The following text is adapted from Louise Erdrich’s 2020 novel The Night Watchman. Louis Pipestone is collecting signatures for a petition from fellow members of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa on the tribe’s reservation in North Dakota.

Louis Pipestone tended the petition like a garden. He kept it with him at all times. In town, his eyes sharpened when he noticed a tribal member who hadn’t yet signed. Wherever they were—at the gas pump, mercantile [general store], at Henry’s [Café], on the road, or outside the clinic and hospital—Louis cornered them. If they were waiting for a baby to be born, he’d have them sign. If they were laughing, if they were arguing. If they were taking a child home from school, they signed.

©2020 by Louise Erdrich