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was an area behind the stacks with people, open on this side but closed on
the other three sides and with a roof. The sign said it was the Solarium which
I discovered, was filled with plastic-slatted chaise lounges and camp-ing gear
and was heated, sort of, by strong, bare coils attached to its roof.
I ran to it and into it, perhaps a bit too exuberantly, and immediately
tripped over somebodys backpack, which in turn sent me sprawling right into
someone.
'
"I Im sorry, I mumbled, then looked up.
'
"
It was a young womans face, perhaps eighteen or so, that I saw
smiling
'
sweetly at me. She was dressed in a heavy red flannel shirt with red
stocking
cap, tough-looking jeans and hiking boots, yet she was without a doubt the
most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my entire life. Her reddish-blond hair
hadnt a
'
hint of dye, her bright, deep blue eyes sparkled with life and inner beauty,
and her face, bereft of makeup, was both tre-mendously sexy and yet
somehow angelic.
Angelic
. The word might have been created for her.
"
Well, young lady, you were really in a hurry to go nowhere, werent you? she
'
"
said laughingly, her voice soft and musical. Youre not hurt, are you?
"
'
"
I picked myself up and sat on the cold deck, arms around my knees.
Its
"
'
kinda wet, was all I could manage, unable to take my eyes off her.
"
She picked one of the chaises and sat down, looking at me. "Youre
an
'
Indian, arent you? What tribe? She was being friendly with just a
hint of
'
"
patronizing that was inevitable when talking to someone of my age.
I nodded. Im a Tlingit, I told her, echoing Dans lie. For all I knew it could
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" '
"
'
be the truth.
"
A Tlingit! Then you come from around here.
"
I nodded, drawing a little more on Dans story. Ad-miralty Island, I told her.
'
"
"
"Then youll be getting off soon, she responded, ges-turing slightly to
her
'
"
right. "Theres Admiralty over there.
'
"
"No, I told her. Im going all the way to Seattle.
"
" '
"
"
Seattle! Her patronizing tone was growing and get-ting a little hard to take,
"
but I had to grin and bear it. Like it or not, Id better get used to this
sort of
'
thing. "What takes you there?
"
I considered my answer carefully. Until this moment I hadnt really
'
considered a cover story, and my creativ-ity was being sorely tested. Still, I
had to gamble some-time on somebody else and she seemed as good as any and
less threatening than most.
"
They were gonna put me in an orphanage, I told her as sincerely as I could.
"
"
Daddy was killed in a boat accident and Mommys been gone for some time.
'
Do you know what kinda orphanages they got for Indians? Horrible,
drafty places out in the middle of nowhere run by a bunch of white
bureaucrats no offense who are just there for the fat paychecks. A
prisons
'
better than those places."
She looked suitably concerned. Blonde and blue-eyed young women
generally felt a lot of social concern at this stage in their lives. Id taught
enough
'
of them to know that it wasnt much of a gamble to play on her inevitable
social
'
conscience.
"
Oh, come on. Ive been to a few orphanages in my time and they arent that
'
'
dreadful at all. She pro-nounced "been" as bean and I marked her
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as a
"
"
"
Canadian.
Looking as sadly indignant as I could, I responded, "
White orphanages.
Whites are people. Indians are wards of the state. Im thirteen now, but as far
as
'
the govern-ments concerned all Indians are thirteen forever. Now the
'
"
coup de grace
. Aw, whats the use? You couldnt understand anyway.
"
'
'
"
It hit home, I could see that. Thanking my entire social science and teaching
background fervently, I waited for her move.
Her face was serious now, and she looked at me thoughtfully. So
youre
"
'
running away, she almost whis-pered. Howd you get this far?
"
"
'
"
I told her some of the story, altered to make it believ-able. I said Id stowed
'
away on a fishing boat north and gotten stuck in Skagway. Realizing I was in a
dead end trap, Id then used the truck trailer gambit to stow away again coming
'
south, this time as far as possible. I told her, too, that the
Bureau of Indian
Affairs men were looking for me, which is why I had to be
careful. I even showed her my torn jeans and skinned knee. The hard-est
part wasnt the lie, '
which was less a lie than the truth would have seemed, but keeping
to contractions and a slightly more childish vocabulary. I still came out
sounding awfully bright for my age, but that was O.K.
The truth was, I really didnt know why I was telling her all this in the
first
'
place, nor had I any clear idea of what I could gain by all this. Mostly it
was the insecur-ity, the terrible loneliness of my condition, and my sense of
helplessness about it that craved some company, some companionship,
some concern. I
needed somebody now, even for a little while, more than I had ever
needed anybody in my whole life.
"
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