Last Bus To Wisdom: A Novel

Donal explains that the Crow Fair is an annual event in which thousands of Indigenous people come from all over the West to participate in a series of heritage events. Herman is particularly keen to know if members of the Apache nation will be present. As they travel on the bus toward the Crow Reservation, Donal begins writing letters to his grandmother that Herman will send surreptitiously to Ernie in Manitowoc and then to Gram. One evening, Donal watches a young man writing through the night. The writer introduces himself as Jack Kerouac. He is on his way to California with his girlfriend, Sweet Adeline. Kerouac writes an inscription about life on the road in Donal’s memory book.

When they stop for breakfast, Donal witnesses one of Herman’s strange behaviors: taking a piece of burnt toast and chewing around the edges, leaving an odd central shape. When Donal looks closely, he sees the outline of Italy. Herman creates a new national outline in toast each day.

That evening in Miles City, Montana, they go to a western wear store to purchase cowboy regalia. Donal wants to trade his Green Stamps for gear. The clerk is resistant until Herman introduces himself as Karl May, a famous western writer from Austria. Obediently, the clerk accepts their Green Stamps as payment.

The travelers arrive at the Crow Fair just in time to see a one-mile processional of Indigenous Americans beginning the festivities. After watching the great parade, they enter the festival intent on watching the rodeo. Herman continually asks participants if they are from the Apache nation and hears, “They’re not from around here” (258).

Donal sees a famous Diamond Buckle symbol on a Cadillac, meaning that his hero, Rags, is present for the bronc riding event. As Rags walks past, Donal calls out to him, asking if he will sign his memory book. Rags signs and includes an inscription. Donal overhears that Rags must ride a famous horse called Buzzard Head that no cowboy could ever ride.

The travelers climb to the announcer’s section of the arena, the best seats in the house, to watch the saddle bronc riding. None of the other cowboys manage to stay on their horses until the final bell. While Buzzard Head nearly throws Rags several times, the cowboy stays on the back of the horse and wins the competition.

As Donal walks to the restroom, he and Wendell see one another. Calling him a thief, Wendell immediately demands that Donal give him back the missing arrowhead. He yells for the Crow police to arrest Donal. In trying to elude the police, Henry and Donal end up at the booth of Louie, a member of the Blackfoot nation, who outfits Donal as a dancer, complete with an eagle headdress. Donal blends in with the other young dancers, avoiding the police and allowing himself and Herman to slip out of the fair in Louie’s van.

Louie drives Donal and Herman to Billings, far from the Crow Fair. They get onto a bus at the last minute, bound for Yellowstone National Park. Seated across from them is a slight man wearing a suit who identifies himself as a retired pastor. He says he is on the way to visit his daughter in California, distributing Bibles to hotels along the way. He gives a Bible to Donal and asks about his faith. Donal and Herman pretend to be sleepy and quickly fall asleep.

The next morning when they get off the bus at Yellowstone and head for breakfast, they realize that Herman’s billfold with all of their money has disappeared. The pastor was a pickpocket. The bus driver tells them to go to the park headquarters and report the theft.

Donal wants to find the police and report the theft. Herman stops him and proceeds to make a series of confessions. He relates that he never gained citizenship because he came to the US without authorization. Fleeing from the Nazis, Herman sailed from the Baltic to the US, where he jumped ship and became a sailor on Great Lakes ore ships. When the US went to war against Germany, Herman automatically became a government enemy.

Needing a place to sleep, the travelers go to the top floor of an inn, which overlooks a huge lobby. They sleep on the balcony and walk out the next morning as if they have already checked out.

Knowing they must determine their next destination, they go to the Greyhound lobby to look at the route map. Donal spots a wanted poster with Herman’s photo on it. They realize Aunt Kate turned him in to the FBI. Quietly, they tear the poster off the wall.

When Donal says she cannot believe Aunt Kate would do that to her husband, Herman explains that they were never married. After Herman’s friend Fritz—Kate’s husband—was killed by the Witch of November, Kate came to see Herman in the hospital and asked him to take Fritz’s place. She took Herman’s name though they never married.

Looking at the Greyhound map again, Donal realizes what their next stop should be. The problem is that they have no money. Pretending that he has a fish bone stuck in his throat, Donal goes to the Yellowstone infirmary and asks to see the doctor. When ushered in to see Dr. Schnieder, Donal produces his memory book and relates that he knows the doctor’s parents, showing their inscriptions. He relates that he and his uncle have been robbed and they need money for bus fare. The doctor gives them cash so that they can buy tickets for the next leg of their trip.

Several hours later, Donal and Herman arrive in Butte, a mining town where they must catch one more bus. In the Greyhound station they see another wanted poster for Herman, so he goes into the restroom, removes his glass eye, and contorts his face so that he looks nothing like the poster.

When they buy tickets for what will be the last bus to Wisdom, Montana, the driver explains that they are riding with a particularly tough crowd of workers. He breaks down the social order of people who go where they are going, the Big Hole area, to cut hay. A bus driver tells them the men are migrant workers who call themselves “hoboes,” not to be confused with “bums” or “tramps,” but working men who move wherever the harvest takes them.

The travelers take the last two seats on the bus and face scrutiny from the other men. A fellow named Highpockets, who seems to be the leader, approaches them to ask their story. Donal explains they are the only surviving members of their family and are looking for jobs as hay workers. He says that a phony preacher robbed them. Highpockets welcomes them and introduces the other workers, all of whom have unusual, descriptive names. Donal introduces himself as Snag because of his broken tooth and Herman as One Eye. He says that Herman lost his eye in a knife fight.

The men pass around a bottle of liquor, eventually offering it to Herman. Donal stops them from naming what is in the bottle, explaining that Herman will tell them based on its taste, which he promptly does. Donal attempts to get the men to sign his autograph book, only to learn that many of them are not able to write.