Thunder on the Plains Page 4

  He got off his horse.

  “All right, we’ll start at the beginning.” He walked over to the girl who had raised her hand.

  “What’s your name, young lady?”

  “Charlene,” she said.

  “Charlene, can you demonstrate the right way to mount a horse?”

  “I believe so.”

  “Go right ahead then,” Robert said.

  She got off her horse, then got back on again. She smoothly put one foot in the stirrup and swung the other leg over the horse’s back. She made it look easy.

  “Very good,” Robert said. “Now everyone else try it.” He got back on his horse. All of us finally got mounted.

  “Okay, let’s head out,” he said. He backed his horse away from them. “I’ll go easy on you this first day to let you get used to being on horseback. Don’t let the horse know that you’re scared. He’ll sense it. If that happens, you won’t be able to control him.”

  He led us away from the tribal offices and out onto the flat grassy plain. As we rode along, he took time to explain certain riding techniques. He showed us how to sit in the saddle the right way. How to lead the horse in the direction you want him to go. How to trot and gallop.

  Our first day on the trail was pretty easy. We all had fun learning to ride and taking in the beautiful scenery.

  I’m not certain, but during that first day, it seemed like Charlene kept moving her horse near mine on the trail. Maybe I just imagined it.

  Around sunset, we rode into a campsite that was made of a circle of tipis around a center fireplace. As I got off my horse, I realized for the first time just how sore my bottom was. I looked around and saw that everyone seemed to be having the same feeling. The moaning and groaning was pretty loud.

  After eating a simple dinner, we chilled around the campfire. The kids were tired from the day’s ride and feeling a little sleepy. Robert got us talking about ourselves, where we were from and what we liked and didn’t like. Ben Cutnose decided to start picking on me.

  “One of the things I really don’t like is these urban skins who come out here and try to pretend they’re real Indians,” he said while glaring at me.

  “I’m not pretending to be anybody or anything,” I told him.

  “Yeah? Well, why don’t you pack up and run home to mama before you get hurt!”

  “I’m not afraid of you or anybody else,” I said, just before I grabbed him and pushed him to the ground. We rolled around in the grass. I tried to get control of him. He tried to get control of me. Then a couple of other kids jumped in on top. Finally, Crow and Rabbit piled on to help me.

  While everyone was focused on the fight, Robert pulled a pistol out of his backpack and fired it into the air twice. Everyone froze in place. Ben and I did the same.

  “Get up!” Robert ordered. “All of you. Back to your seats . . . NOW!” I had never seen kids move so fast. We all scurried back to our places.

  “You just earned yourselves an early bedtime tonight and extra camp chores tomorrow,” Robert said. “You’ve got a tough week ahead of you. It’s going to take teamwork to make it through. So you’d better leave the attitude here in this place tonight.”

  Quietly, we all shuffled off to our tipis.

  Curled up in my bedroll, I tossed and turned. I couldn’t to go to sleep. After awhile, I got up and went back out to sit near what was left of the campfire. Robert was already there. He was making notes in a notebook by flashlight. I sat down on a log and began poking the coals with a stick.

  “Want to talk about it?” Robert asked, looking up from his notebook. “I know something’s eating at you. This trip is the time to get it out.”

  I poked at the coals for a bit more. Robert waited.

  “I don’t fit in anywhere,” I finally said. “The kids at home tease me because I’m Indian. They tease me out here because I’m not Indian enough. If only my dad hadn’t died.”

  “I know,” Robert said. “I miss him too. As far as big brothers go, he was the best. And he went through some of the same things you’re going through. It’s hard to be Native anywhere. It wasn’t any easier for your dad when he had to move to L.A. to learn a trade, get a job, and support his family.”

  He closed the notebook and moved closer to me.

  “Your dad had a hard time fitting in. He missed this reservation terribly. It was the only life he knew. But he swallowed his pride and did his duty. I was proud of him for it. And I know you can do this, too. You’ve got his blood. You’ll figure out how to either find a place or make a place for yourself. And I know that one day you’ll make your father proud of you, too.”

  “Thanks, Uncle Robert,” I said. “You sounded just like my dad there for a minute.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment. Now let’s hit the sack. We’ve got a long day ahead of us.” We walked toward the tipi together.

  “You know you really scared us when you fired that gun,” I told him. “Aren’t you worried that somebody might accidentally get hurt with it?”

  “Not really,” Robert chuckled. “It’s only loaded with blanks. I just carry it to scare off animals. They run from it almost as fast as you guys did.”

  Boy, was I relieved! I laughed as I stepped into my tipi. I settled into my bedroll and fell fast asleep.

  Chapter 8

  You Can Blame John Wayne

  The next morning, Robert headed the horses toward rougher terrain. The flat grassy meadows faded away behind us. Ahead were jagged hills and ridges.

  It turned out to be a busy day. We learned how to mark trails, find directions, locate wild plants we could eat, and other interesting stuff. Robert let Crow and Rabbit show us some of the things they had learned last year on the trail.

  Now things were starting to get cool. At the end of the day we were all in a good mood. We set up our tents for sleeping and joked with each other around the campfire that night.

  “There’s one thing you guys have out here on the rez that really beats the city,” I said, looking up at the night sky.

  “What’s that?” Robert asked.

  “An awesome view of the stars.”

  They all looked up.

  “My grandma told me that we Cheyenne came from the stars,” Charlene said. “And when we die, our spirits go back there.”

  “The Star People,” Robert said. “It’s good that you know this legend,” he said to Charlene. “Do you know the rest of the story?”

  “No, that’s all I remember,” the girl replied. “My grandma passed away last year. I wish I had listened to her more.” She looked at me with eyes that said she knew I had lost my dad.

  “The elders say that the Cheyenne people once lived up among the stars,” Robert explained. “They looked down upon the earth and thought it would be a good place to live. One night a long, long time ago, the Creator caused a great shower of stars to fall to Earth. Those stars were the Cheyenne People. The Creator had given us this part of the world to live on.”

  No one spoke for a few minutes. We all thought about the story and gazed at the sky.

  That made me think of a question.

  “Uncle Robert, why do some white people give Indians a hard time? Sometimes it seems like they just hate having us around.”

  “It’s kind of complicated, Danny,” Robert said. Some of them still believe in something called Manifest Destiny. This is an idea from the 1800s. It’s based on the belief that God gave them this America as their promised land.”

  “My dad said it was John Wayne’s fault,” Ben said. “A lot of white people grew up watching his Westerns. Those movies taught them that we were savages and worshipped the devil.”

  “That’s part of it, too,” Robert replied. “Other, more educated, people feel guilty about how Indians were treated, but they don’t know what to do about it. So they don’t like to think about it. That’s just the way people are. But we know the truth, don’t we.”

  He looked up at the sky. “We are descendants of the Star Peopl
e.”

  Everyone was silent again for a while.

  This time Robert broke the silence. “Okay, we’ve got a hard day tomorrow. Off to bed with you.”

  Robert ignored our protests. We headed for our tents. I felt a new sense of pride about being a Cheyenne Indian. I think the other kids did too.

  On our third day we left the horses in a corral along the trail. We made sure the animals had plenty of food and water. Then we hiked away on foot. The going was much harder. We grew too tired to act cool or tease each other. By the end of the day, we were really dragging.

  In camp that night there was little talk. No one had the energy. After dinner, each person quietly took care of his or her camp chores. I checked my tent to make sure that all the ropes were tight and my stuff was safely stowed inside.

  I heard approaching footsteps. I looked up to see Charlene headed my way. She handed me a candy bar as I stood up.

  “From my secret stash,” she said as she unwrapped her own.

  “Thanks,” I said as I unwrapped mine.

  “You ride pretty good for someone who’s lived in the city all his life,” she said.

  “My cousins have been teaching me the past few weeks,” I said between bites. “You have horses at home?”

  “Yeah, my family is involved in Indian rodeo. I’ve picked up a few pointers.”

  We chewed our candy in silence for a few moments. Then Robert yelled that it was time for “lights out.”

  “Thanks for the candy bar,” I told her. “It was good.”

  “Good night, Danny,” Charlene said sweetly. “Sleep tight. See you in the morning.”

  I watched her as she walked to her tent. She was a nice girl. My uncle walked up to me a moment later and smiled. He nudged me in the arm and said, “Cute, huh?”

  I blushed and quickly ducked inside my tent. Everyone else crawled into their tents. They probably passed out as fast as I did.

  The group awoke the next morning to a blanket of grey clouds. It was the fourth day of our journey. Later in the day, a thunderstorm moved in as we hiked up a low hill. As the rain started, we stopped at the mouth of a shallow cave. We pulled out our ponchos and put them on.

  We were at the base of a mountain. Robert pointed to a small path on the side of the mountain that zigzagged toward the top. It looked dangerous.

  “That’s where we’re headed today,” he said. “You’re going to need teamwork to get up that path. Focus on what you’re doing. Take each step carefully.”

  He showed us how to form a human chain using ropes. That way we were connected. If anyone slipped, the people on either side of them could help.

  Then he arranged us in a line, boy-girl, boy-girl. My uncle took the lead and placed Crow at the end of the line. I was in the middle of the line with Charlene in front of me and another girl, Natalie, behind me.

  Charlene gave me a nervous smile as we started walking. The rain wasn’t heavy, but it was steady. It made the rocks slippery. Each foot had to be placed right in front of the other. No one spoke. No one joked.

  We slowly worked our way up the trail. We went on for almost three hours without any problems. Finally, we came to another shallow cave in the side of the mountain. Robert signaled it was time for a break. We were glad to have a place to get out of the rain for a while.

  “You’re doing very well,” Robert told us. “We’ll rest here for a few minutes. But we can’t stay too long or the sun will go down before we reach the top. We don’t want to be on this trail after dark.”

  I understood why. The trail sure seemed tricky in more than a few spots.

  After a brief rest, Robert said we had to go. The rain was still coming down. By around three o’clock we were all very tired and wet. The nonstop patter of the rain made me sleepy. I think everyone was having a hard time staying alert.

  I tried to stay focused on my feet and the ground in front of me. I forgot that I was roped to one girl in front and another in back in a chain.

  Then I noticed that the path turned past a big rock ahead and got very narrow. I couldn’t see around the rock.

  Suddenly, there was a scream from Charlene’s direction and a hard pull on the rope. At once, I was jolted out of my daze. I leaned in toward the mountain as I pulled on the rope. I moved around the rock and saw Charlene dangling from the edge of the path. She was crying and screaming and trying to grab on to the side of the cliff. I was frozen for a moment. What was I supposed to do?

  I looked ahead and saw that the next boy in front of her, James, had found something to hold on to while pulling on Charlene’s rope. Suddenly I knew what to do.

  “Hold on tight!” I yelled to James. “I’m going to try to pull her up.” He nodded and tightened his grip. I knelt down on the gravel path and began to pull Charlene up hand over hand by the rope.

  Meanwhile, Robert worked his way down the rope chain just in time to help me pull Charlene back up onto the path. She was shivering, cold, and scared. She hugged me. I hugged her back. That was a close one.

  “Are you all right?” Robert asked. Charlene was too shaken to speak. She nodded her head and stepped back from me. She looked down at her legs. One knee of her jeans was torn. There was blood on it.

  “We’re almost to the top,” Robert said. “Come up to the front with me. We’ll finish the path together.”

  He disconnected her section of rope from me and attached her hook to his.

  “Good work, Danny,” he said, and gave me a pat on the back. Charlene said thank you with her eyes as Robert escorted her away.

  In another hour, we made it to the top, just as the rain stopped. It was getting dark, so we quickly set up camp in a clearing at the top of the mountain.

  We were soaking wet and shaken by what had happened. It was like we were taking life seriously for the first time, because danger and death had seemed so close.

  That night, dinner was made up of protein bars, dried fruit, and water. We were glad to have that stuff as we warmed ourselves around a small fire. Robert bandaged Charlene’s injured leg with supplies from the first aid kit.

  After dinner, I left the circle and went to my tent. I rummaged around in the bottom of my backpack until I found what I was looking for. I went back and sat down beside Charlene and slipped her a candy bar.

  “You’re not the only one with a secret stash,” I said with a smile. We laughed as we enjoyed our little treat.

  The next morning I woke up and stepped outside my tent. Spreading out in front of me was most awesome view I had ever seen. The sky was clear. I could see for miles. Hills, valleys, mountains, trees, and meadows were all spread out before me. Now I know why people call the state “Big Sky Country.”

  After breakfast, Uncle Robert performed the same blessing ceremony for us that Grandpa had performed for me. With my help, Robert bathed the kids in the smoke with the sweet smell. He explained the meaning of the ceremony. And he told us about the four gifts that Grandpa had told me about: sage, sweetgrass, cedar, and tobacco. Some of the kids had never heard of these things. Their families had stopped doing traditional activities.

  He told us we could perform this ceremony whenever we needed to cleanse ourselves, our minds, or our homes. Then he held up a sprig of prairie sage.

  “Sage is a special gift used in the sweat lodge and during the Sun Dance. Its smoke doesn’t burn your eyes or bother your nose.”

  He put the sage back down. “Now I have a special treat for you,” Robert said. “Follow me.”

  He led us over a little rise to an open area. There was a beautiful field of wild sage.

  “This is a secret field of sage, known only to a very few members of our tribe. It’s where the great medicine men and warriors of our nation have picked their sage for generations.” We walked into the field.

  “Now it’s your turn, as modern spiritual warriors, to pick your own sage to use when you need it.”

  We spent the morning picking the plants and relaxing in the field. Charlene stayed clos
e to me as we picked our sage. We helped each other tie the long stems together into bundles.

  Robert said we had finished the hardest part of our survival experience. He said that picking the sage was our reward. It was time to head back down the mountain.

  On the way down, Robert pointed out Yellowstone National Park. I looked where he was pointing and could see it in the distance. I knew that nothing in L.A. could match this view or give me this feeling.

  The rest of the week was downhill all the way. We hiked back to our horses. Then we rode back toward our starting point.

  On Saturday, we rode back into Buffalo Gap. Robert said he really felt good about the week’s camp. He had been successful in getting another group of Indian kids to see life from a different point of view. And to think about the natural world more. He said the kids in the group had formed a bond that only comes when people face hard times together.

  We all said good-bye to Robert and to each other. Then we headed off to return to our normal lives.

  Before she left, Charlene gave me her phone number. It was written on the outside of an envelope. Her eyes got misty as she told me good-bye and ran to her parent’s car.

  I opened the envelope and took out a yellow sheet of paper with a note on it. The note said, “You are a special friend, Danny. I’ll always remember you. Hope I can see you again this summer before you go back home. Love, Charlene.”

  I had never had a girlfriend before, but this sounded like a note from one. I didn’t know what to think about it. And I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. I put the note in my back pocket.

  As I rode back to my uncle’s house, I began thinking about how good one of Aunt Amanda’s meals would taste and how I missed her cooking. That was much safer than thinking about Charlene.

  Chapter 9

  Our Brothers Need Us

  The next day I got a phone call from L.A. It was my stepdad.

  “Well, survival camp is over,” Bill said. “I promised that you could come home now if things weren’t going well.”

  “Are you kidding?” I said. “I’m having a great time here. There’s nothing like it there in L.A.”