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I dun growed up near the Lakota Sioux territory in
Nebraska with my Ma, Pa, and Granny Lil. My Pa named me
Little Sue. My granny wuz hard of hearing and thought my
Pa named me Lil Sioux- -Lil after her and Sioux after the local
Indians. Granny was mad and told Pa that he either needed
to call me Lakota since there wuz lots of kinds of Sioux or just
plain Lil. Pa couldn't figger out why Granny was so mad.
He didn't think there wuz anything wrong with the name Little
Sue.
I been told that Pa and Granny argued for the first two years of
my life over what to call me. Maybe that's why I answer to
"hey you" so easily. My Pa died when I wuz two so Granny
ended up calling me Lakota Lil just so's there wouldn't be
confusion over whether people wuz talking about her or about me
since we wuz both Lil.
Even though I wuz a tow head I had lots of Lakota friends.
I dun learned how to shoot guns, arrows, and to track from them.
After Granny and Ma died I decided to follow the setting sun.
It were hard to do that cuz I only had a little over an hour to
see the setting sun each day. I'd just be getting
somewheres and the sun would set. I'd have to sit and wait
till the next night fer the sun to start setting again.
I ran into a fella who dun thought he was a buffalo. It were pretty
weird cuz, hanging around with the Lakota, I saw real buffaloes.
He didn't look at all like a buffalo. Maybe he wuz named
by a deaf Granny, too.
He were a pretty smart fella about other stuff, though.
Somehow he knew where the sun was going to set even when it
wasn't settin'. So's I been followin' him ever since.
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