Thunder on the Plains (4 page)

“Besides, you can take your laptop computer and send e-mails back and forth to Jesse every day. There's bound to be some kind of Internet access there.”

I realized that Mom and Bill and Uncle Robert had already made up their minds. I wasn't going to win this one.

“Okay, I'll go on one condition—that you let me come back home after the camp, if I hate it out there. Deal?”

“Deal,” Bill said, and we shook hands.

My final weeks of school zipped by quietly. Mr. Saunders had me cleaning computer screens and maintaining the lab's printers for the rest of the year to pay off my debt to him.

Most important, I managed to stay out of trouble, and so did Willy. He even apologized to me on the last day of school for the “culturally insensitive remarks” he'd made. Miracles do happen, I guess. Somebody must've really threatened him with very severe punishment to get him to say that. Did he even know what the words meant?

Bill and Mom rewarded my good behavior at school with a trip to the mall to get me stuff for my summer adventure. They bought me some new clothes and my first cell phone, with a few game apps for the trip.

Washing clothes and packing came next. Mom spent one whole day getting things ready. But it was up to me to pack all the real necessities of life: my laptop computer and accessories (just in case they
did
have electricity and phones), games, comic books, junk food, etc.

Then, in the middle of June, it was time to head to Montana. Mom couldn't bear the thought of me flying alone and changing planes in an airport so far away. She decided the bus was the way for me to go.

She cried a little when I boarded. She said something about her baby leaving the nest. It was so embarrassing. As for me, I'd agreed to go along with the whole deal. But that didn't mean I was happy about it.

Bill had showed me on the map the route the bus would take. It headed north from Los Angeles on Interstate Highway 15 and passed through southern Nevada and Utah. During the first part of the ride, I kept busy as best I could. I watched the scenery out the window,
slept, played games, and drew dragons on my computer.

In Salt Lake City, everyone got off the bus to eat dinner in a little roadside cafe. When we got back on the bus, an old man who smelled like drugstore shaving lotion sat down next to me. The smell was so strong I had to excuse myself and move to the back of the bus so I could breathe.

The sunset was amazing that day. Out there, away from the city, the sky seemed clearer. The big windows on the bus made everything seem closer, too. White puffy clouds moved across the sky. They changed colors, to orange and red, as the sun went down.

Moved by the wind, the clouds swirled around and made different shapes. For just a minute, they looked like a herd of buffalo stampeding across the sky. I'd never seen anything like it. But in the next minute, the animals melted into a row of cotton balls floating on a piece of dark blue cloth. Then the sun was gone.

After that, I was too bored to do anything else. I slept during most of the rest of the ride through Idaho and across Montana. I woke up the next morning as the bus pulled into the station at Billings, Montana.

I looked for the grandparents I kind of remembered from when I was little. I didn't see them. But I did see a very old man and woman who sort of looked like them.

It was easy to tell they were Indians. The man had dark brown wrinkled skin and long white hair tied in two long braids. The white- haired woman had lighter skin and a single braid like mine.

“Danny?” the man said.

“Grandpa, is that you?”

It was them. Mom reminded me that their names were Ester and Nathan Wind. That's where my middle name, Nathan, came from. The couple said they were very happy to see me.

I didn't see how they could have anything to do with me. As far as I could tell, we had
nothing in common. But I was polite to them, just as I'd promised Mom I would be.

They helped me gather up my things. We loaded it all into their old station wagon. While Grandpa Nathan drove, Grandma Ester tried to carry on a conversation with me. I mostly just said “uh-huh” and “nuh-uh” to her questions about me and my life in L.A.

It took about us an hour to drive to the Rocky Point Indian Reservation. I still couldn't get over the wide open spaces and the clear blue sky. As we entered the reservation, we passed through a place called Buffalo Gap, the reservation's main town.

I watched everything we passed, because I needed to know where I could find junk food if I ran out. Or what store might have movies to rent. If I was going to be stranded in the middle of nowhere for the summer, it was important to know how bad the situation really was.

We passed the Rocky Point tribal office, a pizza parlor, a video store, a feed and hardware store, a gas station, and a few
other shops. I was surprised by all these “modern” conveniences.

A few more miles of driving among the hills and fields took us to Robert's house. Grandpa called it the Wind family home. It looked really run-down to me.

There was a plain older house, a couple of horse corrals, a barn, and two sheds that kind of leaned to one side. A tractor and a pickup truck were parked out by the barn. A broken- down old Chevy was turning to rust beside the house.

“We all live here together,” Grandpa said as we got out of the car. “Three generations sharing one house. Many families on the reservation live together, making the best of what they have.” The look on my face must have told Grandpa I wasn't impressed. “Your father grew up in this house,” he added.

That was good to know. A connection to Dad. “I'm sure it'll be fine,” I said. “I'm just tired and hungry.”

“Well, let's see what we can do about that,” Grandpa said with a smile.

Inside I met my uncle's new wife, Amanda, and my cousins, Crow and Rabbit. Grandpa said we were all very small when we saw each other the last time. I didn't remember.

Amanda was a pretty American Indian woman. She welcomed me to their house and said it was always good when someone in the family came home for a visit.

“It might seem a little crowded at first,” Amanda said. “But I'm sure you'll get used to it. You'll be outside most of the time anyway. Crow and Rabbit are.”

Crow was thirteen and Rabbit was twelve. They didn't seem so friendly.

“My dad said you were getting into trouble at school,” Rabbit announced. “That's why they sent you here, to straighten you out.” Great. Everything out in the open. At least I knew where I stood with them.

“That'll be enough out of you, young man,” Grandma said to Rabbit. She pushed the younger boy into the living room.

“Crow, why don't you help Danny get settled into your room?” Grandpa suggested.

Crow led me toward the back of the house to their room. It was a small room with two sets of bunk beds.

“You can take this bunk near the door,” Crow said. “It's where company always sleeps when we have a ceremony or a powwow.” I dumped my stuff on the lower bunk and looked around. There were three posters on the wall: a powwow dancer, some rock 'n' roll band, and a picture of a woman in a red bathing suit named Pamela Anderson from an old TV show.

Amanda brought in some clean sheets and bed covers for my bed.

“Crow, why don't you show Danny around the place while I fix his bed,” she said. Then she told him something in the Cheyenne language, which I didn't understand. In English, she added, “Dinner will be ready in just a little while.”

In my tour of the house, I found that they did have electricity, telephones, radio, and even TV. Rabbit was in the living room watching an old “Johnny Quest” cartoon, one
of my favorites. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all.

Crow led me outside to look around. I saw that the barn and corrals held horses, goats, and a few chickens. The natural surroundings were nice enough. But I was already getting homesick for the sounds of the city. Where were the cars, the jet planes, the sirens, the tall buildings, the McDonald's?

Crow went back inside the house, leaving me to explore a little on my own. I took a walk around the outside of the house. As I turned the corner to the side of the house, my eyes fell on a wonderful sight. It was a small gray satellite TV dish bolted to a cement pad in the ground. There was a black cable running from the dish into a socket on the side of the house. Digital satellite television! I was beyond excited.

I ran inside and found the TV remote control on the couch in the living room. The channel surfing began. All the great channels were there: MTV, Animal Planet, Nickelodeon,
Disney, Discovery Channel, Cartoon Network. I was in teen heaven.

It wasn't long before my uncle got home from work. I was watching an old episode of
Star Trek Voyager
when I heard him.

“Hi, Danny,” he said loud enough to be heard over the TV.

“Uncle Robert!” I exclaimed, putting the TV on mute. I had forgotten what a big man he was. He had brown skin and was muscular like my dad. He even had the same single braid of long black hair down his back. He sat down next to me on the couch.

“It's good to see you, Danny. I'm glad you came.”

“I'm sure I'll get used to it,” I said hopefully.

“I know you haven't been out here in a long time. I also know that everything is different from what you're used to,” Robert said. “Just relax and give it chance. Things are going to work out fine.”

He smiled. I smiled back. It felt like a part of my dad was with me now.

“Let's go and see what your grandma and Aunt Amanda have fixed for dinner.”

As we ate, Robert told the family about his plans for the summer. He had already signed up Crow, Rabbit, and me for part-time jobs with the tribe's summer youth program. Crow and Rabbit moaned at that news, but it sounded kind of cool to me. A summer job.

He said we'd be working as part of a “handyman” crew fixing up the homes of elderly tribal members a few hours a day. Our afternoons would be free, with time to help out with household and barnyard chores. Even I moaned when I heard
that
news.

“The wilderness survival camp will start the end of June,” he said. “Crow and Rabbit will help me run the camp, like they've done for the last two summers.” The two boys proudly puffed their chests out a little. I could tell they liked the camp. Being their father's assistants made it even better for them.

I, on the other hand, must have been frowning as Uncle explained the camp.

“Not much of a nature boy, Danny?” Crow teased. “Don't worry. Us wild country Indians will go easy on you, you being a civilized city Indian and all.”

“Crow!” Robert said sternly. “Danny is family. And he's your guest, so act proper!” He finished the scolding in Cheyenne.

Crow ducked his head slightly. “Yes, Dad,” he said.

After dinner, Crow and Rabbit were definitely more friendly.

I showed off my laptop computer to my cousins. They showed me where there was a phone jack to plug in and send e-mail from. I e-mailed my first report to Jesse back in L.A.

I also showed them a few of the graphics tricks I could do. Now it was my country cousins' turn to be impressed with this urban skin.

I went to bed with a jumble of thoughts going through my head. I had reconnected with Uncle Robert. And I had discovered that digital satellite TV had made it to the
reservation. Now it seemed I'd be able to survive a summer here.

I was still worried about how I was going to fit in with the reservation routine, though. That was the last thought that went through my mind before I nodded off to sleep.

Robert made sure we were up bright and early the next morning so we could get ready to report for our first day of work.

“Rise and shine, you sleepyheads,” he blared. He was in way too good a mood for that time of morning. “Time to join the human race.”