The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

Nine-year-old Victor lives on the Spokane Reservation with his parents. In 1976, Victor wakes from a nightmare caused by the destructive winds of a hurricane. It is New Year’s Eve, and his parents are hosting the reservation’s largest party. Victor wakes as his two uncles, Adolph and Arnold, break into verbal and physical confrontation, and he goes to the window to watch them fight in the yard. The party-goers watch as well, but no one intervenes. Although the brothers inflict injuries, they stop short of murder, smelling of “sweat and whiskey and blood” (3).

Victor grapples with what he has just witnessed, which triggers his memory of past family gatherings. He recalls observing his father’s tears on Christmases when he could not afford to buy gifts for the family. His father checked his empty wallet repeatedly as if hoping his poverty would magically disappear. Victor also remembers his mother making fry bread out of nothing and his father drinking alcohol on an empty stomach.

In time, his uncles forgive each other, and Victor returns to bed, but he cannot relax due to the raucous party still going on. Driven to find safety with his parents, Victor discovers them passed out and issuing “nearly choking alcoholic snores” (9).