By JoVonne Wagner
JoVonne Wagner: Okay, it is recording. Could you introduce yourself for me? I’m
Zach Rides At The Door: In Blackfeet or in English?
JoVonne: Whatever you prefer.
Zach: Hello, my name is [introduces himself in Blackfeet]. I’m Blackfeet from Browning, Montana. I’m from the Blackfeet Rez and I reside here in Missoula, but my government name is Zach Rides At The Door.
JoVonne: When I decided to do an audio obit about Brendon Galbreath…
Zach: He’s grown to be like a little brother. Like…
JoVonne: The first person I reached out to was Zach. He’s a friend of mine, and I saw a Facebook post of his where he said that he and Brendon were so close that they were basically brothers.
Zach: It was strange, like the whole two weeks before he passed away. It just seemed like everything was lining up to do something and ‘cause, like, I think within that two weeks is when we went to Spokane.
JoVonne: At the time, he says he didn’t see it. It started with Brendon just doing what he always did, which was try to convince him to do stuff.
Zach: Like one of those days we were just driving around. He’s like, come on…
JoVonne: Let’s go on a road trip.
Zach: You can find a girl. I can find, I can find somebody for myself. You just gotta have the confidence. And he had this plan, we could just go up as a team. You know?
JoVonne: Zach says that for whatever reason this time…
Zach: because he’s asked me before and like other times I just like was either hesitant or was too busy.
JoVonne: This time. He said, sure.
Zach: It was just spontaneous. I was like, sure, why not spontaneously go on a trip.
JoVonne: So they turn onto I-90 and start driving the three-ish hours to Spokane, Washington.
Zach: I remember we were driving by some train tracks and then that’s when he got like, he had a question about Blackfeet language and he was like, I really wanna learn more. You make it seem fun. It kind of felt good. I was like, like I can help you if you want.
Zach: He’s like, yeah, definitely. Because that was something he always wanted to do. He wanted to learn more Blackfeet and learn more ceremony stuff and that’s when I just helped him with like the introduction, like I think that’s how you say his name. I said you’d also say [speaks in Blackfeet].
JoVonne: So that’s how it went for the 350 miles to Spokane. Zach gave Brendon Blackfeet lessons. And the reason they were going to Spokane to begin with is actually in a way the reason they’re friends. They were going to visit this old camp counselor named Marty who used to teach at the program where Zach and Brendon first met. It’s called Inmed.
Zach: Inmed is Indians in Medicine, uh, a summer institute.
JoVonne: Anyhow, they arrive in Spokane. Say hi to Marty and then…
Zach: they wanted to go downtown.
JoVonne: They all went out.
Zach: Man. One of the nights Marty brought us to one of the places. I was surprised when he got up and wanted to sing karaoke. I remember me and Brendon always played pool together at Inmed. We were playing pool. Me and Brendon really did. Everybody that kind of came up and played, we kind of cleaned house.
JoVonne: He says, all the while, Brendon was constantly befriending the people they were playing.
Zach: I knew he could do that, but just like seeing it was like random, random white people. It was so crazy. And then that night, like we were all out on the little balcony thing. And um, that’s kind of like when I had like that moment with him, like, where. Like I kind of share like what I do to calm myself.
JoVonne: Zach says that Brendon was having something like a panic attack. He wasn’t sure.
Zach: His mind was always racing with thoughts and sometimes, most of the times it wasn’t happier thoughts. It was the exercise I would use to calm myself down and center myself, which is like, and I showed him the song, too.
JoVonne: What was the song?
Zach: Uh, Claie, I have to look it up. Clair de lune. I don’t know if that’s right.
JoVonne: Claire De… Okay. Is that the piano, like the really soft…?
Zach: Yeah. Okay.
JoVonne: When did you first hear that song?
Zach: I don’t know. I think I just heard the, the name of the person, Claude De… I don’t even know how to say it.
JoVonne: Claude de Lune.
Zach: Yeah.
JoVonne: I only know that from “Twilight” ‘cause they play it in the first movie. Anyhow, as they were sitting on the balcony that night in Spokane and Brendon’s mind was racing outta control, Zach put on Clair de lune and he walked Brendon through what he does when he’s feeling that way.
Zach: I step back, forgetting what is in the past. I can’t change it. Not worrying about the future because it’s gonna happen the way it does. You know, like the universe laughs at expectations and trying to change it. Playing that Clair de Lune, I wish I would’ve recognized it then. Like to see that he was actually calm within that. He was picturing trees grow, like the trees that were in front of us. I just remember him saying like, I just started picturing them growing, and he said, “They’ll never, they’ll never see the end of us, will they?” I’m like, no, I guess not. But we’ll never see the end of them because they could just keep growing and being born again, like with their seeds spread everywhere.But he was so calm after that. Everything seemed calm, like even the surroundings. And I just remember sitting, like standing out there for a while. It was like a moment of just not being in his head, just relaxed.
Then one of the last times hearing his voice, me and my friend Mara, I think it was my friend Mara, we were going to, maybe to the car wash to clean their car, but we passed him ‘cause he was leaving Town Pump. And he left his gas tank open and I called him and I was like, what you doing? He’s like, nothing. I’m just going home. I was like, did you just leave Town Pump? And he did like a question. Yeah? Like, how did I know? He’s like, yeah. I was like, I know I just saw you. He’s like, oh, really? I was like, yeah, you know your gas tank’s open right. He’s like, what? Yeah, you’re gas tank open. He’s like, oh my God, I’m so dumb. You’re not dumb. You’re good. He’s like, no, I, I am. I’m like, no, you’re not. You’re all good, and you can close it. He’s like, okay, yeah. I’ll just close it when I get home. I was like, is that where you’re going? He’s like, yeah, I’m just gonna go home. And uh, so he was gonna go home, but then he’s like, all right, well… I love you, Zach. I’m like, all right. I know. He’s like, I love you, Zach. I’m like, I know Brendon. I love you too. And that was one of the last conversations, and at first I was kind of, I don’t know, like I don’t use the word love. Um, I try not to use it and just recently started getting back to like telling people, all right, I love you. And I was having that moment like where I just didn’t feel like I wanted to say it. But I’m so happy I got to say that to him because it was like, that’s the last thing I remember saying to him, too. And um, I’ll just be grateful for that. And that he got to know that. Yeah.
JoVonne: I’m gonna put this right here…
JoVonne: Do you, um, do you listen to that song a lot
Zach: Now? Yeah. When it was during that fall, like just trying to help heal, I, I remember I just went for a night walk and there was no leaves on the trees. There was snow on the ground, but you could still see the stars. And I sat on this bench and I just started playing it for some reason to try to heal myself. Then I would tell Brendon, I just talked to the moon and the stars, so that’s what I was doing. I was letting everything off my chest, and then I started playing that song to like kind of calm myself down. And when I did it, it was like I just felt a nice, warm presence around me. I just felt more calm because I was like, he’s probably just here.