Reservation Blues

The chapter opens with Robert Johnson, who is safe at Big Mom’s house. He is relieved to have gotten rid of the burden of his guitar, but feels that he guilty that he given the Indians, and especially Victor, his burden.

Thomas goes to church with Chess and Checkers and feels uncomfortable during the service. He talks to an old Indian woman, who tells him that people on the reservation are unhappy with the Coyote Springs. The community doesn’t like the way they are representing the reservation and is especially displeased about the white women in the band.

Junior and Victor have been constantly drunk since receiving their money from the show in Seattle. At the Trading Post, where they have gone to buy beer, they get into a fight with Michael White Hawk. Betty and Veronica try to break up the fight and are injured. The men are taken to the hospital. There, the Indian EMT reports that the men’s injuries are from a car wreck in order to protect White Hawk from the white legal system. Betty and Veronica decide that the reservation is not what they were expecting, and they leave.

Dislike of Coyote Springs continues to grow on the reservation.