She prays better than any other girl on the reservation, and she is ready to take up the habit.
Marie doesn’t have “that much Indian blood,” and she is sure that the nuns will accept her.
They have already been ruined, however, and there isn’t much that Albertine can do.īack in 1934, a 14-year-old Marie starts up the hill to the Sacred Heart Convent. She screams at King for ruining everything and spends the next hour trying to put the pies back together. Albertine notices that the pies are destroyed and filling is everywhere. Albertine strikes his back, breaking his grip, and Lynette crawls to safety under the table. Later, Albertine hears some commotion in the kitchen and finds King trying to drown Lynette in the sink. Marie, Zelda, and Aurelia make several pies for tomorrow’s dinner and leave to go see June’s new headstone, but before they do, Marie tells Albertine not to let anyone eat the pies. He is supposed to go pick up Eli, June’s adoptive father and Nector’s brother, but Eli won’t ride in the car. June’s son, King, arrives with his wife, Lynette, and their infant son in the brand-new Firebird King bought with June’s insurance money. It is not long before much of the Kashpaw family fills the house, including Albertine’s grandparents, Marie and Nector, and her cousin, Lipsha. When Albertine arrives at her family’s house-the same house that has been in her family since the government allotted their land and “turned the Indians into farmers”-Zelda is in the kitchen with Aurelia, her sister. June had died in a snowstorm a few weeks back, and even though Albertine has no desire to see her mother, she decides to go home to the reservation anyway. Albertine can’t believe that her mother is just now telling her about her Aunt June’s death. Weeks later, Albertine Johnson opens a letter from her mother, Zelda. The lights of Williston appear in the distance, but June turns and begins walking in the direction of the reservation-of home. June reaches behind her head and opens the door, rolling out into the cold night. Andy parks the car and begins to take off June’s clothes, but he quickly passes out, pinning her down. Then, they leave the bar together and drive down a deserted country road. She drinks with the man, an oil worker named Andy, and eats brightly colored Easter eggs. June thinks he looks familiar, so she goes inside. She catches the eye of a man in a bar, and he taps the window, motioning her over. June is a Chippewa woman, and even though she has “aged hard,” she is still attractive. It is the day before Easter Sunday, 1981, in the oil town of Williston, North Dakota, and June Kashpaw walks confidently down the main avenue.
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