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The apocalypse that seems to target white people may be a reversal of this historic tragedy.

That disease decimated the Indigenous population when European settlers introduced it to North America. The plague that kills the white people in this story may be inspired by the role of smallpox in the genocide of Indigenous peoples. Like “ The Trial of Thomas Builds-the-Fire”, this story takes place in a surreal alternate reality apart from the reservation setting of the collection’s more realistic stories. A Skin named Judas WildShoe turns in a wristwatch to the Tribal Council, who burn it, as the narrator clings to his radio for comfort. Tremble Dancer dies shortly after giving birth to a salmon. One day, Indian ghosts from thousands of years ago rape Tremble Dancer and murder Noah Chirapkin, the only Skin to venture off the reservation after the apocalyptic event. The narrator frequently dreams about television and wakes up crying.

The Tribal Council buries the bodies of tribe members who die on the football field. In the new reality, the world outside the reservations is empty and desolate. The narrator finds a transistor radio in an attic and manages to save it. The Tribal Council orders anything related to white people to be burned, including houses. The narrator, a Skin, is in love with an Urban named Tremble Dancer. The Urbans were weakened by the apocalypse and many have dramatic disfigurements one even gave birth to a monster. The Indian survivors are divided into the Skins, who lived on the reservation prior to the plague, and the Urbans, who lived in cities. This story takes place in an apocalyptic alternate reality where a plague has wiped out all white people.