Tuesday, September 27, 2011

LIFESTYLE

Ma and I came across some Indians.

It happened when we were looking to get on U.S. Highway 212 in Crow Agency, Montana.  U.S. Highway 212 runs continuously from Cooked City to Edina.   Some have called it "the Warrior Trail".  Some have called it the most beautiful route in America.  Some have called it "the highway". 

Anmaalapammuua is the place where Crows mourned a war party that came home nearly vanquished.
Nearby, there now sits a laundromat called Ammaaiisshuuwuua.   This is the town of Crow Agency.
Near the laundromat, there's a spray-painted clapboard on the road that says "NDN Taco $4.20". 

At the end of the block there is an IGA store.  My Ma was once told that IGA stands for Indian Grab Anything.  In a back lot down the road, sitting in a bunch of yellow grass, there is the Little Big Horn College.   We decided to turn around and get an NDN Taco. 

The sister was behind a table that sat outside the side door of a house.  She welcomed us to come and eat.   Two brothers were sitting on a wooden picnic table in the yard.  It was a nice yard because it was well shaded by very large trees.  The trees were probably there way back when Custer got slain dead by some female warrior of the prairie.

Gathering her supplies, the young sister prepared us one NDN taco.  She had sent her brother to the IGA to get cheese.  Meanwhile, she piled tomatoes, cooked hamburger and sour cream on top of a fry bread.  My Ma and I asked the two gentlemen on the picnic table if they knew where the highway to Belle Fourche was.  Then the kid came back from IGA with a block of velveeta.
"That's not cheese!" the sister told him.
"It's all they had!" he said. 

The gentlemen did not know of a highway to Belle Fourche.   I asked them if they knew where the 212 was.
"Oh, the highway!"  one said.
"The highway," said the other.  "You should go back on the interstate, then get off the interstate at the next exit.  That is the highway.  It is only across the river."  The Little Big Horn River.

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