Tribal drum, or wear animal skins as clothing. I do ear moccasins once an awhile, but I

prefer my cowboy boots. My hair isn’t always braided, nor do I use bear grease to style

it. I am familiar with my tribe’s traditional dances, as well as most modern dances, and I

studied a ballet for a several years. The points I’m trying to make are I dress, act, and

talk just as an any human being might.

It wasn’t until the summer after I turned nineteen that I realized there actually

were people who considered me different or strange or less than equal to most other

I was on my way by bus, to visit my husband, a Viet name draftee. My excitement at thinking of seeing him was so intense that I was afraid to get off the bus at any of the several stops we made that day, for fear the driver would leave without me.

Finally, in ogalalla, Nebraska, after hours of c

By that time, the man so angry he was shaking. He started creaming that he was going to call the police that I was harassing and threatening him. At that point, quite angry myself, I stopped laughing. I was desperate for the coffee, beginning to feel scared of the man, and positive that I’d miss my bus if I didn’t hurry. Finally, with knees shaking, I just walked behind the counter, picked up the coffee pot, and carefully spilling and sloshing coffee every place I could, poured myself a cup. Next, I took a quarter out of my pocket, flipped it to this weird, hysterical man, and said “okay, there you go, HONEY, stick it where the sun doesn’t shine…Okay?” and quickly made my exit.

onfinement, I decided I could get out for a few minutes, at least long enough to get a cup of coffee and stretch my legs. When the bus stopped, I hopped off and headed for the café, savoring the fresh, clear air; such a contrast to the stifling closeness of the bus. As I

Some topics in this essay:
Okay” Shocked, Native American, American I’m, Surprised Café, cup coffee, native american, Indian Nation, summer nineteen, don’t serve,