All his life John Stink was a loner. No one knew what his name really was before it became John Stink, and local tribal history says that the name was given to at least one other man in the area. Effie later said that the first man to use the name was earlier called John Looks Pretty, or John Pretty Man. It all depended on how it was translated, and by whom. Towards the end of his life there seemed to be some confusion about his tribal status and his relationship with the people to whom he belonged. None of the tribes wanted to claim him at that point. But John Stink spoke the languages of that region. He belonged to one of the tribes, tribes that were definitely related. The tribes had been removed to Indian Territory in the latter part of the nineteenth century. By the turn of the century most of the people had undergone a transformation that encompassed virtually every part of their lives, from the intangible spiritual side to their mirroring the appearance of their white neighbors as best they could. John Stink was the exception. He was always different. However, these differences weren't always within his control. After all, he was a sick man. As a child he must have been frail, because as a man he was never well, or right, as the people whispered. He was a short, thick man, not plump or heavy. He did not look sickly. It was a contradiction the people took very seriously. His legs were bowed, and he covered his feet in plain moccasins decorated on the fold with floral patterns, beaded in an assortment of colors. He also wore a dark vest with beaded green leaves, a curling vine, and red and blue berries winding in a border around his waist and neck. It was a simple design he paid an older woman to bead for him. These two adaptations in his apparel were the only differences in his whiteman's clothes that he made and insisted upon. When the moccasins and vest became worn, he quickly replaced them with identical ones. On special occasions he added wide, beaded armbands just above the elbows of his long, puffed shirtsleeves. He also had a large, black hat that pushed the top of his ears down. Around the hat was tacked a colorful beaded hatband. His long, thin braids that stopped short of his waist annoyed some of his tribesmen. They had closely cropped hair just like the whitemen. By any standard other than the tribes', John Stink would have been considered a wealthy man. He owned a few acres of land. It wasn't much, but it was enough for John Stink. He had built himself a house on that land, putting it together plank by plank with his own hands. He lived there all his life. The floor was dirt, but later John Stink told Effie that it didn't matter. He had no family. His old parents died when he reached middle age. He did not father children because no woman would have him and he did not marry. He did not have any living kin that he or anyone else knew of, and therefore he was considered a man. Besides the fact that he was a poor man, John Stink's other affliction was a mysterious sickness that plagued him since childhood. He had seizures that none of his people had ever seen in any other of their tribesmen. His first attack came upon him when he was no more than eight. It came with a viciousn'ess and ugliness that left John stunned. His playmates drew back from him in horror. It did not stop there but continued for the rest of his life. After that John Stink was always a loner. Effie first saw John Stink in the church house. He entered late and left early, before the preacher finished the sermon. The few people sitting in the stiff, wooden pews stirred uneasily when he came in and sat down. Effie didn't hear him enter at all. But when everyone shuffled around in the benches and looked to the back of the church, she did too. There sat John Stink, alone. He ignored the other disapproving faces and looked at Effie.