Mean Spirit

Michael Horse and Moses write two letters to President Harding, one detailing the murders in Osage country and the other explaining how culturally important eagles are to the Osage and asking him to make hunting them illegal. At the Graycloud house, Nola is slowly coming out of her grief, but Belle has locked herself in the pantry. Upset about the death of the eagles and angry at Louise for her alcohol misuse, she has decided that she prefers solitude. There are sightings of what everyone presumes to be John Stink’s ghost. When Rena wets the bed, the first sign of ghost sickness in children, Louise grows worried and consults Belle, who is still not speaking to her. Belle is unwilling to talk to Louise until the school nurse arrives at the Graycloud home with a representative from the Office of Indian Affairs. They want to inquire about Nola’s absence from school and to enroll her. The school nurse, who is friends with one of the hunters whom Belle attacked, thinks that Belle is standing in the way of Nola’s education. If Nola doesn’t come to school the following Monday morning, she will be sent to the Indian Boarding School.