Chapter 5

Howie decided to go the southern route. He liked the drive through the Virginia mountains. And he wanted to show Brooke where the Cherokee lived before they were marched to Oklahoma.

Howie put a cover over the truck bed. With a cover over the bed, he didn't worry about a place to sleep. The cover was level with the top of the truck cab.

Brooke had never been to the University of Virginia or been through the Roanoke Valley. And she wanted to see Charlottesville, where Dorothy was going to live.

Brooke remembered what Dorothy had asked her. "Have you thought through going on this trip? I mean you have told me that for you, roughing it was having to go to Stowe instead of Vail. We are talking about dirt everywhere. No electricity or running water. No hairdresser, not even hot showers. And the food, I don't even want to think about it."

Howie and Brooke left at sunup. Brooke thought, I have never been happier, me, in a pickup truck that doesn't have air conditioning. She moved over so that her hip touched Howie's.

They stopped in Charlottesville and toured the University. They ate lunch at Monticello and visited Jefferson and Madison's homes. Then they stopped and did the Robert E. Lee tour of W&L. Howie said, "Lee Chapel is the spirit of the South."

They stopped for the night somewhere in the mountains near Lexington, Virginia. Howie inflated air mattresses that were much like floats people laid on in a swimming pool. He locked the truck cab and helped Brooke as she climbed in the truck bed. Brooke crawled onto the sleeping bag that was open on top of the inflated mattresses. Brooke moved to the right side of the bed.

The rifle and 9mm pistol that lay beside the left side of the bed did not comfort her. She took her boots and socks off. Howie crawled beside her.

Brooke thought, What am I doing? Please hurry or I am going to cry.

Howie took off his shirt and pants. He spread a sheet over their legs. Brooke took off her blouse and shorts. She lay down on the bed and pulled the sheet up.

Howie passed her a pillow. He said, "There is no place in the world I would rather be than here with you. You are so beautiful in the moon light."

He kissed her very tenderly. She whispered, "Me either."

Howie was tender and sweet. When he told her, "I love you," she cried.

Brooke slept naked cuddled against him.

In the morning, Brooke wanted a shower, but there was none. She brushed her teeth and rinsed with water from a bladder.

They stopped at VPI and showered in the gym. They drove through Sweetbriar and then on to North Carolina to Cherokee. He taught her some Kiowa words. He showed her where the Cherokee lived. "Imagine that they were forced to leave and were taken to the Indian Territory."

Then he drove over to Newport, Tennessee. "Cocke County is as close to mountain people as you will get. Listen to the way they speak. It is old English, just like was spoken when they got off the boat from England. The hill people's ways are closer to the Kiowa than to the main line.

They went into a little country store and bought can goods. The people in the store were different and interesting.

When they were back in the truck, Howie said, "Tennessee is an interesting state. In East Tennessee, the people are mountain folk. West Tennessee is delta Deep South. Middle Tennessee is poor plateau land. The people don't have anything in common, except maybe the University of Tennessee, which is in Knoxville."

They didn't get far off the road in Cocke County. Visitors and newcomers weren't trusted and sometimes disappeared if they went up the wrong little road.

They did the Tennessee Presidents. Near Jonesboro, they visited Andrew Johnson's home and in Nashville they visited to the Hermitage. They also went by Ryman Auditorium and saw the bars that were country music.

They stayed on Indian ground outside of Jackson, Tennessee. They showered at Lambeth College that evening. Brooke had her first pit barbeque at The Pit in Jackson. Howie showed her a cotton field and then they saw a cotton gin.

In Memphis, they drove along Beal Street and crossed the Mississippi River into Arkansas.

They stopped in Arkansas at a memorial to the Trail of Tears, where so many Cherokee died as they were force-marched from North Carolina. They went through Little Rock and Fort Smith. They saw the Indian Bureau headquarters for the Five Civilized Tribes in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Then they were to Tahlequah and stayed on the Indian reservation.

They showered at Northeastern Oklahoma College in Tahlequah. Howie said, "Not a pretty sight. I don't want the Kiowa to sink this low."

Brooke said, "I see what you meant. This is a far cry from the mountains of North Carolina. To see Sequoia's work and the Cherokee alphabet made me realize how shameful our behavior was."

Howie said, "And still is."

They drove on to Tulsa. Brooke's father asked her to visit a bank in Tulsa. Brooke called her parents and they spent the night in a motel in Tulsa.

They left at sunup from Tulsa. They drove to Oklahoma City then on to Guymon. They reached Dolph's ranch very late.

"Dolph, Dawn, this is Brooke," Howie introduced her to his uncle and aunt.

Dolph said, "Glad you could come. I imagine you want to get to bed. We can talk in the morning."

They took quick showers and went to bed.

At sunup, Dolph and Howie fixed sheds and did two man jobs around the ranch until noon. Then the four of them ate together.

Dolph asked, "I need a deep water well here. And I could really use some in the outback. Do you think you will have time to drill some for me?"

Howie said, "Be happy to if the rig is available. I will check with Black Rock."

After lunch, Howie and Brooke walked hand in hand to the place where Howie had met Black Eagle and where his body was buried. "Under this tree is where I met Black Eagle and where his spirit left his body. Dolph always observed this ground as scared ground. That was way before I came. Dolph has never had a problem with the Kiowa or Comanche. He treats them with respect."

Brooke didn't say anything, but she watched Howie closely. "Under the tree, he taught me. He gave me my Kiowa name, Tall Grass, here."

Brooke said, "I recognize this place from your painting. Your painting captured the look and feel of the place. I know Black Eagle is proud of you."

Howie said a few works in Kiowa.

"It was this time of year when I met him," Howie said. "It seems like a long time ago, but it wasn't really that long ago. He sure influenced me and I think for the better. I was a skinny, ignorant, misfit when I met Black Eagle. I have a debt of honor to him."

They walked hand in hand back to Dolph's.

Brooke squeezed his hand tightly. "Thank you for allowing me to be a part of this part of your life. I know Black Eagle and his spirit are important to you."

They drove down to Black Eagle's village and Brooke was introduced to Chief Stinson and Louise. Louise got their baby.

Louise handed him to Brooke. Howie nodded and he and Stinson clasped hands.

Howie said something in Kiowa. Brooke said, "I didn't understand."

"We are the equivalent of his godparents," Howie said.

Stinson said, "I think your medicine is very strong again."

Howie said, "I hope so Chief. Brooke, you have to give the child back."

She smiled, "Do I have to."

Louise said, "Tall Grass is a fine man. You must be a fine woman."

Brooke said, "Thank you."

They walked to the truck. "I was surprised. She gave the child to you, not to me to give to you. She liked you. I am very proud of you."

Brooke said, "I don't understand."

"Louise liked your spirit so much that she went against tradition and risked offending me by giving the boy to you not to me," Howie said.

"Howie, or should I call you Tall Grass?" she asked.

"To you I am Howie, so call me Howie," he said.

"And if I feel you are Tall Grass, should I call you Tall Grass," she said.

"Howie or Kiowa for Tall Grass would be best and then only when you feel I am Tall Grass," he said.

"I think I understand, but I may mess up unintentionally on other things," she said.

"Act naturally. If something comes up, I can handle it. Some times you can tell the power of the chief by the number of feathers, but sometimes the chief with no feathers is the most powerful. I don't wear feathers," Howie said.

"You are the most powerful?" she asked.

"No, but few will dare challenge me. And because my feathers don't get ruffled, I am not a threat to most," he said.

Howie said, "I have to see Black Rock. Stinson's child looks strong."

Howie said, "I was the first chief of that village. I was chief of the village until after I shot the first time. Where we are going I was chief until I was shot the second time and returned to Pennsylvania. I asked Black Rock to take my place. Black Rock is the grandson of Black Eagle."

Brooke asked, "Were you and Louise lovers?"

Howie answered. "I killed her husband and took responsibility for her. I was responsible for eight women and three children."

"And you had all of them?" she asked.

"Yes, until Dolph, Stinson, and Black Rock wanted them. Black Rock took a woman and her mother and his mother, Ruth, and her youngest child. Ruth is the only one not taken by someone else. Black Rock protects her," he said.

"Does he have sex with his mother and sister?" she asked.

"I don't think so," Howie answered.

"Are you a chief?" she asked.

"Yes, but I do not have a village anymore. I remain a chief so that I can take care of the money," Howie said.

"Are you the Medicine Man?" she asked.

"No, Black Rock is the Medicine Man. I am still a Vision Man, but I am not the Council Medicine Man," he said.

"This place is different, very different. You have to be tough to stay alive," she said.

"Howie, is Ruth still yours?" Brooke asked.

"Yes," he said.

"How about me?" she asked.

"With us it is different? I am yours," he said.

"Am I supposed to share you with her?" she asked.

"Ruth will understand," he said.

"I don't," she said.

"Ruth understands that you see things from different eyes and that you come first to me," Howie said.

"You make it seem like I am wrong because I don't want you having sex with another woman," she said.

"Not wrong, but not Kiowa," he said.

"But I am not Kiowa," she said.

"That is what I tried to say. Ruth understands that you come first and you are not Kiowa, so you don't think like a Kiowa," he said.