OUTSIDE
the Oglala Lakota tribe’s child protection service office, staff
members updated a police officer on the latest emergency: An 11-year old
girl had texted her cousin that she wanted to kill herself and then had
gone missing.
A
damp breeze swirled smoke from the caseworkers’ cigarettes, and the sun
flitted between mottled clouds, the advance guard of an approaching
spring blizzard. The officer jotted down some specifics on the girl and
the remote area where she was last seen, then pulled away from the curb.
They didn’t want to lose another child.