Summary

In “Shania” (1), a narrator recalls meeting her best friend, Shania, at age seven. Shania is Cherokee and “named after the sexiest country music star alive” (1). The narrator visits Shania's dilapidated house and takes note of a painting above her parents' waterbed featuring an “Indian warrior” (3) with an arrow in his back. One time, Shania was bitten by her dog, Butchie, and the narrator cut her own hand so they could press their wounds together and become “blood sisters” (4). The narrator asks her mother if she can visit Shania and her mother tells her no because Shania's father beat her mother “bout dead” (4) the night before. The narrator plans to leave a note on Shania's swingset but she never does. Years later when the narrator is in college, she saw Shania working at a grocery store. Shania greeted her but said nothing...