Section 2 Summary

Ayah, still wrapped in Jimmie's blanket, is searching for her husband who has taken their government check into town. Every month he cashes their check and spends the money on alcohol. Because Chato acts like a white man, he is permitted to enter the bars where other Indians are not welcome. Ayah resents having to look for him but she does so because she believes it is her duty as a Navajo wife.

She looks for him in the usual bars he frequents and, because she is an old woman, the white people do not prevent her from entering. Years ago, they would have thrown her out for being an Indian, but now they just watch her.

As she searches for her husband, she remembers a time she saw her children after they had been taken away: she had realized then that they...