“Sure, if you want me to.”
He nodded. “That way no one will forget him.”
Piper didn’t know what to say to that.
When they arrived back at the house, Eyota said, “You’ve got time for a shower before dinner.”
Bradley hurried to get the first shower and Piper turned to Tai’s grandmother.
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
“No, I’ve got it all under control. How was the swim?”
“Lovely, though I may have given Bradley an idea.” She explained how he wanted to swim across the lake and how she’d taught him to float. “I suggested he swim the same distance along the shore before he tried across the lake.”
“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Eyota promised. “It will be good if he has a goal to keep him occupied.”
***
After dinner Piper helped Bradley with his homework and then interviewed him. The boy had an incredible memory and enjoyed repeating the stories his grandfather had told him. When they were finished, Piper tucked him in, read him a story and kissed him good night.
Eyota was making tea in the kitchen when Piper came out. “Those stories he was telling you are spot on,” she said. “Told the way my parents told Jerry’s father and me.”
Piper had forgotten Jerry was Eyota’s nephew. “How are you?” She wondered whether anyone had stopped to ask the old woman the question, because she was always so sure of herself.
Eyota sighed. “I am sad, but I need to be strong for Bradley. Jerry will be in a better place now with the ancestors and his wife.”
“It must be hard to lose your nephew and your son to the same thing.”
“Tai told you?” Eyota raised an eyebrow.
“We spoke about it last night.” She still felt badly about the way she’d behaved. Sure, she’d been hurt by his reluctance to share his past with her, but now knowing what he’d been through, she understood.
She would have been reluctant to share too.
“It’s good he has someone to talk to. My Tai feels he has to do everything himself – feels he has to be strong for the tribe.”
“I imagine he’s had a good role model,” Piper said.
Eyota nodded. “There have been times when I’ve had to be the strong one for my family.”
“Do other families have as sad a history as yours?”
“There are few who haven’t been affected by something. Of course there are different levels.”
“Do you know a solution?”
“Nothing this complicated is easy to fix.”
***
Piper spent the whole week on the reservation. With the extra work Eyota wanted her to do, it made sense. She helped in the afternoons when children would drop by for a chat or a meal or a lift home. To Piper it seemed Eyota’s house was an unofficial youth center. She lived close enough to the school for the kids to walk over and many liked to sit and listen to the stories the old woman told.
Eyota had an amazing knowledge of the tribe’s history and its cultural traditions. Piper suspected Eyota could have written the book herself, with little input from the other members of the reservation. Piper wasn’t sure why she’d asked her to do it.
A couple of times, children stayed overnight, sleeping on one of the bunk beds or on the couch. When Piper asked Eyota about it, she said one family didn’t like staying on their own while their mother was working night shift, and some brothers had heard their father had lost badly on the races that day and their mother had said to stay with Eyota.
It wasn’t all bad news though – just the occasional kid needing help. Plenty of the reservation families were doing well, despite their disadvantages.
Piper made a few phone calls to George and Imogen to discuss the fundraising efforts. George had set a date for the concert in late September and had a massive line-up of stars performing, including a few flying in from other parts of the country.
On Friday Eyota invited some members of the tribe over to discuss what facilities the youth center would need. She was adamant about the need for a kitchen and bathroom and small bedrooms where families could stay together. “We have a lot of foster parents on the reservation, but most of them are full. Some kids need a safe, warm place to sleep occasionally and others for an extended period of time.”
“We’d need a caretaker then,” Piper said. “Someone who will sleep overnight to chaperone the kids.”
“It would be nice if we got a permanent caretaker rather than just a roster of different volunteers,” Eyota said. “The children need consistency in their lives.”
Piper made a note. “It would have to be a paid position. There wouldn’t be many who could afford to do it full time for free.” Though it would be incredibly rewarding to be the person these kids turned to for help.
Eyota didn’t comment.
Piper realized it was what Eyota was effectively doing anyway. Perhaps she needed to rethink her assumptions.
“A couple of communal rooms would be good – maybe a pool table, or table tennis table, something to keep the kids occupied,” Bill said.
“We could get others in to teach additional classes like basket weaving, pottery, language classes or traditional weapons,” Peta added.
Piper wrote down the ideas. “Rayen wants to hold self-defense classes too, but perhaps the school would be a better place.”
“Yes, that should be done sooner rather than later,” Eyota said.
“Do we need to go to the tribal council for input?” Piper asked. She wasn’t entirely sure how planning worked on the reservation, but she suspected such a project would need to be approved by someone.
“Once we have a plan,” Eyota said. “As with any group of people it’s better to give them an option to consider and modify than to start from scratch. Everyone will have their own opinion on what is best.”
Piper understood politics.
Eyota wrapped up the meeting and the other attendees left.
Bradley came into the kitchen and dumped his school bag on the floor. “What are you doing?” he asked, looking at the paper spread over the table.
Piper wasn’t sure how much Eyota and Tai wanted to say about the youth center until they had raised the money and it had been given the go ahead.
“Working on a project,” Eyota said. “Tell me, what do kids like to do after school?”
Bradley shrugged. “Some play sport, some take extra classes and others go swimming in the lake.”
“Do they complain about being bored?” Piper asked.
“Some of the older kids do.”
“We’ll have a chat to them too. Do you have any homework?” Eyota asked.
He nodded. “Some reading.”
“Why don’t you do that while we finish here?”
Piper waited until he left the room. “Do we have any other interviews tomorrow?” she asked. It was the weekend and Tai was coming.
“Just one.”
Piper wanted to get a draft done on the first section of the cookbook before he arrived so she had something to show him.
“Do you need help with dinner?”
“No, honey. You do the work you need to do. I know you want to show Tai what you’ve done.”
Piper nodded her thanks. She took her laptop into the small living room, where Bradley was on the sofa reading his book. Piper sat on the chair next to him and began collating her notes. She had two main files, one with the skeleton for the cookbook and the other with the skeleton for the history book. Going through her interview notes, she copied the relevant stories to the equivalent sections in both documents. When it was done, it was time for dinner.
She chatted to Bradley about his day at school and then read him a story before he went to bed. Afterward she settled in the living room with Eyota and worked on refining the stories into a format that would suit the cookbook.
***
Tai had missed Piper more than he’d expected to. After close to two weeks of spending every night
together it had been lonely going to bed by himself. He called her every evening when he was taking his dinner break and she’d sounded enthusiastic about the information she’d gathered so far. He was glad she was enjoying it, and pleased his tribe interested her.
On Saturday morning he left early to get to the reservation. Adahy was going for the weekend so Tai hitched a ride with him. After the funeral Adahy had received a lot of requests for music lessons and the first group session was today.
They stopped at the general store to buy a couple of items Eyota had asked for.
“Tai, Adahy. Good to see you boys.” Gary had been running the store since Tai was a kid.
“How’re things?” Tai asked.
“That white girl of yours is what everyone’s talking about. Some aren’t happy Eyota didn’t choose a tribe member to write our history.”
It was a job going to an outsider. “She’s a good researcher.”
“Good at interviewing too. She’s impressed some, even those who didn’t want to be impressed.”
Tai smiled. “Piper has a way about her.”
“That she does. She’s been in and bought every book on the tribe we have. Said she wanted to check what had already been done so she could add to it and not repeat it.”
Adahy put the bread and milk on the counter and Gary rang it up.
“You sending your boy to my lessons?” Adahy asked.
“Yeah, he’ll be there. He cooked the fish from Tai’s last lesson yesterday and damn it was good.”
Tai was pleased. He hoped the people coming to his lessons would continue to practice when they got home. Gary’s son was fourteen and as sharp as a tack.
“He can’t decide whether he wants to be a rock star or a chef,” Gary continued.
“He’ll be great at whatever he chooses,” Tai said.
Gary nodded in agreement.
They left the store and drove the rest of the way to their grandmother’s place.
The first person he saw when he arrived was Piper. She was out the front of the house, watering the plants. She waved and smiled when the car pulled up. Tai jumped out of the car and swept her up into his arms.
She squealed, managing to hold the hose so they didn’t get soaked.
He kissed her, closing his eyes and enjoying her taste. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too.”
“Do I get a greeting like that?” Adahy asked, grinning.
Tai turned and glared at him.
“Just kidding.” He grabbed his guitar and bag from the trunk.
“What plans do you have today?” Tai asked.
“I’ve got one more interview and Eyota is going to Jerry’s place to sort out some of the stuff there. Bradley’s going with her,” Piper told him.
It was likely to be hard for both of them and Tai wanted to be there. “Who’s the interview with?”
“Stan. I spoke to him on Tuesday, but he’s agreed to let me come back and record what he has to say.”
Tai was impressed. Stan was not one to trust easily. “Gary said the whole rez has been talking about you.”
Piper looked alarmed. “I haven’t upset anyone, have I?”
He shook his head. “Not really. There are a few grumbles, but most are impressed with your sensitivity.”
She breathed out a sigh of relief and turned off the hose.
Together they went inside.
“Stan rang to say he’ll meet us at Jerry’s place,” Eyota said as they walked in. Tai gave her a hug.
Bradley came out of his room with a backpack on. “Hi, Tai; hi, Adahy.”
“Hey, Bradley, how’re things?”
The boy shrugged. “Not bad. Piper’s been helping me with my homework and I aced my math test yesterday.”
Tai pictured Piper sitting down with Bradley, helping him. He smiled. “That’s great.”
“Have you got everything you need?” Eyota asked Bradley.
He nodded.
“Then let’s go.”
Piper gathered her satchel and followed them to the pickup. During the drive out to Jerry’s place she told Tai about the work she’d done on the cookbook. He was surprised with how much she’d completed in less than a week, but he shouldn’t have been. He remembered how committed she’d been to the profile articles she’d written and how exhausted she’d been at the end.
She didn’t seem exhausted now. In fact she was the most relaxed he’d seen her. Perhaps reservation life was good for her.
He paused. It wasn’t something he’d considered before. For some people reservation life was like a prison sentence and others thrived on being part of their culture. He hadn’t considered whether Piper could be accepted there, and hadn’t asked her what she thought of the stories she’d been told. His traditions were ingrained in him, which was why he spent the week before Jerry’s funeral on the reservation, doing what needed to be done.
He would have to ask her.
His stomach dropped. If he was thinking of asking her about his culture, if he was imagining her here regularly, it meant their relationship had slipped into the serious lane.
And that couldn’t happen.
Not with the membership laws as they were.
He had to do something, but the idea of splitting up with Piper made his heart ache.
“Where do we start?” Bradley’s voice pierced his thoughts.
Tai blinked and was relieved by the distraction. Jerry had left everything to Bradley. He’d once told Tai that Teresa wouldn’t want it and Carl wouldn’t appreciate it.
“How about the living room?” Tai led Bradley through. “All of this is yours, Bradley,” he said. “You can keep everything if you want to.”
Bradley bit his lip. “It’s weird to go through Grandpa’s things.”
Eyota walked over. “I know, honey. There are some things that are clearly trash though, and it’s OK to throw them out.” She picked up a collection of bottle tops in a jar and offered it to him, eyebrows up in a question.
The boy nodded.
“And his clothes can go to someone who needs them, because they won’t fit you,” Tai said.
“Can I keep his traditional jacket?” Bradley asked in a small voice.
“You can keep whatever you like,” Piper said going over to him and giving him a hug. “You tell us if you want to stop, or if you want to keep something, and we’ll do it. You’re in charge today.”
He smiled a small smile.
Tai hadn’t been involved in sorting out his father’s things after he had died. He wasn’t sure who had done it, but Eyota had given him a couple of keepsakes, and Adahy had been given his father’s guitar.
“Why don’t you come with me now, and we’ll fetch the jacket and anything else you want from the bedroom?” his grandmother said.
Bradley kept hold of Piper’s hand and the three of them walked into the bedroom. Piper exchanged a look with Tai as she went.
She did something to his heart. It always swelled and tightened when she was around.
“The kid’s got a thing for Piper,” Adahy observed.
“I’m glad he’s got her,” Tai said. He’d had his grandmother, as Bradley did, but he’d still felt so alone. Shaking off the melancholy, he said, “Shall we start in the kitchen?” There was bound to be a lot of food that needed to be thrown out.
They hadn’t been working for too long, pulling items out of the fridge and throwing them in the trash, before Eyota called, “Adahy, come and see what we’ve found.”
Tai followed Adahy into the living room, where Bradley was sitting with a banjo on his lap.
“It was my father’s banjolin,” Eyota said. “I never knew where it had gone. My brother must have inherited it and given it to Jerry.”
Tai frowned. “Banjolin?”
“My father made it. It’s got the body of a banjo and the neck of a mandolin – banjolin,” Eyota explained.
“Cool.” Adahy crouched down next to Bradley. “Can I give it a go?”
Bradley gave the instrument to Adahy.
Adahy strummed the strings and made adjustments to the notes. “The strings are old, probably need replacing,” he said, before he proceeded to play a little ditty.
Bradley watched Adahy with envy.
“I’d keep hold of this if I were you,” Adahy said, handing it back.
“I can’t play,” he said.
“I’ll teach you. You can come to my class this afternoon.”
“Really?” The boy’s eyes lit up.
“Really.”
Bradley placed the banjolin back in the cotton bag it had been in. “Thanks!”
That’s what Bradley needed. Something to keep him occupied. It gave him less time to dwell on what he’d seen, what he’d experienced.
Tai returned to the kitchen and continued sorting the food. When he was done, he went through the cupboards. There was a lot of cutlery and crockery but it was all in decent condition. He didn’t want to discard anything that might help Bradley when he was older.
As he finished in the kitchen, Stan arrived. Tai showed him in and Stan dropped onto a chair at the kitchen table.
“I’m only agreeing to do this because Eyota asked me,” he said as Piper walked in.
“I know we both appreciate it, Mr. Bullock,” Piper said.
“Well, let’s get on with it then.”
Tai flashed Piper a smile. She didn’t seem the least bit perturbed by Stan’s behavior. “I’ll go help in the other room,” he said. “Yell if you need me.”
He made himself scarce.
Chapter 16
“Are you going to start that thing?” Hearing Stan’s voice, Piper realized she was staring after Tai, smiling.
She cleared her throat and found him waiting impatiently. “Yes, I’m sorry.” She turned on the recorder. “I’m here with Stan Bullock, Chief of the Queche tribe.” She gave the day and date. “He has agreed to speak about the history of his tribe.” She turned to him. “Where would you like to begin?”
He smiled as if pleased she’d let him be in charge of what he said. “We shall start with honoring the ancestors,” he said.
Piper settled in for an education.
***
It was close to midday when Eyota and Bradley walked in. Stan was telling Piper about tribal membership. “To be a member of our tribe your mother must be a Queche. We don’t follow blood quantum laws like other tribes do.”
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