A love between two very different men is put to the test. John Strobaw, a young mixed-blood, grows up in the relative security of a family farm after the Civil War. His mother raises her family as Americans, but his foster brother, Matthew Brandt feels his red blood more keenly and leaves to ride with Crazy Horse. John doesn’t understand the longing he feels for his absent companion until he has his first sexual experience with a man and he only thinks of Matthew. After the murder of Crazy Horse, Matthew makes his way back home. John fights hard against a growing lust for Matthew, but when he ultimately succumbs, he is lost to this handsome, dusky warrior. Just when the future looks bright, another suitor appears -- a handsome Cheyenne army scout, and trouble looms on the horizon.

Echoes of the Flute

Even though he was somewhere around forty, Christian was easy to look at and churk—that is, a lot more fun than his older brother. He’d wrestle and footrace and play mumbly-peg with us all day long. He brought a ball he’d made out of cow leather and a bat carved from an ash limb. Christian would organize a game of round ball anytime he could find enough players. He’d gotten even more rabid about it after they organized the National League back east and started calling it baseball. We didn’t have enough for two full teams, but that didn’t slow him down. We just played short-handed.


Chapter 14