The tribe offered the HOA a permanent road license, but it came with strict conditions: a $75,000 annual fee for the tribal youth fund, $137,000 for creek restoration, and removal of Corrine’s monument. Corrine resigned soon afterward, and Francis became HOA president.
I kept my forty acres and continued visiting the meadow. Bison now graze where my grandfather once walked, and the gate remains unlocked. The land finally had a future—and Corrine would never control it again.
