The Only Good Indians

In Denorah’s geography class, the students are making fun of their teacher for using the term Native American instead of Blackfeet. They’re talking of the news report of Lewis Clarke’s death, and Denorah has a vague memory of seeing him along with Ricky the morning of the Thanksgiving Classic.

Denorah recalls when her class was meant to draw their favorite holiday and Denorah chose the day that her stepsister Trace had a stellar performance on the basketball court in the regionals, which earned her a full scholarship. Since then, Denorah has become excellent at basketball as well, but she struggles to keep her grades up. Her stepfather Denny Pease assures her that she needs both to have a future. She ignores her teacher’s discussion and ponders how she can get her grades up, then she looks out the window to see Elk Head Woman staring in at her.

Gabriel Cross Guns is inspecting an old Mauser rifle in his dad’s living room that had long been loaded for bird shot for killing mice. Gabe has a scar from being hit by a ricochet from the gun. He intends to pawn the rifle if it has any value, since he knows it is from his great-uncle’s time in World War II. When he sights an imaginary antelope, his father takes the rifle away.

Gabe is planning to hold a sweat lodge tonight with Cass and Victor Yellow Tail to honor Lewis’s death. Gabe tells his dad about Lewis when he asks about the black bandanna he has tied to his arm, and he keeps trying to convince his dad to give up the rifle. Gabe’s father mentions the time Lewis was selling racoon meat (which was the elk calf’s meat), and Gabe leaves, sneaking the rifle out the door with him and into his truck.

While driving, Gabe recalls a time when he was in court-appointed substance-abuse counseling when the group leader, Neesh, told him he was “counting coup” and explains the term to mean a traditional practice of getting close to an enemy and touching them without harming them or coming to harm. He realizes that’s true, then he thinks to go see Denorah. His ex, Trina, disapproves of his visits, so he decides to drive by her school. On the way, he sees Elk Head Woman. Mistaking her for Denorah, he slows down, and she makes eye contact with him until he drives away.

Cassidy Sees Elk is at home keeping the sweat lodge stoked and thinking about how his life has turned around since he met Jo, a Crow woman. He has a job and stability, despite a looming bench warrant for an unpaid ticket. He thinks to go check on Jo, but she works nights, and he doesn’t want to bother her.

Instead, he takes the blankets from his truck camper, which is where his dogs sleep, to make a sweat lodge. He drapes them over the reinforced tent frame he’s set up in the yard. As he sweeps out the tent, he startles the horses, who seem riled. He sets up the cooler and shovel for the hot rocks, thinking as he does about his dogs and his time with Jo.

When the sweat lodge is finished, he goes around the trailer and finds Jo inflating a basketball on the court he’d made from the remaining foundation of the house that was on their property. While eating macaroni, they talk about the sweat and Cass’s idea that Victor Yellow Tail having a traditional experience will help him get his act together. She chides him for eating when he is supposed to fast before a sweat, and she asks what he’ll do with the money Gabe paid him for setting up the sweat. He tells her he’ll put it in his safe—a black thermos that he hides in the exhaust system of his rusted-out truck. When Jo goes inside for ketchup, Cass looks over and sees a large herd of elk on his property, watching him.

Gabe visits Ricky’s grave, thinking about whether he should have stopped and helped the girl he saw walking in the snow. He thinks about Denorah and reveals that there’s a restraining order against him attending more of her basketball games due to his drunken behavior. He still sneaks in to see her play, sitting on the visitor’s side and staying as subdued as possible. He’s proud of Denorah’s tenacity on the court, and during the game that got him in trouble she was benched by her coach for showing off.

Gabe pours some beer out for Ricky, Ricky’s brother, and Lewis. He considers why Lewis had an elk calf with him when he died and what happened to it afterward. He reckons it has something to do with Gabe’s sentimentality toward the elk he killed. Gabe didn’t take that day as seriously as Lewis, and he had been ignoring his hunting ban, so much so that he had to clean out his dad’s freezer to make room for his own meat.

He leaves a beer behind to honor his dead friends and gets in his truck to go see Denorah. On the way, he sees elk tracks across the road, and as he stops to look at them, a now fully-grown Elk Head Woman slips into the bed of his truck.

Denorah practices free throws on her family’s property, showing great dedication in the cold. As she gets in the zone, she steels herself for all the racist chants she’ll hear at tomorrow’s game. She is determined to get a scholarship, and she thinks of the day when the concrete will be expanded on the lot to make room for a three-point line.

Gabe shows up in his truck, calling her “Finals Girl” (173). She can tell he’s been drinking, and she tells him he’s not supposed to be there as she turns back to practicing. He tells her about the sweat and tries to tell her to think of a song while she shoots, calling it an “old Indian trick” (174). She tries to ignore him and makes small talk about the sweat while she shoots.

She sees some hair blow up from his truck bed and tells him he’s not supposed to hunt anymore. He chides her, and when she learns that Victor Yellow Tail is paying him to let his son Nathan into the sweat, she bets him $40 that she can’t make 10 in a row. As she hits the first one, she knows that she’s not lucky, but practiced.