Montana Summer Ch. 10

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Charlie was still asleep. Suzanne and the girls had gone shopping to get Jessi some clothes. All she had brought with her were the clothes on her back. Bill still hadn't been able to get a hold of Ryan's parents. He tried to remember his last conversation with Roy. He had mentioned that they were going to Mexico, but he couldn't remember exactly when Roy said they were going. Bill stared at the boy in the bed. He was still feeling overwhelmed by the conversation with Charlie. There was one thing that both he and Charlie could agree on. From the first day that Ryan had come to the ranch, Bill had felt something special about the boy.

Ryan reminded him of his grandfather. The lazy, easy going smile and the way Ryan looked at the mountains especially reminded Bill of his grandfather. If Bill and Suzanne could have had a son, Ryan was what they would have wanted. The night that Ryan had agreed to go into ranching was one the proudest moments of Bill's life. The McFayden name would continue to grace the Rocking-M ranch for another generation.

The specialist had been in to see Ryan and the news he brought was optimistic. They would continue keeping Ryan in a comatose state for the next few days and monitor the swelling in his brain. The bad news was that the brain was still swollen, but the good news was that the swelling had stopped. The specialist had reaffirmed that Ryan's EEG was normal.

Brain damage. Those two words haunted Bill. The doctor had said that there could be possible brain damage when Ryan was brought out of the drug-induced coma. All Bill wanted was the same boy back. Tears welled up in his eyes, Ryan was much too young for something like this to happen. He still had the rest of his life ahead of him.

Bill held Ryan's hand in his. His voice was quiet. "I wish things were different, Ryan. I wish it was me lying in that bed. I wish you could have married Jessi. Since she was born, I have imagined what her future husband would be like. And he would have been just like you. I would have been proud to have you as a son-in-law."

Bill squeezed Ryan's hand and for a moment he could have sworn that Ryan squeezed back.

---

Ryan found himself on Mato's back once again, bounding over the prairies. They spotted a large herd of bison grazing.

Mato circled around the great herd. Ryan spotted a group of wagons making their way towards the herd. Each wagon held about a dozen white men. They seemed to be laughing and handing bottles of liquor among themselves.

"Watch," Mato commanded.

The wagons pulled to a stop and some of the men got down onto the ground while the others sat or knelt on the wagon bed. Suddenly, the quiet of a summer's afternoon was broken by the sound of gunfire. The men were shooting as fast as they could. The herd began to run, but for nearly a hundred of them, it was too late. Their massive and majestic bodies dropped to the ground.

Ryan looked on in horror at the slaughter unfolding before his eyes. Tears welled up as he looked at Mato. "I feel so much shame."

The bear put his big paw on Ryan's shoulder. "You bear none of the shame for their actions. Your family has always tried to protect the land."

A feeling of sickness welled up inside of Ryan as he watched the men climb back on the wagons and head off in the direction that the herd had set off running. They left the carcasses of the downed bison to sit under the hot summer sun.

Mato looked on with a great sadness in his large eyes. "This was the beginning of the end. First the buffalo hunters came. They were just after the hides. Then men like this came and it was considered great sport among some of the white men at the time to see how many animals they could kill in an afternoon. In just a few short years, there would be no more herds to feed our people and the other tribes of the plains."

Everywhere Mato took him, there were signs of past slaughters, rotting carcasses with only the carrion feeders taking advantage of the kills—piles of sun bleached bones stacked up waiting for wagons to pick them up to be shipped back east to make fertilizer.

Ryan saw children and women starving. He saw the once proud Lakota being herded like animals on to reservations—their horses, their weapons, and their way of life confiscated. Life on the reservations was a study in squalor. Unscrupulous Indian Agents from the government stole food that was meant for the Lakota, and the food that did make it to the starving Lakota was often rancid and not fit for human consumption.

A feeling of helpless rage boiled within Ryan. "How could they do this?"

Mato shook his head. "Greed. The Wašicun at the time felt that it was their manifest destiny to conquer the continent and that their way was the only way. Many of their kind did not see the Lakota, or any of the other tribes, as being humans. They saw them as being animals. Very little attempt was made to understand the people that were here first."

"My heart is filled with a great sadness at what I have seen today." Ryan looked down at the ground.

"I know. It was important for you to see this. It was important for you to understand what has happened. Nothing can be done for what has happened in the past. All you can do is learn from this and not let something like this happen again." Mato motioned for Ryan to climb back up onto his back.

---

Kenny called Hank's cell phone. He smiled at Stella as she brushed her hair while he waited for Hank to answer.

"Yeah!" Hanks gravelly voice answered.

"It's me," Kenny responded. "Did the sheriff call you about, Sal?"

"What the fuck is going on?" Hank ran his fingers through his hair. He still couldn't believe that Sal was dead. They had been partners since just after Sal had gotten out of the military. The stripper that he had picked up the previous night had just left. She made Hank promise to come back to the strip club where she performed, and that was one promise that Hank intended to keep.

"I don't fucking know." Kenny sounded a little exasperated. "I tried calling that stupid fuck all day yesterday."

"So did I," Hank replied.

"Tony called me this afternoon." Kenny's voice turned to a more encouraging tone.

"What did that old prune have to say?" asked Hank.

"He thinks he has a line on someone we might be able to use."

"Any idea when?" Hank picked up another cigarette and lit it.

"Couple of days, maybe a little more. He said he would call back and let me know." Kenny winked at Stella as he talked to Hank.

"Okay," answered Hank as he took a deep drag off of his cigarette.

"You okay with money?" Kenny asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Hank answered.

"Good. You keep your nose clean and just hang tight until I hear from Tony."

"Yeah," Hank replied. He was going to tell Kenny to give Stella his love, but decided against it. The stripper he had picked up was just what he wanted and needed. The idea of spending another night at the strip club watching women take their clothes of appealed to Hank. He would bring her back to the hotel for another round of sex. He hadn't found anything that she wouldn't do.

---

Milt looked up as Travis knocked on the sheriff's door and walked in. "We got a positive match from the FBI on the prints we sent in."

"Is he who he said he was?" Milt asked.

Travis nodded and put the report on the desk. "Yup, one Mister Salvatore Vittorio Castolinni."

Milt sighed. He had hoped to come up with another name. He picked up the report from the FBI and began to read it. "Military service, Marines, discharged for psychological reasons. No criminal record." He looked up from his desk at Travis. "Cliff is going to have a fit when we send this report over to him. We have a man who tried to shoot Ryan McFayden. From the witnesses, me included, one shot was heard. There was a significant pause, and then the deceased emptied his magazine at something, or someone. He has five antique arrows in his chest, which according to Charlie Red Elk, would have had to have been shot at fairly close range to pierce the victim's chest. And no evidence of anyone else in the area."

The sheriff looked out the window for a moment. It was days like this that made retirement appealing. "Have we heard anything about the search of the vehicle?"

Travis shook his head. "Nope, nothing yet. I think they just got started on it."

"Okay, let me know when you hear anything."

Milt picked up the phone and dialed a number and played with a pencil while he waited for an answer.

A deep booming voice answered at the other end of the call. "Ferguson here."

"Hi, doc, Milt here. Say, when do you plan on doing the autopsy of the guy you brought in this morning?"

"Eight in the morning."

The sheriff glanced at his calendar. "Would you mind if I sat in and watched?"

"As long as you bring beer and pizza," Dr. Ferguson responded.

"Beer and pizza at eight in the morning." Milt chuckled. "You are one sick man, Angus."

"I'm the picture of health when compared to some of my patients." A hint of Angus Ferguson's Scottish brogue still came through when he joked.

"Okay, I'll see you at eight in the morning."

---

A hospital orderly wheeled Ryan's bed back into the room. They had performed another MRI on Ryan's head.

Bill and Charlie watched as they plugged his IV pump back into the outlet behind the bed. The monitors never seemed to change. Ryan's pulse remained constant, never wavering. A nurse followed the orderly into the room and she looked at Bill and Charlie. "Would you mind stepping outside? I'm going to change his dressing and we are going to clean him up."

Bill looked at Charlie. "Let's go down to the cafeteria. I'll buy you a cup of coffee.

They found an empty table in the cafeteria and sat down with their coffee.

"Charlie, can I ask you something?" Bill looked across the table at his long-time friend.

"Sure," Charlie replied.

"I know I don't know as much as maybe I should about your culture. I know there is a lot of it I don't understand. Does the bear in Ryan's dream mean anything?" Bill hoped he wasn't going to offend Charlie.

"Yes, it does. It is very wakan, I guess holy would be a good comparison. Back in the old days, men that dreamed of Mato were very special. They automatically became leaders of the Bear society," Charlie replied in a hushed tone of voice.

Bill played with the plastic spoon on the table in front of him. "I dunno if means much but, since Ryan got here, he has reminded me a lot of his grandfather. I can see it in the way he walks, and the way he looks when stares off at the mountains."

Charlie nodded. "I know the first time I met Ryan, I knew there was something about him that set him apart. That was even before he told me of his dream." Charlie looked Bill square in the eyes. "Ryan is destined to something great in his life. I know this to be true. I had had a vision when Walter and I camped up on Baxter's a few weeks ago. It was the most powerful vision that I have ever had."

Bill was interested. "What was the vision?"

Charlie shook his head. "I still don't understand much of it. I saw Ryan on top of the mountains. The mountains were crumbling down and there was much lightning. Beside him stood Mato, the bear and Tatanka, the buffalo. Overhead circled Cetan, the hawk."

"And you don't know what it meant?" Bill asked.

"I told this to Ryan when I was trying to explain his dream to him. A lot of the time the path to discovering the answer is more important than the answer itself." Charlie took another sip of his coffee.

"Does Ryan understand what his dream meant?" Bill wondered.

Charlie thought for a few seconds before answering. "I think there are parts of it that he understands now. He is growing with his understanding. A dream such as the one that he had is not like the dreams that you or I have at night that fade quickly in the morning. He remembers every little detail of the dream that he had." Charlie looked up from his cup of coffee. "It is a remarkable thing, dreams like that. It is hard to explain to someone who has never had one. They give a person a sense of their destiny."

Bill thought about his nephew laying in the bed in ICU. "He is a remarkable young man. I only hope he comes out of this..." The emotion choked Bill's voice.

"I know he will come out of this." Charlie looked around to make sure no one was near. "Remember, Spotted Owl has seen him. Inside his mind."

"God, I hope you are right." Bill hoped that what Jessi and Charlie had told him about a ghost of a Lakota warrior visiting Ryan was true. He remembered what his grandfather had told him about the Lakota. He had said that they had different beliefs, and just because they were different, that didn't make them wrong.

---

Jessi was alone with Ryan. Becky had gone outside to call her parents, and Suzanne had gone down to the cafeteria in search of Charlie and Bill. Jessi leaned over and gave Ryan a gentle kiss on the cheek.

The quiet of the room was only interrupted by the steady hum-drum beep of the monitors. Jessi found it almost eerie. She still wasn't used to seeing Ryan laying there helpless. His eyes were closed and his face expressionless. His ever-present smile was what she missed seeing the most. Only the rise and fall of his chest gave him the appearance of having life.

She stroked his cheek as she whispered, "Come back to me, cowboy." The tears started flowing down her cheeks. "I feel lost now without you. You have no idea how much I love you. You have come to mean so much to me, I don't know if I could go on without you."

Becky stopped at the door. She heard Jessi talking to Ryan. It felt like she was intruding on something private. She turned to leave but Jessi called her back into the room. "It's alright, Becky. You can come in."

"I didn't want to interrupt you. I know that you can't talk to Ryan like that when your mom and dad are around. I thought I would give you some privacy with Ryan." Becky knew that Jessi loved Ryan, but it wasn't until this moment that she realized how deep Jessi's love for Ryan was.

Jessi wiped the tears from her eyes. "Oh, Becky, there is nothing I wouldn't say to Ryan that I wouldn't want you to hear. You are like my sister, and you know that. You are Ryan are the two most important people in my life."

Becky walked over to Ryan's bed and hugged Jessi with all of her might. "Thanks for including me in that. Yeah, you are like my sister too."

As she reached over and squeezed Ryan's hand, Becky looked at Jessi. "You know, I love him too, Jessi. Not as much, or in the same way as you, but I do love him."

Jessi nodded. "I know you do. I have felt it since we were on the camping trip." Jessi smiled a brave smile. "That's when I started falling in love with him too."

Becky's eyes started tearing up. She tapped Ryan playfully on the head. "You big lug, now you've got both of us crying."

---

Ryan was in the mountains riding single file with a group of Lakota. Runs With Elk was in the lead, and Ryan was bringing up the rear. The hunt had been successful. Two deer were draped over the horses of the hunters. It would be a good night in the village. The drums would beat long into the night as the hunters told the story of their hunt. People would want to sing and dance. Their hearts would be full of joy and their bellies would be full of venison.

A sudden movement in the trees caught the attention of Runs With Elk and he held up his hand and stopped and pointed to a small grove of aspen. There was someone moving in the trees.

A young boy, no more than nine or ten, ran out of the bushes. He held a small muzzle-loading rifle in his hands, the barrel pointed down to the ground. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the Lakota hunting party.

Small Deer climbed down off of his horse and motioned to the boy's gun. The young boy looked uncertain at what to do at first. Small Deer pointed once again to the rifle, and then to himself. The boy understood and handed the rifle to the hunter.

"Little wašicun, little mázawakan," joked Small Deer as he showed the other hunters the small weapon. "What should we do with the little hunter?" Small Deer handed the rifle back to the boy and nodded in an approving manner. "Strong mázawakan for wašicun walita."

Runs With Elk spoke up, "We will take him with us. Look how he stands there with no fear on his face. I know where his family lives. I will return him to his home tomorrow."

Ryan felt a shock run through his body. He knew who the young boy must be. It was his great-grandfather! He agreed with Small Deer's last comments—the young boy showed bravery.

Runs With Elk moved his horse towards where the boy was standing. "Come, we will take you to our village. I know where your people live. I will take you home in the morning."

The young William McFayden was surprised to hear the Lakota hunter speak to him in English. He grasped Runs With Elk's arm and climbed up on to the back of the horse. His eyes locked on to Ryan's eyes for a moment and he felt something familiar.

As they rode into the village, the people came out from their thipis to welcome the returning hunters. The sun was near setting as the men dropped the carcasses of the deer on the ground.

The women from the village clucked appreciatively as they set out to skin the slain deer and to prepare the meat for cooking. It would be a good night in the village with fresh meat for everyone.

One woman called out, "Why did you capture such a small wašicun. If he were a fish, we would throw him back." The other women began to laugh at the joke.

Runs With Elk laughed and answered back, "You are mistaken, sister, we did not capture him, he captured us and forced us to bring him here. He is wašicun wakan, he shows no fear of the Lakota."

After tying up the horses, Runs With Elk motioned to the boy. "Come with me."

Ryan followed as they walked towards the teepee of Spotted Owl, the leader of the small village.

Spotted Owl stepped outside the door of his dwelling and eyed the young white boy walking with Runs With Elk. "What have you found?"

"We found him in the mountains He is lost." Runs With Elk replied.

Spotted Owl looked at the boy, and then at Runs With Elk. "What do you plan on doing with him?"

"I know where his people live. I will take him there in the morning," answered Runs With Elk.

The young boy stepped forward and, to everyone's surprise thrust his hand toward Spotted Owl. "I am William McFayden the third and I am pleased to meet you."

Spotted Owl looked at Runs With Elk with a confused look on his face. As Runs With Elk translated what the boy had said, a broad smile broke over Spotted Owl's face. "Tell him that I am Spotted Owl and that I am pleased to meet him as well."

Spotted Owl pointed at William's rifle and Runs With Elk whispered to the boy. "Hand him your rifle, he wants to look at it."

William handed his small rifle over to Spotted Owl, who hefted it and held it to his shoulder. "Tell him that his weapon is very strong. Ask him if he is a good hunter."

"Spotted Owl wants to know if you are a good hunter?"

A broad grin blossomed across William's face as he excitedly answered. "Yes, I got three rabbits a few days ago."

When Spotted Owl heard the translation he smiled as he put his hand on the young man's shoulder. "When we feast tonight, he will sit at my side as my guest."

The village feasted on fresh venison and young William sat between Runs With Elk and Spotted Owl for the meal. The dancing began after they had finished eating and Runs With Elk explained what the different dances meant. Ryan studied the young boy as he watched everything with rapt attention. He smiled as Runs With Elk took William into the circle and began to teach him how to dance. A surge of pride flowed through Ryan as the boy quickly caught on to the series of steps.