Tommy - The Trials and Tribulations of a Girl? - Chapter 83

Then today, Tuesday, we had meetings with my advisor for my master’s program, and Amy’s preceptor for her master’s program who was Dr. Etsitty. And during our talk with Dr. Etsitty, she told us that she knew I was Kai. Which, for some reason, didn’t upset me. And as we talked, we found out that Chief Peshlakai was up to his old tricks. Now that did upset me just a little bit. Yeah right. It upset me a hell of a lot!

After dinner, we watched a Sunset and then went to the bonfire. Naainish was there, and after greeting us, he had said in Navajo, “Kai, I sense trouble. Is everything good?”

“Naainish, it is not good.”, I replied in Navajo.

Then I looked at the Fairbrothers and said, “Please excuse us. There is something that Ajie and I need to talk to Naainish, and my aunt and uncle about.”

“Kai and Ajie.”, Mrs. Fairbrother said. “It was good seeing you again. And again thank you for letting us read those two papers. We’re leaving right after breakfast so we may not see you.”

“Tonight’s our last night here too. And we’re going to watch the Sunrise tomorrow. Will we see you there?”

“Yes, you just might just see us. And then maybe even at breakfast. Your aunt has invited us for breakfast at the house.”

“That’ll be great. Then I guess we will see you in the morning.”

With that Amy, Aunt Ruth, Uncle Paul, Naainish, and I walked towards the house. And Uncle Paul asked, “What’s wrong Kai?”

“Two words.”, I said. “Chief Peshlakai.”

Then as I was leading our little band, I saw grandma. And I led them over to grandma. She saw us coming and gave me a puzzled look. As we walked up to her, I said, “Grandma, would you care to join us?”

“Ah. … From your look, I guess I’d better.”, Grandma replied.

We finished walking to the house in silence, went in, and sat in the living room. My grandmother finally asked, “Okay child, what’s wrong.”

“Chief Peshlakai.”, I said.

“Now what’s he done.”

“He’s telling people that we helped him set up the scholarship.”

And I saw five very discussed faces looking back at me. Then Naainish asked, “How did you hear this?”

I told them about meeting with Ajie’s preceptor for her master’s degree, and her telling us what her husband had learned.

My grandmother then asked what this woman’s name was. I told her that it was Dr. Etsitty. Then my grandma asked, “Do you know her husband’s name?”

“No.”, I replied. “But he is a member of The Big Medicine People Clan.”

“Oh. Then it has to be Tahoma Etsitty. And he’s no friend of Peshlakai. They may work together for the betterment of the people, but they ran against each other for chief of the clan, and Peshlakai only beat him by one vote. And it has been said that the vote was fixed.”

“What do you want to do Kai?”, Uncle Paul asked.

“I’m not sure.”, I replied. “That’s why I wanted to talk with all of you.”

“Knowing you. You have some thoughts. Care to share them?”

“Sure. One is to get Chief Kinlicheeny directly involved. But that might be too direct. Another was to talk to grandma and the ladies of the clan. And the other was to speak with Dibe’s dad, Mr. Bylilly. He wanted to write an article about this last year.

“But my biggest fear is retaliation, of any kind, against anyone of you.”

“Kai.”, my grandmother said. “I like your thought of talking to Mr. Bylilly.”

“I do too.”, Naainish said. “And he’s now one of the editors of the paper, and may know something about how to do this in a way that won’t affect anyone but Peshlakai.”

“Let me talk to him.”, my uncle said. “I know Dibe will be here for the barbecue, and we might be able to have him and the family come too. And you can talk to him.”

“I like that.”, I said. “But I don’t want Dibe to know that we’re here. I want to surprise her.

“I know she’s graduated from high school. Was anything said about the scholarship?”

“Yes.”, Naainish said. “They announced that she had ben awarded the scholarship and would be the first recipient.”

I sat there quietly for a minute. Then Naainish said, “Kai, you’re planning something.”

“How do you know?”, I asked.

“I can see it in your eyes.”

I smiled, and said, “Naainish, you know me too well.”

“Well, what is it.”

“How about if Ajie and I formally present her with the scholarship in front of everyone at the barbecue? But, it will put Ajie and me right out in front as the founders of the scholarship.”

“I like it.”, grandma said. “But do you want to make it known that you two are behind the scholarship?”

“I don’t want to, but I’m afraid that we’re going to have to put a stop to his lying.

“I’m going to find someone in Albuquerque that can make up a plaque to present to Dibe as the first recipient. And I’ll have her mom and dad come up with her in front of everyone.

“Other than us, I only want her dad to know about this. And Uncle Paul that’s your job. He can know that Ajie and I are here as long as it’s kept a secret. And you might mention what Peshlakai is up to and that he might want a photographer and reporter at the barbecue.”

“Kai.”, Naainish said. “Remind me to never have you as an enemy.”

“Naainish.”, I said. “I don’t think you need to worry about that.”

We said goodnight to everyone, then Ajie and I sat on the back patio and just looked at the stars. She wanted me to teach her the constellations, and I showed her a few. We finally went to bed at about eleven local time.

When we got up Wednesday morning, it was early. We dressed for a hike up the cliff trail. And that was shorts, light tops, and sneakers. I was Tom. When we reached the top of the cliff trail, there was maybe a dozen guests there along with the Fairbrothers. We walked up to the Fairbrothers and said good morning. At first, we received a puzzled look, like do we know you? Then Mrs. Fairbrother said, “I’m sorry Kai and Ajie, we haven’t seen you looking this way much, and it takes a minute for it to register.”

“That’s all right.”, I replied. “But now it’s just Amy and plain old Tom. We have things to do at the university today. So we’re leaving right after breakfast.”

“Oh, that’s right.”

Then Mr. Fairbrother said, “This is our third morning up here. And on the other two we heard the coyotes, but this morning no coyotes.”

“Look for wolves. Every time we’ve been up here and the coyotes weren’t talking there were wolves around.”

Then someone almost shouted, “What’s that over there?”

I looked to where she was pointing and saw six wolves moving through the rocks. So I quietly said, “They’re wolves.”

A woman asked, “They don’t scare you?”

“No. They’re more afraid of us then we are of them.”

We then watched an incredible sunrise. And before we started walking back down the cliff trail, I said, “Take a walk with us.”

“Where?”, Mr. Fairbrother asked.

“You’ll see, and it’s not far.”

The Fairbrothers followed us along the cliff top, and when we reached one of the ‘Conservation Area – No Trespassing’ signs, Mr. Fairweather said, “We can’t go in there.”

“Yes, we can. You’re with us.”

“Okay. If you say so.”

They followed us to where we had planted the little tree. Mrs. Fairbrother said, “It looks like it was just planted.”

“It was.”, Amy said. “Tom and I planted it. The old tree that’s in the picture in the hotel lobby with Kai was hit by lightning and destroyed. We took some of the pieces home with us, and something told us to plant one specific piece in Tom’s mother’s flower garden. Even though it looked dead, it sprouted. And then we felt like we had to bring it back here with us and plant it. So we did.”

They looked at us, and Mrs. Fairbrother said, “Was it the spirits that told you?”

“I think so.”, I replied. “My mother has a saying, the spirits move in strange ways.”

“They do.”

Then we walked down the cliff trail with the Fairbrothers to my aunt and uncle’s house. And Aunt Ruth had a fantastic Southwestern breakfast for us. After we’d eaten, Amy and I excused ourselves, went back to our room, and packed up everything.

We’d loaded everything into the car. And then we said so long to Aunt Ruth, Uncle Paul, and the Fairbrothers. We told my aunt and uncle that we’d see them after lunch on Friday. We also told my aunt and uncle that we’d call them as soon as we knew our telephone number.

Then we headed back to Albuquerque and the apartment. Once we were there, I backed the car into the garage, and we unloaded everything that was still in the car. Most importantly the camera bag. We placed all of the jewelry in the safe, and I showed Amy where I’d hidden a copy of the combination. Then we carried everything else upstairs and put it away.

We decided to find a place for lunch. We drove around and found a nice drive-in not far off campus and right on Route 66. And we had a good cheeseburger with pickles, fries, and milkshakes for lunch. A chocolate milkshake for me and a strawberry one for Amy. The food was good, so we added this to our list of favorite drive-ins in Albuquerque. Actually, it was the only one on the list. So far.

After we’d finished eating, we headed back to the apartment to wait for the mattresses, the telephone company, and the delivery from the department store. While we waited, we hung curtains. And with what Amy had found we also hung the woven rug that Aunt Ruth gave us, and it worked perfectly. Also, we hung the picture frames that we’d brought from home. Hmm, isn’t this home now.

The first delivery was from the department store, so we had the TV and kitchen table and chairs. A short time later, the telephone guy showed up and installed two phones, one in the living room and another one in our bedroom. We then called everyone, my mom and dad, Amy’s mom and dad, my aunt and uncle, Kelly and Larry, Maria and Mark, and if they were home, we talked for a few minutes and gave them our phone number. Then we called the university’s registrar’s office and the student housing office, and gave them our phone number. Then Amy called the College of Nursing and gave them the number.

The guys from the mattress store finally showed up, took everything upstairs, and set them up. After they left, Amy and I made both beds, and we realized that we needed two more pillows for the other bed.

By the time we were finished, it was dinner time. So we went out and found a nice Mexican restaurant. The food was good, but Aunt Ruth’s cooking was better.

That night we cuddled on the couch and watched a little TV. And we talked about what else we needed to do. And the main thing was to find a good grocery store and stock the kitchen and refrigerator and also buy some cleaning supplies. Also, Amy needed to go to the university bookstore and see what she needed for her two classes.

Then I went and retrieved one of the phone books that the phone guy had left. And I started looking for someone to make a plaque for us. I found a few trophy shops and most of them did plaques. There was one not too far from the university, so we planned to go there on Thursday morning.

Just before we were going to bed, the phone rang. Amy answered it,”Hello.” … “Oh, hi Uncle Paul.” … “Oh no. We’re still up.” … “Sure. Here he is.”

“Honey, it’s for you.”, Amy said. “It’s Uncle Paul.”

I took the phone, and said, “Hi, Uncle Paul.”

“Hi, Tom.”, Uncle Paul said. “How’s the apartment?”

“It’s all right. It’s strange to be the only ones around.”

“We miss you too. I talked to Mr. Bylilly today.”

“Good. What did he have to say.”

“He said that he wasn’t surprised that Chief Peshlakai was doing that. They’ve seen him do other things.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. What did he think of the plan?”

“He liked it. He and the family will be there, and so will a reporter and a photographer. He also said that the reporter is an investigative reporter and was very interested when he told him what the chief had pulled.”

“This could be interesting.”, I said.

“Yes, it could.”, Uncle Paul said. “You two have a good first night in the apartment.”

“Thanks. Tell Aunt Ruth that we miss her already. And we’ll see both of you Friday afternoon. Good night, Uncle Paul.”

“Good night, Tom.”

“So?”, Amy asked as I hung up the phone.

“Mr. Bylilly is in on the plan. And there will be a reporter and photographer there.”

“As you said, this could be interesting.”

That night we started breaking in the new bed if you know what I mean.

Thursday morning we were up with the sun, and after getting dressed, we drove around looking for someplace to eat breakfast. We did find a restaurant and had a good meal. Then we went back to the apartment, parked the car, and walked to the campus bookstore.

We looked around the bookstore, and Amy found the books that she’d need for her two classes. And she also picked up a couple of spiral notebooks. I found what looked like a good street map of Albuquerque Then as we were checking out, Amy mentioned that she was on a scholarship, the girl asked to see her student ID. Amy showed it to them, and they checked a notebook. And then the girl said, “Miss, there is no charge for your books. The scholarship that you have covers them.”

Amy looked a little shocked, and said, “Thanks. I didn’t know that it covered books too.”

“Yes, Miss it does.”

I paid for the map, and as we walked out of the bookstore, I said, “That’s nice that your books are included in the scholarship, but not necessary.”

“I know.”, Amy replied. “Maybe we can do something.”

“Maybe. But let's see how everything goes.

“Let’s sit. I want to draw something up for this plaque.”

We found a table and sat. I took one of the notebooks that we’d just picked up at the bookstore, started sketching what I wanted on the plaque. Amy was sitting next to me, and she made a couple of suggestions and corrections.

When I finished, I held it at arm's length looked at it and asked, “So what do you think?”

“I like it.”, Amy replied. “It isn’t gaudy, and I think she’ll like it.”

I opened up the map and looked for the street that the trophy shop was on, and it was only three blocks from here. So we walked over to the shop and went in. We talked to the woman that was there, and told her what we wanted to do and I showed her my drawing. She showed us some nice plaques on a wood backing, and we picked one that we liked. Then we asked the big question, could it be done before Noon tomorrow?

She thought about it and seemed to be leaning towards saying no. Then I said, “We’ll pay extra.”

Then she agreed that it would be ready at about eleven. We thanked her and then walked back to the apartment. When we got back, Amy asked, “Want to go grocery shopping?”

“No.”, I replied. “But I guess we’d better.”

We drove around until we found a nice grocery store. And when we left the store, we had eight paper bags full of food and cleaning supplies. When we were back at the apartment, I pulled the car into the garage, we carried the bags into the kitchen and put everything away.

Amy made us our first meal in the apartment. It was only sandwiches and drinks, but it was our first meal here. After we finished eating, we decided to explore. But first, we changed into shorts and put on our hiking boots just in case we found a trail to hike. We also threw our cowboy hats into the car.

We drove around Albuquerque looking at various things, and somehow we found the city’s parks and recreation department.

At the parks and recreation department, we talked to them about parks with hiking trails, and lakes or ponds. They told us that there were a few, and gave us trail maps. Amy also picked up a booklet about poisons snakes and spiders. And they told us that there was always the possibility of running across a bear in the forested areas, and especially in the Sandia National Forest east of town.

We spent some time looking at the trail maps and picked a couple of parks that looked promising. We figured out where one of them was that had a two-and-a-half mile loop hiking trail. And we figured out how to get there.

On the way to the park, we passed by a store that sold camping equipment, and we stopped in. We talked to them about hiking trails in the area, and they suggested the National Forests. And they had a map of the best ones. We bought that map and trail guides of a couple of the trails that the guy recommended. We also bought a couple of canteens. Uncle Paul’s lesson about not hiking in the desert without water had sunk in. We had the guy in the store fill the canteens for us.

We found the city park with the trail and started on the two-and-a-half mile loop trail. The only thing that bothered us a little were signs along the trail that cautioned about rattlesnakes and said to stay on the trail. Amy said that she had read that the snakes like brush-covered areas. The diversity of the types of plants in the area was fascinating. We’re going to have to find a book that will help us identify them and the trees. We reached the small pond on the trail, and there was a lot of brush growing around it, so we figured that we weren’t going to venture close. There was a bench on the opposite side of the trail from the pond, and the brush was cleared from a large area around the bench.

We sat on the bench for a short time and watched a couple of different water birds which neither one of us had ever seen before. I guess we also need a bird book covering this area.

Then we heard a rustling in the bush behind the bench. We looked and didn’t see anything. But we both figured that it could be a snake.

We finished the hike and agreed that it was a nice hike. But not many trees to provide shade on a hot day. At least we had our hats and water. We decided that we’d check out some of the other parks and their trails soon.

It was getting close to dinner time, so we headed back towards the apartment. And as we did, Amy said, “Help me make frybread tacos for dinner?”

I grinned at her, and said, “I thought I saw you pick up what we’d need for those. And of course, I’ll help you.”

Once we made it back to the apartment, Amy and I threw together a nice frybread taco dinner. And we really enjoyed it. After dinner, we sat and read. Amy was going to look over the two books that we’d gotten for her courses. I looked over the maps we’d purchased. I finally found something interesting, and I said, “There’s a trailhead parking area right at the eastern edge of town, that has trails leading into the Sandia Mountain Wilderness that might be interesting for a day hike.”

“Sounds good.”, Amy said. “But if it’s a day hike, won’t we need backpacks, more water, and backpacking food.”

“That’s true.”

I don’t think that it was much later that both of us had dozed off. Because the next thing I knew, it was almost midnight. I looked over at Amy, and she was sound asleep. I got up, woke Amy, and said, “Hey, lover. It’s almost midnight. We need to go to bed,”

“Midnight!”, Amy said. “Wow. I didn’t realize that I was that tired.”

“It may have been the heat. It was in the nineties today. And we’re not used to it.”

“We drank water every time we got thirsty.”

“But, we’re just not used to the climate out here yet.”

We locked up the apartment, and just went up to bed.

Friday morning we slept in, and as we were waking up, Amy said, “Honey, I think we should keep our hiking short until we get used to it out here.”

“You’ll get no argument from me.”, I said.

We fixed a light breakfast, and as we ate, I said, “What do you think about taking our clothes for the barbecue and changing at Aunt Ruth’s?”

“We could do that.”, Amy replied. “Feeling uncomfortable about driving as Kai?”

“No. We just ordered that plaque as Amy and Tom, and picking it up at Ajie and Kai might not be good.”

“Good point.”

So, after breakfast, we ran upstairs and packed Ajie’s and Kai’s clothes. And as I was putting my wrap moccasins in the suitcase, Amy said, “I’ve got to get me a pair of those.”

“We could stop at Mrs. Benallie’s shop on the way to the resort and get you a pair.”

“What if Dibe is there?”

“Hmm. Maybe if we spend the night with Aunt Ruth, we could stop on the way home.”

“That sounds good.”

We also packed the jewelry that we wanted into the camera bag.

We did somethings around the apartment, like seeing if the washer and dryer worked. And they did.

Then after lunch, we added a few overnight things to the suitcase and put it in the trunk of the car. The camera bag, with the jewelry in it, went behind the front seat. And after a stop at the trophy shop to pick the plaque, it was off to the resort.

We pulled into the resort at about three o’clock and parked at my aunt and uncle’s house. I grabbed the camera bag as we got out of the car.

We walked into the house, I said, “Hello. Anyone home?”

We heard a, “Hi kids. We’re in the living room.”, from my aunt.

We walked into the living room and were greeted by my aunt, uncle, and grandmother. And there were hugs and handshakes.

Grandma asked, “Where’s Kai?”

“She’s here grandma.”, I said. “We had to make a stop on the way here.”

Then I asked, “Aunt Ruth, do you mind if we spend the night?”

“Honey.”, my aunt replied. “This is your home. You don’t have to ask.”

“Thanks. We want to stop at Mrs. Benallie’s shop on the way home and pick up a pair of wrap moccasins for Ajie.”

“Why didn’t you stop on the way up?”

“We didn’t want to run into Dibe Bylilly.”

“Why?”, grandma asked.

“Remember that tonight is a surprise for her.”, I replied. “Plus she doesn’t know that we’re here.

“Uncle Paul, what did you tell Mr. Bylilly about us being here?”

“He knows that you’re here and that you want to keep it a secret from Dibe.”, Uncle Paul said. “And that we were going to make a presentation to her at the barbecue.”

“Perfect.”

“Amy, honey.”, my aunt said. “You can borrow my wrap moccasins tonight if you like?”

“That would be wonderful, Aunt Ruth. Thank you.”, Amy replied.

“You’re welcome, honey.”

I gave Amy the camera bag and went back out to the car to retrieve the suitcase. I walked back into the house, and said, “We’ll be back in a little bit. Come on Amy.”

Amy and I walked back to our room. I tossed the suitcase on the bed, opened it, and took out what we needed for today. Amy or Ajie and I were going to wear identical long skirts and fancy blouses. So after I undressed, it was the special panties, a matching bra and panty set. The long skirt and blouse, and the wrap moccasins. Ajie dressed the same way I had, except she didn’t need the special panty. She doesn’t need one, she has a cute … Oh never mind.

I then undid my male braid, brushed my hair straight, and since I had time I put my hair into two braids that fell over my shoulders. I added a fancy leather wrap at the ends of each of them. Then I added what I think is my favorite headband. It’s the simple braided leather headband with feathers attached to the loose ends of the headband that hang down so that the feathers hung down in front of my left ear. Ajie did her blond hair in the same way, except she used one of the beaded headbands.

Our makeup was again the less is more idea.

We both went all out with the jewelry. Concho belts. Squash blossom necklaces. The matching silver feather earrings. We both wore one of the beaded chokers. Then we added rings and bracelets.

I looked at Ajie, and said, “You look so pretty.”

She smiled at me, and replied, “Lover, so do you.”

We walked back out into the main part of the house, and I said, “Grandma, I’m here.”

Grandma turned and looked at me, smiled, and said, “There’s my two girls.” Then she walked up to us and gave each of us a big hug.

Then Aunt Ruth came into the room, and she had changed her clothes and was now wearing just about what Ajie and I were wearing minus most of the jewelry. She was carrying a pair of wrap moccasins, and as she handed them to Ajie, she said, “Ajie, here’s the wrap moccasins.”

“Thank you, Aunt Ruth.”, Ajie said. “I’ll take care of them.”

“I know you will honey.

Ajie changed into the wrap moccasins. And just as we were leaving for the barbecue, I said, “Uncle Paul, Ajie and I need to hide until you call us up.”

“That’s easy.”, Uncle Paul said.

The five of us started walking towards the barbecue where Ajie and I were probably going to lay all of our cards on the table as far as the scholarship was concerned.