I was the first one to drive a convertible on my reservation.
The opening line provides some very important information. This story is going to be about indigenous North Americans—shortly later to be identified precisely as members of the Chippewa tribe—and the likely reason for why the convertible is so important that it is worthy of being the title of the story. Of course, some very important information is also left out: is the narrator male or female? What about their age? The tense suggests the story will be a recollection, but how far back in the past did the events take place.
"I always wondered what it was like to have long pretty hair.”
Henry is the narrator’s older half-brother. He is, as his brother observes, “built like a brick outhouse.” The car affords the narrator the freedom to leave the reservation and explore the surrounding region with his brother as a constant companion. One summer they pick up a hitchhiker and drive her all the way back to her home in Alaska. When they first meet her, she’s her hair up in a bun, but then later stuns both brothers by slipping it loose and revealing that it is so long it nearly touches the ground. Henry’s response is telling because at this point in the story, it reveals him to be loose, playful and with a sense of ease about himself that is not dependent upon his size and bearing, allowing him to tease even about gender roles.
It was a fact: Henry was jumpy and mean.
That summer ended with the brothers arriving home just in time for Henry to receive his draft notice. The soldier who returns from Vietnam is not the carefree boy who left. Henry is quiet, edgy, and teasing is a thing of the past. He is also exhibiting textbook symptoms of PTSD. The younger brother realizes something has to be done or his older brother will stay this way forever.
I walked out before he could realize I knew he'd strung together more than six words at once.
His scheme involves making the beloved convertible run so badly that Henry will finally take an interest in something that will snap him out of his funk. Eventually, the plan works, but first Henry gets mad about the state to which the car has been allowed to reach. It is after Henry’s angry outburst that the narrator realizes everything is working as planned.
"My boots are filling.”
The story paradoxically reaches its tortuous climax with these prosaic words of simple observation said “in a normal voice, like he just noticed.” But the conditions are anything but normal and the tale concludes with a great deal of ambiguity on whether he actually did just notice the circumstances of his boots or whether he planned for it.
