Vicky smirked. Her plan was working. Deb had refused at first, but Deb always caved and went along when Vicky applied enough pressure. In the end, Deb had done as she was told: hoisted the girls, shimmied one cami strap off her shoulder, approached the guard. Vicky could have probably stolen the Hope Diamond while that dork slobbered over Deb’s cleavage.

Not that Vicky was stealing, not really, she was just taking a few tiny beads as a souvenir. They’d never be missed, and it wasn’t like the suitcase actually belonged to anybody, just the musty old museum. Anyway, if the thing was important or valuable or whatever it would be behind glass, not out in the open on a pedestal where anyone could just...

Vicky reached into the display, and when no alarm sounded, her tapered acrylic nails plucked at the suitcase. She felt the antique beads loosen and come away in her hand, then slipped them into her hip pocket. She hoped she’d gotten enough blue ones for a bracelet. Across the gallery, the guard said something and Deb giggled, manic, overdoing it. Time to go.

Vicky approached, saying, “My mom just texted, she’s waiting for us.” But as Deb turned from the guard, her gaze fixed on the exhibit. Vicky swiveled and saw the suitcase, its beads spilling onto the floor. Shit. She must have severed more threads than she’d intended. She watched the beads fall, pool on the ground, roll and bounce toward her. A river of beads flowed from the suitcase, flooding the gallery, and dum-dum Deb just stood there gawking while the guard barked into his walkie talkie. Vicky fled, trying for the emergency exit. When the alarm shrilled, she looked back and saw the beads taking the shape of one long finger, pointing right at her.

*Beaded suitcase (beads, hide, metal, oilcloth, & thread; circa 1880-1910)
by Nellie Two Bear Gates (1854–1935), Yanktonai Dakhóta artist, Standing Rock Reservation (US); created for the marriage of her relative Ida Claymore.

This artwork is held by the Minneapolis Institute of Art:
https://collections.artsmia.org/art/109856/suitcase-nellie-two-bear-gates

Publisher’s Note:

“At the age of seven, Nellie was sent to a Catholic boarding school in St. Joseph, Missouri, where she endured an unhappy eleven-year separation from her family. When she returned home to what had become the Standing Rock Reservation, she deeply embraced her Dakhóta culture, speaking only her Native language...”

From “Introduction: The Valise” in an article by Patrice Kanesh, one of Nellie Two Bear Gates’s descendants: “The Things They Carried: The Complex Legacy of Indian Boarding Schools...” (16 August 2022) at The National Native Children’s Trauma Center.

Bio: Tracy Royce