The Man Who Fell from the Sky by Margaret Coel Read Free Book Online Page A

turned back to Vicky. “The Indian lawyer in Lander. I hear you divorced Ben Holden and got yourself a law degree. I didn’t think anybody could ever stand up to Ben. I’m impressed.”
    â€œIt was a long time ago.” She felt a shudder, as if this stranger had yanked back the veil of her life. She couldn’t place him. One of the dark faces from the past that swirled around her. So many people had come and gone in her life. He was Robert Walking Bear’s cousin. A distant cousin, Ruth had said, but still a relative.
    The jingle dancers filled the arena now with a cacophony of sounds, like the noise of a thousand ringing bells. She watched them sway and tap their feet in rhythm with the drums, then turned back to the stranger. “Ruth mentioned you.”
    â€œOh yes,” Annie joined in. “Welcome home.”
    He nodded. “Dad took us off to Oklahoma when I was eleven. I decided it was time to come back. Get to know the relatives. Find out where I came from.” He listed toward the arena then took in the crowd. “I can’t get over Robert dying like that,” he said. “Keep thinking it wouldn’t have happened if I had been there. We’d gone into the mountains a few times. He liked looking for ButchCassidy’s treasure, not that he believed it existed. It was more like he wanted to believe. So I went along. I wanted to get to know my cousin, cook a couple steaks on the campfire, throw back a beer. I was supposed to go with him the day he died, but I had to go to Casper for a job interview.” He drew in a breath and looked around again. “Jobs are few and far between around here. I keep thinking I shouldn’t have gone.”
    â€œWhat do you think happened to Robert?” Something off-kilter, Vicky was thinking. Ruth said that Robert always went treasure hunting alone.
    â€œNobody knows. Spoke to Ruth this morning. She’s waiting for the coroner to release Robert’s body so she can get him buried.”
    â€œPoor Ruth,” Annie said. “Everything on hold. She’s going to need her relatives.” She hesitated, then plunged on. “She doesn’t have any close family of her own, just Robert’s people.”
    â€œI been thinking, maybe that’s why I got the urge to come home. Maybe my relatives need me.”
    Vicky tried for a smile. It was a comforting thought somehow, that people were drawn to those who needed them. “Nice to meet you,” she said. Then she added, “Again.” She nodded at Annie and Roger, who stood holding hands, then started toward the grandmothers, feeling as if an envelope of loneliness had swallowed her. The cameras scanned the dancers, lingered on the drummers, and swept across the crowd. She could be in the film, she was thinking. Modern Arapaho woman. Woman Alone.

6
    A TAN PICKUP backed out of the driveway, skidded to a stop, and shot forward. Vicky waited until the cloud of dust had rolled past before she turned into the driveway and stopped in front of the small, white frame house. Red buds sprouted on the geranium plants next to the stoop. Ruth stood in the doorway. She gave a little wave that resembled a hand gesture blocking the sun. “Thanks for coming,” she called as Vicky got out of the Ford.
    There was a frazzled look about her, Vicky thought. The same red blouse she’d had on two days ago, the same wrinkled jeans skirt. She had replaced the flip-flops for scuffed-looking sandals. Hair mussed, black shadows under her eyes, a tremor in her hands. As if she hadn’t slept for a long time and was living on caffeine. “Folks keep calling and coming over. Dallas Spotted Deer was here. Wanted to know how he can help me. Help me with what? A new life?” Ruth threw the comments over one shoulder and motioned Vicky through the living room into the kitchen “Coffee?”
    â€œNo, thanks.” Vicky felt as if she might jump out of her