The man spun her around and then out. He held her close. His whispers tickled her ears. She did not care what Harvey Stoner thought, she wanted to dance. She danced until she felt flushed. When she looked at Harvey Stoner he was smoking a cigar. He lifted his glass of bourbon to her and for a crazy moment she thought she should duck. But he toasted her. She lifted her arms up over her head and unpinned her hair. The young man had loosened his tie now and she was at the end of his arm. Louise had danced with many men in the Dixon Bar. She had practiced all the new steps a hundred times, but most of the men at the dances in Perma and Plains were stiff and clumsy. This man could dance.

Some of the couples on the dance floor had stepped back and were watching the two of them dance, and smiling. Women sipped pale, green drinks that smelled like spearmint and leaned against men who were too attentive to be their husbands. There were only beautiful men and beautiful women here, a music sweet as sleep. Louise let herself believe she was wanted, even though she knew she could not be obtained. Baptiste Yellow Knife would be waiting for her when she returned home.

Harvey Stoner and Louise drove home to the sound of the radio. He dropped her off just outside Dixon. She gave him back his wedding ring. He threw her a gold mesh bag of chocolate dollars and kissed her neck. The first sweet chip of chocolate had just melted in her mouth when she saw Charlie Kicking Woman.

Charlie Kicking Woman POWWOW

Tongues were setting fires. Talk of Stoner and Louise. Talk of Baptiste and Hemaucus. Talk that made the veins in my neck tick. The kind of talk that made people furious. Talk that made people wish something bad would happen, a bad medicine in itself. I wanted no part of it.