Medicine Walk: Chapter 19 Summary & Analysis

A week later, Eldon was hungover at The Dollar Holler. It was a foggy day, and two trucks pulled up, Bunky and Angie sitting in the cab of one. They waved him over. Bunky said he could offer Eldon a couple weeks’ work, plus room and board, to put up 10 acres of fencing. Eldon said he’d do it, but that he’s shaky and needs a drink. Bunky looked like he wanted to say no, but Angie squeezed his shoulder, and Bunky gave in. When Eldon started for the back, Bunky told him to sit up front with them.

Bunky drove them through the bush and farmland until they pulled up a long driveway. He parked beside a barn and showed Eldon a tractor packed with everything he’ll need to build the fence. Inside the house, Angie took down a bottle and poured him a drink. She also served him some stew and bread. Bunky told Eldon that finding him was Angie’s idea.

After the meal, Eldon felt clearer. Bunky lead him out to the tractor and fired it up, then he directed Eldon to drive them into a nearby field. He showed him the boundaries he wants for the fence, then walked back toward the house. Eldon occupied himself with sorting out the supplies. The morning passed lost in work, but at noon, he returned to the tractor and found Angie sitting there. She brought his lunch—and a flask. She smiled at Eldon and said Bunky is the best man she’s ever known, but there are things he doesn’t understand. She told him she understood the need.

Eldon started eating a sandwich and asked Angie about herself. She explained that she was half Cree and came from west of Winnipeg. He replied that he didn’t know where he came from. Since he didn’t, he figured it was a waste of time to miss it. Angie said it feels good to miss things, because it reminds you you’re alive. After finishing his lunch, Eldon said he’d better get back to work, and Angie told him he could talk to her. He longed to touch her, but he told her he was there to work, not talk. She kept gazing at him, making his heart pound, but he turned away and said he’d see her at supper.

They ate venison for supper. Bunky watched him closely and questioned him about the job, but they mostly ate in silence. After dinner, Bunky prepared a pipe and explained that every night, they sat in front of the fire while Angie told stories. Eldon stared at the floor, reluctant, but he followed them into the living room, unable to stop gazing at Angie. Bunky told Eldon that Angie’s a “tale spinner.” Angie added that the stories just seem to be inside her—she finds them, and they tell themselves.

Bunky asked for a story about the sea, so Angie described an underwater being who longed to explore the world above. Eventually, the creature grabbed a whale’s tail, and the whale pulled her to the surface. She drifted on the waves and landed on a beach. But she became homesick. A dolphin came and listened to her story, then carried her back to her underwater home. The dolphin told her that since she’s experienced the world above, she will always carry the memory with her. The being spent the rest of her life telling stories about her adventure. When Angie finished the story, Eldon was embarrassed to realize he’d been crying. After Eldon headed to his sleeping place in the loft, he thought about Angie’s shining eyes—he recognized something about them.

The work was hard because of the stony ground. By lunchtime the next day, Eldon was exhausted. Angie brought him lunch but no flask, and they sat together on the tractor’s running board and ate. He quietly watched Angie as she talked about her parents. Her dad died of a heart attack when she was 12, and after that, her mother was never the same. She had trouble providing for them, and she brought home a string of men who always left. She died of heartbreak when Angie was 16. Angie decided she never wanted to be completely dependent on a man, so she started working. She developed a reputation for cooking and managing kitchens on work sites.

As she worked, Angie learned more about men. Men always want to own a woman, she told Eldon, until they see something they don’t like, or that they feel detracts from them in some way. Then they just disappear. Even Bunky isn’t perfect. He’s heroic and gentle, but gritty, too. They smoked quietly together for a while. Eldon refused to say anything about his past. Angie told him he’s like a kid drawing in the sand because he doesn’t know how to express himself yet. Eldon replied that some stories don’t need to be told.

Angie put her arm around him. They sat silently for a while. Looking at him, she told Eldon he had the makings of a hero, too. He tells her he didn’t. She lifted his chin with her hand and told him nobody knows that for sure until life demands heroism of them. She kissed him quickly and walked home across the field.

That night, Angie appeared on the stairs of the barn loft, wearing a nightdress. She sat on the edge of his cot and took his hand. As she touched his face, he tried to say something to her but found no words. When he tried, she hushed him. He pulls her to him, and they kissed before she stepped away and descended the ladder.