Summary: Chapter 1
The first of three sections in A Yellow Raft in
Blue Water is titled “Rayona,” and Rayona narrates it.
As the story begins, Rayona is sitting in the Indian Health Service
(IHS) hospital in Seattle with her Native American mother, Christine.
The two are playing cards, and Christine wins a hand just as Rayona’s
father, a black man named Elgin, appears. Christine tries to shoo
Rayona away, but Elgin asks Rayona to stay, wanting to have a look
at her. Rayona, who is very tall and skinny, suddenly feels self-conscious
about her appearance.
Elgin has come to the hospital to drop off Christine’s
car, a Volaré, but Christine insists that Elgin use the car to pick
her up when she leaves the hospital. Elgin protests, saying that
Christine really does not look that sick. Secretly, Rayona shares
Elgin’s views on Christine’s health. Christine becomes quite angry
when she hears Elgin claim she is not as sick as she thinks. As
Elgin tries to shoo Rayona from the room, Christine tells him to
go back to his “little black girl.” Elgin goes, leaving the keys
to the Volaré with Rayona, who also makes a hasty exit.
Rayona starts to think about her mother’s history at
the hospital. Christine visits the hospital frequently, always after
long nights of partying and drinking. When Christine gets home,
however, she is ready to start partying again and the cycle repeats.
Her best friend, Charlene, frequently cautions her that her body
cannot take so much punishment, but she always shrugs off such warnings.
As Rayona wanders the hospital, her thoughts drift back
to her father and she wonders where he might be. Her mother has
always claimed that she and Elgin separated because of their racial
difference, but Rayona has heard this too many times to believe
it. Rayona has tried every trick she knows to get her father to
notice her, but they almost never see each other.
Rayona goes to the parking lot to find the Volaré, but
when she reaches it, a hospital worker is trying to open the door
with a coat hanger. Rayona accosts the worker, only to discover
that it is her mother dressed in nurse’s clothes stolen from the
hospital. Christine, feeling oppressed by her troubles, says that
she has decided to crash the car so that Rayona can benefit from
the insurance payments.
Rayona explains that Christine frequently makes similar
threats, saying she plans to go to the place where Elgin proposed
to her to kill herself. However, she never does. Skeptical, Rayona
forces her way into the car, and they drive off. When they near
their destination, Christine pulls over and tells Rayona to get
out. Rayona dares her mother to go, but the car stalls when Christine
tries to start it. The car is out of gas. After a short argument,
Rayona and Christine set out for a gas station a few miles down
the road. By the time they get there, Christine is in a good mood
again.
