Summary

In “Hayes Shade (1986),” Lena’s nephew Hayes ran the Chero-Hawk Indian Store. One day, Ever came in and “stopped in front of a mask” (66). Hayes was moved by the 10-year-old’s response to the mask. Though Hayes “hardly knew” Ever, according “to Cherokee clan customs,” he was Hayes’s nephew (67). Hayes rarely saw his family, but he paid attention to Ever. Ever’s school and home were located near the store. One day Ever wandered into the store. Ever did anything he could “to avoid being around other kids” (70). Because he had an “unpredictable rage,” he became infamous in the community (70). He stole another kid’s G.I. Joes and played with them to quell his anger.

Hayes’s mother later told Hayes about when she called “a medicine man to help cure” Hayes when he was a boy (75). He...