Love Medicine

June Kashpaw, a woman from the Chippewa tribe, idles around her bus stop. A familiar-looking man signals to her from inside a bar. He waves her in and they drink and chat. He introduces himself as Andy, a mud engineer. June thinks of the stories she’s heard of the violent deaths of mud engineers. She notices that Andy carries a great deal of cash with him, which makes her think of her ex-husband Gordie. She continues partying with Andy. When she takes a break alone in the bathroom, she contemplates that “Even if he was no different, she would get through this again” (Page 4). Andy drives June into the countryside and they start kissing and touching in his car but before they can have sex, Andy falls asleep. June wrestles herself out from underneath him and begins her walk home through the cold.

Albertine Johnson receives a letter from her mother, June’s cousin Zelda, informing her of June’s death and burial. Albertine thinks about June’s life; June was raised by her uncle and shocked the family by marrying her cousin, Gordie, with whom she had a son named King. June had alcoholism and wasn’t a great mother, but Albertine remembers her as a wonderful aunt.