Reservation Blues - Alexie Sherman (16 page)

* * *

Exhausted, Samuel took the ball out. His body ached.
Once, pain had been a drug to him. He needed pain, but then it had
just become pain. ]ust more weight on his body.

"
It's over," the Chief said. "You
don't have nothing left."

Art, Scott, and Phil Heavy Burden surrounded Lester
and prevented him from moving. The Chief and the two white officers
guarded Samuel.

"
Fuck you twice," Samuel said.

Samuel looked at Chief WalksAlong, at all the Tribal
Cops, at Lester. He shifted the ball from his left hip to his right.
He spun the ball in his hands, felt the leather against his
fingertips, and closed his eyes.

"
What the hell you doing?" the Chief asked.

With his eyes still closed, Samuel drove to the
basket, around his defenders, and pulled up for a short jumper. The
ball rotated beautifully. Years later, Lester still swore that ball
stopped in midair, just spun there like it was on a stick, like the
ball wanted to make sure everyone noticed its beauty.

"That shot was vain," Lester said.

"That shot was the best story I ever told,"
Samuel said.

TRIBAL COPS—9
SAMUEL &
LESTER—8

* * *

The-man-who-was-probably-Lakota stood in front of the
Trading Post every morning. He studied his watch, waited for the top
of the hour, and then started his ceremony at the same exact time
every morning. "The end of the world is near!" he chanted.
"The end of the world is near!"

"
Jeez," Thomas said as he heard the chant.
"It can't be six already. We stayed up all night."

Victor and junior stumbled into the room.

"Shit," Victor said. "Does that crazy
Lakota have to do that every morning?"

"
Enit?" junior said. "He must think
he's one of those Plains Indian roosters."

"Jeez," Victor said and looked at Samuel.
"How's your old man?"

"
He's all right."

"I'm hungry," Junior said.

"There's some applesauce in the fridge."

"Commodity applesauce or real applesauce?"

"Commodity."

"Shit, we"ll eat it anyway."

"Ya-hey," Victor said. "Maybe we
should stick an apple in Samuel's mouth and roast him up."

Checkers rose in anger and slapped Victor.

"What the fuck's wrong with you?" Victor
asked as he grabbed her wrists.

"
That ain't funny. That ain't funny."

Victor held Checkers until she stopped struggling. He
let her go, and Checkers slapped him again. She wailed on Victor. The
rest of Coyote Springs remained silent, too sleepy and stunned to
move. Checkers slapped and kicked the Indian man in front of her.
That Indian man, those Indian men.

"Stop it!" Chess shouted as she came back
to life. She tried to separate Checkers and Victor, but her sister
pushed her away. Checkers balled her hands into fists and started to
punch Victor.

"That's it," Victor said, picked Checkers
up, and threw her down. Checkers bounced back up and threw a few more
wild punches.

Thomas jumped Victor then, and the two wrestled
around the room, bumped into walls and the other band members.
Checkers crawled under the kitchen table for cover, while Samuel
Builds-the-Fire slept on. Chess screamed at Thomas and Victor.

"
Knock this shit off!"

Victor pulled away from Thomas. They stood face to
face like boxers before a bout. Breathing hard, they stared each
other down.

"You assholes," Chess said. "Quit this
macho bullshit."

"Ya-hey," Junior said. "I've got
applesauce."

Junior stepped between Thomas and Victor.

"
I've got enough spoons for all of us, too."

"I don't want any, " Thomas said and walked
out the door. Chess followed him. Victor took the applesauce and
spoons from Junior. Checkers stayed beneath the table, while Samuel
sat up, looked around, then fell back to sleep.

"Hey," Chess said as she caught up to
Thomas outside. "What the hell you think you're doing? You think
you're some kind of tough guy, enit?"

"
He can't do that to people no more,"
Thomas said. "I won't let him. I don't give a shit what that
guitar said. I don't care."

"
Well, call it off," Chess said. "Let's
kick them out of the band. We don't need them. We can be a trio. Me,
you, and Checkers. We'll get a new name. We'll move to a new place.
Get the hell away from this reservation. Any reservation."

The horses screamed.

"What do you think?" Thomas asked. "Should
we do that?"

"
Yeah, we should."

Victor swallowed the last bite of applesauce just as
Thomas and Chess returned to the house. Junior had crawled beneath
the table with Checkers. She pushed and kicked at him, but he still
sat under there. He wanted some applesauce.

"
I think she's hurt," Junior said to Chess,
who crawled beneath the table, too.

"Is she okay?" Thomas asked.

"My ass hurts," Checkers said. She shook as
Chess held her.

"She's completely fucking nuts is what she is,"
Victor said.

"Listen," Thomas said, and the rest of
Coyote Springs looked at him. He wanted to tell them about the new
plan to kick Junior and Victor out of the band, but he heard a knock
on the  door.

"Who the hell is that?" Victor asked.

Thomas opened the door to nothing. He looked around.
Nobody. He was about to shut the door when he heard a voice.

"
Hey," the voice whispered from inside a
bush on the front lawn. "You're Builds-the-Fire, right?"

"Yeah."

"The lead singer, right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay," the voice said. "I have a
letter for you."

The Federal Express guy jumped out of the bush and
handed the letter to Thomas. Then he saluted him, jumped off the
porch, and ran for his truck. Thomas watched the FedEx truck kick up
dust and smoke as it peeled out of the driveway.

"What was that?" Chess asked.

"This," Thomas said and opened the letter.
He read it slowly.

"Well," Chess said, "what is it?"

"We got an offer to play at this place in
Seattle. The Backboard. I guess they saw us play in Ellensburg.
They"ll pay us a thousand dollars."

"
No shit! " Victor yelled and started to
dance with Junior. They tangoed up and down the floor. Junior picked
up a stray feather and stuck it in his teeth.

"
It's our chance," Thomas said.

"Chance for what?" Chess asked.

"The money. We need the money. Don't we?"

Chess knew that Coyote Springs needed the money. She
needed the money. The forest fire season was nearly over. Nobody
hired Flathead Indians on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Two hundred
dollars a head. Checkers and Chess would have four hundred together.
With Thomas and his share, they would have enough money to dump
Victor and Junior.

'"What do you think?" Chess asked her
sister.

"
I ain't going anywhere with that asshole,"
Checkers said.

"Besides, how the hell do these people know who
we are? They couldn't have seen us in Ellensburg. That was just last
night. I don't trust them. I don't trust any of this."

"We don't need you," Victor said. "You
can't sing anyway."

Checkers, Chess, and Junior climbed out from under
the table. Victor stepped behind Thomas because Checkers knew how to
punch.

"I think we all need to sleep on this,"
Chess said. "Jeez, Checkers and I ain't got any sleep at all.
You neither, Thomas."

"We ain't got time to sleep on it," Thomas
said. "They want us to be there tomorrow night for sound check."

"Are you serious?"

"Serious enough."

"Jeez," Chess asked her sister again, "what
do you want to do?"

"I told you. I ain't going anywhere with that
caveman."

"
I'm going," Victor said.

"
Me, too," Junior said.

"This ain't enough time to decide anything,"
Chess said.

"That's not fair. How could they do that to us?"

"Strangers ask us to sing for them, and they'll
pay us a thousand bucks," Victor said. "And you think
they're being assholes. We should be grateful."

"Will you shut up? I'm trying to think."

"I'm going," Thomas said. "I have to
go."

Victor whooped. Junior hugged Thomas.

"Checkers," Chess said, "are you sure
you don't want to go?"

"
I'm sure."

"
Okay, she's not going. But she still gets her
share of the money."

"No fucking way, " Victor said.

"Okay," Thomas said, "we're a
democracy. We'll take a vote."

"Not this voting shit again," Victor said.
"Who pays attention to voting in this goddamn country anyway?"

"All those in favor of Checkers getting a full
share if she stays home, raise your hand."

Thomas, Chess, and Checkers voted for full share.
Junior abstained. Victor was pissed.

"She stays home," Thomas said, "and
she gets full share."

Lord, I'm sorry
, Chess
said to herself. We need the
money
."

"Well, Jesus," Victor said, more worried
about his share.

"So she gets the money. But we got to get
packed. We got to get going. Seattle, Seattle."

The city waited.

* * *

Samuel flew. He had dreamed of flying before. But
there he was, flying for real. Flying true. Flying four feet above
the basketball court. He flew over the Tribal Cops. Over Chief
WalksAlong. He switched the ball from left to right hand and back
again. He closed his eyes, opened them, shuttered them like a camera
taking photos of a historic moment. Samuel laid the ball gently over
the rim. Samuel missed the shot.

"Shit," Samuel yelled as Officer Wilson
grabbed the rebound. He was still cussing as WalksAlong received a
pass and drove the baseline. Samuel stopped the drive, forced the
Chief to ward the middle of the court.

"This is game point!" the Chief yelled. "We
make it, we win."

The Chief dribbled once, twice, three times and
lifted off the ground. Samuel leapt with him, arms outstretched,
watched the ball float just above his fingertips, and still watched
as the ball made its lazy way toward the hoop.

* * *

Checkers waved goodbye as the blue van pulled onto
the reservation highway. She waved at Chess with most of her hand,
saved a little for Thomas, and maybe a bit for Junior. She excluded
Victor from her wave.

"What are you going to do this weekend?"
Chess had asked her sister before she climbed into the van.

"I think I'll go to church. It's been a while."

"Yeah, the Catholic Church is down by the
crossroads, enit?"

"Yeah, I've walked by it a couple times,"
Checkers had said.

Checkers continued to wave goodbye as the blue van
rolled out of sight. She walked back into the house, nervous, unsure
what to do with her time. Maybe she should sing scales, ready her
voice for the Sunday hymns. Father Arnold was the priest down there.
She had read his name on the greeting board when she walked by the
church. Father Arnold. She wondered about Father Arnold's favorite
song.

"You think Checkers will be all right?"
Thomas asked as he drove the van off the reservation.

"She's a grown woman," Chess said.

"She makes me groan, " Victor said.

Everybody ignored Victor. In a unanimous vote taken
just before they left, Coyote Springs had decided that was the best
policy. Even Victor raised his hand for that one.

"
What's Seattle like?" Junior asked.

"It rains there," Chess said. "It
rains a lot."

The blue van rolled through the wheat fields of
eastern Washington, across the central desert, and into the foothills
of the Cascades. They climbed Snoqualmie Pass and stopped at the
Indian John Rest Area.

"
Who is this Indian john?" Victor asked as
they parked the van.

"I'm Indian John," Junior said.

Chess and Thomas sat on the grass and shared a warm
Pepsi. Victor and junior walked to the bathroom. Inside, a little
white boy stared at them.

"
Hello there," Junior said.

"
Hello," the boy said.

"
What's your name?"

"Jason. Are you an Indian?"

"Yes, I am."

"
Hey, Daddy, there's a real Indian out here."