Two Medicine (55 page)

I nodded. “I could see her
doing that. I’ll put in a good word for her, then.”

We shook hands; again he
grasped my hand like he was trying to crush it, just as he did that
morning long ago. I told him to give Phyllis my best.

I smiled as he left, the
door’s little bell ringing as he walked out.

“
Goodbye, Lawrence,” I
called after him.

I never saw or heard from
him again, but I hope he is finally happy.

Ronnie left that
week for Waterton, and eventually joined a crew of
firefighters known as the “Hotshots,” Jamie later told me. She lost
track of him soon after that, though, and many months later she
told me that she had heard that Ronnie had died along with a bunch
of other Hotshots in one of the wildfires that had spread out of
control.

I couldn’t believe it when
she told me, and I had hoped that somehow she had gotten wrong
information. Just like Alia had wished her father a different fate,
I could not feel certain that Ronnie was dead. But I never heard
otherwise, so for all I know he died up in the wilderness. It was a
strange ending for such a person, but I couldn’t imagine any other
ending for Ronnie.

Who knows, maybe he off on another
adventure, driving his jalopy to some new destination, cigarette
dangling from his lips, Led Zeppelin blasting out of the
windows.

A week before I started
the job with the park, I was standing in the kitchen of me and
Sky’s place, making coffee on a Saturday morning, when Sky came in
from getting the mail, and handed me a letter. It was from
Greg.

He wrote, “Will, I was
simply going to call you, but Ophie insisted we actually write you
a letter, ‘like in olden days,’ she said, so here goes. She says
‘hi,’ and that she wants you to come back. I know, she never said
anything like that while you were here – but that’s Ophie for
you.

“
Dee sends her love too. I
want to come see you in your wild party pad – at least that’s how I
imagine that house to be, and I will as soon as possible. I’ll be a
little busy for a few weeks though, because I have applied for a
position with the police department in Kalispell, and I hope to be
a cop come Spring. I know, no more Khaki…

“
Well maybe you had
something to do with it – with your crazy goose chase
investigation. In fact, I know you did. I think that set me off to
give it one last go – give my dream a final shot. I hope I like
being a cop! If not, I’m sure Dee and I could always move back into
the Two Med house and set up shop again. But I can’t wait to start
the job; I’ll be honest with you. Getting accepted was the best day
in a long time – telling my boss was even better!

“
Officer Olsterman is
retiring, I heard. Also, Jake got twenty years, and Clayton five.
There are more arrests to be made, I’ve heard, and the tribe is
cooperating, trying to clean up the reservation once and for all –
I’ll believe it when I see it – but I hope it happens. A new
council has been organized, Floyd Crow was voted out, and I think
they are going in the right direction. Thunderbird is on the
council – Ha! By the way, next year, Will, if you’re still around,
don’t go to the powwow, ok? Ha!

“
Well, take care, and good
luck with your new job with the park. I know you’ll do
well.

“
Love, Greg, Dee and
“Ophelia” (she wanted me to write out her whole name –
Ha!)”

Forty-Seven

I started the park job in October with
little fanfare. It proved to be interesting, but not as interesting
as the store was and my life outside the Two Med job. Mostly, I
helped write copy for advertising and informational materials about
the park, something I could do pretty easily, after my old career
in Georgia.

I submitted a piece about
Two Medicine, the trails, sites, and cultures, to a couple of
magazines, including
Backpacker
, to see if anyone picked
it up – my first foray into freelance writing... I smiled to myself
as I sent off the first article, remembering my days in the Atlanta
office, grumbling over my job. I won’t say my first entries were
published, but it began an effort that I kept up and that
eventually began to pay.

Sky turned out to be the best roommate I
ever had. She and I became close, and only time will tell how close
we become.

Soon it was winter. The aspen and cottonwood
trees drew back the green from their leaves and stored their
nutrients in the trunks and roots, killing off their leaves and
readying for the deep freeze. And the winter came on strong, all of
a sudden, and soon I was living in a world of white, cold, wind and
night.

But the place was still home, and it still
fit. “The Bandit” had once again stopped running, his risk taking
and wanderlust slated – at least for the moment.

THE END

*In Larry’s letter, Will
wrote:

“
Larry, I have thought all
night about what to do with what you have done. Your brother is no
longer around to help you, but I want to do what I can. I can see
that you have suffered for what you did; and I know it was an
accident. I don’t see how you suffering more will help anyone – not
her, me, you, and definitely not Phyllis. She’s suffered enough. So
I don’t think you should do what you are planning to do
today.

Ruining your life for what
you did does not seem like justice to me; and I think Alia would
agree. Use this tragedy to get sober, use this to stop your stupid
discrimination and racism for the tribe, and use this to make
yourself right with Phyllis and your family.

If you do that, I’m never
going to tell anyone.”

The next letter read:

“
Ronnie, I know you have
been wrapped up in some business with Jake, and maybe with Clayton.
I don’t really know what it’s about, but I can guess to a great
extent; and I think it would be best if you leave Two Med today –
before I get back this afternoon. I hope I’m wrong, but if I’m not,
then you understand why I say this, and you understand I’ll really
miss you as a friend.”