Medicine River

Harlen visits Will, bringing with him more gossip, this time about how Eddie Weaselhead threw a knife at his cousin, Big John Yellow Rabbit. Eddie has a non-Blackfoot parent and dresses in traditional attire, although he was raised off the reservation and speaks the language poorly. Big John sees Eddie as someone who is pretending to be Blackfoot when he is not. When Big John told him so, Eddie threw a knife at him. The conflict between them has been exacerbated by the fact that Big John was given the director position at the Friendship Centre, which Eddie had wanted. Big John also appears to be using some of the Friendship Centre’s budget for his own personal use. True to form, Harlen organizes a social evening of gambling and eating and invites both Eddie and Big John, whom he believes to be “good friends and blood kin” (60). They play a traditional gambling game. The game goes on too long and nobody wins, but Big John and Eddie decide to have their own game. Eddie wins and gets Big John’s fancy tie along with $200. He gives Big John his bone choker, which he had bet in the game, as an act of sarcastic pity.