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Andra Watkins

Lewis and Clark and Old Blue Eyes

She had blue eyes. I saw them. Before she tilted her blonde head and left me holding an empty book. She stepped over soft dirt and evaporated through a slit in the landscape. A crunch, the grinding of rigored limbs. And she was gone. Was she the person I was supposed to find? The native who would be Thomas Jefferson's link to the Middle Ages?

She had blue eyes. I saw them. Before she tilted her blonde head and left me holding an empty book. She stepped over soft dirt and evaporated through a slit in the landscape. A crunch, the grinding of rigored limbs.

And she was gone.

Was she the person I was supposed to find? The native who would be Thomas Jefferson’s link to the Middle Ages?

I looked.

I did.

Everywhere.

I walked along the shore of the mighty Missouri. Left the men behind. Around every bend, I sought pale eyes, one set, among shades of black and brown. I toured their lodgings, one by one. Made every person hold my gaze while I gave them my speech about Father Jefferson and handed out beads and silly medallions.

She eluded me for almost 2,000 miles. Made me die to find her.

I opened the book to the first blank page. Scrawled her name above her likeness. And followed her through the gash in the scenery.

“What’ll you have?”

I rubbed my eyes. The Bartender held a cloudy glass.

Waiting.

“I–”

I fumbled through my journal. Every page. Blank. Pristine. I breathed in two lungs of sulfur with my sigh. “I don’t know what I’m doing here.”

The Bartender pulled out a cracked stool. Patted the seat.

“Well. Only cure for that’s a drink. You’ll figure it all out. Probably later than sooner, by the looks of you.”

Picture from Frances Hunter’s blog. Click the image to read her article about the Welsh Indians.

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TODAY’S MERIWETHER LEWIS BIRTHDAY MONTH TRIVIA QUESTION:

LEWIS AND CLARK WERE CHARGED WITH FINDING EVIDENCE OF A LOST EUROPEAN TRIBE AMONG THE NATIVE AMERICANS. FROM WHAT PART OF EUROPE DID THIS SUPPOSED TRIBE HAIL?

Answer to yesterday’s Meriwether Lewis Birthday Month Trivia Question: Where was Meriwether Lewis born?

OUTSIDE CHARLOTTESVILLE, ALBEMARLE COUNTY, VIRGINIA

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Dad asked. You delivered. He thanks you for the Kindle love yesterday.

To Live Forever: An Afterlife Journey of Meriwether Lewis is just $2.99 on Kindle during August in celebration of Meriwether Lewis’ Birthday Month. Give the gift of reading to one person or to a slew. 🙂

amazon.kindle

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To check out the entire Meriwether Lewis Birthday Month Series, follow the links below:

Lewis and Clark: Screwing Their Way Across a Continent
Lewis and Clark and Sex Bombs
Who Was Meriwether Lewis Godfather?
If Meriwether Lewis Had Lived to be 80

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61 Comments

  1. Sweden! Men are always looking for blonde Swedish women…. 😉

    1. I sometimes wonder if Merry was attracted to women……….but that’s another post for another day.

      1. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. Say no more, say no more…

      1. I do not skim!! I sometimes leave things for Kenneth to pick up. Why is this abuse Carnell day?

  4. The bartender’s response made me giggle: “Only cure for that’s a drink.”

        1. I’d have to check that, Mary. Ha.

          Drinks were pretty basic in the late 1700s and early 1800s.

    1. I want to get back to the sequel AND write 12 installments of Merry in various other Nowhere incarnations……….but first, I have to finish Not Without My Father.

      1. When I was done reading it the first thing I said was “oh damn, I need to know more about Nowhere and some of the other things going on with it!”

    2. I’m not sure the 12 Merry installments will be full novels. We’ll see. I didn’t intend for the memoir to be more than 50K words, but it’s easily going to be 70K.

      1. I think a collection of Merry stories — interconnected or stand-alone adventures — would also be an interesting way to go.

        I suspect the memoir will be a fantastic read as well. Must be cathartic for you to write it all down.

        1. It’s been harder than writing fiction in some ways. It’s more fun to develop voices for characters than it is to write in my own voice.

          1. Quite the opposite from most people. Some writers never escape their own voice. Good for you for being able to swallow your own ego. Good luck throwing it up again!

  6. Thanks for that link, Andra. Somehow, I’ve missed it in the past. Enjoyed a few, well, more than a few, moments there.
    You know, I really can’t wait for the Meriwether sequel – or your memoir. Nice to have such things to look forward to.

  7. oh, i love this concept and look forward to the nowhere stories. and for the book about your dad. you will be busy, andra, but in a good way. and the bartender is a wise man..

    1. I’m going off the grid for three weeks this month to get some of it done.

  8. Oh how I loved that book, your language and descriptions in it. Can’t wait to read the sequel.

      1. and you can VISIT!!! (I’ll come to NYC for the signings 🙂 )

        1. That’s really the hardest thing about all this. Writing is such a solitary, hermit-like activity. Yet, I have to get out and shake hands and travel to connect with readers. I still think that’s the only way to build a following. Social media isn’t enough. They’re very opposite activities, though, and I sometimes feel schizo…… 🙂

          1. Well Andra, I for one, have never met you in person and yet I tell at least one person a week about your book.I am an awesome cheerleader for you and we’ve never met.

            You’re right, SM is also solitary sometimes. It’s not always “real” and that can add stress and anxiety to the situation. However you never have to worry about that with me, I’m a fan …no matter what.

          2. SM is a great way to meet people. I agree. But I think a lot of people are so digitally burned out. It’s harder to make an impression, to really get to know someone, than it was a year ago.

          3. Digitally burned out…
            yes, that’s exactly the way I feel most days.

            But your blog, your book and your connections are doing a good job of bringing you to the people.

    2. I hope my comment came across the way I intended. Sometimes, I get in such a hurry and don’t think enough about what I’m typing.

  9. Ahh, the elusive Welsh connection, I assume? 12 more “Nowhere” episodes? Wow!!

    Personally, I can’t wait for the memoir, but all this Meriwether Lewis business has rekindled old interests, and now you’ve given us a link to more history — just added Frances Hunter’s blog to my subscriptions. It’s little wonder my do-it-yourself projects are still in need-to-finish-it mode!

    1. I’m not sure how it’s all going to work out right now, Karen. We’ll see. Personally, I feel like finding out what Merry was up to in those failed attempts would be interesting, but exploring whatever future he has might be more interesting. I don’t know right now.

  10. If Madeline L’Engel is right, the lost European tribe to come to the Americas were Druids from the British Isles

  11. Oh shit … are your sequels going to be prequels? Or … Or… Or… This scene holds, for someone who has read the book, so much possibility.

    1. Sequels and prequels, because I can’t do anything right. I can’t even write a straight memoir without turning it into something else.

  12. For once my eclectic reading has brought me to a good answer. I think the answer is Wales! I read a book on the Mandan Indians and if memory serves… 🙂 Just think of all the stories left to tell. You’re going to be writing for a long, long time. ox

  14. I am hooked and along for the ride as well. It’s been a fun one so far. 🙂

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