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The next morning Shandra entered the kitchen with her notepad of questions that she’d written down the night before. Jo was busy making breakfast, Uncle Martin sat at the table, sipping coffee and reading the paper. Andy was already digging into the pancakes.
Shandra took a seat alongside Andy and shoved the notebook, opened to the page with her questions, toward him.
Her cousin glanced at the page. The words caught his attention and he started reading.
“Good morning, Shandra. We’ll go back to the community center this morning and get started on your dance lesson,” Aunt Jo said, placing a cup of tea in front of Shandra.
“Good, I’m excited to get started. I talked with Ryan last night. He’s going to come join me this Saturday. And possibly stay for a week. Will that be an inconvenience?” Shandra’s gaze flicked from her aunt, to her uncle, and back to her aunt.
“You know we always enjoy having Ryan here. Is he coming because of what happened?” Aunt Jo sat down in the chair beside Shandra.
“He is. He doesn’t want me to get into trouble.” She laughed but the rest of her family didn’t.
“He’s a smart man,” Uncle Martin said. He put down the paper and picked up his coffee cup taking a sip.
Andy tapped the notebook she’d laid beside him. “That’s a lot of questions and what ifs.” He studied her. “I’d say the first person you want to talk to is Tripp.”
“Where will I find him this morning?” Shandra raised her cup of tea and sipped.
“He’s one of the drummers,” Aunt Jo said.
“Drummers?” Shandra glanced at her aunt.
“Yeah, he’s one of the drummers for the ceremonies.” Jo smiled. “He’ll be one of the drummers at your wedding.”
“How many drummers will there be?” Shandra asked, thinking maybe it was better to focus on her wedding and the ceremony afterwards, than asking questions about Tripp.
Andy stared at her. “Seven Drum Religion?”
“Sorry? That makes sense,” Shandra said, feeling silly that she hadn’t connected the number. Her mind had been on something other than the religion and ceremonies. It had been on who she should talk with and how to bring up Nelly and not get stonewalled.
“Will he be drumming while I practice?” Shandra asked.
“No, we’ll be using CDs for music while you learn to step.” Aunt Jo pushed the plate of pancakes toward Shandra.
“I didn’t realize ceremonial songs have been recorded.” Shandra placed a pancake on her plate.
“We won’t be using the ceremonial song. We’ll just be using recorded music to allow you to understand the flow and the beat of the songs.”
Shandra wondered how she would interpret the song when she wouldn’t fully understand their meanings and what steps she would learn. She’d watched dancing at powwows and other events and had felt the beat of the drum deep within her. Had that been her heart searching and learning to beat to the sound of her people?
~*~
After breakfast had been cleaned up, Shandra was surprised Jo suggested they take her vehicle to town. It wasn’t until they were driving through Nespelem that she discovered the reason why. Aunt Jo took a detour through the town and ended up in front of Nelly Bingham’s house.
“Why are we here?” Shandra asked, worrying her aunt was taking Nelly’s murder much too hard.
“I just want to have a little talk with Birdie.” Jo open her door and slid out of the car.
Shandra wasn’t about to let her aunt go in the house by herself. She had noticed Jo acting unsettled last night and this morning. Her aunt and uncle had been in a lengthy discussion late into the night. Their voices had been muffled through the bedroom floor, but she’d woke two times and heard them talking.
Aunt Jo marched up to the house and knocked on the door.
The only sound on the other side was that of a child crying.
Jo pounded harder on the door. When no one answered, she grasped the knob. It turned. She opened the door and stepped inside. “Anybody home?” she called out.
Shandra couldn’t believe the mess the house was in. She’d visited several homes on her trips to the reservation. Usually the only houses that looked this bad had drunkards living in them. In the middle of all of the mess sat the little girl. Tears streamed down her gaunt cheeks and a woeful expression tipped down her small lips.
Aunt Jo swooped down and picked the child up in her arms. “There, there darling. We’ll take care of you.” With the child in her arms, she wandered into the kitchen.
Shandra followed, wondering what the child was thinking as Fawn stared at her with big round eyes.
Jo opened the refrigerator, emitting nasty smells. She said something under her breath and handed the child to Shandra.
With the child clinging to her, Shandra watched her aunt open and close every door and drawer in the kitchen. Jo finally found a box of Saltines in a tin. She opened the tin, pulled out a still sealed package of crackers and opened them. She sniffed and tasted a cracker before handing the package to Shandra.
“I’m going to have a talk with Birdie.” Jo marched out of the kitchen, leaving her with the child.
Fawn no longer cried. Her wide eyes studied Shandra as her tiny belly made grumbling sounds.
“When did you last eat?” Shandra held out two crackers to the child. She grabbed one in each hand and bit into one and then the other.
“I bet you’re confused about what’s going on.” She brushed the hair out of the little girl’s face as Fawn nibbled on the crackers. When she’d eaten the two crackers, Shandra handed the child another one.
Voices rose in the back of the house. The loudest voice was Birdie’s, Nelly’s grandmother and this child’s great-grandmother. Within minutes Jo stormed back into the kitchen, plucked the little girl from her arms, and nodded for Shandra to follow her.
“What are you doing?” Shandra stayed one step behind her aunt all the way to the car. “You can’t put her in the car without a children’s car seat.”
“It’s only for a short distance. We have extras at the center. Get in. I’m putting her in your lap until we get to the center.” Aunt Jo stood beside the passenger door waiting for Shandra to get in.
“You can’t just take her.” Shandra wasn’t sure she wanted to be included in a kidnapping.
“Birdie agreed I can take better care of Fawn than she can.” Aunt Jo gave her a stern look. “Get in.”
Not knowing reservation protocol, Shandra asked, “Is that legal?”
“It is if the family agrees. In this case the only family is Birdie. I’ll call children’s services and your cousin Liz when we get to the center. Liz can draw up legal papers. As long as there is someone willing to take in the child, the family doesn’t care, and children’s services doesn’t have to step in, everyone is happy.” Aunt Jo nodded to the open car door. “Get in.”
Unsure if her uncle knew about Jo’s interest in the child, Shandra opened the door, slid in, buckled herself, and opened her arms to take Fawn.
Aunt Jo placed the child on Shandra’s lap, closed the door, and went around to the driver side and slid in. “That is no place for this, or any, child to grow up.”
~*~
At the center, Jo placed Fawn in the daycare and marched off to make her phone calls. Shandra wandered around the community center, waiting for her aunt to take care of Fawn’s future and be ready to help with her upcoming wedding.
The sounds of sneakers squeaking on the gymnasium floor caught Shandra’s attention. She walked down the ramp into the gymnasium and was pleased to discover Tripp and several other young men playing basketball. Unsure how to start up a conversation with her cousin’s boyfriend, Shandra found a chair along the wall by the door and sat down to watch.
One by one, the young men noticed her. They all started taking risky shots and fouling recklessly. She chuckled at how they were showing off because she watched. Finally, Tripp moved away from the others, heading toward bottles of water by a pile of street clothes.
Shandra took this opportunity to start up a conversation. The bottles and clothing were only a short distance from where she sat.
“Are you practicing for something important?” Shandra asked, catching his attention.
Tripp stopped drinking water, turned his head her direction, and smiled. He walked toward her. “No, we’re just practicing.” He stopped only a few feet from her. “Are you new? I’m sure I would’ve remembered you.”
Shandra was surprised that this young man wasn’t as cautious as her cousins and their friends had been the first time she’d visited the community center. “I’m here visiting.”
He smiled as his friends came over to join them.
“Who are you visiting?” Tripp placed his body between her and his friends.
“Jo Elwood. She’s my aunt.” She stifled a giggle when Tripp’s eyebrows raised almost to his hairline. “I’m here preparing for my wedding.”
“I know. Wendy is making your dress. It’s going to be a traditional wedding.” Tripp relaxed, allowing his friends to gather closer.
“Jo told me you will be one of the drummers.”
“Is that what you want to talk to me about? About the songs that will be played?”
Shandra could tell Tripp believed in his music and the ceremonies of their people. “That and...” she glanced at the three other men, “I wondered why you and Nelly were arguing in this parking lot yesterday morning?”
Tripp started to back away from her, but Shandra followed not allowing him the chance to run away. “I saw you two arguing. If you don’t tell me what it was about I’m going to tell the police.”
“Ooooo,” his friends said, mocking her threat.
She glared at them and turned her anger on Tripp. “Which do you fear more? The police or Wendy knowing about you and Nelly?”
Tripp put his hands up and shook his head. “Our argument had nothing to do with what happened to her.”
“How do you know that? It could have had everything to do with what happened to her.” Shandra wasn’t going to let anyone, including her cousin, get away with murder.
Tripp turned to his friends. “Give us some space.” They all nodded and went back to playing ball. The sound of sneakers squeaking and the ball bouncing went on for several seconds before Tripp shifted his attention back to her.
“Nelly and I had some good times. But I don’t love her. I was trying to tell her that. She had some notion that I should go with her to Spokane when she went to school.” He put his hands in his pockets, walked three steps away, and walked back. His face was wrinkled in consternation.
“Why would she have the idea that you loved her or the two of you were a couple?” Shandra didn’t like the idea that her cousin, Wendy, was being played by this young man.
“I don’t know.” His face was the perfect portrait of disbelief and confusion. “When we hooked up, she acted like it was no big thing. Then when I told her I didn’t want to hook up anymore, that I was getting serious with Wendy, she got all angry at me. She shouted she was going to tell Wendy all the things we did. That I wasn’t good enough for her and tell her lies about things that we didn’t do.” He pulled his hands out of his pocket and held them out, imploring. “Wendy knows that I hooked-up with Nelly a time or two at parties. Wendy doesn’t party. She’s traditional all the way. That’s what I love about her. Her tradition. But Nelly didn’t understand.”
Shandra studied the young man. His facial features had softened, tender even, as he spoke of Wendy and his love for her. She hoped for her cousin’s sake that he did love her and he had stopped his roaming way.
“Nelly was here trying to get you to move to Spokane with her?” Shandra asked.
Tripp nodded his head.
“Why yesterday? Was that the first time she’d mentioned you moving to Spokane?”
“She knew she had gotten your scholarship. That’s all she talked about the last time we were together. Getting her GED and getting the hell out of here.” He shook his head. “She never mentioned wanting me to go with her.” He peered into her eyes. “If she had I would have told her no then.”
“What about her daughter? Was she going to take Fawn with her?” How had the young woman planned to go to school and live and take care of her daughter at the same time?
“I don’t know. I figured she’d leave her with her grandmother or the father.” The look of disgust and disdain the man had for the two people he’d just mentioned was clearly written on his face. From the pinched lips to the shudder.
“Do you know who Fawn’s father is?” Shandra asked.
He laughed. “Everyone knows. It’s that parasite Duke Waters. She told everyone when she was pregnant as if that would make him take them in. He doesn’t care for anyone but himself and the dollar.”
“Where could I find Duke?” she asked.
Tripp’s head snapped around and he studied her. “You don’t want to find him.”
It looked like she’d go visit Duke after Ryan arrived. “Okay, then did Nelly have any girlfriends who would have moved to Spokane with her?”
“Why do you think she was after me? She didn’t have anyone. She slept around making the girls all hate her.” Tripp nodded toward his friends. “I’m getting back to my game.”
She let him go. But he wasn’t crossed off her list. He admitted to having an argument with Nelly and she had threatened to tell his girlfriend lies. Nelly, Nelly, I thought you had changed. Or were you so desperate to have someone go with you, that you resorted to the only thing you could think of?