“I will be gone for only a short time, Katse’e.” Thomas had already asked Rayford Jessup to take over his sheriff duties while he was gone, and had arranged for Fred Driscoll, who ran the livery, to let Tombo Welks stay in his barn. He had also filled the larder at the Arlan house and asked Curtis to take Lillian to and from school. Now, all he had left to do was convince Katse’e that she would be fine without him. “Why cain’t I go with you?” Hearing the wobble in her voice, Thomas pushed his chair away from the eating table and pulled her onto his lap. “You told me poor blind black girls did not sleep outside.” “You sleepin’ outside?” “Until I set up my xamaa-vee’e, yes.” “You tipi?” “Yes. But this one will be larger and will take longer to make.” “How you build one of them things?”
