In the Belly of the Horse

About the Book

Charlie Good Thunder, retired army master sergeant, wild horse breeder and rancher, is driving his grandson to Sioux Falls where he will fly out to join his infantry unit, which is heading for service in the Middle East. His grandson, a misfit in his family of academics in a university town and a frequent fishing and hunting companion for Charlie, begins to share his anxieties about his life. He has a number of questions for his grandfather: Why does he keep so many wild horses? What does he think of the peace movement on the campus? Does he understand why his grandson never quite feels at home at home? What is it really like–beyond all the technology–to be a soldier? The aging Charlie, who feels like a “dinosaur” in the new tech army, has no answer except to tell his grandson to find himself “a horse of an old sergeant–someone who’s been close to it.” The boy reminds Charlie that Grandmother Good Thunder had often told Charlie he has “horses on the brain.” After a quick farewell at the airport, Charlie, who is also a writer of some reputation, begins the long drive home to his ranch. On the way home memories come circling back, circling back into his memory. A long winter ahead, he tells himself–plenty of time to circle round (detached, being humble before the word) as he tries to figure some things out, to begin to write his personal history, and the story of the horses: Charlie Good Thunder, a young Oglala “breed” living at the edge of a tribal community on the Missouri River in western South Dakota, is drafted (through the South Dakota legal system) into the army with his younger brother and sent to fight with an infantry unit in Korea. Charlie deserts his infantry unit when his company commander refuses to allow him to go out into the night to search for his brother who has disappeared after being sent out (on the premise that all “Indians” are scouts) to search for Chinese patrols. Thousands of Chinese have suddenly entered the war and the consequent route of UN forces is just beginning. Wandering alone–first in the battle zone in front of his unit and then in the hills behind it–Charlie fails to find his brother and is captured by a Chinese patrol which has slipped behind the American lines. As he wanders, he finds direction from the movement of a brief thunderstorm that catches him. He is haunted by the cruelty and drunken death of his war hero father and begins to experience a series of memories circling back from his early life in South Dakota. Charlie is rescued by a Turkish patrol which has already picked up another stray American–South Dakota Tex–a gabby, pint-sized cowboy who claims he has been a champion rodeo rider. The two Americans immediately take a dislike to one another. The Turks are amazed to see the two Americans quarreling and fighting in the Turkish brigade area. Tex puts on “rodeo” displays for the Turks, using rhinestone boots and other cowboy gear he keeps in his army gear pack. Sergeant Nazami Kiro, a veteran Turkish soldier and a former school teacher, is assigned the task of helping the two young Americans serve with the brigade during the pull-back from the Chinese onslaught. Kiro, Charlie discovers, is a tough yet gentle mentor. He is also a soldier of mystery with huge legs, a voice which seems to echo words from another time and a smell which Charlie can’t quite define. “That Kiro's parts don’t fit together,” Tex tells Charlie. During marches and rest breaks, Kiro and Good Thunder share quiet talks and mutual respect. Kiro gives special attention to Charlie’s grief concerning the suicide of his war hero father as well as Charlie’s anger and frustration about “always retreating, retreating.” In the first major battle, South Dakota Tex, crazed by the killing of large, beautiful horses ridden by Chinese attackers, exposes himself to Chinese fire as he runs out from the Turk positions to shoot wounded animals. Good Thunder saves Tex by dragging him into the gutted belly

About the Author

John Solensten has published two novels, Good Thunder (New York: SUNY Press, 1988) and The Boys of War (Istanbul: Milyet Yarinlari, 1992) and two short story collections, The Heron Dancer (1984) and Mowing the Cemetery (1999). He has also published more than 20 individual short stories and memoirs. His plays have been produced at the Duluth Playhouse, Center Stage (Minneapolis) and the Tulsa Performing Arts Centre. He currently lives in Ames, Iowa. jsolensten@isunet.net