“你必须嫁给氏族以外的人，”她说。“这是法律。我们认识的所有人都是伯德氏族。其他所有人都不见了。”

格洛丽亚的曾祖母格林•叶（Green Leaf）是和一个男人骑着偷来的马离开她在田纳西州希瓦斯湖（Hiwassee Valley）的家的。她是逃亡的切诺基氏族的一名成员，很久以前就拒绝被捕。

几十年后，她的家人带着“曾祖母”踏上了回家的路。但是埋着她的祖先们散落的骨头的地方不再是她记忆中的土地了。

'You have to marry outside your clan,' she said. 'That's law. All the people we knew were Bird Clan. All the others were gone.'

When Gloria's great-

grandmother, Green Leaf, left her home in the Hiwassee Valley of Tennessee, it was with a man on a stolen horse. She was one of the fugitive bands of Cherokee who'd resisted capture long ago.

Decades later, her family takes Great Mam on a road trip home, to a place now named Cherokee. This time they are the invaders - tourists - and the groundwork has been laid for them. Feather-

clad "Indians" do a welcoming dance in a parking lot beside a teepee, and a mangy one-eyed buffalo is kept in a cage.

Great Mam doesn't leave the truck.

'I've never been here before,' she says.