukkuhkau – earlier in the novel.
***
She heard the
sound of shock, alarm, and Sunukkuhkau’s triumphant hoot. She fought the
Pomeuooc brave dragging her. She kicked at his feet; he lifted her, shook her,
his hands squeezing to her bones her biceps. Her knees bent, she kicked at his
shins, her heels striking and missing. He threw her to the ground, pinned the
right side of her face with his left foot. With her left hand she reached for
his toes, could not find them. Suddenly she was lifted. Two braves now had
control of her. Arms and legs both immobilized, she was carried horizontally
before the seated.
“Stand her up!”
Sunukkuhkau ordered.
“Stop this!”
Woanagusso, standing, advanced.
“You have no
right!” Hurit was with her.
“Get back! I will
have my due!”
She saw Manteo
step forward.
“Samoset,
Taraquine, I need you!” she heard a male voice shout.
Sunukkuhkau’s
voice: “Two arrows are pointed at your weroansqua’s chest! Any attempt to stop
me will cause her death!”
Her head immobilized
by the seizure of her hair, Alsoomse was yet able to see Manteo hesitate, look
to his left, presumably at Woanagusso.
“Keme, stop!” It
was Hurit. “Just … stop! Control
Samoset, Taraquine! Wait!”
“Hold her arms
behind her!” Sunukkuhkan ordered.
First her right,
then her left, were twisted behind her. When she attempted to kick, her arms
were lifted causing her to wince and rise on her toes.
Two arrow length’s
distance from her, Sunukkuhkan half turned. “You heard the great insult this Roanoke
Alsoomse spat at
him.
Wheeling, he
struck her left cheekbone with the heel of his massive right hand.
***
Alsoomse wants vengeance.
***
[A much later scene. Alsoomse is visited by an intellectual male Croatoan
with whom before her injury she had conversed]
He rubbed his left
cheekbone, drew his left forefinger away, looked at it, then grimaced.
“Strange. Sometimes the body does something intentional the mind does not
order, or does not know it has ordered. I look at you, I see the damage, and my
finger goes to that place on my cheek.”
She blinked. She
wondered if her eyes could reveal what she thought.
“I witnessed what
happened. I asked later why it happened. Therefore, I know certain things.”
Seated on the upended, thick block of wood that Sokanon had occupied,
Abukcheech placed the palms of his hands over his bony knees. “My first
question is, ‘Do you regret what happened?’”
Alsoomse felt her
eyes jump. She looked inwardly.
Two women
conversing passed outside the nearest wall.
He wanted her
answer. Which was it? She moved her right hand.
He nodded. He
closed his legs, scratched awkwardly the left side of his head. “You had to
think.” He leaned forward. “Why?”
She frowned, moved
her left hand.
“No, you have to
answer. It is important to know.”
She stared at him,
her lips tight.
“I told you when
we spoke before that you wanted to be a man.” His right thumb and forefinger
rubbed both sides of his jaw. “He hit you. He did not kill you. Are you glad
now that you are not a man?”
What was this weak
little man’s message?
“Do you regret
speaking like a man because of this injury?”
Of course! She
moved her right hand.
“But you have
other reasons, I think.” He looked at his active forefinger. Curled it. Looked
at her. “Because of it you caused other people injury or hardship.”
She blinked,
closed her eyes, moved the hand.
“Then maybe you
have learned that freedom to speak, or act, requires also self-discipline.
Perhaps you have learned that what you do affects others. Nobody is really
independent.” He gazed at her.
Who was he to
judge?
“A wise man knows
that. A true woman knows that.”
She resented his
superiority.
“A good woman
helps her man become wise.”
A “good” woman
cannot oppose injustice?
“Your eyes tell me
you want vengeance.”
She scowled,
jerked her right hand.
“How can you take
vengeance without risking or burdening other people?”
She had no answer.
“I believe it is
better to be good to people you care about and accept what you cannot control.”
Is that what he
thought he was doing with her? All the while adding wood to my anger?
“I have talked
enough.”
She closed her
eyes. Recalled Sunukkuhkau’s ferocious face.
“I will stay here
until your cousin returns.”
Do as you wish.
***
In a meeting of adversaries at Croatoan Wanchese declares
his desire to fight Sunukkuhkau.
***
“We are pleased
that the leaders of Pomeiooc, Dasemunkepeuc, and Roanoke have accepted our
invitation to speak their dissatisfactions, listen, and strive to understand
that our common interests are more important than – permit me to say – selfish, individual
purposes.” Manteo stood beside his seated mother, Woanagusso, weroansqua of
Croatoan. To his right scowled the important men of Dasemunkepeuc and Roanoke
…
“This man here, Sanukkuhkau.
I know him. I know about him. I know him to be a cruel bully. At a meeting here
two moons ago he insulted my mamanatowick
and my weroance, both of whom sit before you. This man said they were weak,
they were cowards.” Wanchese looked now at Tamabick. “That woman you saw at my
fire is my sister. If she were here, this bully would recognize her as the
woman who defended my mamanatowick and weroance, the woman who two sleeps later
he struck and broke her face. He is the bully I hope someday to meet in
combat.”
Wanchese turned
toward Piemacum. “He, and you, are
war-like people.” He looked at Manteo. “We do not need this meeting to
understand who they are and what they intend.”
Piemacum’s face
was inflamed.
“I will tell you
exactly what I intend!” Pausing, leaning backward, he took control of his
emotions. “I intend to make strong again the villages closest to the Pomouik. I
will do this because you” – he nodded at Wingina – “do not!”
Wingina pointed
his right forefinger. “Aquascogooc and Secotan are part of my confederation. You do not decide who protects them!” He
rose.
“Aquascogooc and
Secotan will decide. Not you. Not me. I will give them better reasons for them
to accept me!”
Wingina took a
step forward. Sunukkuhkau rose, stepped in front of his weroance.
Wanchese rose.
Watching Wanchese,
Sunukkuhkau removed his knife from his apron band.
Manteo rushed
between the lines of combatants. “Stop!” His hands made invisible arcs. “All of
you agreed! Whatever was spoken would not cause fighting! Step back! I ask you.
Everybody sit!”
Eyes locked,
Piemacum and Wingina refused to move. Watching Sunukkuhkau, Wanchese slowly
complied. Sunukkuhkau then sat.
Piemacum and
Wingina continued to stare. Neither will sit first, Wanchese concluded.
Manteo again.
“Because I am the host and one of you must sit first, … I ask, because of
Wingina’s senority, that you, Piemacum, yield.”
Piemacum looked
past Manteo as if he were vapor. To Wingina, he said, “If you interfere with
what I and my braves do with the Aquascogooc and Secotans, I will treat you as
I would the Mandoags.”
Wingina nodded. He
turned toward Manteo. “Your meeting as achieved its purpose.” Squaring his
shoulders, he addressed Piemacum. “We reject your assumption of authority. We
will continue to serve all our people’s
needs. Should you interfere, we will fight.”
***
I have not yet planned the run-up to and the actual
wounding of Wingina and the event’s immediate aftermath. This is entirely doable but I am
impatient. The tunnel is long.
The second event is the appearance and one month’s stay in
July and August 1584 of the English exploratory party. Historians do know quite a bit about what the
Englishmen observed that month. But what
were the thoughts of the local Algonquians?
Historians must rely on Englishmen’s accounts of Algonquian behavior to
infer native conclusions. I am allowed,
therefore, some leeway in portraying Wingina’s, Wanchese’s, Alsoomse’s, and
other characters’ judgments. I can do
that, but doing so will take weeks.
I have two major worries about integrating Alsoomse and
Wanchese into the narrative of these two events. One, Alsoomse, because of the nature of the
events, easily becomes a subordinate character, a bystander, an observer
instead of continuing to be an instigator, a cause, and occasionally a resolver
of conflict. I do not want this to
happen. I will have to find several ways
to make her relevant without violating historical truth. Two, I have caused Wingina to doubt
Wanchese’s reliability in crisis situations.
Yet, he will select Wanchese to undertake a vital mission at the end of
the novel. I have to find a way to resolve
this apparent contradiction without straining reader credulity.
The light flickers.
Depth perception is problematic.
I estimate that I have ten chapters to write to finish the first draft
of this novel. I have completed Chapter
26. The novel will exceed 400
pages. Will it be too long? How will I be able to tell? What should I cut? Not need to attempt to answer these questions
for quite some while.
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