Nonsense Nightmare Catcher

"I'm going to give you to the Indians." The first time that my mother said this to me it frightened me badly. I had no idea why she said this, what I might have done. She was annoyed about something as usual and taking it out on me. She used to say it to me often, watching carefully to see how I took it. I never heard her saying this to my siblings. As far as I knew I was the only member of the family that might be given away.

But soon I was in school, and I learned the 1960s stereotypes, that Native American Indians were proud and dangerous, they rode horses, they lived outside in teepees wearing iconic costumes, and they were reputed to be in harmony with animals and nature. I began to think that living with the Indians might be an easier life for me than living with my mother, but when I said this to my mother she immediately stopped saying, "I'm going to give you to the Indians.

I had caught that nonsense in my nightmare catcher of little girl patience and logic.