Reservation Blues

Chapter 9 is narrated in reverse chronological order, beginning a week after Coyote Springs returns to the reservation. On that day, Junior steals a rifle, climbs the water tower, and kills himself. 

Because of threats against them, the members of the band have been instructed to stay in Thomas’s house. The night before Junior’s suicide, Checkers sneaks out of the house and goes to the Catholic church. There, Father Arnold tells her that he will be leaving the reservation and the church. Checkers has shaken his faith and made him question if he should remain a priest.

The narrative flashes back to the plane ride from New York. On the plane, Chess tells Checkers that she and Thomas are going to return to Arlee, a city on the Flathead reservation, and that Checkers should come with them. Junior thinks of Lynn and of the child they didn’t have. Victor cries, mourning the loss of guitar, which he smashed and left in the studio.

The day before Checkers goes to the Catholic Church. Victor dreams of his guitar. It promises that he can have whatever he wants in return for giving up what he loves the most. The guitar asks Victor whom he loves the most. Outside the house, Junior hears Victor’s voice calling his name.

The day before Victor dreams of his guitar, Thomas and Chess decide to move away. Thomas is not sure he wants to go to Arlee, but is eager to be off the reservation. The narrative flashes back to the journey home from New York, where after the flight, Victor waited at the baggage claim and picked up a guitar case. A white man rushed forward to claim his guitar, and Victor returned it to him.

The day before Thomas and Chess decide to move, Robert Johnson sits at Big Mom’s house watching the reservation. He remembers his youth, when he followed the blues star Son House, playing the harmonica and wanting to be a guitar player. One day, Son House let Johnson play guitar onstage and then told Victor that his playing had been terrible. Afterward, Johnson walked to the crossroads on Highway 61 and met the Gentleman. The Gentleman agreed to make him the best guitar player ever in exchange for whatever it was that Johnson loved the most. Thinking of his enslaved ancestors, Johnson said that what he loved the most was freedom. When Johnson returned to Son House, a year had passed and he was an amazing guitar player. As Johnson sits and remembers, Big Mom carves a cedar harmonica. 

The day before Big Mom carves the harmonica, Father Arnold calls the Bishop to tell him that he wants to leave the reservation. The Bishop tells Father Arnold that he should stay. Too embarrassed to tell the Bishop about Checkers, Father Arnold hangs up the phone, still determined to leave.

The day before Father Arnold calls the Bishop, Betty and Veronica play for the record executives in New York. Sheridan tells Armstrong that the women are part Indian and that the record company can dress them up like Indians and capitalize on the popularity of Indian music without having to work with real Indians. Wright says that he wants nothing to do with this idea and walks out. On the street, he hails a cab and tells the driver he wants to go home. The driver takes him to a graveyard in Sacramento, California where he finds the graves of General George Wright and his wife, who died in 1865. Back in the studio, Armstrong and Sheridan tell the girls their plan. They say they can make the girls famous in exchange for a sacrifice.