J E Gessler

Blue Moon J E Gessler

"Blue Moon"Summary The Indian legend stated that a red-haired white boy, born of earthquake and comet in a month with two full moons, would save the tribes along the Mighty Mississippi from oppression by the white-skinned invaders from the east. As the first steamboat to navigate the western waters, under the charter of Robert Fulton, himself, made its appearance, the early pioneers were terrified by the noise and the smoke. Calling it the devil's invention in superstitious awe, and perhaps more accurately, a "floating teakettle," the magnificent boat traversed the unknown with a limited crew and several passengers, one of whom was the wife of a successful businessman. Great was the earthquake the boat experienced, and even more magnificent the comet that went shooting across the sky as the boat made its trek to New Orleans. As though on cue, during the blue moon, a red-haired baby boy was born to this woman. Giving her life in exchange for his, excitement over the birth was solemn enough but when the child was mysteriously stolen, the father had little time for regrets as his sole concern lay in creating new business contacts along the river. Years later, a boy named Blue Moon appeared out of nowhere on the Mississippi and assumed ownership on an unnamed island where he chopped wood for the newly developing steamboat trade. Surviving on his wiles, he grew into a man with no history but a reputation as a fighter and a survivor. Winning a broken-down steamboat in a poker game, he became Captain Blue Moon, naming his vessel after himself. In desperate need of money for the constant repairs the Blue Moon required, Blue is finally persuaded to take an explorer to the headwaters of the Mississippi, back into the Indian lands he knew too well, risking his boat and his freedom along the way.