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Meeko returns to live with Jake and fulfill his obligations, knowing he is dependent on drugs, and recognizes that he is in ill health. He suffers from severe headaches caused by his injuries. He fears that he will not be able to fulfill his obligations with all the changes he has noticed in planes and equipment. Meeko is haunted by painful flashbacks, and fights these demons as well as his physical problems. Determined to walk without a cane, he forces himself to practice for miles around the dark airport. All this walking pays off, and within three months he is walking without a limp. After six months, he is running with the wind, but still suffers from the pounding headaches and severe spasms around his neck and shoulders. Meeko finds that drinking alcohol, along with his street drugs and prescribed pills, give him some relief. He later finds that the best pain relief comes from pressing an empty coke bottle into his shoulder blade. Convinced he is functioning well under these circumstances, he continues more ground school training. Soon he feels ready to climb back into the cockpit, but each time he schedules a checkout flight, the unbearable pain in his head flares up, forcing him to cancel. The cycle of pain, alcohol and drugs, worsens until Jake receives a phone call informing him that Meeko has been arrested during a drunken brawl and needs to be bailed out of jail. After his release from jail, Jake persuades Meeko to return to the hospital. He is diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and discharged with a full disability, as well as medical benefits. This enables him to continue his education as Granbear had wanted him to do. Afterwards Meeko gathers the courage to climb back into the cockpit and fly. During a flight he touches down and meets a cute blonde in a coffee shop named Barbara. Their relationship moves along quickly. Soon he learns that Barbara is also pregnant. They marry in haste, and start their life together based on lies. One day Meeko finds his pain medications missing and accuses his wife of stealing them, leading to a fight. Later he returns home to find Barbara in bed with a seventeen-year-old neighborhood boy. Meeko leaves the house and never returns. Barbara comes to the airport and informs him that the baby had been stillborn, and demands money. Meeko gets angry and walks away. Meeko reads in the paper about the Indian uprising at Wounded Knee and flies back to the reservation where he meets up with his Marine Indian friends. Meeko, Savage, and Dog make many flights to and from Wounded Knee carrying food, supplies, and ammunition to the protesters. They are arrested and booked. After a brief trial, the all-white jury deliberates ten minutes, and the judge sentences Meeko to fifteen years in the Atlanta Federal Prison. |
© 2000 The Red Pathway Learning Center & Foundation, Inc.
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Wind Wolf Woman |