Reservation Blues - Alexie Sherman (37 page)

"
What the fuck do you want?" WalksAlong
asked Victor when he walked into the office, pushing open that warped
door. Victor'd worked up all the courage in the world to come to
Walks-Along.

"They said you're the one who decides who gets
to work. I want a job," Victor said."Please."

"Look what you did to the reservation, and you
want me to give you a job?"

"I'm sorry about your nephew," Victor said,
but he wanted to tell WalksAlong that his nephew never had a chance.

"Well," WalksAlong said, "what the
hell can you do?"

Victor handed him a piece of paper.

"What the hell is this?" WalksAlong asked.

"It's my résumé."

"
Your résumé?" WalksAlong asked, in
complete disbelief.

"What do you think this is, Wall Street?"

"I thought this was the way it worked,"
Victor said. "Enit?"

WalksAlong read the resumé, crumpled it up, and
threw it at Victor.

"Get the fuck out of here," WalksAlong
said.

Victor picked his résumé off the floor, smoothed it
out, then folded it neatly into a small square, and tucked it into
his pocket. His hands were shaking.

"Listen," Victor said, his voice
breaking."I thought this was the way it worked."

WalksAlong turned his back. Victor tried to think of
something to say, some words that would change all of this.

"
I want to drive the water truck," Victor
said."Just like Junior used to. I want to be like Junior. It was
his last wish."

WalksAlong didn't respond, and Victor left the
office, feeling something slip inside him. He stole five dollars from
Walks-Along's secretary's purse and bought a six-pack of cheap beer
at the Trading Post.

"Fuck it, I can do it, too," Victor
whispered to himself and opened the first can. That little explosion
of the beer can opening sounded exactly like a smaller, slower
version of the explosion that Junior's rifle made on the water tower.

* * *

From
The Wellpinit Rawhide
Press
:

Father Arnold Leads Catholics to
Championship

Father Arnold scored 33 points Tuesday
night, including the game-winning free throws with no time left on
the clock, to lead the Catholic Church to a thrilling
come-from-behind 111-110 win over the Assembly of God in the
championship game of the Spokane Indian Christian Basketball
Tournament.

"I wasn't sure those free throws were
going in," Father Arnold said, "but I sure prayed for them.
Who knows? Maybe God was listening this time."

Randy Peone, minister of the Assembly of
God, had no official comment about the game, but was reported to have
said that Father Arnold had probably spent more time away from the
church than with his church, and that explained all the time he had
to
practice.

"He just didn't play like a Catholic,"
one spectator said. "Especially not like a Catholic priest."

"
Hey," responded Bessie, the
oldest Catholic on the reservation, "what the hell do any of you
know about being Catholic? You have no idea how hard it is."

* * *

A few days after Junior's burial, while Chess and
Checkers were taking a sweat with Big Mom, Thomas Builds-the-Fire
heard a scratching on his roof. At first, he wondered which ghost had
come to haunt him. But then he heard a knock on the back door.

"Who is it?" Thomas asked. He was still
worried about Michael White Hawk.

"
Package," the voice said.

Thomas opened the door Just a bit and saw the FedEx
guy standing on the back porch, with rappelling gear.

"Jeez," Thomas said."It's Just you."

"Mr. Builds-the-Fire, I presume," said the
FedEx guy.

"You know who I am."

"We can never be too sure. Sign here."

Thomas signed the form. The FedEx guy handed him a
package and then climbed back onto the roof and scampered away.
Thomas closed the door, took the package inside, and set it on the
kitchen table. It was a small package, barely weighed anything at
all. The return address said Cavalry Records. He didn't want to open
it and almost threw it in the garbage, but curiosity got the best of
him. Inside, there was just a letter and a cassette tape.

Dear Coyote Springs,
We just
heard about Junior, and we wanted to tell you how sorry we are. We'll
miss him. Things are going well for us. We signed a deal with Cavalry
Records, thanks to your help, and we're currently working on our
debut CD, which will be out next summer. We recorded our first song
the other day, and there's a copy on the tape enclosed.

We both think that Junior is in a better place now.
Sincerely,
Betty and
Veronica

Thomas read the letter over a few times. He held the
cassette tape in his hands. He didn't know what to do and was shocked
that Betty and Veronica had signed with Cavalry Records. Should he
throw that cassette away and never listen to it? That wouldn't do any
good, because the CD would be all over the place next summer. He'd
hear it played on the radio. Betty and Veronica would have a Platinum
Album, a number one hit, and videos on MTV. Thomas wanted to protect
Chess and Checkers from the music on this cassette tape. He held it
in his hands for a while, studied its design, then walked over to the
tape player he'd hidden away, dropped the cassette into place, and
hit the play button. Thomas heard a vaguely Indian drum, then a cedar
flute, and a warrior's trill, all the standard Indian soundtrack
stuff. Then Betty's and Veronica's beautiful voices joined the mix.

Can you hear the eagle crying?

Can you hear the eagle crying?
I
look to the four directions
And try to find
some connection
With Mother Earth, Mother
Earth

I offer you tobacco and sweetgrass
I
offer you tobacco and sweetgrass
I pray to
the four directions
And try to find some
connection
With Father Sky, Father Sky

And my hair is blonde
But
I'm Indian in my bones
And my skin is white
But I'm Indian in my bones
And
it don't matter who you are
You can be Indian
in your bones

Don't listen to what they say
You
can be Indian in your bones

Can you hear the buffalo dying?
Can
you hear the buffalo dying?
I look to the
four directions
And try to make the
corrections
For Mother Earth, Mother Earth
I'Il smoke the pipe with you
I'll
smoke the pipe with you
I pray to the four
directions
And try to make the corrections
For Father Sky, Father Sky

And your hair is blonde
But
you're Indian in your bones
And your skin is
white
But you're Indian in your bones
And it don't matter who I am
I
am Indian in my bones
I don't listen to what
they say
I am Indian in my bones `

Thomas hit the eject button, threw the cassette on
the floor, and stomped on it. He pulled the tape ribbon from its
casing until it spread over the kitchen like pasta. Using a dull
knife, he sliced the tape ribbon into pieces. Then he ran around his
house, grabbing photos and souvenirs, afraid that somebody was going
to steal them next. He had photographs of his mother and father, a
Disneyland cup even though he'd never been there, a few letters and
cards. He gathered them all into a pile on the kitchen table and
waited.

* * *

Victor Joseph
Wellpinit,
WA 9904O

Jobs I had before.

Leed Gitar Player Coyote Springs
Viceprezidant Senior Class Wellpinit High School.
Mowd lawns and shuveled snow.

Edgeucation.

Graguatid Wellpinit High School 1978.
Watched Jepordee a hole bunch on tv.

Skills.
Drive water
truck & rode with best friend Junior alot.
Am
strong & fast.

Refrences.
Thomas
Buildsthefire & Big Mom.

* * *

Coyote Springs was gone.
Thomas, Chess, and Checkers packed all their stuff into the blue van
and left Coyote Springs behind in the house. Victor didn't want
anything to do with Coyote Springs, either. He just wandered around
the reservation with his three dogs. He hadn't taken a shower in a
week. Everybody figured he'd be drinking Sterno before too long. They
all worried about the dogs.

*

"We're leaving," Thomas had said to Victor
earlier that morning.

"For where?"

"Spokane."

"When you coming back?"

"
We aren't," said Thomas and then
reluctantly asked if Victor wanted to come along. He shook his head
and walked away. Thomas stood in the driveway, studying his HUD
house, the familiar angles and weathered wood. It had never been
painted. Thomas closed his eyes and saw his mother and father
standing on the front porch, waving. When he opened his eyes, Chess
was standing beside him.
 
"
Are
you going to say goodbye to your dad?" Chess asked.

"I don't even know where he is," Thomas
said. "Besides, he's got Indian father radar. He'll show up at
our place in Spokane, knocking on the door at three in the morning."

"Really?" Chess asked, impressed and not
altogether happy about it.

"
Yeah, he's amazing that way."

"
Well, I guess I'll go get Checkers."

Chess walked into the house, found Checkers in a back
bedroom, and both soon came out.

"Do you want some time alone?" Chess asked
Thomas.

Thomas looked at his house.

"No," he said, "it's time to go."

The trio climbed into the blue van. Thomas drove.
Chess sat in the front passenger seat, and Checkers sat in the back.
Thomas put the car into drive, and they pulled away from his house.
There was a tightness in Thomas's chest that he could not explain; he
took a deep breath. The blue van rolled down the reservation road.

"Look," Chess said and pointed. Big Mom was
standing on the roadside with a big thumb sticking up. Thomas pulled
up beside her. Checkers rolled down her window.

"
Where you headed, sweetheart?" Checkers
asked Big Mom.

"Over to that feast at the Longhouse," Big
Mom said. "You should come with me."

"Nah," Thomas said."We'll give you a
ride over there. But those people don't want us around."

"Well," Big Mom said as she climbed into
the van."I think you should eat before you go."

"Those people will eat us alive," Checkers
said in the back.

"Where's Robert Johnson?°' Thomas asked.

"Oh," Big Mom said, "he's up at the
house, I guess. He's getting better every day. He'll probably be
leaving us soon."

"
That's good," Chess said.

"I suppose," Big Mom said.

They were quiet until they arrived at the Longhouse.
There were a few dozen reservation cars parked at random angles.

"Jeez," Checkers said."The whole
Spokane Tribe must be here."

"
There are quite a few," Big Mom said."Are
you sure you don't want to eat? You can't; leave on an empty stomach.
It's bad luck to travel on an empty stomach."

"Where did you hear that?" Thomas asked.

"
I just made it up."

"
I don't know," said Checkers, obviously
frightened.

"
They might try to hurt us."

"I won't let them hurt you," Big Mom said.
"Hey, do you have any money?"

"
A little, " Thomas said.

"
Well," Big Mom said, "I have a few
bucks I've saved up. Here. And maybe we can take up a collection
inside."

"They ain't going to give us any money,"
Chess said.

"
Maybe not," Big Mom said, "but at
least you can get some food."

Thomas's stomach growled loudly.

"I guess Thomas has made up his mind,"
Chess said.

"Let's go, then," Big Mom said and led
Chess, Checkers, and Thomas toward the Longhouse. They could hear
laughter and loud conversation inside, but everybody fell into
silence when they walked in. All the Spokane Indians stared at Big
Mom and her co-dependents. Big Mom waved, and the crowd gradually
resumed their conversations.