Ghostdancing #5
By Jamie Delano
As BC and ZZ sleep after coitus, BC is disturbed by the sounds of buffalo. The shadows on the wall behind the couple's sleeping heads, which upon BC waking, and tries to rouse ZZ and fails, Cody walks in, and regards how BC must've squeezed her too hard. BC doesn't recollect anything off, which Cody anticipates, telling of a couple kids already calling the cops, and he should dress, and ditch, but BC is uncertain of leaving ZZ, Cody talking of he having orders to locate Snake, instead of returning to base to confront his mother, which he'd been expecting. Cody twists it so BC could view it as revenge on the man, who'd caused everyone's madness, it not mattering BC hadn't drank any ghostdancing. Cody explains how one only needed to be near someone who had, offering him a gun to take Snake out with, and BC turning it on him for answers about his mother before he agreed.
Cody throws Snake under the bus in White-Buffalo woman's case, as well, relating how innocent she'd been when she'd met Snake, he into drugs, politics, and music, and she completely over her head. Cody having warned Snake back then of damaging her, but he maintaining she was his spirit guide to instruct him how to teach the world to dance. Cody continues on how he'd seen shit hit the fan when Snake got hung up in the politics, esp. when getting raided by feds, and finding his weapons, and heavy duty explosives. Cody'd watched on TV how the feds'd found White-Buffalo woman as the only survivor, and she'd gone nuts with PTSD, he having located her, already preggers, so helping putting BC into adoption with the Mammonites, and keeping White-Buffalo woman safe for 2 decades, reversing all the wrongs Snake'd done.
He wraps up with how Snake'd been hiding this whole time and not getting justice, tidying up his little story by having BC see it like he'd be taking him out for his ma's current state. Snake was dealing with "stage fright" for the 1st time, since he was readying to go out in front of a shitload of people and would attempt to make the world different, irreversibly. Snake digresses to not being able to go through with it since having a Polish background, and wouldn't ever actually be connected like White-Buffalo woman and her clan were, Snake knowing it'd bring bad luck for him to steal her rightful thunder. Snake then sees BC holding a gun at his face, and telling him the reason why, exactly upon Snake q'ing.
BC reveals Cody'd given him coke to keep him from sensing the ghostdancing. He also tells of who his ma is, Snake in denial and revealing why, BC having him focus on Cody when Snake starts with the '70s. Cody was always ready to capitalize, and back then, Snake trusted his partner, and fusing on a particular event Cody'd had he and White-Buffalo woman attend volunteer, being met with a fed search of their car, and locating the guns and whatnot, a gun shot ringing from somewhere and NOT like it could be coming from the house... Snake and White-Buffalo woman hide, but due to all sides now cracking off, someone hits gas as Snake leads White-Buffalo woman out, but he getting blown out, and not being able to relocate her, only hearing her scream above the flames and gunshots, Snake running off for fear, this his story and resigned to getting shot, now, and Cody's employer'd probably succeed at the finish, Cody agreeing and propting BC to shoot or hand it over so he could, but BC unable to allow this until his q's were answered.
When he lets out with knowing Father Craft, and confirms what he'd called him, Snake trips out over the "power-beings". BC continues with how he'd been told to locate him and he'd know what he should proceed with, Cody in denial, but then threatening BC with the airforce being called to bomb them unless he shot Snake. BC is also advised by Snake to take a swig of ghostdancing and he'd understand all, but now BC is having a head explosion and needed to think, minus the yawing from both jaws, then crying out to his ma, she reacting and Coyote asking whether she'd returned finally, he having been drumming for quite awhile to awaken her power, she responding the proper way, and asking after Snot-Boy, needing to see him, Coyote instructing the need for dancing, since being held prisoner, and she having to help her son discover his vision, so ending with the 2 having to dance, so she could remember and regain her power. White-Buffalo woman starts with knowing many militaries and death, then of Snake and Cody's true natures, Snake being pure, and naturally knowing the dance, and Cody scared and evious, his soul roly-polying and abusing White-Buffalo woman's body, obsessed with having her power, and being given to him as reward for killing Snake.
She relates how he'd confined her and gave her drug poison to have her forget and soothe his soul, so she makes Snake-Boy quickly before she couldn't, and him being snatched when she'd been drugged to indifference, but now she was stamping her hooves with the dancing and bidding Snot-Boy hear her and have it lead him to his own dance, which'd then re-skin the erf in harmony. Snot-Boy hears her, gets a vision of being cleaned by a buffalo, and being urged to get up. Upon doing so, he enters into a place of woe. Books of 'Merican religion, hand weapons, plague, and "ignorant greed" held up the Fourth world, religion distracting their old ways. The fire arms were so both people and creatures could be taken out, and the illness for those who didn't have a bullet with their name on it.
Greed was the cleaner upper to distract men from the violence caused by thinking of monetary gain. Snot-Boy then recollects meeting the English, sharing food so they wouldn't starve and getting booze in kind. It made him stop knowing the animals and nature as brothers, and wasted their power by killing them. He also saw when "the visitors" began populating more and scraping the erf and making it bald and ugly, too small to live properly.
Snot-Boy recollects the dishonesty and double-crossing, coupled with murder by the military with their fire-arms, and the confused losing, and slipping into a non-dreaming, black sleep, and how the spirit of the land cried out in its abuse, still attempting to speak to the ones who remembered, shaking their ill nightmares of scenes of the dancing ghosts. Snot-Boy also recollects how a snake'd broken into the Fourth world, tearing it to allow in the fifth. Which had those who didn't accept it, run to their actual native lands, and allowed America to find harmony once more. BC looks happily returned to wisdom, dropping the gun to drum, Cody picking up the weapon to stop him, but BC stating how nothing could now prevent the Fifth world arriving, taking the drum onstage.
Cody hears buffalo as BC intros himself to the crowd, and how he'd discovered his true name, but then declares of being Snake, and would show everyone how to dance, his eyes changing before he drinks, Cody firing off, and Snake blocking BC, which he then shows his transforming into an actual snake, Cody running away as he hears buffalo at his back. Escalating with more wild shit to build up to the finale, which I'm definitely egged on to complete. This story is quite absorbing and it will be intriguing to see where it ends up.
