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Angie Pratt
Becka Charlie lives in the old trapper’s cabin where Frank and Eldon take shelter on the second night of their journey. She is a sturdy woman with Native facial features, though she’s fair-skinned and blue-eyed: she has Chilcotin and Scottish heritage and was raised knowing both of her parents’ ancestral ways. She moved into the cabin to care for her father, who died from the effects of alcoholism. Frank appreciates Becka’s straight-talking attitude, though Eldon gets defensive when she criticizes his drinking. Becka perceives that there’s courage and generosity in Eldon’s determination to tell Frank his stories. She tells Frank that our stories are all we are, and she sends the men on their way with some supplies, including herbal medicine that soothes Eldon in his final days.
Becka Charlie Quotes in Medicine Walk
The Medicine Walk quotes below are all either spoken by Becka Charlie or refer to Becka Charlie. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 12 Quotes
"'What he done was brave. You know that, huh?"
"Done what?"
"Tellin' you. That took some grit."
"I don't think it'd take much grit to tell what ya already know."
"Maybe. But it sat in his gut a long time. Most'll just give stuff like that over to time. Figure enough of it passes things'll change. Try to forget it. Like forgettin's a cure unto itself. It ain't. You never forget stuff that cuts that deep."
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His father moaned and the kid regarded him. "He don't seem much of a warrior to me." He sipped at the tea.
"Who's to say how much of anythin' we are?" Becka said. "Seems to me the truth of us is where it can't be seen. Comes to dyin', I guess we all got a right to what we believe."
"I can't know what he believes. He talks a lot, but I still got no sense of him. So far it's all been stories."
She only nodded. "It's all we are in the end. Our stories." She stood and put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a pat.
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Chapter 13 Quotes
He thought about what Becka had said and worked at finding some pattern to the shards and pieces of history he'd been allowed to carry now. They jangled and knocked around inside him. It felt like jamming the wrong piece into a picture puzzle. Like frustration alone could make it fit the pattern. He cast a look back over his shoulder at his father, who seemed to be asleep, but he'd mumble when the horse's step over a rock or a root made him lurch in the saddle. When the kid looked back at the thin trail they followed he felt worn and makeshift as the trail itself.
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Becka Charlie Character Timeline in Medicine Walk
The timeline below shows where the character Becka Charlie appears in Medicine Walk. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 10
...isn’t something catching, she agrees to let them stay the night. She introduces herself as Becka Charlie.
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Becka helps the kid get Eldon into the cabin. The cabin is roughly furnished now, and...
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...drinks a steaming mug of tea made of pine gum and mint. He smiles to himself—Becka, short and squat, looks like a gnome. They chat about his father’s condition. Becka says...
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...suggests more cedar tea, since his father has done well today, but his father refuses. Becka tells the kid he shouldn’t let a drunk push him around. When Eldon gets defensive,...
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The kid and Becka eagerly eat the stew and biscuits, but Eldon barely touches his food. After they’re done,...
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After studying Eldon in silence for a long time, Becka says she wouldn’t have expected him to follow “the warrior way”—going West to die and...
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Chapter 12
...return; they found whatever work they could, traveling, enjoying money and the company of men. Becka asks if Eldon ever wanted to find out how his mother fared, and Eldon looks...
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...his father’s breathing. When he sees Eldon shaking, he puts his own blanket over him. Becka sits down with him and they watch Eldon sleep. Becka says his father was brave...
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Becka asks if those who raised him ever told him anything about his mother. But the...
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In the morning, Becka gives them porridge with berries and Eldon fidgets with his food. The kid tends to...
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Chapter 13
...and is in pain, so the kid takes a glass jar of medicine out of Becka’s sack. Its contents smell fungal and rotted. His father makes a face as he swallows...
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...to pour out the remaining hooch; he wants to go clean and get by on Becka’s juice as best he can. When Eldon takes another dose, he grows dreamy and asks...
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Chapter 15
...his father’s face hot. In his pack, he’s surprised to find some extra supplies that Becka snuck in—beans, bacon, and bread. The kid heats the food over the fire. His father...
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