We’d also had to calm Jackie and Charlie’s fear of not fitting in with this group of people. They felt that they weren’t important enough. Once they were sitting, having lunch, and talking with others, things were fine.

On Monday, Dr. Joe and I had set up the circuit that we’re working on for a long time test, started it, and gone to lunch. At lunch, Dr. Joe and I overheard a conversation. Three men had stopped in the faculty dining room for a cup of coffee, and we'd overheard their conversation. The discussion was about me. My lawyer was very interested in what was said by the men.

As we ate dinner, Amy told me about her talk with Vickie about Jackie being a friend and also being one of her students. It was agreed that Jackie should transfer to one of the sections taught by the other graduate assistant, Cheryl McKane.

I’d asked Amy, “Have you told Jackie yet?”

“No.”, Amy replied.

“Don’t want to. Do you?”

“No. But, it would be for the best if she did.”

“You’d better tell her as soon as you can.”

“Your right.”

“After dinner?”

“I guess.”

After we’d cleaned up the dinner dishes, we were getting ready to go over to Jackie and Charlie’s apartment, when there was a knock on the door.

Amy and I both went to the door, and when I opened the door, Jackie and Charlie were standing there. I said, “Hi guys. What’s up?”

“Oh. It looks like you’re going out. We’ll come back.”, Jackie said.

“No. We were coming over to your place. So, come on in.”

We walked back into our apartment, sat down, and Jackie asked, “Why were you coming to our place.”

“Just to talk.”, Ajie said.

“Us too.”

“Oh. Great minds. So what’s on your mind.”

“No, you go first.”, Jackie said.

I could tell that Jackie was nervous about something.

“Nope.”, Amy said. “You’re our guests. You get to go first.”

Nervously, Jackie looked at Charlie, then said, “Well … You remember we were talking about me transferring out of your class into one of the others?”

“Of course.”

“Well … I thought that I’d better tell you before you got the paperwork.”

I saw Amy smile a little as she said, “Tell me what, Jackie?”

“That … That I …

“That you transferred classes.”

“How did you know?”

“Honey, we were just coming over to your place to tell you that you should.”

“Really?”

“Yes, honey. Really.”

I saw Jackie relax, as she sat back on the couch. It was like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

And Amy continued with, “I talked with Dean Etsitty today. And we talked about our friendship, yours and mine, and you being in my class. And she agreed that it would be best if you transferred to one of Cheryl McKane’s classes.”

“I was so worried that you’d be mad.”, Jackie said.

“Honey. We talked about it. So, why would I be mad?”

“I don’t know. I was being silly. I didn’t want to hurt our friendship.”

“It would take a lot more than that to hurt our friendship. And, honey, remember that I’m here for you if you need anything. And, I’ll tell Cheryl about you.”

“Thank you.”

“See honey.”, Charlie said. “I told you that she wouldn’t be mad.”

“Anyone for a milkshake. My treat.”, I said.

The four of us got into the car and ran over to our favorite drive-in. As we sat there enjoying our milkshakes, Charlie said, “This is something we don’t splurge on.”

“Charlie.”, I said. “I don’t consider this splurging. I consider this the nectar of the gods.”

That night as we were cuddled in bed, Amy said, “The nectar of the gods huh?”

“Sure. A ginger ale milkshake can’t be beat.”

“I know something that can beat it?”

“What’s that?”

She rolled over, looked at me, smiled that sexy little smile of her, and said, “A foot massage.” Then she kissed me, and …

The rest of the week was … I guess normal. Either Dr. Joe, or I, or both of us together, checked on the research project on a regular basis, and it was doing fine. We decided to let it run until next Monday. Nothing weird or out of the ordinary happened.

Except that, on Wednesday my uncle and the guys from the resort delivered the furniture to Jackie and Charlie. And Jackie and Charlie were like kids in a candy shop. And like last time, I slipped Francisco and the other guys a five dollar bill each. The other guys climbed into the truck, and Francisco said, “Miss Kai, again thank you for the tip. The boys say thank you too.”

“Francisco.”, I said. “Like last time, you and the guys were a big help. And, it’s appreciated.”

We then helped Jackie and Charlie break in their new furniture. No, not the bed.

Then on Friday, surprise, surprise, the letter from the Board of Regents arrived. Amy wasn’t home when it arrived, so I waited for her to come home before I opened it.

When Amy came home, I held the letter up to her, and said, “Guess what’s here?”

“Oh. I see.”, Amy said. “An important letter from the University’s Board of Regents. Why haven’t you opened it?”

“I thought that we’d have an official grand opening.”

I took a sharp knife from the kitchen drawer and carefully slit the letter open. Then with a little fake pomp and ceremony, I removed the letter and unfolded it. Amy looked over my shoulder, and she said, “That’s very nice letterhead paper that it’s on.”

“I think we’ll have it framed.”, I said.

“No, once this is all over, we need to burn it in the bonfire at the resort.”

“I like that.”

Then we sat down and read the letter:

October 11, 1967
 

Dear Miss Nez,
 

We would like to cordially invite you to the next Board of Regents meeting to be held at 1:00 PM on Wednesday the 18th of October 1967 in Room 176 of the Student Union Building.
 

We have heard that you are an exceptional instructor in the Electrical Engineering field. And seeing that you are a woman, which is unusual in that field, we would like to meet you.
 

Please RSVP to our office at 555-1212.
 

Sincerely,
 

Benjamin E. Jenkins, Secretary”

Amy chuckled as she said, “Cordially invite you. What a joke.”

“Think I should call the lawyer?”

“I would say that’s step one.”

I took out Mary Harman’s business card and called her office, and once I was through the receptionist, and Mrs. Harman answered, I said, “Mrs. Harman, this is Kai Nez.”

“Hello, Kai.”, Mrs. Harman said. “I’ll bet you have some news.”

“You’re right. The letter from the Board of Regents came in today’s mail.”

“Read it to me.”

I read the letter to Mrs. Harman, and when I finished, she said, “I love the words, Cordially invite you.”

“That’s what Amy said.”, I replied.

“Have you called the Board yet?”

“No, my first call was to you.”

“Good. Call them after we hang up.”

“Should I sound excited?”

“No, just be yourself. And I’d like to get together with you tomorrow.”

“We can do that. Where.”

“Why don’t I come to your place. Say tomorrow at one?”

“That works. Should I call anyone else?”

“Let’s wait until we meet tomorrow.”

“Okay. So long. We’ll see you at one.”

“I thought that you had a saying that you used instead of so long?”

“You remembered. It’s hágoónee', and it means, see you later.”

“Well then, hágoónee'.”

“Hágoónee', Mrs. Harman.”

I looked at the letter, dialed the number for the Board of Regents, and talked to the secretary. I told her that I’d be there next Wednesday at one o’clock.

The letter went into the safe, and Amy and I went out to La Placita Dining Rooms for dinner, then we drove up to the Sandia Crest to look at the stars without any pollution from the lights in Albuquerque. And it was worth the drive even though it was cold and windy up there. There was no one else up here, so we cuddled.

On Saturday morning, we did some necessary housekeeping things and even went grocery shopping. We ate lunch and waited for Mrs. Harman to show up.

Right at one, we heard a car pull into the driveway, and shortly there was a knock at the door. I walked to the door, opened it, and Mrs. Harman was standing there, and I said, “Yá’át’ééh, Mrs. Harmon.”

Mrs. Harmon smiled, and said, “Hello, Kai. Another Navajo word for me?”

“Yes, it means it is good and is used as a greeting.”

“Well, then, “Yá’át’ééh, Kai. And are you ready to put an end to this?”

“Very ready. Come on in.”

We went into the living room, and Mrs. Harman, Amy, and I sat on the couch, and I handed Mrs. Harman the letter. She removed the letter from the envelope and read it. Then she said, “Straight to the point.”

“Yes.”, I replied. “It almost sounds like an invitation to a nice meeting.”

“Yeah. To an inquisition.”

“So, what are we going to do.”

A little over an hour later as Mrs. Harman was leaving, she asked, “So, Kai, I hope you’re ready for this?”

“With the backing of everyone that I hope will be there, yes.”

“Good. Just tell all of your people from the tribes that we’re meeting in room 185 of the Student Union at Noon. I’ll take care of everyone from the University, except for your friends and you tell them. And, we’ll go from there.”

“Sounds good. We’ll see you Wednesday.”

“Remember just go on like normal.”

“We will. Hágoónee', Mrs. Harman.”

Mrs. Harman smiled as she said, “Hágoónee', you two.”

As I closed the door, I said to Amy, “I like her plan. I just hope it accomplishes what we want it to.”

“To get them to leave you alone.”

“That’s all I ask. To be left alone.”

I made a couple of phone calls to put the plan in motion and then we spent the rest of the afternoon studying and preparing for our classes. I even worked on the mid-term exams for my two classes. After dinner, I asked, “Feel like a walk?”

“Of course. Where do you want to go?”

“I was thinking about the Rio Grande trail.”

“Oh. You want to see if the Eagles will visit.”

“Of course.”

“Going to call Lieutenant Zimmerman?”

“I thought I might. But just before we leave.”

“Want to invite Jackie and Charlie?”

“Sure.”

We walked next door to Jackie and Charlie’s apartment, knocked on the door, and Jackie answered, and said, “Hi guys. Come on in.”

As we walked in, I said, “We just stopped to see if you’d like to go for a walk with us?”

“That might be fun.”, Charlie said. “Where?”

“Along the Rio Grande.”

“So, no mountains or bears.”

“No, but maybe an Eagle or two.”

“Really. I’ve never seen an Eagle except in a zoo.”

“Me either.”, Jackie added.

“We might even be joined by one of the park rangers’”

“Why?”, Charlie asked.

“He’s also a naturalist and wants to see the Eagles.”

“That’s cool. But, don’t they have Eagles here?”

“Yes, but Bald Eagles are rare.”

“How did you find the Bald Eagles?”

“They found us.”, Amy said. And she went on to tell Jackie and Charlie the short version of the story of our Eagles at home and then out here.

When she finished, Jackie said, “So, you think that these two are the ones from back in Ohio?”

“It’s possible.”, I said. “But I doubt it. It’s a long way for them to fly. And, we’ll never know for sure.”

Amy and I went back to our apartment and changed into our hiking clothes. I called the park office and asked if Lieutenant Zimmerman was working, and he was. I told the girl on the phone who I was, and to let Lieutenant Zimmerman know that we’d be at the parking area by the Rio Grande where we’d met him before in about twenty minutes and that we were going to look for the Eagles.

We then got in the car, pulled out of the garage, and were met by Jackie and Charlie. They got into the car, and we headed to the parking area along the Rio Grande. When we arrived at the parking area, Lieutenant Zimmerman was already there. And so was Ranger Franklin.

As we got out of the car, Lieutenant Zimmerman and Ranger Franklin walked up to us. And Lieutenant Zimmerman said, “It’s nice to see you again Miss Nez and Miss Young.”

“It’s also good to see the two of you again.”, I said. “These are our friends Jackie and Charlie Hamilton. Jackie and Charlie this is Lieutenant Zimmerman and Ranger Franklin.”

They exchanged greetings. Then I said, “Ready to see if the Eagles show up.”

“I’ll be pleasantly surprised if they do. Let me get my camera and binoculars.”

Lieutenant Zimmerman got his camera and binoculars, and we started walking north up the river trail. We went about a mile up the river to the bench across the river from the island. Jackie and Amy sat on the bench, and the rest of us stood and looked for the Eagles.

After we’d been there for about five minutes, Amy said, “Look up the river.”

All of us looked up the river, and a large bird was flying towards us. We all watched as it got closer, and landed in the dead tree on the island across the river from us. And then we were surprised as another Eagle flew in from behind us, circled, and landed in the same dead tree that the first one had. Jackie said, “Those are big birds!”

“Yes, they are.”, Lieutenant Zimmerman said. “They have about a seven-foot wingspan and weigh ten to fourteen pounds.

“And, they’re so beautiful.”

“Aren’t they.”, Amy said.

“Miss Nez.”, Lieutenant Zimmerman said. “I’ve only seen a single Bald Eagle around here before, and that was a year or two ago. And now there’s a pair, and it does appear that these two are here to see you. Because we’ve never had a report of any except for yours.”

The Lieutenant then took his camera and started taking pictures. And Ranger Franklin passed his binoculars around so that we could all get a close look at them.

The Eagles had been visiting for about five minutes when we heard a gunshot, and the branch just below one of the Eagles shattered. Without hesitation, I took off running up river towards where the shot had come from.

I heard a mans voice behind me yell, “Miss Nez. Miss Nez. Stop. Let us do it.”

Well, my adrenaline was flowing, and I wasn’t going to stop.

I don’t know how far I’d run, but I finally saw them, and one of them saw me. He pointed at me, said something, the two of them turned and ran. I kept after them and was gaining. I yelled at them to stop. Of course, they didn’t. The one carrying the rifle tossed it into some brush and kept running.

I kept after them and closed in on the one that had tossed the rifle. One of them looked over his shoulder, and I heard him say, “Hey! It’s only a girl.”

They stopped. I didn’t. I got to the two guys quickly, and they decided to fight me. The first one that I got to took a swing at me, I ducked his swing, and I quickly put him on the ground with a kick to his midsection that knocked the wind out of him. The other one then took a swing at me, I grabbed his arm, twisted it against his back, tripped him and put him on the ground, and then knelt on him. He was the guy that had had the gun.

Only seconds later Lieutenant Zimmerman and Ranger Franklin were with me.

“Okay, Miss Nez. We have them. Are you okay?”, Lieutenant Zimmerman said.

“I’m fine.”, I replied.

The two Rangers got the guys up off the ground and handcuffed them. Then the guy that had the gun said, “Why were you chasing us?”

“You know why.”, I said. “The same reason that you ran, you shot at the Eagles.”

“What Eagles. I didn’t see any Eagles.”

“You’re a liar. I also saw you toss the rifle into the brush.”

“No, you didn’t. I didn’t have a gun.”

“You’re still a liar.”

“Besides they’re only birds.”

“Buddy, that was not a good thing to say to her.”, Lieutenant Zimmerman said.

“Well, they're only dumb birds.”

“Dumb birds!”, I said. “You’re the dumb one. They’re Bald Eagles. They’re a symbol of your country. Eagles are protected by Federal law. They’re sacred to the native people. And you tried to kill one of them.”

“No, I didn’t.”

Ranger Franklin read them their Miranda Rights, and we started walking back towards the bench, and the Lieutenant used his portable radio to call his dispatcher and tell her what had gone on. As we got close to where the guy had tossed the gun, I walked over to the bush where I saw the gun land, spotted it, and said, “Lieutenant, the rifle’s right here.”

“Don’t touch it.”, the Lieutenant said. “We can get fingerprints off of it.”

I heard the guy that had tossed the gun say, “Shit.”

Then we heard the other guy say, “I told you not to do it.”

I looked at both of them, and said, “This is going to come back and bite both of you in the ass.”

The Lieutenant came over, picked up the rifle by the barrel, smelled the muzzle, and said, “Recently fired.”

I looked at the gun and then said to the guy, “You missed with this gun. You’re a crappy shot.”

“I woulda got ‘em with a second shot.”, the guy said.

“What did you just say?”, the Lieutenant asked.

“Shit. Nothin’. I didn’t say nothin’.”

We got back to the bench, and Amy asked, “Kai are you all right?”

“I’m fine.”, I replied. “Are the Eagles okay.”

“Yes, they took off right after the shot but didn’t go far. They flew out of sight, then came back, circled us, and flew to where we figured that you and the Rangers were. Then they circled you a few times, then headed north.”

“At least they’re okay. Idiot people.”

I saw the Lieutenant take the guy that hadn’t done the shooting aside and talked to him. When the Lieutenant walked back over to us, he said, “I may be able to get that one guy to turn on the shooter. When I mentioned Federal time, he got worried.”

I just smiled.

We then walked back down the trail, towards the parking area, with everyone including the two knuckleheads. We were met about halfway by a couple of Rangers and two Albuquerque police officers.

We finished the walk to the parking lot, and the Lieutenant told the two Albuquerque officers the story, and then turned the guys over to them. And he told them that he’d be down to do the paperwork shortly.

Then he added loud enough to be sure the two knuckleheads heard him, “I’ve got to contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to see if they want to file Federal charges against these two.”

“Do you think they will?”, “I asked.

“Probably. The Feds are strict in enforcing the laws covering the Eagles. Both Bald and Golden Eagles.”

Then the Lieutenant said, “Now, Miss Nez, you should have let us do what you did. You could have gotten hurt or worse.”

“Sorry, Lieutenant.”, I said. “But I was mad. Remember those two Eagles are friends. And someone tried to hurt them. And I reacted.”

“You did put the hurt on those two guys. They weren’t expecting a girl to do what you did.”

“They swung at me first.”

“Yes, they did. I saw the whole thing, and you’re Karate moves were very nice.”

“Thank you. You know Karate?”

“I have my black belt.”

I bowed to the Lieutenant, and he returned it. Then I said, “Amy and I are both orange belts.”

“Very good.”

Then he took all my information and a statement for his report. Plus he took Amy’s information and statement, as well as Jackie’s and Charlie’s, as witnesses.

Then, the Lieutenant said, “Miss Nez, I want to thank you for letting me know that you were coming here this evening. Seeing those two Bald Eagles and getting some pictures of them will make a nice article for the park department’s newsletter.”

“That would be nice.”, I said. “But, wouldn’t that bring more people out here. Some who might try to hurt them like those two guys.”

“How about if I don’t mention where we were when I took the pictures, and only use close-ups of the birds and not show the tree’s location?”

“That would probably work.”

“Also Miss Nez, it was interesting seeing those birds fly in like they knew you were waiting for them.”

“I told you that they were friends.”

As Amy, Jackie, Charlie and I got into the car, I said, “I need a milkshake.”

“I’ll go along with that.”, Charlie said.

On the way to the drive-in, Jackie said, “Kai, I’ve never seen anyone react as quickly as you did.”

“Jackie.”, I said. “I was mad that someone would shoot at such a magnificent bird. And I didn’t want to give them a chance for a second shot.”

“You could have been hurt.”

“I took that chance.”

“And, I was surprised that the jerk that shot at the Eagle would do that with the possibility of other people being around.”, Charlie said.

“I was too, Charlie. But, I guess that there is a fool born every minute. And, I’ll bet that he didn’t even realize that we were there.”

As we were drinking our milkshakes, I turned, looked at them, and said, “Jackie and Charlie?”

They both said, “Yes.”

“That meeting of the Board of Regents is next Wednesday, and I don’t want you two there.”

“Why?”, Charlie asked. “Aren’t we your friends? Don’t you need our support?”

“Don’t take it wrong. You are our friends, and your support is important. But, I don’t want you in the middle of this if something goes wrong. You’re students here, and if this goes bad and you’re there, it could go against you. And I don’t want that.”

“Kai, I didn’t think of that. And you’re right. Just remember that we’ll be thinking of you.”

“I know Charlie.”