Coyote blue

said, slipping on the gloves. "I'd prefer to do this in the lab, but I assure you I'll be careful."
    You can blow the damn thing up for all I care, Arnie thought, as long as the price is right. But what was the deal with the Indian and the fish tank?
    The professor removed the end of the wooden cylinder and placed it on the table. He removed one of the four arrows and studied its length. When he looked at the point his face lit up. "My God, Running Elk, do you see what I see?"
    "What? What?" Arnie said. Was this good or bad?
    The Indian looked up from the fish tank. "Oh, capital! He's promised them one of those plastic bubbling scuba divers if he sells it."
    "What?" Arnie said.
    The professor scowled at the Indian and held the arrow up for Arnie to see. "Mr. Houston, you see this arrow point?"
    "Uh-huh."
    "This is a small-game point, and the flaking is not the pattern you find on Crow points from the buffalo days."
    "So?"
    "So, I think this bundle is from the time before the Crows split from the Hidatsa. If that's the case, this bundle may be priceless."
    Arnie saw a swimming pool appearing in his backyard, with a whole shitpot of girls in bikinis sitting around it, rubbing oil on his back. "How can you be sure?"
    "I'll have to take it back to the university to have it carbon-dated." The professor put the arrow back into the bundle. From his briefcase he pulled out a sheaf of forms. "I hope you'll understand, Mr. Houston, the university can't bond something like this for its full value, but I could write a guarantee of perhaps two hundred thousand until the return." The professor waited, his pen poised over the form.
    Arnie pretended to think about it. In fact, he was thinking about the new swimming pool. Now it was indoors and had a big hot tub full of dollies. "I guess that will be all right," he said. The professor began writing on the form. "We should have it back to you within the week. I'll see to it personally that it's handled carefully. If you'll just sign here." He pushed the form over to Arnie.
    There it was, $200,000.00 in big black numbers. It was all he needed to see. Arnie signed and pushed the paper back to the professor.
    The professor closed his briefcase and got up. "Well, I'd like to get this back to the lab by tonight and start the work on it. I'll call you as soon as we know for sure." He picked up the bundle and headed for the door.
    "You take care now. Thanks," Arnie said, holding the door for them.
    "No, thank you, Mr. Houston."
    "Cheerio," the Indian said as they climbed into the Blazer. "Oh yes, your mates said they'd like a Flipper video and a bit of brine shrimp to eat."
    Arnie watched the Blazer pulling away. Boy, the old professor was sure giving Running Elk hell for something. Eggheads. He wondered for a minute why the Blazer had mud on the license plates when it was so clean everywhere else. Hell with it, it was time to celebrate. A buddy had given him the number of a little dolly who for two hundred dollars would come over in her cheerleader outfit. He'd been saving it for a special occasion and it looked like it was time to dig out that ol' number and see if she really could suck the furniture out of a room through the keyhole.
    ~* * *~
    As soon as they were out of sight of Arnie's house, Sam took the Indiana Jones hat off and smacked Coyote with it. "What were you thinking? You almost blew it."
    "The fish said he tricked someone to get that bundle."
    "And what did we just do?"
    "That's different. It was a Crow bundle."
    "You wanted to blow it, didn't you? Why didn't you just hump his couch or something? Why didn't you just tell him the truth?"
    "Well," Coyote said, "if your trick worked it would make a good story."
    "I'll take that as as compliment." Sam was no longer angry. They had the bundle; now it was time to think about the next part of the plan. He believed what Pokey had told him about the power of the bundle, and all Pokey had ever asked of him was to be believed. He said, "Coyote, will you help me get Pokey out of the clinic?"
    "Another trick?" Coyote asked.:
    "Of sorts."
    "I'll help, but I won't go to the Underworld with you."

Chapter 33 – Doors
    Some of the color had returned to Pokey's face and someone had taken the braids out of his hair and brushed it. He opened his eyes when Sam entered the room.
    "You got it?" Pokey said.
    "It's in the car," Sam said. Coyote came in behind him.
    Pokey grinned. "Old Man Coyote."
    "Howdy," Coyote said. "How many times you died