<p> Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain Keith Madsen</p><p>1</p><p>2</p><p>3</p><p>4 Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain</p><p>5 The thing about having only one leg is that it’s much easier to mount a horse. You might </p><p>6 not think so, but six inches of stump doesn’t take a hell of a lot of clearance to swing it over a </p><p>7 saddle. At least that’s what I’ve always found.</p><p>8 So there I sat astride my favorite steed, a golden Palomino. She stood steady, gazing out </p><p>9 at the horizon with me, waiting for just the right nudge from me to send her galloping in </p><p>10 whatever direction I would choose. But there was no need to choose quickly. We could saunter </p><p>11 off to the north, where the great river Wimahl runs; we could trek to the west and the ocean white</p><p>12 men call Pacific, or we could head directly east to the mountain the Salish people called Wy’east,</p><p>13 named after the brave warrior who fought Klickitat for the heart of the beautiful maiden Loowit. </p><p>14 Of course, I have always been called by the spirit of the mountain myself. To ascend a </p><p>15 mountain is to be drawn by the Great Spirit to his own tipi, to be granted the freedom to see all </p><p>16 that a god sees, and to understand how the land which is my home connects to all that is beyond </p><p>17 it. </p><p>18 I was getting ready to head east, when a voice surprised me from down below.</p><p>19 “Where do you think you’re goin’, Chief?” A white man’s police officer. He had other </p><p>20 officers with him, while I was accompanied only by a squaw. I would have to be careful.</p><p>21 “To the east, to the mountain you call Mount Hood. I go in peace and mean you no </p><p>22 harm.” </p><p>23 “Really? What’s your name, Chief?” Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain Keith Madsen</p><p>24 “Roy.”</p><p>25 “Gotta last name, Roy?”</p><p>26 “Just Roy.”</p><p>27 “Well look, Roy – that horse ain’t takin’ ya’ to Mount Hood, or any other place outside </p><p>28 of this park, for that matter.”</p><p>29 White men never understand the power of a Nez Perce on his favorite horse. I smiled.</p><p>30 “This is a golden Palomino, a Quarter Horse bred for speed. Should I call upon her to do </p><p>31 so, she could turn and be gone out of your sight before you could even remember where you left </p><p>32 your car.”</p><p>33 The officer shook his head. “Yeah, I don’t think so, Roy. First of all, that isn’t a </p><p>34 Palomino; it’s a gilded statue of a European war horse. And second, if you look over your </p><p>35 shoulder, the squaw sculpted to ride that horse is Joan of Arc, the world’s most famous female </p><p>36 warrior, and she’s lookin’ a little pissed right now that you’ve hijacked her horse.” </p><p>37 Little did he know that Nez Perce squaws always looked pissed. I wondered if I should </p><p>38 expose his ignorance and make him lose face with his other officers. </p><p>39 “You see, Roy,” he said, speaking a little arrogantly for someone probably twenty-five </p><p>40 feet below me, “that’s a pretty famous statue of a pretty famous lady. Teenage girl who led an </p><p>41 army to free the French people from an oppressive invader. The statue is dedicated to those who </p><p>42 lost their lives in World War I.”</p><p>43 “Against an oppressive invader?” I said, mostly to myself. Perhaps she could be more </p><p>44 helpful than I had previously known. Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain Keith Madsen</p><p>45 “Roy, I’m sorry,” the officer continued, interrupting my thoughts, “but you’ve got to get </p><p>46 down from there. And, if you don’t mind my asking, how in the hell did you ever get up there in </p><p>47 the first place?”</p><p>48 I noticed that the earth-bound are always searching for the secrets of those called into the </p><p>49 sky. Still, he seemed to have a good soul. I lifted the rope near the noose-end of the lariat I had </p><p>50 used to snare this steed. “My people are raised around horses, officer.” </p><p>51 “So you lassoed the head of Joan’s horse, and you – what? -- pulled yourself up by your </p><p>52 arm strength alone?”</p><p>53 I nodded. “In a wheelchair, all you’ve got is your arms.”</p><p>54 “Nice,” he said. “Still, you’ve got to get down from the statue, Roy. You’re distracting </p><p>55 the drivers passing by.” </p><p>56 So again the call to surrender to the white man. I scanned the horizon. I scarcely could </p><p>57 view the trees without my eyes being pulled away toward the droppings of white culture – </p><p>58 including the traffic he had spoken about. Even the steed on which I rode was made as a tribute </p><p>59 to a white woman who had never even seen this land, and given in honor of a white man’s war </p><p>60 fought on the other side of the world. </p><p>61 “Tell me, officer,” I said, “had Joan of Arc fought with the French alongside my people </p><p>62 against the English invaders of this land, would they have given her a statue?”</p><p>63 I could see in the officer’s eyes that my question had gotten past his ears to his soul. His </p><p>64 eyes had softened. His jaw had lost the rigidity of one standing for the law. No quick answer </p><p>65 came. Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain Keith Madsen</p><p>66 Four birds left their branches in the nearby trees and found new places to rest their spirits </p><p>67 before the officer raised his eyes toward me and spoke again. “It’s not always fair, is it, Chief? – </p><p>68 life, that is. Sometimes you’re just screwed, and it makes no difference what you do.” </p><p>69 I nodded. </p><p>70 “Would it help for me to mention they have a statue of Chief Joseph downtown near </p><p>71 Portland State?”</p><p>72 “I know that,” I said quietly, “but they gave him no horse.”</p><p>73 “True,” he said, walking up a little closer. “Probably afraid he would be like you and ride </p><p>74 it off through the streets of Portland.” </p><p>75 “Yeah, he would.”</p><p>76 The officer took hold of the handles of my wheelchair and turned it around toward me. </p><p>77 He looked up at me again.</p><p>78 “Still, I got to tell you once more to get down from there, Roy,” he said. “I know it ain’t </p><p>79 fair, but it’s my job, and I like my job.”</p><p>80 I looked back up at the birds in the trees. It seemed they had stopped singing in order to </p><p>81 see how our little drama would play out. But I bet they knew, just like I knew. </p><p>82 I lifted my hands to the heavens. “Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and </p><p>83 sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.” Then I swung my stump over </p><p>84 the saddle and dismounted. Yeah, super dramatic. Uber-Nez Perce. It would have probably been </p><p>85 more so had I not forgotten to grab my rope – and that I was still over twenty feet off the ground.</p><p>86 ******</p><p>87 I have to admit that when you live your life on the street, it’s kind of nice spending a little</p><p>88 time in the hospital. Warm blankets. Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain Keith Madsen</p><p>89</p><p>90</p><p>91</p>