Motorcycles and Sweetgrass

Once at the residential school, the Anishnawbe girl must change her name to Lillian. She may not speak her first language or mingle with other children without permission. The second night she is there, she and another girl are told not to have fun: “Stop that laughing—it is rude and not acceptable in a house of God such as this” (10). Lillian learns that her cousin Sammy, who continually gets in trouble at the school, is isolated in the punishment shed—put there by a vicious priest. She finds him memorizing Shakespearean soliloquies. Sammy conceals the fact that he is very bright. He tells Lillian he will run away, and they have a lengthy debate about whether the school is good or bad. Stealthily, she finds her way back from the punishment shed so she will not also face punishment.

An unnamed Indigenous man, who is actually a haggard Nanabush, wakes up in a flophouse apartment. He has become a beggar with an alcohol addiction. He knows that this is not the fate for which the Creator made him but the result of his choices. Looking out his window, he sees a beautiful Indigenous woman carrying her clothing into a dry cleaner. He calls out to her, but the woman looks away, gets back in her car, and leaves. The man suddenly feels that he is being summoned, which gives him confidence and purpose.

Now an elderly woman, Lillian is near death. Milling outside while other family members arrive are her grandson Virgil and his cousin Dakota, both 13 years old. Virgil has been cutting school. The cousins struggle with whether they want to go inside to see Lillian.

Meanwhile, miles away, a solitary rider on an antique red and black motorcycle gets the attention of people and animals as he makes his way slowly toward Otter Lake. He is oddly familiar to all who see him: “The rider was new here, yet in a way they couldn’t explain, he also wasn’t” (34).

Maggie, Virgil’s mom and Lillian’s daughter, is chief of the Otter Lake First Nation. Maggie arrives at her mother’s home, stops to speak to Virgil and Dakota, and goes to her mother. Lillian wants Maggie to resign as chief because she thinks it’s too demanding. Lillian believes Maggie doesn’t get adequate respect for all the work she does, which also detracts from her ability to get Virgil to stay in school.

Maggie hears a motorcycle pull up. The rider—Nanabush—dressed entirely in black, comes into the house without taking off his mirrored helmet. He walks to Lillian’s bedroom door, where two of her children block him from entering. The rider grips their ear lobes, guides them to chairs, and enters Lillian’s bedroom while they argue about how to respond.

Lillian watches as he takes off his helmet, revealing a blonde white man in his late twenties. When he speaks to her in Anishnawbe, Lillian recognizes him as her old lover who deserted her when she left for the residential school. He has come back because she summoned him. She whispers two final requests in his ear. Virgil watches through the bedroom window as Lillian and Nanabush passionately kiss. The motorcycle rider leaves wordlessly.

Lillian dies that night, and her funeral takes place three days later. The whole village attends because she was so beloved. At the graveside, Maggie regrets the last conversation she had with her mom, disagreeing about what clothes to buy Virgil. Virgil notices the motorcycle rider on the road, watching, and scoots closer to his mother.

Nanabush asks himself what he should do next. His promises to Lillian will be difficult to accomplish, though perhaps a lot of fun. He finds Maggie just as beautiful as Lillian.

Meanwhile, on the island in the middle of the lake, Wayne, Lillian’s youngest son, regrets not being at his mother’s funeral. After four years of isolation, he decides it is time for him to come back to civilization. He has become a martial arts master and believes it may be his duty to protect Indigenous society.

Even at her mother’s funeral reception, band members approach Maggie to discuss tribal business. Virgil watches this with a sense of inevitability. People talk about the motorcycle rider, reasoning he must still be on the Reserve somewhere. Dakota is thrilled by the stranger and wants to try out his motorcycle, though Virgil warns her that he’s probably a rapist or a serial killer. Guests discuss the fact that Wayne is not there. There is a rumor that he took on five white men who tried to build a bonfire on the island, sending them off injured in their boat.

Virgil tells his mom he is going home. She dutifully promises to be home in a couple of hours to fix him a real meal, but neither is convinced: “She realized she had said this before. Many times. And she’d often failed to keep her promise” (72). Virgil knows that members of the tribe are waiting to speak to her.