Free The Pot Thief Who Studied Billy the Kid by J. Michael Orenduff Page A

and third pieces of the chocolate, Sharice said candy is not recommended by those in the dental profession.
    I offered to walk her to her car, but she said to the door would be fine. And it did turn out to be a fine place indeed.
    She turned in the doorway and asked, “How is the chipped tooth ?”
    “Fine.”
    Moonlight glinted off her green eyes. “I think I need to check it. ”
    She stepped against me. “ Closely.”
    When the passionate kiss ended, I said, “I could take off the cast.”
    She laughed and departed.

     
     
     
     
    14
     
     
     
     
     
    I was so smitten by Sharice that I forgot all about the rosé in the freezer .
    Luckily, I saw the magnet on the door before turning out the lights. I removed the bottle and was happy to see it had not yet frozen. I was tempted to open it and have a few more pieces of chocolate. Then I remembered my desi re to drink less and lose a few pounds. I stuck the rosé in the fridge and tried to forget it w as there.
    Which was easy to do because thou ghts of Sharice filled my head.
    The dreams that followed were even better than the thoughts because my censor was off duty.
    On Sunday mornings, I normally eat a breakfast so large that it tides me over for the rest of the day. But I was trying to diet. So while I was at the co-op, I ’d bought a bottle of Hollywood Diet Juice made from fruit juices, extracts of green tea, biloba and the mandatory p reservatives and stabilizers.
    I can understand the last two ingredients. Who wants to drink something that ’ s unpreserved and unstable?
    All I know about biloba i s it sounds like the guy wh o discovered the Pacific Ocean.
    Which must have come as a surprise to the millions of native people who were already living on its shores.
    I’m usually suspicious of anything from Hollywood, but I know this stuff has to work. You drink it instea d of meals and you lose weight. Duh.
    Martin Seepu showed up around three with one of his uncle’s pots. My relationship with Martin began when I volunteered for a program run by the University that matched college students with adolescents on the reservations. Sort of a big-b rother program for Indian kids.
    Our initial meeting was awkward. I suggested things we could do together. He was so unresponsive, I thought maybe he was deaf. Finally, I asked him what he wanted me to do.
    He shrugged. Looking down at the ground, he said, “ Teach me something. ”
    “What would you like me to teach you?”
    “What you know best.”
    “What I know best is math.” I was majoring in it as an undergraduate. I expected that would curtail his desire for me to teach him something, but he just said, “Okay.”
    So I taught him math. He said very little but learned quickly. I felt awkward because I did all the talking. Eventually, I asked him to teach me something. It was the only way I could think of to make our relationship more balanced. I was too naïve to realize the cultural gulf between us.
    I asked him what he knew best, and he said it was how to draw horses. I knew less about drawing than he had known about math. But I started learning and liked it. It was the first time I’d ever attempted anything artistic. And it was good for him because he had to talk to teach. Not much in the beginning, but he eventually came out of his shell.
    One reason why so many students dislike abstract math is they don’t see any purpose for it. Arithmetic is all you need in life. Why waste time on algebra? But most Indians don’t think that way. Because they are marginalized in our economic system, the question of the utility of knowledge is not so important for them.
    It is a morally satisfying irony that Martin, who dropped out of school at fourteen, is mo re intellectual than college student s studying to become engineers or doctors. They learn to p ractice a profes s ion . H e learn s because he believ e s it is better to know than no t to know.
    “I’ll chance some of your coffee, ” he said.
    “I’ve