A New Beginning

[oceansand588]

May the roads rise to meet you,
May the wind be at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rain fall soft upon your fields,
And, until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
~ Traditional Irish proverbs

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It was the 17th of March, 1899. At dawn the skies were clear and blue, and the air was crisp and cool--not cold, but not warm, refreshingly cool. A light breeze off the river wafted along the docks and the street running parallel, smelling slightly of brine and the less invigorating scent of the muck disturbed by last night's rain and which was now being washed out with low-tide.

By midday however, the sky had become overcast, and the old shoe shiner on the corner of Livingston and Flatbush was muttering to himself about the lack of business on what was already a Gray day, and what he predicted would become another gray and rainy day. He proved to be right; by four in the afternoon, it was raining quite hard… It had become a wet and dreary day. The dusty, cobbled streets of Brooklyn were dusty no more; the rain created rivers of grime and dirt along the curb and the once, dirt-blackened stones were now dark, grey-blue. The volume of rain pouring from the sky was such that anyone unlucky enough to be caught outside would be drenched in a matter of minutes….

Shane Brightwell turned the corner of Flatbush onto Sullivan street and espied the traditional, wooden sign hanging above the entrance to Lennigan's Pub. She paused, and smiled in relief at the welcome sight; she was anxious to get inside where it was surely warm and dry. She started forward eagerly, mindful only of her destination and the slippery wet sidewalk. She paused at the mouth of the alley that lay to the immediate left of Lennigan's Pub, glancing curiously down the dismal passage. There was nothing but a heap of rubbish from the pub, and beyond that she could see nothing but the tops of the fire-escapes of the buildings along the alley.

She was brought out of her reverie when a big fat drop of rain landed on the back of her neck, exposed as it was with her hair tied back above the nape of her neck with a faded green ribbon. She grimaced, and reached a hand up to whipe away the water. A cool breeze wafted through the alley, carrying the scent of the rubbish, and raising goosebumps on her arms. Shane shivered involuntarily. She shook her head as if to clear it, and started forward once more, and crossed the alleyway in three large strides.

As she stepped onto the curb in front of Lennigan's, the door swung open and half a dozen Irish fellows stumbled out onto the damp Brooklyn street. Shane respectfully stepped to the side and waited for them to pass. She wrinkled her nose at the scent of stale sweat and liquor. One of the fellows stumbled sideways and she instinctively sidestepped him.

Shane relaxed a little once she entered the familiar setting, and headed for a small table pushed up against the wall. She sat down with a sigh and surveyed the room and its occupants, pushing damp strands of hair from her face. She didn't spot any faces she knew. Satisfied that there was no one of whom to be suspicious and nothing to fear or to be wary, she pulled a small, thin book from her pocket and turned her attention to its damp pages.She opened it gently and flipped through it lightly, pausing every now and the to read the inscription on a page. She seemed peaceful, but in the back of her mind, something was bothering her. After a few moments, she looked up and glanced around the room, feeling uneasy, or as though someone was watching her. She hid her unease behind a mask of detached interested, but her brown eyes belied her calm exterior....

[Levi Akecheta]

Levi Akecheta walked along the streets of Brooklyn, feeling scared and alone. He was new to the city, and terrified of every turn and twist on the streets. He had never been in a place where the buildings were so close and towered so high. He had never been in place where everybody was rude and pushed you along. He had never been in a place where nobody trusted you, nobidy listened to what you have to say. He felt a drop of rain on his head and looked up, not even the rain was the same. Here, it did not cleanse, did not wash away the bad thoughts. Here, it made everything muddy and miserable and made the people muddy and miserable.

He was fifteen, a good size for his age and strong. Strong eyes, strong legs, strong back, everything strong. Except his heart. No matter how hard her tried, he could not make his heart strong, hard, or cold. Levi sighed and he wished his was back home, in Dakota, on the reservation, his biggest worry whether or not to hunt a fox or rabbit for dinner. He missed his horse, Wind Woman, and he missed riding her. He missed his long black hair, his beaded buckskin clothes, his mocasins... Levi wiped away a raindrop that had lodged itself by his eye.

He wiped away more then a raindrop, or tear, he wiped away black dirt from the place he worked, the factory. He had never worked in such closed conditions, dust and fluff flying into his lungs, threatening to choke him with every breath. He dodged some Irish boys who were clearly drunk and ducked into a pub, trying to find warmth and clean air.

He instead found a girl sitting at a table, reading a damp book. Levi remembered going to the English school, being forced to learn English and to read English and write it. Levi saw her look up. He steeled himself, feeling suddenly distrustful and weary. He then relaxed a bit, remembering the things his grandfather would tell him when he was nervous. Levi smiled and approached her, fidgeting slightly. "Um... Hello. My name's Levi, can I... Can I sit here and rest my feet?" He asked softly, trying to remember to say everything correctly and resisting the urge to say hello in his language.

[oceansand588]

A tendril of cool, damp air ghosted over Shane's skin. From her seat at a small table near the front of the pub, she eyed the new arrival. Her observation was limited to studying the figure silhouetted against the hazy light filtering through the glass windows. As the figure shifted, entering the pub proper, she slid her gaze casually to the the right, looking through the window onto the foggy Brooklyn street, then returned her eyes to the small book in her grasp. She stared at the words on the page and listened to the sound of footfalls, which became more distinct indicating an approaching stranger. " The new arrival.," she thought. She was alerted to the nearby presence of the stranger by the soft, shaky breathing. At last, Shane looked the stranger in the eye. Her mask slipped, and for an instant the stranger might have been able to observe a startled, nervous expression on her face before it was replaced by a mask of a calm demeanor.

"Um... Hello. My name's Levi, can I... Can I sit here and rest my feet?"

Shane nodded, and gestured towards the unoccupied chair across from her. Carefully, she folded over a corner in her small book and set it aside in favor of greeting her tablemate. "Reilly." Shane whispered, afixing him with a curious stare. His hair was black, a midnight to her auburn locks. It was captivating, yet it underscored the dirty smudges on the boy's-- Levi," Shane reminded herself--face. "My name is Reilly." This was the first person to whom Shane revealed her middle name. However, it was no longer her middle name, and she was no longer Shane Brightwell. As of that moment, she began her life anew with a simple meeting of a stranger.

[Levi Akecheta]

Levi smiled. "Nice to meet you... Reilly." He struggled to form the correct word. English was like that. Always slurring the letters and sounds together. He looked at her. She seemed nice enough. "I'm afraid I got lost. I can find my way around a praire or moutain without thinking, but this city..." He shrugged helplessly. "What... What were your reading?" He asked softly. He noticed her looking at his face. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm a bit dirty, aren't I? See, I was working in the factory all day and tried to get home, but I got lost. But I already told you that, didn't I?" He chuckled gently.