We were going to go for a hike, but Naainish showed up and took us to the carvings in the Boca Negra Canyon. Ajie and I meditated and chanted along with Naainish. It helped us with grandma’s death. Then I found out why I could chant without knowing the chant. And also why Ajie could also chant.

On Wednesday, after teaching my classes, Dr. Joe and I got together to talk about the research project, and we both felt that the paperwork that Dr. Kilmer had done wasn’t worth the paper it was written on. Then we went to the lab, that Dr. Kilmer had used, to look at the work he’d supposedly done. His work was crap. Both Dr. Joe and I were unhappy.

We met with Dean Rutherford and filled him in on what we’d found with the research project. And he wasn’t happy.

About the best thing that happened was that the books are here.

On Thursday morning I was up early and tried to get out of bed without waking Amy. But I knew that didn’t work, when Amy rolled over, and said, “Good morning, love.”

“Good morning.”, I said. “I was going to let you sleep in.”

“I figured that you would. I’ve been awake for a little while, lying here, and listening to you breathe.”

“Is my breathing that interesting?”

“Anything you do is interesting.”

“You’re too easy to entertain.”

As I got dressed, Amy slipped on her robe and went downstairs to make breakfast. After I had my teaching clothes on, I joined her in the kitchen. And we put together a quick breakfast. Then I said, “We need to make a good frybread taco breakfast real soon.”

“Maybe this weekend.”, Amy replied.

“I’d love that.”

After we’d finished eating, I checked the contents of my briefcase, kissed Amy so long, and started towards the door. But I didn’t make it as far as the door, when Amy said, “Stop!”

“What’s wrong?”, I asked.

She walked over to me, and said, “What’s wrong. I’m probably not going to see you for more than twelve hours, and I need more than one kiss.”

She threw her arms around my neck, and we shared a long, deep, kiss. When we broke the kiss, I said, “Well that will make it until nine this morning.”

Then I kissed her. When we broke that kiss, I said, “That’s ten o’clock.”

I went to kiss her again, she stopped me, and said, “If you don’t get out of here, you’ll be late.”

“So?”

“Kai, you are impossible. You have a class to teach.”

“I know. Depending on what Dr. Joe wants to do, I may be back here before you leave for the ER. Ayóó anííníshní. (I love you.) ”

“I hope you make it back before I have to leave. Ayóó anííníshní aldó’. (I love you too.)”

As she fixed my lipstick, Amy said, “Now, get out of here.”

I gave her a quick kiss and walked out the door.

Charlie, our next door neighbor, was just walking out of his apartment door, we greeted each other, then started walking towards the university together. I asked him, “You have an early class?”

“Yes.”, he replied. “As an elective, I signed up for a class in local history.”

“That sounds interesting. I might have to take it.”

“The instructor wants to take us on a field trip this Saturday morning.”

“Where to?”

“I guess it’s someplace with a lot of carvings on stones. And he has someone lined up to show us around.”

I smiled, as I said, “Remember the other evening when we came back and you asked who we were with.”

“Sure. The medicine man.”

“We were just coming back from the carved stones.”

“You were?”

“Yes, it’s a sacred place to the native people. The Navajo call it Tse’ Hone or the rock that tells a story.”

“Why were you there?”

“The medicine man was helping us get over our grandmother’s death.”

“How did he do that?”

“By meditating and chanting.”

“Did it help?”

“Yes. It always does.”

“I guess it might be a worthwhile field trip.”

“It was dusk when we were there and I’d love to see it in the daylight.”

“Why don’t you come along.”

“I’m not in the class.”

“But you’re interested in it. Do you want me to ask the instructor?”

“Couldn’t hurt. But include Amy.”

Once we were on campus, we went our opposite ways. I walked into my classroom, and I was the first one there. So I put away my purse and took the things that I’d need out of my briefcase. I checked to be sure that there was chalk and an eraser on the blackboard tray. Then I walked to the back of the room and waited for the students in my eight o’clock class to show up.

The first to arrive was Dr. Joe. And again he sat next to me. I looked at him and said, “Aren’t you afraid that I’ll bore you to death?”

“No, Kai.”, he said. “I’ll bet that you’ll even keep Dean Rutherford awake.”

I heard a voice behind me say, “She had better keep me awake.”

I turned and looked. It was Dean Rutherford, I smiled, and said, “Good morning, Dean Rutherford.”

He returned the smile, and said, “Good morning, Miss Nez. Dr. Oshie.”

“Good morning, Dean.”, Dr. Joe said.

Just then the students started coming into the room. I looked at the clock, and it said ten to eight. Just before eight I stood up, and carefully walked by the door. I didn’t want to get run over again. I looked out and saw the boy that had almost run me over walking up to the door, and he said, “I got up earlier today.”

“I’m glad.”, I said in return.

Just as he took his seat, the bell rang, I closed the door and walked to the front of the class. I looked the class over, and it looked like everyone was there, even the two Navajo boys.

I then said, “Good morning, gentlemen. Before I start my lecture, I have two things. First, I’ve gone over your quizzes, and in general, they were very good. I’ll have them back to you next Tuesday.

“Also, the books for the class arrived yesterday, and they should be on the shelves by now. Remember if you purchased the wrong book, take it with you to the bookstore, and they will exchange it for the new one. And your assignment is to read the first four chapters before next Tuesday.”

I then picked up my three-by-five cards. Looked at the top one, and started my lecture. And a little over forty minutes later, with a few breaks for questions, I finished my lecture for the day. And I dismissed the class five minutes early.

After the students had left, the Dean and Dr. Joe walked down to my desk. The Dean looked at me for a few seconds, then said, “Miss Nez, you’re a natural.”

“A natural?”, I asked.

“Yes. A natural instructor. Not only did you keep the attention of the students, but you kept my attention.”

“And mine.”, Dr. Joe said. “And most of your students were taking notes.”

I couldn’t say anything.

“Kai, are you all right?”, Dr. Joe asked.

“Yeah.”, I said. “Sorry, I was just a little shocked.”

“Miss Nez.”, Dean Rutherford said. “I don’t think that you need to be monitored in any way. You have exceeded everyone's expeditions. I want to see you receive your master’s degree because I’d like to see you as a regular instructor in this college.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Just then the bell rang, and we knew that the students in my next class would be arriving soon. So Dean Rutherford excused himself and left. Dr. Joe decided to stay through the next class, so we could talk as he walked with me to my grad level class.

My next class went as good as the first one had. With many of the same questions being asked. When this class ended, I packed up my things and headed to my class accompanied by Dr. Joe. As we walked, we talked about the research project. He asked if we could get together in the lab after lunch. I told him that Amy was working in the ER from three to eleven, so I was free. We agreed that I’d stop by his office after I walked Amy to the hospital and then we’d go to the lab.

After my class was over, I walked back to the apartment. And as I figured, Amy was still there. And we made up for some of the kissing that we didn’t finish this morning.

I filled her in on what the Dean had told me. Amy wasn’t surprised, and she said, “Honey, you are a natural public speaker. You are just so at ease when you’re talking to people. No matter the size of the audience or who the audience is made up of. You capture their attention. Why do you think Chief Kinlicheeny asked you to take grandma's place on the Council?”

“I know.”

“Do you like teaching?”

“So far. We’ll see what happen further down the road.”

Then I told Amy about the field trip that Charlie had told me about this morning, and that he said he would check to see if we could go along. She had a sad look on her face as she said, “Promise me that you’ll take me there later?”

“What’s wrong with Saturday?”

“They wanted me to work Saturday morning. And I said yes.”

I looked at and said, “Oh. Okay. I won’t go. I’ll see if Dr. Joe wants to work on the project.”

“No, you go. Just promise me that you’ll take me later.”

“That I’ll do. Let me run upstairs and change, and we’ll run over to the drive-in for lunch.”

I ran upstairs, took off my teaching clothes, and put on a pair of hiking shorts, a nice blouse, and a regular pair of moccasins. When I was teaching, I kept my hair in a ponytail, and I just left that in. Amy and I then headed to our favorite drive-in and a nice lunch.

After lunch, we headed back to the apartment so that Amy could change into her nurses uniform. As I pulled the car into the garage, Charlie walked over, and said, “Hi guys, I spoke with my instructor, and he said that you’re welcome to come along on the field trip. But that the transportation that the university has set up for us was full.”

“No problem.”, I replied. “I’ll drive and follow you. But Amy will be working.”

Charlie looked at Amy, and said, “I’m sorry that you’re not coming. I think that Jackie’s going.”

“I’ll live.”, Amy said. “Besides, Kai has promised to take me over later. But I’ll miss seeing Jackie.”

“I’ve got to run. I’ll see you later.”

“See you, Charlie.”

Then we went into the apartment, and Amy ran upstairs to change. When she came back downstairs, and I don’t know why, but she looked so cute in her nurse’s uniform. I guess it’s just something about a woman in uniform.

Amy noticed the look I was giving her, and said, “What are smirking about?”

“Oh.”, I replied. “You’re just so cute in that uniform.”

“You’re bad.”

“I know.”

Amy and I walked over to the hospital, and as we were saying so long, Amy asked, “How long do you think that you and Dr. Joe are going to be at it?”

“It’s hard to tell.”, I replied. “It may be until I pick you up at eleven.”

“Good luck.”

“Thanks. I have a feeling that we’re going to need it.”

I walked across campus to Dr. Joe’s office, and as I was walking up to his office, he was also walking up. And he said, “Hi Kai.”

“Hi, Dr. Joe. You don’t look happy.”

“I’m not I was just over at the lab with the Dean, a universities lawyer, the university's police department, and a detective from the Albuquerque Police Department.”

“Why!?”

“Come on in, and I’ll tell you.”

We walked into Dr. Joe’s office. He sat behind his desk, and I sat in front of it. Then he said, “The university is going after Dr. Kilmer.”

“Oh. For what?”

“A lot of things. They gathered up everything, and I mean everything. They have all of the paperwork, and anything and everything from the lab.”

“Where does that leave us?”

“At square one.”

“As with nothing?”

“Nothing but a copy of the original request and associated paperwork.”

“You know.”, I said. “It might be for the best. We won’t be trying to rethink Dr. Kilmer and trying to make the things that he’s failed to make work, work. When they won’t work in the first place.

“We’d be looking at this with fresh minds. Open minds. And we may see things that Dr. Kilmer never tried to see.”

Dr. Joe looked at me for a few seconds, then he said, “You’re right, Doctor Kai. Fresh minds without any clutter may get this done.”

“Doctor Kai? That’s a long way away. If ever.”

“Kai, I see it in you.”

“I don’t know. I’ve got to get through this masters first.”

“You’ll have no problem with that.”

“Where do we start on this project?”

“Changing the subject?”

“Yes. And setting priorities. We need to try to finish the research project by the dead line.”

“You’re right. Have you read the original request and paperwork that was with it?”

“Yes. But I want to reread it and digest the information a little better. The last time I read it, I did so believing that Dr. Kilmer had done something. Now I want to read it with a fresh mind.”

Dr. Joe opened his briefcase, took out a manila folder and handed it to me, as he did he said, “They let me make copies of this before they took the originals. And this is your copy. It’s a copy of the original proposal and attached paperwork.”

“I wish we were closer to the resort. I know a perfect place there to sit and read this.”

“We’re going to have to go there with you one day, and you can show us around.”

“I’d be more than happy to, but I guess I’m going to take this paperwork back to the apartment, find a nice station on the radio, curl up on the couch, and read and make notes.

“And on the way to the apartment, I’ll stop by Nunzio's, pick up a pizza and a bottle of wine. That way I’ll also have something for Amy when she’s done at the hospital.”

“I like your thinking, Kai.”, Dr. Joe said.

I left Dr. Joe’s office, and I did stop at Nunzios’. I picked up a pizza and two bottles of wine and went to the apartment. I didn’t sit on the couch, but at the table, so I could eat pizza, drink wine, read, and take notes.

I hadn’t noticed the second page of the proposal when I read it before. Was it even there? It was the letterhead that caught my attention. It was from the Los Alamos National Laboratory. I nearly choked on my pizza.

I kept reading, and it got interesting. As I continued reading my mind got working on what they wanted from this research project. Why had Dr. Kilmer dropped the ball on this?

When I finished reading, I called Dr. Joe at home, and we talked for a long time.

Finally, I looked at the clock, and it was a quarter to eleven. I said so long to Dr. Joe, locked the proposal in the safe, and ran to the hospital. I got to the ER just as Amy was walking out. On the way to the apartment, I filled Amy in on what had gone on. And she was amazed.

When we were at the apartment, Amy was happy for the pizza and wine. Both of us were teaching tomorrow morning, so it wasn’t long until we were in bed and asleep.

Friday morning we were up early, Amy’s first class was at eight and mine wasn’t until nine. After my ten o’clock class I was back at Dr. Joe’s office, and we discussed the project. And we decided on a path of attack. We sat, and hand drew some circuits.

We then figured out what we’d need to do what we wanted to do. Dr. Joe said that he’d order what they didn’t already have in the labs. It would take a few days before everything arrived, and then we could get together in the lab. We then sat together and drew up some rough circuit diagrams.

We’d missed lunch, so we broke up at a little after four, and I headed to the apartment. When I walked in not only was Amy there but Dr. Joe’s wife, Mary, was there. I asked, “What’s up?”

“Oh not much.”, Amy said. “I thought I’d teach Mary how to make frybread tacos.”

“Oh yum!”

“See, Mary. I told you she’d love it.”

“Does Dr. Joe know that he’s eating here.”

“Yes.”, Mary said. “I told him when I talked to him earlier.”

Just then there was a knock on the door, I opened it thinking it would be Dr. Joe, but it was Charlie. And I said, “Hi Charlie, what’s up?”

Charlie said, “I just wanted to check and see if you were still going with us tomorrow?”

“Sure. Where are you meeting and what time?”

“Eight o’clock in the parking lot behind the student center.”

“That’ll work. It’ll give me time to walk Amy to the hospital and get back here. You and Jackie want to ride with me?”

“Sure.”

“I’ll be back here by seven-thirty, and we can leave then.”

“Sounds good. We’ll see you then.”

“See you.”

Just then Dr. Joe pulled up and parked in front of the apartment. As he got out of the car, I yelled, “You’d better park it in the driveway, or you’ll get a ticket like I did.”

Dr. Joe got back in the car and moved it into the driveway. As he walked up to me, he said, “You got a parking ticket.”

“Yeah.”, I said. “When we were broken into, I parked on the street, and I forgot it was a fire lane. And there were also two police cars out here most of the time.”

That evening Amy and I taught Dr. Joe and Mary how to make an excellent southwestern frybread taco. We had a great meal. We had good friends, good frybread tacos, and good wine. And I refused to talk shop with Dr. Joe. But he brought up Dr. Kai.

He said it was possible to skip a master’s degree and go straight to a doctorate. My reply to that was, “I don’t know. I wasn’t planning on going that far.”

“It’s something to think about, Kai.”, Amy said.

“Are you thinking about it?”, I asked her.

“Maybe. Except I won’t skip my masters.”

Saturday morning I dressed in a pair of hiking shorts, a nice blouse, and my hiking boots. I put my hair into a single braid. And I went with very little jewelry, a bracelet, and a couple of rings.

After breakfast, I walked with Amy to the hospital, and as we said so long, I said, “I’ll miss you today.”

“I’ll miss you too.”, Amy replied. “Behave yourself.”

“I’ll try.”

“Get out of here. I want to kiss you so bad right now, and I don’t care who sees.”

“See you at three.”, I said as I turned and walked away.

When I got back to the apartment, I filled both of the canteens with water and put them in the backpack. Then I grabbed my cowboy hat and walked into the garage. I tossed the backpack and the hat into the backseat. Then I got in the car, opened the garage door, fastened my seat belt, started the car, and pulled out of the garage. As I closed the garage door, Charlie and Jackie walked up.

I said, “Morning guys. You might as well sit up front.”

As they got in, I said, “Fasten the seat belts.”

They both fastened the seat belts without question. We drove over to the parking lot behind the student center. There was a bus there with a bunch of students standing around, Charlie got out of the car, walked over to the bus, and spoke with someone. Then he walked back to the car, got in, and said, “We’re ready to go.”

Everyone else got on the bus, then we followed them west and across the Rio Grande River. The bus wasn’t going to the same place that we went the other evening. Finally, we pulled into an area that had a sign that said, Piedras Marcadas Canyon.

There were a couple of other cars here, and one looked familiar, it looked like Naainish’s pickup truck. I wondered, if Naainish was the guide?

We parked the car, and got out. I grabbed the backpack and hat from the back seat. And, Charlie asked, “What’s the backpack for?”

“Amy and I hike in the mountains, and we always take water and a blanket with us.”, I replied. “And here you’re hiking in the desert and water is more important.”

“I noticed that you have on hiking shorts and boots.”

“Always. These trails can be a little rough, so good footwear is important.”

“And, I figure the hat is because of the sun.”

“Right on.”

I finally spotted Naainish, and he made me feel under-dressed. He was wearing a pair of white linen trousers, a fancy red shirt, a pair of wrap moccasins, a red headband, and a Concho belt. I said to Charlie and Jackie, “Come with me for a second.”

The three of us walked up behind Naainish, and I said, “Yá’át’ééh, Naainish Yazzie.”

He turned around with a surprised look, and said in Navajo, “Yá’át’ééh, Kai Nez. What are you doing here?”

I replied in Navajo, “A couple of friends invited me to come on the hike.”

“Where’s Ajie?”

“Working at the hospital.”

Then in English, I introduced Jackie and Charlie to Naainish. Just then the instructor for the class walked up, and said, “Mr. Yazzie, it’s good to see you.”

“And you, Mr. Kelly.”, Naainish replied.

“I see you know some of the students?”

“Just one, Kai Nez. And, she’s a graduate assistant.”

Looking at me, Mr. Kelly said, “And what’s your interest in the petroglyphs, Miss Nez?”

“Like Naainish, I’m a Navajo, and the rock carvings are part of my culture. The Tse’ Hone, or the rock that tells a story, are important to us.”

“Well, then I’m glad that you decided to join us.”

Mr. Kelly then turned to his students, and said, “Okay everyone gather around.”

Once everyone had gathered around, Mr. Kelly said, “What you are going to see today are the petroglyphs that we talked about in class. Some of these carvings have been dated back over three-thousand years. But most of them were made between the fourteenth and seventeenth century.

“We have two special guests with us today. The first is Naainish Yazzie, he is a member of the Navajo Tribe and is a medicine man. The other, who I just met today, is Kai Nez. She is also a member of the Navajo Tribe and is a graduate assistant at the university.

“As both of them will tell you these rock carvings, or as the Navajo call them Tse’ Hone, or the rock that tells a story, is important culturally to the native people. They contain complex and varying meanings.

“I’ll now turn you over to Mr. Yazzie.”

Naainish walked up, and said, “Yá’át’ééh abiní, everyone. What you will see as we walk the trail are about four-hundred or so rock carvings. And as these are around five-hundred years old, we ask that you do not touch them. Look at them, take pictures, but please don’t touch.

“I know the meaning of a couple of them, and I’ll explain those to you when we’re by them.

“I will also advise you to stay on the trail and watch where you’re walking and putting your hands. There are rattlesnakes here. They will try to avoid you. Respect them, and they will respect you.”

“So if you will follow me.”

Jackie asked me, “That does Yá’át’ééh abiní mean?”

“It’s a Navajo greeting, and means good morning.”

With that Naainish started walking the trail and everyone followed. I walked towards the front of the group with Charlie and Jackie, and every once in a while Naainish would stop and point out an interesting rock carving.

We’d been walking for about twenty minutes when we heard a scream from the back of the group.