The Night Watchman

In this paragraph-long chapter, a woman can smell men, feeling their beards rub her cheeks raw. To get away, she would have to run “through knives,” destroying her until nothing but agony was left. Periodically, she can hear her mother scream her name.

The Wazhashks work their field, delivering produce everywhere as they prepare for a homecoming parade. Thomas talks to Juggie about Sharlo’s dress and wonders if there was anything different about him since his experience in the cold. He has not told anyone, though he plans to tell his father. Since then, his feeling of dread has disappeared, and with his keys in his pockets, he looks up at the stars every night.

The parade is Saturday, and it is filled with energy. Pokey and Fee are both in the parade. There are traditional dancers. Grace Pipestone rides a new horse. Superintendent Tosk is also riding a horse.

When the parade ends, a teacher crowns Sharlo Homecoming queen. Sharlo is shocked, “her features twisted, raw with sudden emotion” (234). Thomas remembers her at four years old, jumping from a high haystack near a pitchfork, with fear gripping him even though she was okay. Patrice remembers becoming Homecoming queen and how she was made fun of for her features when she was very young. Valentine had not clapped for her, and since then, Patrice understood that she was not reliable.

Once the ceremony is over, the horse that the superintendent is riding moves suddenly toward Grace Pipestone’s. Grace moves away, and Juggie sees that her horse is in heat. She tries to tell Grace to get off. The horses chase each other into the schoolyard near the swings, where the superintendent’s horse gets tangled. The horses run off, and Louis untangles Tosk.

The dance (which is for everyone, not just students) takes up most of the night, and after it’s over, Barnes is distraught that Patrice didn’t come. He tears up, then wonders “[w]hat was happening to him as a man?” (238). He danced with Valentine, and afterwards, she invites him to a bush dance, so he goes, letting her drive him.

This chapter focuses on the two horses, Teacher’s Pet and Gringo. After they have sex, they start to ignore one another and begin looking for food. Near a house, they hear a variety of noises and see humans hooking up in cars. Eventually, they walk home. Fed up with Gringo, Teacher’s Pet kicks up, revealing a cut on his stomach, “his only imperfection” (241).

Sore from partying the night before, Barnes walks into a church. At the bush dance, he made out with both Valentine and Doris and feels confused about his feelings for Patrice.

He sees the statue of Mary and feels like she is keeping an eye on him. Despite not being Catholic, he came to the church to confront his problem. He is still in love with Patrice. He feels that Valentine is sly, and Doris, as a white woman, is attractive as a “known quantity” (243). This is both appealing to him but also makes “her less exotic and fascinating” (243).

Thomas slides into the pew next to him. He himself had been praying in the back of the church and waiting for Barnes. However, in a time crunch, he decided to come up and talk to him directly. He tells Barnes that they need to raise money for the trip to Washington, DC, to testify against the bill, the hearing for which is coming up in March. He proposes a rematch between Wood Mountain and Joe Wobleszynski, believing that they can fill the seats again.

Barnes agrees, believing that his focus on training Wood Mountain will distract him from his romantic confusion.

Within the same week, Barnes encounters Joe at the Four Bees, a restaurant. They sit together while Joe waits for someone. Barnes explains that it’s to raise money for Washington but that “it might help your standings if you definitively beat my guy” (246). Being strategic, Barnes also tries to explain why it’s beneficial to them for the bill to fail, saying, “If this termination thing goes through, we all lose. I’ll be out of a job. They’ll be moving people off this reservation—won’t be one anymore […] This place is hollowing out already” (247). Joe sees his point, and as he walks away, Barnes notices that his left shoulder is lower than his right.

Barnes immediately tells Wood Mountain what he saw, not entirely sure what it means. Wood Mountain suggests that Joe could’ve been faking it. Barnes tells him he’s going to wear a fake cast for a few weeks. They agree not to tell anyone.

Wood Mountain is at Patrice’s, feeling turned on by the way she chops wood. He visits with Zhaanat and the baby, and he tries to push down his feelings.

Barnes’s uncle, the retired boxer, comes to help train Wood Mountain. He uses music in his training, and Wood Mountain feels energized.

Doris and Valentine speak in code about “the chirps,” referring to Barnes without Patrice knowing, which annoys her. Frustrated, she thinks that they are naïve as she considers how Gwiiwizens has grown. She also thinks of Vera and of how none of Thomas’s contacts in the Cities had come through. She thinks about if she could get an answer about Vera out of Bernadette. She wonders if anyone else would give up their sick days for her. The one person she can think of is Betty Pyle but knows that Betty has already used all of hers to get her tonsils out.

When Mr. Vold comes in, he announces that his superiors will be coming for an inspection and that there will no longer be a coffee break. Later, as they work, Valentine mentions that Barnes kissed her and Doris. Patrice pretends that she already knew this.

Patrice arrives home to find Wood Mountain alone with the baby. After she chops some wood, she returns to Wood Mountain’s question about a warm bag and cradle board for the baby, which is used to help carry him around. He offers to make the cradle board, which “was a big thing” because “[w]ith their people, anyway, it was the father who made it” (255). Acting like it’s not a big deal, Patrice consents, then says that they’re getting a blanket for it. He’s surprised, realizing that they each only have one. Patrice tells him that they’re going to have more soon, once her paycheck comes in. When he suggests getting one for free from the mission, Patrice tells him Zhaanat wouldn’t like it, and they agree that she’s from an older time.

Patrice then tells the baby that Vera will bead the blanket when she returns, causing Wood Mountain to ask if she really thinks that Vera will come back. She does, telling him that she dreams of her and wants to go back to find her.

Then, Wood Mountain tells her about what he heard through the wall when they were at Bernadette’s: “[s]he’s in the hold” (257). Patrice isn’t sure what he means, but he says it refers to ships, and he thinks it might have to do with the Mississippi River to the Gitchi Gumi (the Great Lakes). She points out that ships are filled with men, and Wood Mountain agrees, though Patrice isn’t listening and goes outside.

This chapter consists of a letter from Thomas to Millie Cloud. She had studied economic conditions on the reservation, and in the missive, he asks her to testify before the United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.

Millie Cloud enjoys sitting in the Walter Library at the University of Minnesota. Louis is her father, and she only sees him periodically, though she stayed with him with him as she conducted her study of the reservation. She grew up in Minneapolis with her mother, and so her time working on her research allowed her to meet several family members.

On her way to her dorm room, she picks up her mail but does not read it. She returns to her room and turns on the electric heater, one of her favorite possessions. She makes tea and reheats a shepherd’s pie. One of her letters is from her mother and the other is from Thomas. She is shocked to be remembered by someone on the reservation other than her father, hopeful that her findings could be useful, and unsure if termination will affect her. However, “to be considered useful by her father’s people warmed her” (263).

Vera has been sick, unable to tell day from night. Men have raped her constantly, and the cook’s assistant has been charged with taking care of her. However, he has been using “what she needed on himself” (264). He also tries giving her smaller doses of the drugs she’s been on. One night, they leave her in an alley in Duluth.