years.
We flew on, easy, steady, safe, Iron Crow concerned only once when the engine sputtered a little.
But most of the time he was positively beatific, a veritable bird, as one with this old open-cockpit barnstormer.
When I told him we needed to go back, he frowned and looked as unhappy as any other little kid might when you told him you were going to take the magic away.
"I didn't wet my pants," Iron Crow smiled at his sister.
"I know," she said. "That was the first thing I looked for." They both laughed.
Iron Crow was still a little wobbly when we got back to the car, flying in a biplane making some people unsteady on their feet for a time. Two teenagers from the small airport took care of my plane for me. I'd flown over from my place near Iowa City and then rented this Chevrolet for a few days.
On the way back to town, Silver Moon wondered aloud if she might not try a little flying, too.
"You'd be scared, Sis," Iron Crow said in his older-brother tone.
"Bet I wouldn't be," Silver Moon said, taking up the mantle of little sister.
They were in the back seat, at their own choice. Stocky as they were, maybe they felt they needed the extra room.
"So you enjoyed it, Iron Crow?" I said as I drove.
"Very much. Could we go again?"
I noticed that he still hadn't taken his Snoopy helmet off. Apparently he liked wearing it.
"If I'm around here long enough, sure."
"Maybe we could do a roll or two."
I smiled at him in the mirror. "I think we'd better wait a while for that one."
Silver Moon laughed. "I think you've started something here, Robert Payne."
"Maybe I have," I smiled.
And that was when we heard it, the siren of a boxy white ambulance racing down Moon Valley's main street. West, it was headed. Toward the casino.
"Serves them right," Iron Crow said, nodding to the ambulance. Not all the La Costas had been in favor of building the casino. "Goddamn gambling, anyway. It's not right."
"Pardon his French," Silver Moon said.
We drove on for another five minutes, countryside becoming the dusty streets of a small Iowa town, and Iron Crow said, "Oh shoot, I did it, Sis."
"You sure did," she said.
She leaned forward and tapped me on the shoulder with a stubby, insistent finger. "He did it, Mr. Payne. He peed his pants."
"You shouldn't've forgot my diapers, Sis," Iron Crow said. Did I tell you that, Robert, that she forgot to buy me my diapers?"
I grinned at Silver Moon in the mirror. "Yeah, I guess I do remember you saying something about that, Iron Crow." Silver Moon grinned back.
Chapter 2
A fter I dropped Iron Crow and Silver Moon off at the settlement, where they lived in a handsome new house trailer thanks to the money that the casino had started paying each member of the tribe, I walked back to my car in time to see a group of young children doing a ceremonial dance behind the small concrete block building that was their grade school. Casino profits probably accounted for the new roof that was just now being put on. The tar smelled hot and rubbery in the sunlight.
I'd learned just enough La Costa to understand that the ancient dance the boys and girls were doing celebrated the journey of the sun as it helped sustain the men and women of the tribe who built new buffalo-hide teepees before the snows came.
The children sang in strong, proud voices in the dusty schoolyard, symbolizing with the quick, precise movements of their fingers and hands the long distant days when the tribe had lived in round bark lodges called wickiups, and when their clothing was made of deerskin, and when their headdress was a tuft of horsehair dyed red and tied in the manner of a scalp lock, with the rest of their heads shaved clean.
They joined hands now and began moving in a circle, singing of autumn and the hunts of winter that lay ahead.
I had just reached my car when I saw — in one of those terrible frozen moments, like a horrific snapshot — the accident that was about to happen.
A girl of perhaps five had
We flew on, easy, steady, safe, Iron Crow concerned only once when the engine sputtered a little.
But most of the time he was positively beatific, a veritable bird, as one with this old open-cockpit barnstormer.
When I told him we needed to go back, he frowned and looked as unhappy as any other little kid might when you told him you were going to take the magic away.
"I didn't wet my pants," Iron Crow smiled at his sister.
"I know," she said. "That was the first thing I looked for." They both laughed.
Iron Crow was still a little wobbly when we got back to the car, flying in a biplane making some people unsteady on their feet for a time. Two teenagers from the small airport took care of my plane for me. I'd flown over from my place near Iowa City and then rented this Chevrolet for a few days.
On the way back to town, Silver Moon wondered aloud if she might not try a little flying, too.
"You'd be scared, Sis," Iron Crow said in his older-brother tone.
"Bet I wouldn't be," Silver Moon said, taking up the mantle of little sister.
They were in the back seat, at their own choice. Stocky as they were, maybe they felt they needed the extra room.
"So you enjoyed it, Iron Crow?" I said as I drove.
"Very much. Could we go again?"
I noticed that he still hadn't taken his Snoopy helmet off. Apparently he liked wearing it.
"If I'm around here long enough, sure."
"Maybe we could do a roll or two."
I smiled at him in the mirror. "I think we'd better wait a while for that one."
Silver Moon laughed. "I think you've started something here, Robert Payne."
"Maybe I have," I smiled.
And that was when we heard it, the siren of a boxy white ambulance racing down Moon Valley's main street. West, it was headed. Toward the casino.
"Serves them right," Iron Crow said, nodding to the ambulance. Not all the La Costas had been in favor of building the casino. "Goddamn gambling, anyway. It's not right."
"Pardon his French," Silver Moon said.
We drove on for another five minutes, countryside becoming the dusty streets of a small Iowa town, and Iron Crow said, "Oh shoot, I did it, Sis."
"You sure did," she said.
She leaned forward and tapped me on the shoulder with a stubby, insistent finger. "He did it, Mr. Payne. He peed his pants."
"You shouldn't've forgot my diapers, Sis," Iron Crow said. Did I tell you that, Robert, that she forgot to buy me my diapers?"
I grinned at Silver Moon in the mirror. "Yeah, I guess I do remember you saying something about that, Iron Crow." Silver Moon grinned back.
Chapter 2
A fter I dropped Iron Crow and Silver Moon off at the settlement, where they lived in a handsome new house trailer thanks to the money that the casino had started paying each member of the tribe, I walked back to my car in time to see a group of young children doing a ceremonial dance behind the small concrete block building that was their grade school. Casino profits probably accounted for the new roof that was just now being put on. The tar smelled hot and rubbery in the sunlight.
I'd learned just enough La Costa to understand that the ancient dance the boys and girls were doing celebrated the journey of the sun as it helped sustain the men and women of the tribe who built new buffalo-hide teepees before the snows came.
The children sang in strong, proud voices in the dusty schoolyard, symbolizing with the quick, precise movements of their fingers and hands the long distant days when the tribe had lived in round bark lodges called wickiups, and when their clothing was made of deerskin, and when their headdress was a tuft of horsehair dyed red and tied in the manner of a scalp lock, with the rest of their heads shaved clean.
They joined hands now and began moving in a circle, singing of autumn and the hunts of winter that lay ahead.
I had just reached my car when I saw — in one of those terrible frozen moments, like a horrific snapshot — the accident that was about to happen.
A girl of perhaps five had
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