The Only Good Indians

Richard Boss Ribs has fled to North Dakota after his little brother, Cheeto, died of an overdose and he’s taken a job with an oil crew. When he interviews for the job, he has a brief flash of himself and the white man interviewing him as historical figures meeting for a treaty. At a bar, he wonders about Cheeto’s funeral and reminisces about his friends, thinking of the previous Thanksgiving when they were caught slaughtering elk on hunting grounds reserved for the elders. He thinks of the event as like when his ancestors would run buffalo off a cliff to feed the tribe.

He goes outside to urinate in the parking lot, cautious of the group of white men waiting to get in the bar. After peeing, he feels he is not alone, and he thinks the men have come after him. He wishes he had his family’s rifles that he’d taken with him, though he also realizes that he’s taken away the family’s ability to hunt and thinks to mail them back when he can.

As he wheels around to face the people chasing him through the parking lot, he sees that it’s a large elk buck. The elk charges him and smashes into several trucks, and Richard takes up a wrench to defend himself as the elk flees.