Reservations Made

Lou got up early that morning and prepared her backpack armed with school supplies and necessities. She would be spending the day at the Fond Du Lac Reservation raking through the people of the tribe looking for substantial content to use in her project.

Though the town of Clouqet is split right down the middle by the Reservation line, all the townsfolk just considered it Fond Du Lac territory. The Natives ran that town anyways. Lou always enjoyed driving in the Reservation. The land goes almost untouched besides people's residences. The trees empowered the sky and almost seemed to bow down upon you to bring shade and feelings of security.

Once Lou reached the outskirts of Clouqet, she had already found some substance for her article. Two pine trees carried a homemade banner displaying a huge portrait of Ironbear with sharply bolded letters that spelled "Rest In Power Koko."

Lou had a fleeting curiosity as to why everyone wished for the dead to rest in power instead of resting in peace. What is the use of power if you're dead? When Lou dies, she imagined, she would hope to take peace with her rather than power.

Lou had reached out to a Clouqet native to get a list, though short, of all the Ironbears' addresses, so she pulled up her list and logged the first one into her GPS app. She would start with the oldest Ironbear son, the first child to succeed Koko. Talk of the town says he's the mildest one out of the three children. The more calm, the easier it is to get the info Lou needed. She didn't want to go to Angeni Ironbear if she didn't have to. She understood the potential temper of a Native, and didn't want to see that first hand.

But as she pulled up to an old house with white paint chipping off anywhere you looked, Lou noticed an old Native woman with hair as white as the seagulls that flocked Superior and as long as a horse's tail. Her skin was a leathered brown, and her face as lined as a roadmap. She stared at Lou with weary contempt as she steadily sucked on a homemade rolled cigarette.

"En' who are you?" The woman demanded.

"Good morning! I'm just looking for Hopi? Hopi Ironbear?" Lou asked as politely as possible.

"Does he owe youse money?" the woman asked.

"What?" Lou peered through the screen door. "No. I'm just here to talk to him about his sister."

"THAT KOKO BITCH AND ANYONE WHO SPEAKS OF HER CAN KISS MY FUCKIN' ASS."

"Ma'am—"

"LEAVE US ALONE AND GO TALK TO THE DUMB FUCK YOURSELF."

And once that woman raised her voice, horror showered over Lou's body as she came to the realization that this was the woman behind the voice she endured over the phone. This was Angeni Ironbear. Lou found it curious that she spoke of her daughter as if she were still alive. This woman was senile as if she were in her 80's, but after a little digging on Koko's family history Lou knew that she wasn't even in her 60's yet.

An enormous figure approached the screen door, and out came a dark man with hair longer than Lou's with strong, defined cheekbones. He wore baggy sweats and a t-shirt, and it seemed that he was attempting to grow facial hair, but only a shadowing peach fuzz showed over his top lip and thin patches along his jawline.

"Ma, stop fussin'." He turned to Lou with a weary face. "Who're you?"

Lou moved to the man. "Hi, I'm Lou. I tried to reach your phone, but I didn't get an answer."

"I don't answer numbers that I don't know, cous'." He eyed Lou once more with that weary gaze and tugged at Angeni's elbow. "Ma, go inside. I'll handle it."

"As you should." Angeni hissed.

Lou felt a cold wave of fear tingle down. She knew the Reservation had their own little police force, and she knew that's why crime ran rampant on Reservations. Angeni shuffled into the house, and the man walked down the porch steps and took out a pack of Newports. Lou followed him, and he held out the pack to her. Lou shook her head, and the man shrugged and lit his cigarette oh so delicately.

"I'm sorry to come so unexpectedly. I just wanted to talk to you about your sister." Lou said meekly.

"No bother, cous'. Jus' don't go round the Rez' with Koko's name your mout', eh?" He flicked the ash off his cigarette and pulled on it hard enough to make Lou want to cough just from watching.

"Noted." Lou said.

"I'm Hopi, by the way." he said.

"All the people here have such unique names." Lou observed.

"Yeah," Hopi replied. "Traditional names, untraditional relations. One name can be Cherokee, one be Ojibwa. It's convenient; too many Dakotas roaming around all the Reservations."

Lou nodded.

"Anyway," Hopi continued. "Youse wanna know about my big sister?"

"Yeah," Lou pulled out her phone and started a new recording. She secretly did this with any of her interviews. Not for legalities, but for a quicker way to take away as much information as possible. "Yes, I'm with UMD. I'm writing an article taking a look at Koko's legacy. I figured the family was the best place to start."

Once Lou revealed her intentions, a loaded silence followed. Lou wondered if it was too early after Koko's death to be asking about her to her loved ones. She glanced at Hopi, and he seemed to be putting together a puzzle in his mind. He looked so conflicted puffing his Newport that was now down to the filter.

"Youse should try her sister." Hopi finally said, obviously still in thought.

"Sister?" Lou furrowed her brows as she pulled up Koko's obituary. "I didn't know she had a sister." After scrolling through family members listed, Lou locked her phone and gave Hopi the same quizzical gaze that he had given her when he came outside.

"Yes ma'am. She has a little sister, big sister to me. Her name is Winona. She took over Koko's spot at the local newspaper when she got an offer with the big guys." Hopi said.

"Oh wow," Lou pulled open her notes in her phone to write down her name. "Where can I find Winona?"

"Go find her at the docks. She likes to sit out there and get her head right."

Lou thanked Hopi and started her car. Winona. How strange that everyone missed a middle sister when it was household knowledge that Koko was raised around quite a number of boys. Angeni glared out the window, and Hopi lit another cigarette. Lou didn't blame him for smoking. That woman was a lot to handle; Lou gathered that much after two minutes. Lou sighed and ran her hands through her hair. Winona Ironbear— the lost child? Lou's curiosity was peaked. This project was becoming much more interesting, making Lou more determined to finish it.