The Rest of the Story

Written for the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge with a word limit of 300. (And a tip of the hat to Paul Harvey)

The prompts: This story must contain the line "Believe me, you don't want to know."

The Rest of the Story

Jumping Badger burst into his parent’s teepee and dove under a pile of animal skins they used for bedding. His mother, White Fawn, was quite use to the troublesome behavior of her youngest son. Still, she had to ask.

“What sort of mischief have you been into this morning my little brave?”

A small, muffled voice said, “Believe me, you don’t want to know.”

Commotion could be heard coming from the direction of the village center. White Fawn lifted the teepee flap to take a peek. She had learned to gauge the level of trouble her son was in by the amount of wailing the local, gossipy squaws put forth. It was as if they thought a well behaved Indian boy was a good thing. Today he appeared to have really stuck a nerve. She couldn’t have been prouder of her little one.

White Fawn knew better than those old hags. It was the wild and daring nature of children that would help them evolve into the leadership skills of an adult in the Lakota tribe. 

Years later, she could not have foreseen how right she was. At the age of forty-one, some thirty years later, her once little boy woke up and reflected on what a gift his mom had been. He stood on the hillside today, a product of her upbringing. Were she still alive, she would be proud of her little brave. He would always be her little Jumping Badger, although he now went by his adult name

Today, June 25th, 1876, was to be a big day for him. Although he was Jumping Badger to his mom, by this time tomorrow, the world would know him by his adult name. Today was the day Sitting Bull would rock a nation to its very core.