Chapter 7 Summary

Tuesday, December 2, 7:22 a.m. Leaphorn enjoys the rising sun and the beauty of the morning as he waits for the Zuni men to finish unearthing Ernesto's buried body. Leaphorn has offered to help, but the Zuni men will take care of the Zuni dead. Leaphorn looks up at Zuni Village. It is called Halona Itawana, the Middle Ant Hill of the World, and houses nearly all of the 6,000 Zusi. Unlike his own people, the Navajo, the Zuni live clustered together, multiple generations housed together, with sometimes up to thirty people in a house. Leaphorn wonders if this close-knit approach has helped the Zuni stay so strong in their native traditions, unlike his own people who number 130,000 but can boast no town sizeable enough to rival Zuni Village. Finally, Leaphorn breaks the silence and asks where Ernesto's bicycle was found.

Leaphorn backtracks the bike...