Late in March, several boats made their way upriver toward Texas. The boats were laden down with pelts and salt. The men on the boats were excited to see home again and were looking forward to seeing family and old friends before they headed back east.

As the boats landed, several of the men helped their wives with their infants, and then each of these men began taking their new families to the homes they grew up in. One of these young men knocked on the door of John’s house.

John’s wife Onawa opened the door, and when she saw the young man, the young woman, and the baby being carried, her face went from confusion to surprise to joy, “BOBBY!” Then she hugged her boy for a whole minute before asking, “Who's this?”

“This is my wife, Taborri, and our firstborn son, Bobby Jr.”

Onawa beamed and gave Bobby a huge hug. For the first time in months, the worry she had for Quincy disappeared.

Onawa was almost crying as she said, “I love you, and I missed you so much.”

“I love you too, Mom. Where’s Dad?”

Immediately the smile fell off Onawa's face as she said, “He is rescuing Quincy.”

“Rescuing Quincy? What happened?”

“Quincy took a lot of young men on a trade mission with five boats. They came across some village, and Quincy and three of the boats were captured. The men who captured them killed some of Quincy’s friends, but we were told that Quincy was alive. John sent word for the Texas Rangers and a bunch of buffalo riders to help him rescue Quincy.”

Bobby could tell his mom was worried, so he said, “Don’t worry, Mom, Dad will rescue Quincy. Is there anything Dad has set his mind to that he has failed to do?”

Onawa paused and said, “No. You’re right. I just wish I felt more confident.” Then she changed the subject and asked Taborri, “Tell me about yourself? How did you meet my son?”

Taborri was happy that the subject was changed to her, “Well, it was a normal day. I was working my grandmother's fields when there was shouting about a giant canoe. Everyone in the village went to the river to see what was going on. The men were in the water with their little dugout canoes, trading stuff back and forth with your son until he managed to reach the shore. Once he landed on the shore, my grandmother tried talking with him, but he didn’t know our language yet. He gave my grandmother a hoe, and she recognized that he had a lot of wealth, so she had me marry your son, so I could properly manage his wealth.”

Onawa was intensely listening, but her jaw dropped when she heard Bobby’s wife say Bobby needed help properly managing wealth. She looked over to Bobby, who looked uncomfortable. Onawa felt that Bobby’s wife’s attitude really needed to change, but instead of arguing with the ungrateful brat who married her son, she said, “That sounds great. So why are you visiting now?”

That question caused Taborri to wince. She was here because she failed. She had a boy instead of a girl. Taborri loved Bobby Jr., but it would have been better politically if she had a girl. If she had a girl, she would still be back home with her daughter waiting for Bobby’s return. Since she had a son, she was looking for a way to make up for her failure. But instead of sharing how she really felt, she said, “Bobby mentioned something about controlling animals, so they do your work for you.”

Onawa was confused, looked to Bobby, and asked, “Does she mean bison?”

Taborri was offended and said, “There is no reason to talk to my husband about trade. Stop being rude.”

Onawa was irritated now, “Listen here, little girl. I am going to talk to my son if I want to.”

“That’s your right as his mother unless you go over my head to talk to him about business.”

“What?!” Onawa did not know if she was more angry or confused.

“Mom, back in Tabari’s village, men are only supposed to hunt, fish, or protect the village.”

Onawa couldn’t help it; she laughed and said, “You’re joking.”

Bobby faced palmed as Taborri lost her temper and said, “How dare you make fun of our ways! We learned long ago that although men are stronger than women, women can do practically everything better than men.”

Onawa was shocked and surprised that her son was still married to this brat. Things must be very different where she is from because if she showed this much disrespect to most men around Texas, they would hit her.

“So your men accept you bossing them around and disrespecting them all the time?”

“We do not disrespect our men or boss them around. We are in partnership with them. They hunt, fish, and protect our village. The women make hides, cook, build longhouses, make their weapons, tend the crops and decide important decisions. Our men love it since it gives them more time to hunt.”

Onawa realized these women were basically telling their husbands to go outside and play like they were little kids, and the men did since it meant they got to do what they wanted to do. To Onawa, that would be as bad as a man, in essence, telling his wife to stay home and play house so he could have complete control without his wife’s input. Treating adults like children was not the wisest course of action, and she wondered how Bobby dealt with it.

“Bobby, how are you dealing with this?”

“We have come to an understanding.” Taborri shot her husband a dirty look, and Bobby said, “I told you to let me handle the trade because we do things differently here, but you didn’t want to listen.”

“Don’t correct me in front of your mother.”

Bobby rolled his eyes and made a motion to his mom to move on.

Onawa asked again, “Why did you two come? Something about bison?”

“Yes. We would like to purchase some. I will make the purchase for my village, and Bobby’s partners will make the purchase for their village on the sea. I am sure we will get the better deal.”

Onawa could tell this girl had not been out of her village very often, so she asked, “Can your boat hold a fully grown bison?”

Taborri looked to Bobby, who shook his head, and then Onawa waited for the brat to turn around and said, “No, we are looking for a weaned animal.”

“They are not weaned yet, but they should be in a few weeks.”

“Then we will wait for them to be weaned.”

Taborri got up to leave when Bobby whispered in her ear, “We need to buy the bison now, or they will be sold out by the time they are weaned.” Taborri was embarrassed about her mistake and mad that her husband corrected her, but to Onawa’s surprise, in a flash, she hid her embarrassment and anger and began negotiating with Onawa, “I have many pelts, that I have made myself, that I think should pay for the bison.”

“I will have to look at the pelts myself to see if they are up to standard, but we should be able to work out a deal.”

“Wonderful!” Then she turned to Bobby and said, “See, I told you trading wasn’t that hard.” Bobby couldn’t wait until he dropped her off in her village. He was embarrassed by how bad she was at this, especially since she thought she was good at trading.

Bobby said, “Why don’t you two work out a deal while I find Walker.”

To Bobby’s surprise, both women brightened at the idea. If he knew it was because they wanted to fix each other… he would have still left but more reluctantly.

Taborri waved goodbye as she said, “Have fun.”

Followed by Onawa, “He is near the village of Refuge. He is helping the boys there learn how to ride buffalo.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

Bobby headed out and was grateful for the long walk to the next village. It allowed him to clear his head. By the time he reached the edge of Refuge, he saw the buffalo and yelled out, “WALKER!”

One of the buffalo turned, and Bobby heard the yell, “WHAT DO YOU WANT!”

Bobby smiled; his brother was too far to see him, so he yelled, “IT’S ME, YOUR BROTHER BOBBY!”

The buffalo began galloping toward him, and when it reached him, Bobby had to look up at his little brother, and he said, “Good to see you, Walker.”

Walker sounded melancholy when he said, “Good to see you as well.”

“Are you all right? You seem down.”

“I thought you were Quincy.”

“Don’t worry about Quincy. Dad is going to get him, and Dad never fails.”

“Yeah, you’re right. So why are you here?”

“Why am I here at the gates of the village of Refuge? I am here to see my little brother.”

“No, why did you come back home?”

“We needed some bison.”

“That makes sense.” There was some awkward silence between the brothers before several ten, and eleven-year-old boys rode their buffalo over.

One asked, “Walker, who’s this?”

“My brother, Bobby.”

“The trader?”

“Yep.”

Bobby asked, “Who are these guys?”

“They are my students.” Bobby gave Walker a confused look, so Walker clarified, “I am teaching them how to ride a buffalo and take care of their partners. They are not too bad, but they have a long way to go if they ever want to shoot bows while they ride.”

“So why are you teaching them?”

“Dad’s gone, and their moms found sanctuary in Refuge.”

Bobby nodded in understanding. That meant these boys had no contact with their fathers, for whatever reason, so Bobby asked, “Have you boys ever been on a longboat?”

One said, “No.”

“Well, let me show you mine.”

The boys cheered, and that’s how Bobby got free labor out of his brother's students.

Later in the evening, Onawa found Bobby and asked, “Bobby, what is keeping your marriage together? Your wife is very disrespectful of you.”

“Mom, I learned long ago if you are going to make wealth, you have to swallow your pride. Taborri is going to become the next matriarch of her village; that’s going to help me out a lot. The men in the village do little more than hunt, so I do not have to worry about them stealing my… er our stuff. They already have a trade network with the surrounding villages. Taborri’s village is everything I want in a trade outpost, and being married to the future matriarch is a bonus.”

“Bobby, I love you, but you’re an idiot. Wealth isn’t everything.”

“Mom, you just don’t understand. Wealth can buy everything.”

“It did not buy you a pleasant wife.”

“It hasn’t bought me a pleasant wife yet. Toborri doesn’t know it, but she is not going to be my only wife. Don’t worry, Mom, sooner or later, I will bring home a wife you like.”

“Bobby, you can not handle the wife you have; two of them will kill you.”