Thirty-two-year-old mixed blood John Strobaw, known to the Sioux as Medicine Hair, returns to his Turtle Crick Farm after a six-year exile on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Grief-stricken at the loss of his mate and lover Matthew Brand, known as Shambling Bear, at the Battle of Wounded Knee, he struggles to become a farmer again while fighting an internal battle to let go of the past and face his future. Will that future be with his best friend Winter Bird or with Pretty Face, an outrageous flirt who hasn’t yet decided who he is?<br><br>But before he can come to grips with this, John faces several battles. Will his former friends and neighbors accept him now the Indian War has come to an end? Can John forgive those same friends and neighbors after the murderous ambush of the Sioux by the 7th Cavalry at Wounded Knee? Or survive the hostility of an Indian-hating sheriff named Charles Landreth and protect himself against the mindless fear and loathing for Two Spirits, men who love men?

Wastelakapi…Beloved

There were so many things a child needed to know about living on the land without benefit of hearth or home. Even though there was little game to be found, there were always enough small creatures to keep a man alive. He needed to learn to observe the predators, such as hawks and eagles, to lead him to prey. He should learn how to blur his trail to mask his passing. He needed to prepare for his hemblecha.


That thought made me recall my Vision Quest with its foreboding Spirit Dream that all too unfortunately proved to be accurate. That dream had foretold the Ghost Dance, the murder of Sitting Bull, and the terrible slaughter at Wounded Knee. How I wished I could undream it. Wipe those horrible events from history. But history was absolute, although subject to interpretation.


Chapter 86