Settler Challenge, rebooted (cont.)
Four generations of Blackbirds before Henry had built up the family fortune by tilling the soil and adding to the settlersâ knowledge of the new world. A few of them, his direct descendants, rested behind the house, as would his mother and father, aunt Jackie, uncle Eric, uncle Lincoln and, ultimately, Henry and his sister.
One day Henry asked where the ones from even earlier were. Or had Jack come with Adam and Eve right out of paradise?
âNah, to the contraryâ, his father explained.
âWhat, from hell?â
âClose enough: from London.â
And then Ebenezer had told his son the story of how Jack had been the first to bear the name Blackbird and how he had been deported from England for some petty crime: http://enkisstories.tumblr.com/tagged/settler%20challenge/chrono
With that revelation everything the child had known and taken for granted shattered. His parents and all the relatives that he loved - just a bunch of unwanted that one had gotten rid of. Exiled, never to return. The rejection hurt.
âBut now that so much time has passed, canât we go home?â Henry asked. âNone of us is guilty of whatever Jack was convicted for!â
âWe are home, sprout!â Ebenezer laughed. âOasis Springs is our home. Just to think to trade this for endless mist and rain... no way!â
Henry gulped. He had no argument to sway his fatherâs opinion and was afraid of asking if there were convicts employed in his mine to this very day. The answer to his first question had been bad enough already.
In time Henryâs disappointment and humilation fueled a red-hot rage. It was better, the boy believed, to smash the occasional plushie than to cry into itâs stuffing...
Henry Blackbird, Gen. 5, Trait Hot-headed