Trying To Walk In Beauty

There were many times when I thought I would die at the hands of another person, but the one that stands out most in my mind was when my entire family got shot at by another family member. Of course, there was alcohol involved as usual. A family altercation occurred after my uncle tried to discipline his son and his son ran to an older cousin of ours and they both got drunk and came after all of us. It was a beautiful summer afternoon when they came riding up on unsettled horses, creating a cloud of dust, and spewing words of threat at my uncle and my mother. I remembered my mother and my uncle pleading for our lives as we children hid beneath the makeshift table that sat near one of the two windows inside our hogan. I remember hearing several shots being fired, perhaps into the air or at mother or my uncle. I heard one ricochet off our wooden door. Bullets whizzing nearby is a sound I would never forget. That was one of the scariest moments in my life. I was sure he was going to kill all of us. No police officers were called after they rode away. He wasn’t punished for what he did to my family that terrible day. I don’t even think we ever spoke of that incident ever again. We went on as if nothing ever happened.