Document of Expectations

Wednesday, 4:00 p.m.

155 “clarke. now.” monique ordered. “one more question. Where are the items buried with these people?” clarke asked. “no items,” clipper said. “Just the people.” “and how old . . .” monique grabbed clarke’s arm and squeezed hard. “now.” clarke got the hint. “okay. Happy digging.” the two walked back to the car. red dust blew in when they opened the doors. “You dummy,” monique chided. “What?” clarke dusted himself off, which only made his lap dirty. monique started the car and drove off fast enough to make certain to raise dust that would blow back on the archaeologists. “it’s obvious what’s happening here, and you just kept on.” “What’s obvious?” “they were surprised to see us out here.” “Yes, and . . . ?” “they lied about what they found. they’re up to something.” “right. and?” “now they’ll be more careful and will hide what they don’t want us to see. if you hadn’t alerted them to what we’re interested in, they’d just keep doing what they were doing.” “maybe.” “no maybe about it.” “You can look at this another way, monique.” “and that is . . . ?” “now they’ll screw up.” monique shook her head. “they already have screwed up.” WeDnesDaY, 4:00 p.m. tony’s parents and two brothers arrived in moose city from phoenix. it was too expensive to fly from the flagstaff airport to the connecting flight at phoenix sky Harbor, so they drove the 150 miles to the Valley of the sun. 156 Besides, the flagstaff-to-phoenix commuter planes were like flying logs. even if passengers didn’t have to use the barf bag stowed in the seat back in front of them, they still felt nauseated the rest of the day. tony’s two brothers appeared angry and intense as they entered the america West terminal. Both men were tall like their parents and wore their hair long and loose. they had on black aviator glasses, jeans, boots, buttondown shirts, and enough silver jewelry to sink a boat. other passengers in the waiting area gaped at the smoke rise family as if they were the Beatles. the family boarded the larger plane and after a two-hour, uneventful flight, was met by Warren, who led them to the parked car where roxanne and a police escort waited. the smoke rise family stared at roxanne’s bandaged face as Warren introduced the short, gray-haired officer Gamble and explained what happened to his wife. tony’s youngest brother, ross, rode with Gamble while Warren drove the rest of the family. roxanne leaned back in the co-pilot’s seat. “perri’s not doing so well,” roxanne mumbled. “if it’s tough over at tony’s, come stay with us.” “thanks,” said Glenn Badger. “But we need to stay with her right now. You don’t look so great yourself.” “i got pills. my first surgery’s next week.” they drove in silence for a few moments. “there’re more people coming out,” Glenn said. “can you handle four of them? i don’t want them staying in a hotel.” “sure,” said roxanne. “Who is it?” “some elders,” was all Glenn would say. for three days tony’s family trickled in to moose city. some flew, but most drove non-stop from arizona and california. about a dozen stayed in hotels, a few others stayed with renell and roscoe. two elder medicine men and their wives arrived late the second night as Glenn had said they would, and they slept in roxanne and Warren’s spare bedroom and in Giselle’s room. then the unexpected arrived two days before the funeral. Warren opened the door to find roxanne’s mother Lucy, her brother whom she 157 had not seen in eight years, and three older oglalas. Warren stood in the doorway, stunned. “i’m not Betty White, deary,” said the dried-up old woman. “right. come in. Let me get rox.” “mom,” rox said as she got to the front door. she stepped forward and hugged her frail mother. Lucy stooped from osteoporosis and her hands were stained yellow from tobacco. roxanne then embraced her younger brother, who looked like a man in withdrawal. shawn Badger was taller than roxanne but weighed less. He had the physique of a drinker who didn’t eat much. still, shawn looked better than he had the last time roxanne saw him. “a councilman...