Two Roads

Cal is one of the students left behind after the school term ends because his father has not yet come back for him. He learns about the Curtis Act that divided up the land of the Indigenous people and abolished their governments. Much of the land was then given to white people. Many of the Indigenous people had their land taken away when they failed to pay taxes that they never had to pay before. There was oil on a good portion of the land, and some white people would get the Indigenous people drunk and trick them into signing documents to sell their land. Other white people married Indigenous girls who would then mysteriously die. The Indigenous people did not have much legal recourse for these gross injustices. Learning this, Cal now understands why Pop never told him about his Creek heritage; he realizes that Pop was “trying to spare [him] the pain” (271). Pop writes a letter to the Challagi administration asking if Cal can stay at school over the summer because he is required in Washington.

Cal works as a farmhand at the school over the summer, and he also has his own plot that he can farm and use to earn profits. One night, Cal has a dream from which he wakes up screaming. He knows that his friends would believe him if he told them about his dreams and visions and how they connect him to others. In this vision, he saw through Pop’s eyes. People were marching, and a man with a bullhorn told them to get back. Then Cal felt the bullets go into his skin while he died. Interrupting Cal’s thoughts, Little Coon tells him to get his shoes on because Deacon wants to help Cal.

When Cal arrives with the others, there is a fire and a hut. This hut is called a lodge. There are large stones glowing in the fire, and Deacon tells him that the “stones are alive” (279). Deacon learned the ritual of “running a sweat” from his grandfather. The story goes that before the white men came, a holy man came to a boy and taught him how “to cleanse his words, cleanse his body” (281). This boy then taught others to do the same. Cal and Deacon take off their clothes and go into the lodge. The hot rocks are put into a hole in the center of the lodge. The boys pray and sing, and the ritual feels cleansing to Cal. Cal then goes straight out into the stream to wash himself in the cool water. He feels alive, and he thinks about how he and the other boys are brothers. He tells the other boys his vision, and Deacon tells him that he was told that the visions are more of a warning than a direct prophecy. Cal knows that he is the only one who can save his father. The next night, Possum and Little Coon help Cal run away from the school. He takes the horse, Dakota, to the train.

It is early when Cal gets to the hitching post. He leaves the horse there, knowing that it will be returned to the school. When the train comes, he hops aboard.

Cal almost slips and falls off the train, but a woman helps him. She has a cookstove, and her name is Gale. Cal realizes that Gale is an Angel of Mercy: a person who rides the rails acting as a doctor for those who need it. She gives Cal a new shirt because his own is ripped. Gale comments about how Hoover and General MacArthur see everyone as “Reds,” or Communists. She tells Cal that many people are living in boxes in Washington and that one person even lives in a coffin. She warns Cal to be careful. Cal is shocked to learn that the military might be used to attack the marching veterans.

Later, Cal has a vision of this camp in Washington in which tanks arrive. Later, when arriving at a gathering of unhoused people outside of a town, Cal stays hidden because he knows that as a child, he is vulnerable. He also realizes that the boys at the school are the only real friends he has ever had. Cal’s Creek heritage is now very important to him, and he knows that he will always be traveling the road as a Creek regardless of what happens next. He misses his friends, but now he knows it is time to take care of his father.

Cal arrives in Washington, DC, and approaches the White House. He sees Corporal Dart and learns that he just saw Pop an hour ago. The police are there, warning that troops will be coming. Dart notes how both Black and white veterans are working together and states his belief that Hoover will definitely be voted out of office if the Army is used to disperse the veterans. People start screaming that the military is coming, and soon cavalry, infantry, and tanks arrive. The marching soldiers have bayonets. Dart grabs Cal’s hand, and together, they run as soldiers start hitting people with swords and launching grenades. They get to safety at another camp called Camp Marks. Everything there is orderly. Some medical professionals are helping wounded people, and Cal sees his father. A man named Eddie says that they will not give up the bridge. They say they are only asking what is owed of them, and Eddie says he will kill anyone who tries to cross the line. Cal realizes that the situation could lead to the massacre he envisioned. Pop finally notices Cal.

Cal tells his father everything, including the information from his visions, and his father believes him. Pop realizes that Cal will not let him take a stand on the bridge. Cal gives his father the letters he has written to him, and Pop gets ready to leave as tanks arrive. Civilians also arrive, unhappy with the government’s actions. Pop and Cal leave, and they help other people along the way. Pop says he would never expect these injustices in the United States to happen to anyone except to “hobos or Indians” (314). Pop and Cal ride the rails again, working where they can. Pop learns that there will be another Bonus March, and Cal knows that his father needs to go back and continue to fight for the cause. Cal agrees to return to Challagi; he realizes that he misses his friends and decides that he may join the track team after all. He knows that he will always be his father’s son, but he also has “another road to follow, the road of being a Creek” (316).