Derailment: Day 3

Word Count: 18,028

Summary of Events:
Fox Paw's father came and told her mother that only Bobcat Ears' household was taken ill and also asked a reason for Fox Paw's flightiness — a reason which displeased him strongly. Matthew discovered he was nearing a town and realized he wasn't in Oklahoma yet; he also encountered the sheriff who got suspicious of his intent to enter Oklahoma Territory and detained him. Fox Paw prepared some rabbit pelts for tanning and discussed making one of them into a wedding gift for Badger Ears with her mother. Matthew, finally now in Oklahoma Territory, was readying to make supper when Adonikam found his old deerskin clothes he hadn't worn for a dozen years.

Excerpt of the Day:
"Adonikam was still holding the clothes, sitting on the wagon seat. Matthew got the matches out and slid them into his pocket before looking at Adonikam.
"I told you to put the clothes away please," Matthew said.
"Wear 'em Papa," Adonikam said.
Matthew sighed, wondering why he'd even packed the clothes along. "I told you to put them away Adonikam," he said with a firmer edge to his voice.
"Wear 'em Papa, peas," Adonikam said.
"It's please," Matthew corrected. "And I told you to put them away."
"Peas Papa wear 'em," Adonikam said, holding them out.
Matthew lifted Adonikam off of the seat, pried his son's fingers off of his old clothes, and set them down on the seat. He set Adonikam down on the ground, not bothering to say anything, and walked over to start the fire.
Sitting down, Matthew looked down at himself and sighed; here he was, heading to visit his sisters and other Comanche friends he'd grown up with, and he was going to walk in there looking like a white man?
His friends would think he'd betrayed them, his sisters might even think the same; they might not even trust his teaching and might be afraid that he was trying to anglicize them.
Matthew rested his elbows on his knees and his forehead in his hands. What was he thinking? It was going to be odd enough for them to that he'd be walking into their camp with short hair.
But would his old clothes even fit? He hadn't worn them in twelve years after all. He turned at the sound of footsteps and saw Adonikam approaching, one piece of clothing clenched in each fist.
"Wear 'em Papa," Adonikam said, holding them out to him.
"We'll see if they fit," Matthew sighed. "Stay out of the tent please."
Matthew got up and walked into the tent. Shelomith was sleeping, and at her age she wasn't likely to remember seeing her father changing clothes, but still Matthew kept his back to her and stripped every last garment of cotton and wool from his body, sliding on the deerskin leggings and tunic.
They fit just as well as they'd fit on the day his mother had made them for him; the only thing that'd changed was that the sleeves and legs were a little short; he'd grown a bit taller since he'd last worn them, but other than that he was pretty much the same size.
Looking down at himself, Matthew wondered what Josephina would've thought of him if she'd been here to see him. Matthew walked out of the tent and sat down to light the fire.
"Papa look right," Adonikam said.
Matthew turned and looked at his son with puzzlement. "Right?"
Adonikam nodded, offering no further explanation. Matthew looked at his son curiously before returning to the task of lighting the fire; that was a different reaction than he'd expected, but that was the reaction he'd gotten."