Winter Counts(64)

“Yeah, and do what?”

“Get a job, I guess.”

“Not easy to find a job around here. Might be something at the casino. Hey, I’m sorry the little dude is takin’ some grief with that half-breed stuff. Seems like things never change. Mixed-blood messages, right?”

I just shook my head. Our burgers came and we tore into them. I was looking around for some ketchup when Tommy said, “Look who just came in.”

“Who?”

He pointed with his lips toward the door. “Remember him? From high school? Now he’s the security dude at the school.”

Ray Sits Poor. I’d heard he was the security officer at the high school now, the one in charge of safety; the person who ensured that bullying and harassment were kept to a minimum. It was pretty ironic he’d been hired for the job, because he’d been one of the biggest bullies when he was in school, one of the assholes who’d run with Rick Crow. Now he was the guy keeping the peace. Supposedly.

“Don’t go startin’ nothing,” said Tommy. “Not done with my burger yet.”

I walked over to Ray’s table. He was seated with two other guys who I didn’t recognize. I saw that he’d cut his hair and wore a military-style buzz cut now. He looked like a low-rent mall cop.

“Ray?” I had to shout to be heard over the music.

“Yeah?” He looked over but didn’t recognize me. That wasn’t surprising—we probably hadn’t spoken in about twenty years.

“I’m Virgil. Wounded Horse. I’m Nathan’s uncle. Nathan from the high school.”

Recognition spread across his face. But there was no friendliness there.

“Right. What’s up?”

“I know you’re off duty, but I’m wondering if I could talk to you. About some stuff at the school.”

“Look, we just got here.”

“Take only a minute, I promise.”

“All right,” he said with a scowl. “Get me one of them Mexican beers, will you?” he said to his companions. “A Tecate.” He pronounced it Tee-Kate.

“You want to go out front?” I said. “Too loud in here.”

I followed him out the door. He was still a big guy, but the years hadn’t done him any favors. His once muscular frame was covered with a layer of fat. Not that I cared. I was just going to talk to him, see if there was anything he could do to help Nathan out. We stepped onto the sidewalk, and I lit up a cigarette.

“So, my nephew’s been telling me that some of the kids at school are giving him a bad time. Calling him iyeska, some other shit. You know anything about that?”

He spat on the sidewalk. “I stay out of their problems. Don’t want no part of it. I only get called in if there’s a fight. He been in any of those?”

“No, he keeps his nose pretty clean.”

Ray made a weird sound. I couldn’t tell if it was a sneer or a chuckle.

“You got something to tell me?” I said.

“I was the one that opened up his locker. Found them pills. Seems like he deserves whatever he gets, bringing that crap to the school.”

Maybe I’d made a mistake by speaking to this guy. I tossed my cigarette and ground it out with my shoe. “I’m not going to talk about that. Just want to know if you’ve seen or heard anything about the bullying.”

Ray spat again, right by my shoe. “Yeah, I heard something. I heard he’s another fucking iyeska like you, a piece of trash that sells drugs. Good riddance; I hope he enjoys prison, where he’ll get pounded in the—”

That was it. I took hold of his arm, and he immediately grabbed mine as a reflex. Exactly what I wanted him to do. He’d opened up his hand, and I gripped his right thumb and pulled it back as far as it would go. He gasped and tried to speak, but no words came out.

“If I break your thumb, you’ll never make a fist or write with a pen again. But I’m not gonna do that. You know why?”

His face was contorted from the pain in his hand. He didn’t say anything, just grunted. It sounded like he was giving birth to triplets, maybe quadruplets.

“Because I want you to help my nephew. He’s a good kid, don’t deserve that shit. About them pills, I don’t know. But I know you’re gonna make sure none of them bullies give him a hard time no more. Nathan takes any more shit, it’s on you. I’ll find you and break both thumbs, rip your ears off too. You’ll look like a fucking sideshow freak. So, we good? You gonna do the right thing?”

I wrenched his thumb over another inch, right to the breaking point. He wasn’t grunting anymore. His face looked like a kachina doll that had been run over by a car.

“I said, we good?”

He moved his chin a few inches up and down. I let go of Ray’s hand and stepped back in case he decided to come after me. But he just rubbed his hand and avoided looking at me.

“You have a nice night,” I said. “Enjoy those beers.”

I walked back in to the bar and signaled to Tommy that we needed to leave. He got up, shaking his head.

“Damn, again? Never do get to eat in peace when I’m around you.”





23


About a week later, I came home around noon from a construction job in Rapid City to find Marie sitting on my couch. I knew right away that something was wrong. Her face was drawn, and her entire body looked tense.