There were empty beer cans around his boots. He didn’t say anything when I walked in, didn’t even look up, but that’s the way he gets sometimes. I sat down near him. He was staring at two ESPN commentators blabbing about the heavyweight division. They said that everything was up for grabs, there hadn’t been this much excitement since the days of Muhammad Ali. “Got to get a piece of that action,” I said. Sonny didn’t twitch. But I knew there was still a chance to get to him. He was waiting to be convinced, he hadn’t made up his mind yet. The Indian part of him was going to listen to everything before he made a decision. That’s how Indians are—they can sit in a Longhouse for days, listen to everyone, examine every possibility. Which doesn’t mean they always make the right decision. But there was a chance. Jake knew that when he asked me to come up. One of the ESPN commentators said, “The pot of gold at the end of the heavyweight rainbow has even drawn an old champion out of retirement.
