We’d run out, and Amy had checked the only occupant. Amy looked at me and said that it didn’t look good. After the cops and fire department where there, we’d come back inside and were talking with our friends.

Then I’d remembered where I knew this guy from, and I said, “Oh my God!”

“What’s wrong, honey.”, Amy asked.

“I just remembered where I knew this guy from.”

“Where?”

“Remember when I was beaten up on campus.”

“Of cour ... No! Don’t tell me. It can’t be.”

“He was one of the guys. I think he was the leader. What was this guy’s name?”

“I think the manager called him, Robert Charles.”

“I’m not sure.

“Let me call my dad.”, Larry said. “He’ll remember his name.”

Larry got up and walked over to the pay phones. And Maria asked, “Why would Larry’s dad remember the guy?”

“He was lead detective on Tom’s case when he was beaten up.”, Amy said.

“Oh.”

Larry was back in a couple of minutes, and said, “I told my dad what happened and he said that it was the guy’s name. And I’ve got to call him back in ten minutes. He’s going to check on this.”

Amy looked at me, and said, “Pour me another glass of wine.”

Ten minutes later Larry called his dad. We watched him as he talked to his dad. We saw him shake his head, and Amy said, “The guy didn’t make it.”

“How do you know?”, I asked.

“I just do.”

We watched as Larry hung up the phone and walked back to us. He sat and said, “The guy died. And, Tom, it was the guy that led the gang that beat you up.”

I looked at Amy, and I couldn’t read her expression. I did know, that at least right now, I didn’t feel sorry for the guy. Amy looked at me, and just said, “Take me home.”

A short time later we were pulling into the driveway at home. Nothing was said all the way home. My mother met us at the door to the kitchen, she hugged Amy, and she said, “Maria called and told us what happened. Amy, honey, are you all right?”

“I will be, mom.”, Amy replied. “But right now I need a shower.”

Amy took my hand and led me to our room. Once there, she closed the door, turned, looked at me, and said, “Hold me.”

I took her in my arms and pulled her to me. She wrapped her arms around me and held on to me like her life depended on it. I asked, “Honey, are you all right?”

She whispered, “I am now. I’m in your arms.”

I didn’t say anything but just held her.

Finally, we broke the hug, and Amy kissed me. Then she said, “I do need a shower. I’ll see you in the kitchen in a few minutes.”

“Are you sure that you’re okay?”

As she touched the meteorite necklace, Amy said, “Yes, honey. I am. Holding you and feeling you hold me, is all it takes.”

I felt that she was okay. No, I knew that she was okay. So I left her to take her shower and went out to the kitchen. My mom and dad were still there. My mom looked at me, and asked, “Is Amy all right?”

“Yes. She’s fine. I think once we got away from the bowling alley that she was fine. Maybe knowing it was the guy who was the leader of the gang that beat me up helped. But Amy isn’t that way. Life, anyone's life, is important to her.”

“That’s what will help make her an excellent nurse. She cares for people.”

“I know.”

As we sat there, I filled my parents in on what had happened. Shortly Amy, wearing a bathrobe, joined us. And my mother again asked, “Honey, are you really okay?”

“Yes, mom.”, Amy said. “I’m fine. It was traumatic, and it hurts to see someone die. But I have Tommy and you guys, and that helps a lot.”

“Can I get you something.”

“No thanks, mom. I think I just want to go to bed.”

Amy offered me her hand, I took her hand, and stood. We said goodnight to my parents, and Amy led me to our room. As we got there, I asked her, “Why did you touch the meteorite necklace?”

“When?”, Amy asked.

“When we hugged earlier.”

“I felt that it helped me.”

“Really?”

“Uh huh.”

“Hmm.”

“What?”

“I was just thinking back to what Naainish said, that no one else should wear them. And was wondering why he said that.”

“I don’t know. But, you know something else.”

“What?”

“When I was leaning into the car, checking on the guy, and you touched my back. I felt something.”

“What?”

“I don’t know for sure. I think it might have been your spirits helping me, helping me to accept what I was seeing, helping me to do what I could for him. And helping me realize that he was gone.”

I just looked at Amy and realized what she’d said. Then I said, “So I helped you?”

“Very much.”

Without another word, Amy untied her bathrobe, and let it drop to the floor. She was standing there wearing … wearing nothing.

As she walked up to me and started unbuttoning my shirt, she said, “I know of something else that will help me feel better. Make love to me like Kai does.”

And …

Sunday morning, Amy and I had gone to church with my parents. And some of the people who hadn’t seen Amy and me for a while commented on her lovely tan and my dark hair. Amy thanked them, and I just said that I was trying a new look.

After church, we went to lunch with my parents. And after we’d finished eating, my dad said, “Kids, we have something to tell you.”

The last time this had happened, my mom and dad had told us about my trust fund. I gave my dad a look of, now what?

My dad continued with, “You are going to have the house all to yourselves for two weeks.”

“What!”, I said. “Why?”

“Your mother and I are going on vacation.”

“That’s great! Where are you going?”

“Hawaii.”

“Hawaii!?”

“Yes. We decided that we wanted to see Hawaii. So, you’ll need to take us to the airport next Saturday.”

“No problem.”

“Were flying into Los Angeles on Saturday then on Sunday flying to Honolulu.”

“Mom and dad.”, Amy said. “I don’t remember you ever taking a vacation. You more than deserve one.”

“Thanks, honey.”, my mom said. “I had to twist dad’s arm, but I finally talked him into going.”

As we headed home, mom said, “Kids, have you ever looked at your tree?”

“Our tree?”, I asked.

“Remember you planted that twig in my flower garden.”

“Oh yeah. Is it still growing?”

“It’s probably six inches tall and has some needles on it.”

“I guess we’d better check on it.”

“I had to put a small fence around it.”

“Why?”

“Dad almost cut it off with the mower.”

“Dad!”

“I did not. I didn’t get that close.”, my dad said. “Do you know what kind of tree it is?”

“No. There were no leaves or needles on it when we first saw it. We thought it was dead.

“Mom. When you talk to Aunt Ruth tonight would you ask her to ask Uncle Paul if he knows what kind of tree it is, or was?”

“Sure honey.”, my mom replied.

When we were back home, Amy and I walked to the backyard and to the flower garden where we'd placed the twig. We saw the little fence, which was taller than the small tree growing inside of it. We looked at the tree, and Amy said, “I really don't believe that it’s growing.”

“I know.”, I said. “But remember what mom said?”

“Yeah. I know. Spirits move in strange ways.”

“Need I say more?”

“No.”

Amy and I had Sunday dinner with her parents and her brother, Bill. Of course, we had to tell them all about our trip, and why my hair was black. They had the same reaction to our problems that my folks did. And they were amazed when we told them about having the silver jewelry appraised. Bill was interested in the rescue chopper.

Later when we were back at my house, my mother said that she’d talked to Aunt Ruth and that Uncle Paul thinks that the tree was a Colorado Pinyon Pine. Then mom said, “I told them what you did with that piece of wood from the tree that you brought home. And they couldn’t believe that it sprouted.”

“Mom.”, I said. “Don’t you remember what you said when you first saw the sprout?”

“No. What did I say?”

“Spirits move in strange ways.”

“I did. Didn’t I?”

“Yes.”

“I guess they do.”

I looked at my dad, who was sitting there listening to this whole thing. I asked, “Dad, are you okay?”

“I’m a man of science.”, my dad said. “Who has a wife and two children that believe in spirits. And after what I’ve heard and seen over the past couple of years I now believe in them too.

“What happened with that sliver of wood, I thought was impossible. I held it in my hand when we were making the picture frames, and it was dead, but you and Amy planted it, and now it’s growing. How or why I don’t know.”

“Dad.”, Amy said, “Spirits move in strange ways.”

“I know. I know.”

Amy and I went and cuddled on the porch. After a few quiet minutes, I said, “Want to go and see Mrs. Taylor with me.”

“You going to get a trim or something?”, Amy asked.

“Or something. I’m going to have her bleach my hair back to blond.”

Amy sat up straight, and said, “What!?”

“Yeah. I want to get back to my real hair color.”

“Honey, why?”

“After what happened with that guy at the bowling alley the other night, I’ve got to get back to looking like Tom.”

“Honey!”

“That’s twice that something’s happened because I look like an Injun. And I can’t have you being hurt.”

“Tommy, stop it! You can’t help it that some people are so immature. You are a special person. And no one can take that from you. Don’t let people with small minds take everything from you, you are stronger than they are, and you’ve proven that.”

“God I love you Amylin Elizabeth Young.”

“No. It’s Ajie Nez.”, Amy said with a smile.

I took her face in my hands and kissed her. When we broke the kiss, I said, “I still want to go back to being a blond.”

“Why?”

“We’re no longer out west, and I need to be Tom for the wedding.”

“Do like you did last time. Wash it out.”

“It takes to long. And didn’t you use permanent dye this time?”

“Yes, I did.”

“So it won’t wash out easily?”

“Yea. It’ll take longer.”

Monday morning I made three phone calls. The first to Mrs. Taylor to work on my hair. The second to my financial advisor. And the third to the lawyer, Cathy Edwards, that we’d met at the resort.

After I told Mrs. Taylor what I needed to do to my hair, her first comment was, “Not again.” All I could say was, “Yes, again.” And I’ll be seeing her Tuesday morning.

With Cathy Edwards, the attorney, I was able to talk directly to her after getting past the receptionist. I told her who I was and at first, she was surprised that I’d called. I explained that I had two reasons for calling her, one was to talk to her about what we’d talked about out west, and the other was a legal matter. Mrs. Edwards told me that she was free at lunchtime. I told her to pick a place to eat, my treat, that was quiet. So, Amy and I were meeting her for lunch today at eleven.

And our financial advisor we’d be able to see on Wednesday.

As we were getting ready to meet Cathy Edwards for lunch, I asked Amy, “Should I go as Kai or Tom?”

“You’d better go as Kai.”, Amy said. “She doesn’t know about you. Yet.”

"Yet?"

"I know that you are going to tell her about yourself."

"I probably will."

"No probably about it.

So I dressed in my usual padded panties and bra with forms. I decided that one of the fancy skirts and blouses would work. I thought about moccasins, but for here a pair of flats would work better. I wore a pair of the silver feather earrings, a silver bracelet, and a couple of rings. The only necklace that I wore was the meteorite necklace. Amy did my hair in a girl’s ponytail.

Amy looked sharp. She wore a beautiful skirt and top. She also wore flats. And very little jewelry, her wedding rings, the other pair of silver feather earrings, and of course the meteorite necklace. And her hair was in a ponytail.

We walked into the restaurant right at eleven, and the greeter met us. I told her that we were meeting Cathy Edwards. The greeter said that Miss Edwards was already there, and she took us to a booth in the back corner of the restaurant. Cathy Edwards saw us walking up, smiled, and said, “Hello again.”

“Hello, Mrs. Edwards.”, I said.

“Please. Make it Cathy.”

“Cathy it’ll be.”

“If I remember correctly it’s Kai and Ajie.”

“Here it’s Amy.”, Amy said. “Ajie is my Navajo name,”

“That’s right. I remember you telling us that too.”

As we looked at the menu, we talked about her girls and the resort. And how her girls had loved meeting us and buying the skirts and blouses. After we ordered, I said, “As I said. I have two things that we’d like to talk to you about.”

“Okay.”

“When we saw you in New Mexico I felt something with you and the girls. I felt that you might have native blood.”

“Yes, I remember you asking me about that. I started asking some questions of my relatives. And I did find that there was some spoken family history about two of my grandmothers being native women. But no one is sure how far back. But I’m still digging.”

“That would be interesting for the girls to find out about their ancestors.”

“Yes, it would. You said that you sensed that about us. And at the bonfire, the way that you were treated makes me wonder about you. Are you special?”

“Cathy, do you know what a Nádleeh is?”

“No, I’ve never heard of it.”

“It’s a Navajo term that means one is changing. And the Navajo people feel that all Nádleeh are special.” And I went on to explain to Cathy what a two spirit person is, and how I was one of those people.

When I finished, she looked at me for a minute, then said, “You know. If I hadn’t witnessed the way, the native people out there responded to you and talked to you myself. I would say that this was a bunch of nonsense. But, for some reason, this all seems real, and I feel very at ease with you.

“But why are you telling me this?”

“I like to be upfront with people that I like and that I may work with, but I’m cautious of who knows.”

Just then our waitress brought our food.

As we ate, I said, “Cathy, before we talk business there is something else you need to know.”

“There’s more?”

“Cathy.”, Amy said. “Kai is a very complicated person. At first, she even had a Navajo medicine man wondering about her. And, like her, he’s a Nádleeh and understands them very well.”

Then I said, “You’ve met Kai. She’s my feminine spirit. My Navajo side. A Nádleeh has two spirits. My male spirit is a man called Tom Young. And it’s who I really am.”

Cathy just looked at me for a minute. Then she said, “So you’re telling me that you’re gay and that you dress as either a woman or a man?”

“No. I am not gay. Some Nádleehs are. I’m not. I dress in the clothing of which spirit I feel is the strongest at the time. Out west my feminine spirit is always the strongest, and she wants to be a Navajo girl. And I can look good as either a man or a woman.”

“Cathy.”, Amy said. “I married Tom, and believe me I married a man. And he is not gay. He’s a wonderful husband. And a wonderful girlfriend.”

“You two are married!?”, Cathy said.

“Yes. Tom and I have known each other since junior high. We were separated all through high school. But we got back together at the start of college and married shortly after that. And I’ve known that Tom was special for a long time.”

“I’m surprised with all of this.”, Cathy said. “This is all new to me. You look like a woman, but your a man. You’re not gay. And I don’t know why, but as I did at the resort, I feel very comfortable with you.”

“It’s because you are feeling my female spirit.”, I said. “And believing in it. I’ve had others tell me about feeling at ease with me, and when they learn that I’m really a guy, they can’t believe it. But accept it.

“There are some people both here and in New Mexico that know about my two spirits and accept it. People that I’ve been friends with since grade school, relatives, both mine and Amys, a police officer or two, and even a psychologist at the university.”

“Kai.”, Cathy said. “You are something else. I came in here expecting to meet with the two girls that I’d met in New Mexico, and now I find out that one is really a man.”

Amy smiled, and said, “Cathy, isn’t she a girl in spirit?”

Cathy again looked at me, and said, “Yes. She’s a girl.”

“Cathy.”, I said. “I’d like you to keep what we’ve just talked about and what we’re going to talk about to yourself.”

“Kind of like the attorney-client privilege?”

“Yes. But your not our lawyer. Yet.”

“Yet?”

I then explained to Cathy what we wanted to do in the way of a scholarship. She was both surprised and excited about it. She was surprised that we could do something like this. And she was excited as to what we wanted to do.

She told us that she had helped set up other scholarships, but for local things and that she’d have to check to see if she could do it or we’d have to go with a lawyer in New Mexico.

Then I asked Cathy what her retainer fee was? She told me. I wrote her a check for that amount, handed it to her, and I said, “Now you’re our lawyer.”

“I’ll be delighted to be your lawyer.”, Cathy said, “And you’ve turned what was going to be a very boring day into a very interesting day.”

With an adorable smile, Amy said, “We have a way of doing that.”

I reached into my purse and took out a small bag, and as I handed it to Cathy, I said, “I saw these, and thought your two girls might like them.”

Cathy took the bag, looked inside, and said, “You didn’t need to do this.”

“I know. But your girls were so cute, that when I saw these bracelets, I thought of them.”

“Thank you.”

“Our names, address, and phone number are on the check.”

“Good. Let me check into setting up the scholarship in New Mexico, and I’ll get back to you.”

“Actually, the Navajo Nation covers parts of Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. And the capitol is in Window Rock, Arizona. It’s an Indian territory.”

“I don’t know how that’ll affect it. But I’ll look into it.”

Just then I got a bad feeling. I looked at Amy, and she said, “Kai, what’s wrong?”

I said, “Someone just walked in that I don’t have a good feeling about.”

Cathy looked towards the door, and said, “The two senior partners of the firm I work for just walked in with another man. Is something wrong?”

“Kai can sense things about people.”, Amy said. “Like she did with you and your girls. One of the things she can sense is people who don’t like, or who don’t understand, people like she is.”

“Mr. Chambers can be a real stuffed shirt.”

“Is he homophobic?”, I asked.

“No. That would be Mr. Bailey. The one in the gray suit. He’s really outspoken about it. Is this going to be a problem with our arrangement?”

“I don’t think so, as long as they don’t get wind of me or who I am.”

“There should be no reason why they should. I do good work, and they have no reason to question what I do. And they never have.

“They will know that I’m working on setting up a scholarship, but that’s about it.”

The firm’s partners didn’t even see us, as they were in discussion with a third man. As we were saying so long to Cathy, I said, “The next time we meet you’ll probably meet Tom.”

“That’ll be interesting.”, Cathy said.

As we got in the car, Amy asked, “Honey, how did you feel about Cathy?”

“Just like I did in New Mexico.”, I replied. “I feel good about her.”