Medicine Walk

Eldon is surprised when Frank cleans up their camp and returns natural materials, like saplings, to their original place. Frank explains that he leaves the earth as he finds it. When they camp again, Frank finds berries and mushrooms to make a paste for Eldon to eat. Frank talks about a special place where there are painted rocks, and he offers to take Eldon there: “Everyone should see something like this” (68), he tells Eldon. The symbols and images on the rocks are 20 feet tall, and Eldon and Frank “studied them without speaking for a long time” (68). Eldon asks what they signify, and Frank says they are probably stories about “travelling” or about “what someone seen in their life” (69). When Eldon says it doesn’t help not to know what they mean, Frank responds that “you gotta let a mystery be a mystery for it to give you anything” (69). Frank asks, “You ever learn any Indian stuff?” (69), and Eldon responds that “most of the time I was just tryin’ to survive” (69). Frank confesses that he wanted to come to see the painted rocks because he is having a hard time coming to terms with having to watch Eldon die: “I can’t reckon someone dyin’ […] Scares me some to think of it” (70).