When we’d stopped at Cousin Ahiga’s shop, there were two guys in the shop that had Ahiga worried. But they’d left right after we’d arrived. After we’d finished with Cousin Ahiga and Yas, we headed to our favorite drive-in for dinner. Our favorite car-hop was there, and we chatted for a minute before we ordered. After a good dinner of cheeseburgers, fries, and milkshakes, yes, ginger ale milkshakes, Amy and I headed back to the apartment.

Amy spent the evening studying. Even though she had straight A’s on everything in both classes, Amy still had to take the finals on Thursday.

I called my aunt and uncle and told them about what we’d found in the false bottom of the wood box. And they were pleasantly surprised. I promised to bring the things with us when we came up on Friday.

Tuesday and Wednesday were regular days for us. The only thing unusual was that on Tuesday afternoon instead of going to the library I went to the used furniture store and found two folding chairs and a small round folding table for our patio. When Amy saw them, she smiled, and said, “This will be nice. A place to sit and watch the Sunset.”

“Yeah.”, I said. “Watch the Sunset over the top of the universitie’s buildings.”

“We’ll still see it.”

“I know, but it won’t be as good as it is at the resort or up on the Crest.”

“Maybe we should go up to the Crest after dinner on Thursday.”

“I like your thinking, love.”

On Thursday, I didn’t walk Amy to the university. She went by herself for the final in her morning class and was back at the apartment in time for us to have a leisurely lunch on the patio before she had to leave for her afternoon class. As we ate, she said, “That was an easy final, six of the ten of us in the class finished almost at the same time.”

“What’s the afternoon one going to be like?”

“Probably like this mornings.”

“I may walk over with you, and sit in the building’s first-floor lounge and wait for you.”

“Okay.”

Half-an-hour after Amy had left me in the lounge that afternoon, she walked back in, and said, “That wasn’t bad.”

“All done I take it?”

“All done. Now I want a milkshake.”

We walked back to the apartment, Amy changed into shorts, and we headed to our favorite drive-in. I went with a ginger ale milkshake, what else, but Amy went for a strawberry milkshake. We also shared an order of french fries.

On the way back to the apartment, Amy became amorous. It was hard to drive with her this way. When we pulled into the garage, Amy asked, “Help me relax?”

“Sure.”, I replied. “What do you have in mind?”

With a cute little smile, Amy said, “A foot massage.”

A little over an hour later Amy and I were lying side by side on our bed, and Amy was enjoying the afterglow of an excellent foot massage. She looked over at me, and said, “Lover, you sure know how to help me relax.”

I smiled at her, and said, “Anything for my lovely lady.”

“Anything?”, she asked with a sly grin.

“Anything.”, I replied. What was she thinking?

We eventually got out of bed and dressed in our hiking clothes. And we walked over to Nunzio's pizza for dinner. It was only a fifteen-minute wait for a booth, and then we had our favorite pizza and a bottle of wine. As usual, we just ate half of the pizza and finished the bottle of wine.

I figured with the food taking care of the wine that I could drive. But when we got back to the apartment I was still feeling the effects of the wine, so we decided not to chance it and to sit on our little patio and enjoy what we could see of the Sunset.

Later I found out what Amy meant when she said, ‘Anything.’ And I’ll leave that to your imagination. But I’ll tell you this, Amy took charge. Boy did she.

It was Friday the official last day of the Summer quarter, but Amy had finished her classes yesterday. And today we both had meetings, Amy with her preceptor and me with my graduate advisor. And I should be meeting the researcher that I'd be working with and I was looking forward to that meeting.

Amy and I walked to campus, and she went to the College of Nursing, and I went to the Graduate School. I was early for my meeting with Mr. Robertson, so I sat in the outer office and waited.

Finally, Mr. Robertson came out and got me, and we talked for a while about what my master’s thesis would be on. And we settled on a subject of computers and integrated circuits. We talked a little more about what I needed to do for my masters.

There was a knock on the door, and Mr. Robertson said, “That should be Dr. Kilmer.” Then he said, “Come in.”

The door opened, and a middle-aged man walked in. Both Mr. Robertson and I stood. Then Mr. Robertson said, “Dr. Kilmer, this is Tom Young. The grad-student that I spoke to you about. Tom this is Dr. Kilmer.”

I reached out my hand to shake his, and he didn’t take it. I had a bad feeling about this guy.

Mr. Robertson then said, “Dr. Kilmer, Tom is hoping to work with you on your research project.”

Dr. Kilmer looked me over, and said, “He’s an Indian!”

“Yes, sir. I am.”, I replied. “Is there a problem?” I’m beginning to like this guy less and less.

“Robertson, why didn’t you tell me he was an Indian. He has a normal name, and I figured that he was normal. If I’d known he was an Indian, I would have said no to him right then and there.”

“Sir!”, I said. “I asked you a question. Is there a problem with me being an Indian?”

“Hell yes. You don’t have the intelligence to work on what I’m working on.”

“Are you saying that, because you think that I’m a second-class citizen.”

“It’s a known fact that your people aren’t intelligent.”

“Sir, you are a bigot, ignorant, and well behind the times. I graduated Cum Laude from the Ohio State University with a degree in Electrical Engineering. And I don’t have to sit here and listen to your bigoted spiel.”

“Ohio State must have lowered their requirements.”

“Sir, you are out of line!”

I looked at Mr. Robertson, and he wasn’t sure what to say. So I looked back at Dr. Kilmer, and said, “Sir, no matter what, I would not work for you now.”

Then I looked at Mr. Robertson, and said, “Mr. Robertson, I don’t know what Dr. Kilmer’s problem is. But he’s at a university that is in the middle of many different Indian nations, why is he allowed to stay here. Maybe I made a mistake coming here to work on my Masters. I didn’t realize that the University allowed bigots on their faculty. And it’s people like him that will give this University a bad name.”

I then went to walk out of the office, and as Dr. Kilmer lunged at me, he yelled, “Why you little … ”

He was maybe six inches taller that I am and was able to grab my arm, but I was able to grab his other hand, twisted it, bent it backward hard, and force him on to his knees. He let out a scream of pain. I looked down at him and said, “Sir, I’m the wrong person to attack. I’m a peaceful person, but I will stand up for myself.”

“You. … You broke my wrist.”

“No, sir. I haven’t broken your wrist yet. But if you ever attack me again, I will break it.”

There was a knock on the door, and Mr. Robertson said, “Yes.”

The door slowly opened, and Mr. Robertson secretary looked in. She saw Dr. Kilmer kneeling on the floor and me holding his hand and bending his wrist back. Her eyes got big, and she said, “Mr. Robertson when I heard all of the yelling I called security. Are you okay?”

“Yes, Mary. I’m fine.”, Mr. Robertson said. “Show security in when they get here.”

I let loose of Dr. Kilmer’s hand, and he started to get up.

I said, “Sir, if you get up, don’t make a move towards me, or I’ll put you right back on the floor.”

He changed his mind and stayed kneeling on the floor.

As I started to say something to Mr. Robertson, two university security officers walked in. One of them asked, “What’s going on here?”

Dr. Kilmer looked up from the floor, pointed at me, and screamed, “That … That … damned Indian attacked me.”

I calmly said, “No, sir. I didn’t attack you. I defended myself when you attacked me.”

“No, you attacked me for no reason.”

One of the officers looked at Mr. Robertson, and asked, “Mr. Robertson, what happened?”

“Like what Mr. Young said. Dr. Kilmer started to attack him, and Mr. Young defended himself. There was a little more to it than that, but that was all verbal.”

“Will you sign a statement to that effect?”

“Yes, I will.”

“Robertson, I’ll have your job.”, Dr. Kilmer screamed.

“No, Dr. Kilmer you won’t.”

“I need to go to the hospital. That damn fool Indian broke my wrist.”

I just shook my head.

“Jim.”, the one officer said to the other one. “Take Dr. Kilmer to the hospital emergency room, have his wrist looked at, and get his statement. I’ll stay here and get the statements from these two.”

The one officer took Dr. Kilmer away. And the other officer took Mr. Robertson’s statement and mine. Then as the officer was leaving, he said, “Mr. Young, I wouldn’t worry about anything. From what we saw, and what you and Mr. Robertson told us you were defending yourself.”

“Thank you, officer.”, I said. “I hope I won’t see anything like that again.”

“I hope so too. But unfortunately, you might.”

“I know. I’ve seen it before.”

The officer left, Mr. Robertson looked at me, and said, “Mr. Young, I’m truly sorry that this happened.”

“So am I.”, I replied. “My wife was attacked by a woman from the nursing licensing board for no reason. And now I’m attacked. I’m having a problem trying to see why we should stay here.”

“That was your wife that that happened to?”

“You know about that?”

“Yes, most of the faculty do. But not who was involved.”

“Why do they know?”

“Rumors.”

“I see. I hope the rumors are correct.”

“Around here they usually are. Now, what are we going to do with you.”

“What do you mean?”

“We need to find you a research project to work on and someone that needs a grad-assistant.”

“Probably nothing left in my major.”

“I’m going to have to check.”

“Maybe I’ll just forget about my masters for now.”

“Don’t do that. We’ll work something out.”

“Why would you do that for me?”

“Because you’re a student here and you were wronged.”

I just sat there and looked at Mr. Robertson for a few seconds, then said, “With everything that has recently happened, I was just about ready to pull the plug on this whole thing and go back home. But with the people like those at the college of nursing, that worked with my wife, and you, there might be some hope for this.

“But I still have to think on this and talk with my wife.”

“Mr. Young, I’ll let you know as soon as I know something.”

“Thank you, Mr. Robertson. And I’ll let you know as soon as we decide something.”

“Two last question, Mr. Young. First I’ve never seen anyone move so quickly to defend themselves.”

“I’ve been attacked before. So both my wife and I study Karate.”

“I see. And you stood up to Dr. Kilmer. Most students wouldn’t have done that.”

“Mr. Robertson, I will stand up to anyone, even the President of the United States, if I know I’ve been wronged. And I knew that Dr. Kilmer was in the wrong and I told him so.”

“Yes you did. I’ll be in touch.”

I left Mr. Robertson’s office, and just wandered around campus thinking of what had happened to Amy and now what had happened to me. Did I want to stay in New Mexico? Did I still want to do my masters out here? Did I still want to do my masters? What is Amy going to think?

I eventually made it back to the apartment. I went in, and Amy wasn’t back yet. I went out on the patio and sat. I was looking at the western sky and just thinking when Amy walked up. She looked at me, and asked, “Honey, what’s wrong?”

I looked up at her, and replied, “Everything.”

“What happened?”

“Sit, and I’ll tell you.”

Amy sat on the chair on the opposite side of the table, and we looked at each other. Finally, Amy said, “So, tell me.”

“You know how you were thinking about going back to Ohio? Now I’m thinking about it.”

“Oh no! What happened?”

Amy sat there and listened to me tell my story. When I finished, she said, “I can’t believe this. First I get attacked and now you. Is it something in the water out here? What do you want to do?”

“I’m not sure yet. But I think I’d like to go for a hike?”

“Along the river?”

“No. I think I’d like to go up to the Sandia Crest, take a hike, then maybe sit for a while.”

“Let's get changed, and I’ll tell you about my day.”

“Oh?”

“It’s not as interesting as yours. But interesting.”

“I don’t think that we’re going to make the barbecue tonight. Are we?”

“I don’t think so.”

“I’ll call my aunt and uncle and tell them. Want to go up tomorrow?”

“I’d love to.”

We went into the apartment, and I called my aunt and uncle and explained what was going on. My aunt wasn’t happy with what I told her but said that they’d be glad to see us on Saturday. Then Amy and I changed into our hiking clothes. And we headed up to the Sandia Crest, and on the way, Amy told me about her meeting with Dr. Etsitty.

She told me that they wanted her to teach two sections of a course called, ‘Nursing Fundamentals.’ It's an introduction to nursing. And it should be a piece of cake for her to teach. And the other grad-assistant would be teaching the other two sections of the class. They also have an orientation for all new nursing students on the Friday before classes start and that she had to be there.

Then Amy said, “I also met the director of the emergency room and the head nurse. Both of them seem to be very nice. But we may not be going home before classes start.”

“Oh! Why?”, I asked.

“They’re short-handed and want me to start as soon as I can.”

“And when is that?”

“Ah. … Monday.”

“Monday?”

“Uh huh. And they said that if I did that, that they’d be sure that I had some time off, either at Thanksgiving or Christmas so that we could go home.”

“And what kind of hours are you going to be working?”

“This week and next, as I learn the ER and the hospital, I’ll work Monday through Friday, 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM. The week before classes start I don’t know yet except for Friday which is the orientation.”

“And then?”

“Since I’m a grad-assistant, and will be teaching and taking classes, they will schedule me around that. The sections that I’m teaching meet at 8:00 AM and 9:00 AM on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. One of the classes that I’m taking meets only once a week at 10:00 AM on Monday. The other class meets at 9:00 AM on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

“They aren’t going to make you work a forty hour week. Are they?”

“No. But I can see that I may work a lot of afternoons, evenings, and weekends.”

“How do the regular nurses work?”

“Here they work a four-ten.”

“A four-ten. What’s that?”

“You work four ten hour shifts and then have three days off.”

“Well, I guess I signed up for the duration.”

“Don’t sound so down. We’ll have time together.”

“I know. But planning anything is going to be tough. And I don’t even know if I’m going to be working or not. Or even working on my masters.”

“I know. But, because of the way we love each other, we’ll make it work.”

“Thank you. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

We made it up to the Sandia Crest, and we’d only taken our side arms with us. And it felt funny hiking with a gun on your hip, but I guess it’s better to be prepared. We hiked one of the trails that was a little harder than what we were used to. It started winding down the east slope of the mountain. After we’d hiked a couple of miles, I dug out the maps and found that it would eventually take all the way down to the area that we’d hiked when we’d found the picnic areas.

Then I looked back up towards where we’d come from, pointed, and said, “We need to hike back up there.”

Amy looked to where I was pointing, and said, “Oh. Do you think we need to start back up?”

“Yes.”

We followed the trail back up, and when we reached the trailhead where we’d started, Amy said, “We’ve never hiked anything like that before.”

“I know.”, I replied. “There’s nothing like this back home.”

We walked over to one of the observation areas and found a seat. I pulled the canteens out of the backpack, and we finished the water that was left in the them.

I said, “I wonder how far we can see from up here?”

“I don’t know, honey.”, Amy replied.

“Well, we have you figured out. Now, what about me?”

“Honey, don’t sound so down. You knew that nurse’s work weird schedules in a hospital. And then you add the teaching and taking classes.”

“I know. I’ll get used to it. It’ll just take time.”

“You’re right. Now we have to think about you. What did your advisor say?”

“That we’d work something out.”

“Do you think he meant it?”

“I guess. Mr. Robertson sounded sincere.”

“Give it a chance. Or maybe talk to our car-hop friend and see if they’re hiring.”

I looked at Amy, and said, “Get serious. What happened today wasn’t funny. I know I have classes, but I don’t want to sit around doing nothing while you’re working or teaching. I know that there will sometimes be days that will be boring, but I’ll live with it. I just have to have something to keep my mind active.”

“I’m sorry. I was just trying to add a little silliness to this.”

“I don’t need that right now. I need your support. Your understanding.”

“Sweetheart. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. I do understand and support you. Please forgive me?”

I looked at her, and there were tears in her eyes. Not good for old softy me. I put my arm around her and pulled her close. She cuddled closer to me, and whispered, “Forgive me? Please.”

“Yes.”, I said. “I forgive you.”

We sat there quietly for about fifteen minutes, then I said, “We missed lunch.”

“I’m not hungry.”, Amy said. “I just want to sit here with you.”

We probably sat there another hour, then Amy said, “Honey if this doesn’t work out for you, we will go back to Ohio. We both need to be happy. I’d be happy here or back in Ohio, and I know that you would be happy back there too. So if they can’t come up with a project for you to work on, we’ll head home.”

“No.”, I said. “You have everything all set up out here. They’re counting on you to teach those classes and work in the ER. If the university can’t come up with something for me, I’ll find a job until they do.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Why don’t we grab an early dinner, maybe a pizza, take it to the apartment, and just have a quiet evening?”

“Sounds good to me.”

I stood up, took Amy’s hand, helped her stand, and we walked hand-in-hand to the car. She cuddled close to me all the way to Nunzio's Pizza. I went in and ordered, and we sat in the car and listened to the radio as we waited for the pizza. When I got the pizza, I also got a bottle of wine.

When we were back at the apartment, we decided to sit on the patio to eat. I set the pizza and bottle of wine on the patio table, and we went into the apartment to get plates, glasses, and a corkscrew. Then we sat on the patio, ate pizza, and drank wine. When we finished, I looked at Amy, and said, “Amylin, will you marry me?”

“Huh?”, Amy said.

“Will you marry me?”

“I already did.”

“Will you marry me again?”

“In a heartbeat, lover. In a heartbeat.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

We cleaned up the plates, glasses, the empty wine bottle, and the uneaten pizza, and took them into the kitchen. After we put the pizza in the refrigerator, I happen to glance at the answering machine, and it was blinking, indicating that someone had called and left a message.

We listened to the message, and it said, “Amy, it’s Vickie. Give me a call as soon as you can. It’s important. Bye.”

Amy picked up the phone and dialed Vickie’s number. Then I heard Amy say, “Hi, Vickie. It’s Amy. I got your message. So what’s up?” … “What! You are kidding me?” … “I can’t believe it.” … “What are they going to do about it?” … “They should fire her.” … “No, we didn’t go up to the resort tonight.” … “Tom had a problem with the guy he was supposed to be a grad-assistant for and help with a research project.” … “It was for his masters.” … “Right now, no. But his advisor said that he was going to try and find something for him.” … “I don’t know. Let me ask.”

“Tommy, honey.”, Amy said. “What was the name of the guy that attacked you in
the meeting?”

“Kilmer. Dr. Kilmer.”, I replied. “Why?”

“Vickie.”, Amy said into the phone. “His name was Dr. Kilmer.” … “This Kilmer wasn’t happy that Tom was an Indian and the discussion turned ugly. Kilmer went after Tom, and Tom put him in his place.” … “Yes, he’s fine.” … “Okay. Let me know if you hear anything else on either thing. Oh. By the way. We’re going up to the resort tomorrow for the weekend.” … “Thanks, and we’ll talk to you later. Bye.”

As Amy hung up the phone, I asked, “Why did you want to know his name?”

“Vickie wanted to know.”, Amy replied. “She wanted to see if she knew him.”

“Did she?”

“No. But you won’t believe what else Vickie told me.”

“Whats that?”, I asked.

“I guess that the woman from the nursing licensing board, that gave me a hard time, is … ”