Thunder on the Plains by Gary Robinson Read Free Book Online Page B

said he really felt good about the week’s camp. He had been successful in getting another group of Indian kids to see life from a different point of view. And to think about the natural world more. He said the kids in the group had formed a bond that only comes when people face hard times together.
    We all said good-bye to Robert and to each other. Then we headed off to return to our normal lives.
    Before she left, Charlene gave me her phone number. It was written on the outside of an envelope. Her eyes got misty as she told me good-bye and ran to her parent’s car.
    I opened the envelope and took out a yellow sheet of paper with a note on it. The note said, “You are a special friend, Danny. I’ll always remember you. Hope I can see you again this summer before you go back home. Love, Charlene.”
    I had never had a girlfriend before, but this sounded like a note from one. I didn’t know what to think about it. And I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. I put the note in my back pocket.
    As I rode back to my uncle’s house, I began thinking about how good one of Aunt Amanda’s meals would taste and how I missed her cooking. That was much safer than thinking about Charlene.

Chapter 9
Our Brothers Need Us
    The next day I got a phone call from L.A. It was my stepdad.
    â€œWell, survival camp is over,” Bill said. “I promised that you could come home now if things weren’t going well.”
    â€œAre you kidding?” I said. “I’m having a great time here. There’s nothing like it there in L.A.”
    â€œI’m glad to hear it, Danny. Your mother and I are very pleased with the reports we’ve been getting back from Robert on your improved attitude. Keep up the good work. We’ll see you at the end of the summer.”
    â€œBill?”
    â€œYes, Danny, what is it?”
    â€œThanks for making me take this trip,” I said.
    â€œYou’re welcome. I know things are going to be better now, for all of us.”
    I hung up the phone. I felt that I had taken the first step toward connecting with my stepdad.
    The next day my cousins and I went back to our summer routine. We fixed elders’ houses in the morning and did chores at home in the afternoon. We squeezed in a little TV watching and computer time in between.
    One day blurred into another. Summer days do that. I began taking a daily horseback ride. I liked it a lot. It was better than riding a bike back home. And I got to practice helping Robert, Crow, and Rabbit round up their little herd of cattle. I was becoming a real Indian cowboy.
    One night, we watched TV with Grandpa. A TV news report came on that made us all pay attention.
    The reporter said that last winter several hundred buffalo from Yellowstone National Park had been slaughtered when they roamed outside the borders of the park. Nearbyranchers were afraid the animals might be carriers of a disease called brucellosis. This illness could infect their cattle herds and make them sick. The news report showed images of the buffalo being killed. Their bodies were loaded onto tractors and hauled away.
    â€œRobert! Amanda! Come in here quick!” Grandpa yelled toward the kitchen. “You’ve got to see this.”
    Uncle Robert and Aunt Amanda came into the living room.
    Yellowstone Park’s head ranger came on camera. His name was Jasper Perkins. “It was too bad that so many of these fine animals had to be put to death,” he said. “The ranchers of Montana complained to the governor about the bison. And the governor complained to the park service. There was nothing I could do.”
    â€œBison?” I asked as I watched.
    â€œThat’s another name for buffalo,” my uncle said.
    The TV newsman asked Mr. Perkins another question. “Were the bison tested tosee if they actually did have brucellosis before they were slaughtered?”
    â€œThe state laboratory did a random test of a small