Dinky Dau

The sun hammered down without mercy, yet the old man waited in the only shade he had—his beat up Stetson. With long sleeved shirt and vest, everything about the man was faded in the summer heat. The long Fourth of July weekend was over and the busiest place in Phoenix was the door of the building the old man was watching. Mostly Indians turned loose from the drunk tank, pushing their way to freedom. Larry tried to get by his grandfather without being seen but the old man was too quick and, like cutting a sheep from the herd, pulled him out of the crowd where he was hiding. Larry was too sick and broke to even attempt to flee. The judge had taken what was left of his prize money from the rodeo. Two days and they’d cleaned him out. The bars, the women, and the judge hadn’t even left him enough to get drunk on. Grandfather didn’t let go of him until his ass hit the hot seat of the Chevy pickup. Stinking the way he was, Larry could have been any drunk Indian.

Two coffees in their paper cups sat on the dash, the hot sun coming through the windshield had them damn near boiling. Larry gave the Phoenix jail the finger as his grandfather drove by. He set the coffee back on the dash—it was too hot to drink. He slumped down in the seat and adjusted his black Stetson over his eyes. Fuck, he thought, back to the reservation and those stinkin’ cows. He was never going to get on the rodeo circuit this way. He woke up with the sun behind him and he knew they should have been on the reservation by now. His grandfather spoke for the first time: “Shut up.”

Larry pulled his hat back down. Oh, man. He’s pissed. They were on Interstate 10 headed east. Twenty miles from Lordsburg, New Mexico, the old man turned off. Larry sat up and started to look around. He thought they were still in Arizona but he’d never seen this part before. He breathed a little easier when he saw the truck-stop sign. His grandfather didn’t stop and turned onto Highway 80 southbound. Larry turned to his grandfather and before he could ask why they hadn’t stopped the old man said: “Shut up.”