Summary

In this section, Alexie recalls the last time he ever wore moccasins: Arlee, Montana, on the Flathead Indian Reservation, during the Fourth of July Powwow in 1976.

Prior to that day, his father had left on one of his frequent drinking binges and his mother reacted by also impulsively running away from home and taking Alexie and his little sisters with her. She drove them from their reservation across the Idaho and Montana borders into Arlee. After dropping off her children with their aunt and cousins, Lillian got into an RV and drove away with a strange man.

Struck by the fear of abandonment, Alexie had burst out into tears. In an attempt to stop his weeping, his aunt gave him a new pair of moccasins that she had originally bought to give to one of her sons. “But, wow, looking at those new...