Chapter 1&2 Summary.

In the first chapter of the book the narrator, Arnold, introduces himself as born with "water on the brain," and when he was six months old had to have surgery in which he would not survive. One of Arnold's abnormalities is having 42 teeth. He had to have the extra teeth pulled out, but since the Health Service only funded major work once a year, he had to have all of the extra ones pulled out at once. Arnold only had half the novocaine required but the dentist believed indians only felt "half the pain of white people." Arnold also has a stutter and a lisp. At fourteen years old, he has been branded "a retard", and to avoid being beaten up regularly, he spends a lot of time alone in his room reading books and drawing cartoons. Arnold is a very good cartoonist who likes to draw because "words are too unpredictable...but...when you draw a picture, everybody can understand it". He also draws because he feels as though that is his only escape from the reservation. 
Junior knows that his cartoons "will never take the place of food or money".  He wishes he were magical and could make the things he draws - like "a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or a fist full of twenty dollar bills" - real, but he knows he cannot.  Junior dislikes being poor, because oftentimes he and his family must go hungry, but lack of food is not the worst thing about poverty. Arnold feels the worst part of being poor is not being able to help the ones you love. Last week, Junior's "best friend" Oscar got really sick.  Oscar was "only an adopted stray mutt", but he was more precious to Junior than any person in his life.  He told his mother that Oscar needed to see the vet, but his Mom regretfully told him there was no money for Oscar. When Junior's Dad came home, he took his rifle from the closet and told Junior to carry Oscar outside.  Junior was furious, but then noticed that his Dad was crying.  Junior could not blame his parents for the family's poverty. Realizing that he was helplessly trapped in the cycle of poverty, Junior gently picked up Oscar and took him outside. He ran away as fast as he could so as not to hear the sound of the shot, but could not escape the "boom of (his) father's rifle when he shot (his) best friend".  Bitterly, Junior reflects that a bullet "only costs...two cents...anybody can afford that".