On our Saturday morning hike on the east slope, we had run into a mother bear and her two new cubs. She’d charged us and lucky for all of us she was bluffing us, as she stopped after a short distance. Using some of the things that Uncle Paul had taught us, we were able to back out of danger. And, we didn’t have to shoot any of the Mountain People.

Since we had our hike interrupted Amy and I decided to plot out where the houses were that we wanted to look at. And we spent the afternoon wandering around the northeast part of Albuquerque looking at houses built out of adobe. Remember we were thinking of buying a house before our parents came out this summer. Someone thought Amy and I were looking at houses to rob, so we ended up meeting two members of the Albuquerque Police Department, and we had a nice talk.

We went to Santa Fe and the Pink Adobe Restaurant for dinner, and who should we find there, but my aunt and uncle. During dinner, we told them about our hike and the bears, and then about looking at houses.

After dinner, we took my aunt and uncle for a ride in the ‘57 Chevy, and then I let Uncle Paul drive it. As we were saying hágoónee', my uncle told us about a house that might be coming on the market shortly.

Sunday after Amy was off work, Charlie, Jackie, Amy, and I took a ride to find the house that Uncle Paul had told us about. And find it we did, and it was a wow moment. I guess that a house belonging to someone who ran a company that builds with adobe would be a beautiful house. And we revisited the house after dark to see what, if any, light pollution there was. And the number of stars that we could see was incredible.

Ajie and I had a serious talk about the house, buying a house in general, and staying in New Mexico.

Monday started finals week for Winter Quarter. And, I was going to be sure that none of my final exams were going to disappear this time. My exams had been scheduled over two days, and each exam period was two hours long. So, on both Wednesday and Thursday, I was giving an exam at eight in the morning and at one in the afternoon. I had an exam in my one grad level class at eight on Monday morning and the other one at eight on Tuesday. And, we had to have our grade reports into the registrar's office by Noon on Saturday.

On Monday morning, I stopped in the engineering college office after my grad level exam and picked up the copies of my exams, took them straight back to the apartment, and put them in the safe. When I was back at the university, I went to Dr. Joe’s office. The light was on, and I knocked. I heard Dr. Joe say, “Come.”

I walked into the office and said, “Morin’, Dr. Joe.”

“Where have you been?”, Dr. Joe said.

“Well, good morning to you too, Doctor Oshie.”

“Sorry, Kai. It’s been a bad morning.”

“Okay. Come with me to the lab, and I’ll fill you in on my interesting weekend.”

“That interesting?”

“Yes. A hike with the Mountain People. A talk with the Albuquerque police. And, seeing a gorgeous adobe house.”

“Mountain People. Aren’t those bears?”

As I walked over to the file cabinet, I said, “Might be.”

I retrieved what I needed to keep working on the breadboard circuit from the file cabinet, put it in my briefcase, and went to leave Dr. Joe’s office. Dr. Joe said, “Okay, Kai, I’ll be over in a few minutes.”

I walked over to the lab and went to work on the breadboard circuit for the research project for Los Alamos. Five minutes after I got started, I heard a key in the door, and Dr. Joe walked in, sat on a stool, and said, “So, tell.”

“Tell what?”, I said.

“About your interesting weekend.”

“What are you talking about? I didn’t have an interesting weekend.”

“Kai!”

With a grin, I looked at Dr. Joe, and said, “Just trying to get you into a better mood.”

“I’m not in a bad mood.”

I looked at him and said, “Yes, you are.”

“Sorry, my car broke down.”

“No biggie. I’ll take a look at it and if I can’t fix it, Charlie can.”

“Charlie?”

“My next door neighbor. So, what won’t it do?”

“It barely turns over.”

“This might be easy.”

“Easy?”

“How old is the battery?”

“I don’t know.”

“Let me work on this breadboard for a while, I want to start tests on it tomorrow, and then we’ll have a look at the car.”

“Okay. Now, tell me about your weekend.”

“Oh, that.”

“Yes, Kai, that.”

As I worked on the breadboard circuit, I filled Dr. Joe in on the details of our hike and meeting the bears. He was worried that we could have been hurt or worse. Then I told him about our tour of Albuquerque looking at houses and then meeting the police. That got a laugh out of him. And, then I told him what my uncle had told us about a house. Then, how on Sunday we’d gone and looked at the house. And what we saw.

“That house sounds amazing.”, Dr. Joe said.

“Yeah. It could be our dream house. But, I don’t know if we’re ready for that big of a step.”

“Kai, if you can afford it and it’s your dream, and you don’t jump on it while you can you’ll hate yourself later.”

“It’s going to take some serious talks with Amy.”

“So, you are planning on staying out here.”, Dr. Joe said.

I looked at him, smiled, and said, “That’s the plan.”

“You know, Kai. I’m glad.”

“Me too. Even though buying a house scares me.”

“It did me too. But, once everything settled down, it was the correct decision.”

“I’ll remember that.”

Dr. Joe went back to his office, and I wrapped up what I wanted to do today at a little bit before Noon. I picked up everything and took it back to Dr. Joe’s office, and he was there. As I put everything in the file cabinet, I asked, “Dr. Joe, since your car is broken, how did you get here this morning?”

“Mary dropped me off on her way to work, and she’s going to pick me up after work.”, Dr. Joe replied.

“Call her and tell her that I’m taking you home. And we’ll see if we can fix your car.”

We walked over to the apartment, and we told Amy what we were doing. Then I ran upstairs to change clothes. When I came back down, we went into the garage, I grabbed a toolbox, put it in the trunk of the ‘67 Chevy, and Amy, Dr. Joe, and I jumped into the car and headed to Dr. Joe’s house.

As we pulled up to Dr. Joe’s house, his car was in the driveway. I parked in such a way that I could use my jumper cables, if need be, to try and start Dr. Joe’s car. As we got out of the car, I went to the trunk and retrieved the toolbox and walked to the front of Dr. Joe’s car and opened the hood.

As I opened the hood, I looked at the battery, shook my head, then I opened the caps on each of the battery cells, and said, “Dr. Joe, come here.”

Dr. Joe walked up next to me. I pointed at the battery and said, “Dr. Joe, look at that battery.”

“What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong!? Look at the terminals, there’s a lot of corrosion, and all of the cells are low on water. And, I think this battery came with the car.”

“Oh.”

“Dr. Joe, you have a doctoral in electrical engineering.”

“Kai, cars and I have never gotten along.”

“Hmm. You probably don’t have any distilled water. Do you?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Okay. We’ll just use tap water. I’ll clean the terminals, put water in the cells, jump start this heap, and we’ll follow you to your service station so that they can put a new battery in. Okay?”

“You’re the doctor.”

I glared at Dr. Oshie, and said, “Just go and get some water in a pitcher.”

Then we did what I said, and we cleaned up the battery. Then we jump-started the car, and it started right up. Amy and I then followed Dr. Joe to his neighborhood service station, and we waited while he talked with the people at the service station. He came back out and said, “All set. They’re going to put in a new battery. Thanks for bailing me out, Kai.”

“No, problem, Dr. Joe.”, I said. “Just take better care of your car.”

“I’m going to have them do an oil change too.”

“Good. I’ll see you tomorrow. Hágoónee' - (see you later), Dr. Joe.

“Hágoónee', Kai and Amy.”

As we pulled out of the service station, I said, “I can’t believe that Dr. Joe doesn’t know anything about cars.”

“Honey.”, Amy said. “Just realize that not everyone knows everything about everything.”

“I know. But, he’s so smart when it comes to electronics that I figured that he knew about cars.”

“Honey. Maybe you just gave him his first lesson.”

“Hmm. Could be.”

We went back to the apartment and had dinner. Then I called my Uncle Paul. And, our conversation went like this:

Uncle Paul answered the phone with a, “Hello.”

I replied, “Hi, Uncle Paul. It’s Kai.”

“Well, Kai, how are you?”

“We’re fine. How are the two of you?”

“We’re good. So, what’s up.”

“Last Sunday we stopped by the house you told us about.”

“So, what did you think?”

“Ajie and I both summed it up in one word, wow.”

“That good?”

“I would say so. But, maybe too much for us.”

“I know it’s a big house. But, it fits your want list.”

“I know, Uncle Paul. And it’s gorgeous on the outside. We ran into Sani Tl'izilani when we got there, and he knew about us. But, he didn’t have time to show us around the inside but told us that we could look around the outside. And we did.”

“You met Sam. He’s one of Mr. and Mrs. Tl'izilani’s four children, and he’s a captain on the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department. Their other two sons run the adobe construction company that their father started, and their daughter is married to a man who is a state senator. Was Sam nice?”

“Yes, very.”

“So, do you want to see the inside?”, Uncle Paul asked.

“Well … to be honest. Yes.”, I replied. “Both Ajie and I would.”

“When could you be available and I’ll see what I can set up.”

“It’s finals week, and I have exams to give on both Wednesday and Thursday at eight and one. And, Ajie has two to give on Thursday at ten
and one. And we have to have our grade reports into the registrar's office by Noon
on Saturday.”

“So, maybe Sunday afternoon?”

“That should work, Uncle Paul. Can you and Aunt Ruth be there?”

“I’ll talk to Sam and see what I can do. And, yes we’ll be there.”

“Thanks, Uncle Paul. Hágoónee' - (see you later).”

“Hágoónee', Kai.”

As I hung up the phone, I looked at Amy. She smiled and said, “So, Sunday afternoon.”

“Yes, if it works out for everyone. Now, are you going to call Larry and Kelly?”

“Of course.”

Amy picked up the phone, dialed Larry and Kelly’s number, and when the phone was answered, I heard Amy say, “How’s that godson of ours?”

Amy and Kelly had a friendly chat. She told Kelly that we’d be flying in late on Friday night, staying with my parents, and flying back out on Sunday right after the christening. And that it would be Tom that would be there.

On Tuesday, Dr. Joe and I were able to spend more time on the research project for Los Alamos. We started running the necessary tests to see if what we’d designed would work. At about three o’clock, we called it a day. Dr. Joe knew, that because of exams, we wouldn’t be back to work on the project until Friday. When I was back at the apartment, Amy and I decided to go for a walk along the Rio Grande. Of course no Eagles.

Wednesday, Amy was working in the ER from seven to three, and I was giving my first exam at eight in the morning. The exams today were for both of my sections in Electric Circuits, and this was the final quarter for this class. So, as I walked the aisle handing out the tests, I said, “Gentlemen, it’s been a pleasure being your instructor these past two quarters. I hope you’ve all learned something from me.”

“Miss Nez.”, someone said. “Thank you for making this class a very interesting class. I think I speak for everyone when I say that you have made this class one of the best classes that I’ve ever had, and we learned many things from you. And, you have instilled a want to learn in us.”

I looked at him and said, “Thank you. You’ve made my day.

“One last thing, I feel that saying goodbye is too permanent. The Navajo people have a word, and I always use that when parting with someone. That word is hágoónee', and it means see you later. And I hope to see all of you sometime in the future. So, hágoónee', and good luck on the exam. You have until nine-fifty to complete it.”

Everyone finished early. Maybe only ten or fifteen minutes early, but early. I packed up and went to Dr. Joe’s office. He wasn’t there, so I let myself in, turned on the lights, set my things on the work table, sat down, and started grading exams. Just before Noon, I took a lunch break after locking all my tests in the file cabinet.

At one o’clock I was giving my other section of Electric Circuits the same short speech that I’d given the class at eight o’clock, and someone said almost the same thing as the guy in the first class said. And, less than two hours later, I had the last exam on my desk. I packed everything into my briefcase and went to Dr. Joe’s office, and still no Dr. Joe. I retrieved the tests that I’d locked in the file cabinet, put them in my briefcase, and headed to the apartment. Today was the first day that I wasn’t able to walk Amy to the apartment after she was off work, and she would probably beat me to the apartment.

The door to the apartment was locked, so I unlocked it, walked in. And, I heard the shower running. I smiled to myselg and re-locked the door.

The shower in the apartment isn’t big enough for two people, but I ran upstairs, undressed, and went into the bathroom. I heard Amy say, “Kai, is that you?”

“Were you expecting someone else?”, I asked.

“Uh huh.”

“Who?”

“Tommy.”

“Well, he’s here. Want him to wash your back?”

“Sure. But, it’ll be a little crowded in here.”

All I can say is dinner was a little late tonight.

As we were cleaning up the dinner dishes, the phone rang. I answered with a “Hello.” … “Oh, hi Uncle Paul.” … “Sunday at one-thirty. We’ll be there.” … “No, that’s not a problem.” … “Thank you. Hágoónee', Uncle Paul.”

Amy was looking at me, and I said, “Uncle Paul has it set it up for us to see the inside of the house on Sunday at one-thirty. He said some of the family might be there.”

“Did he say why?”, Amy asked.

“No.”

“I guess I’d better be sure to have fresh batteries in the flash so that I can take some inside pictures.”

“That would be a good idea.”

Today I was giving the final exams to my class in Electronic Circuits and Systems, and this class had another quarter to go, so there was no talk about hágoónee'. Just good luck on the exam and hope to see you on April 3rd.

While the first class was taking their exam, I finished grading the exams from yesterday. After the morning class had completed their exam, I went to Dr. Joe’s office, and the light was on. So, I knocked, and I heard him say, “Come.”

I walked in and said, “Good morning, Dr. Joe.”

“Good morning, Kai.”, Dr, Joe said. “How are the exams going?”

“I felt that my grad level exams were easy. And the exams for my classes are going good. Everyone has been finishing early.”

“Too early?”

“No. I have a few students that I figured would finish somewhat quickly, and they did. But, I figured that no one would need the whole time, and they didn’t.”

“Have you gotten any of them graded?”

“Just the two from yesterday.”

“How were the grades?”

“Just about what I figured they’d be. No one flunked the exam, and there were only two D’s, a bunch of C’s, a few B’s, and four A’s.”

“That’s good.”

“Yes. I also had something interesting happen yesterday.”

“What was that.”, Dr. Joe asked.

“Since it was the end of the course, I told my class what a pleasure it was to have them in class.”, I said. “And, one of my students told me that I made the class interesting and made them want to learn. And I saw most of the class agree with him.”

“Kai, you do that. When I sat in your classes, there was just something about the way you talk. It makes people listen to you and accept what you’re telling them. You make them want to learn what you are trying to teach them.”

“Really?”

“Yes, Kai. Even the Dean commented on it when we talked after your first class.”

“Oh.”, I said. And, to change the subject, I added, “Well, I’m going to use your work table to grade exams if you don’t mind?”

“I don’t mind. Then we can go to lunch.”

I worked on grading exams for a little over an hour, and then Dr. Joe and I went to lunch. Then I proctored my last exam of the quarter at one.

A little after three, I was back at the apartment, and a few minutes later, Amy walked in, and said, “So, we’re done for the quarter?”

“Except for grading the exams and turning in our grade reports.”

“Let's go for a ride.”

“Where to?”

“Let's visit the Eagles.”

“Okay, then stop for dinner.”

A short time later we were pulling into the parking area at the dam where the Eagles have nested. We walked the trail, took the side trail, and walked up to the nest site. It looked like both Eagles were there. One of them came over to the edge of the nest looked at us and squawked, and was joined shortly by the other Eagle.

Then we heard other noises from the nest. I looked at Amy, and she looked at me, and we smiled. Then, I asked, “Do I hear two different squawks?”

“I think so.”, Amy replied. “And, that’s so cool hearing the young ones.”

“It is. And I can’t wait to see them.”

One of the Eagles took off, circled overhead, and headed towards the river. And, I said, “Probably going for food.”

“I’ll bet you’re right. And I’m ready for food too.”

As the other Eagle went back into the nest, we headed back to the car and to our favorite drive-in.

Our favorite carhop wasn’t working today, but we still had a great dinner. Later back at the apartment, Amy and I worked on finishing grading our exams.

Last night after dinner, Amy and I finished grading our exams. Then this morning, Friday, we figured the final grades for our students and filled out our grade reports. And, we checked each others work. Right after lunch, we walked over to the registrar’s office and turned in our grades.

After we dropped off our grade reports, I went to Dr. Joe’s office, and Amy went to the apartment. She was working the three to eleven shift in the ER, and being Friday night she could be busy.

Today, Dr. Joe and I were going to do some detailed testing on the circuit and start installing the integrated circuits if everything looked good. By four-thirty, we were ready to install the final integrated circuits, the special one. Again carefully checking things, everything appeared to be good.

We hooked up meters to the outputs and slowly applied power and signals to the inputs. We carefully watched as the meters start to register, when we reached the nominal input, we carefully noted the readings on the meters measuring the outputs. And everything looked good.

We knew what the variables on some of the inputs could be, so we carefully adjust those, and checked the outputs. Things were still looking good.

We decided to set the inputs to their nominal values, again noting the output readings. Then Dr. Joe said, “So, Kai, how long do we want to let it run this first time?”

“I’m good until eleven. Amy’s working in the ER and gets off at eleven. So, if you’ll stay until I get something to eat at the student union, then I’ll stay until eleven, and shut it down before I leave. And, then next week we can set up a long term test.”

“Go and get something, and I’ll be here.”

I was back in half an hour with some food, and Dr. Joe went home with a, “I’ll see you Monday morning. Then we can set up a long term test.”

“Say hello to Mary for me.”, I replied.

Just before eleven, I took some final readings, and then carefully shut down the circuit. I disconnected all the test equipment, put the breadboard in my briefcase, and took it to Dr. Joe’s office, and locked the breadboard up in the file cabinet. Then I headed to the hospital and the emergency room, and I got there just before eleven. And, if the number of people in the waiting room was any indication, the ER was very busy.

I found a seat in the corner of the waiting room and waited for Amy. At eleven no Amy. No Amy at eleven-fifteen or eleven-thirty. Then just before eleven-forty-five Amy and a couple of other nurses came out into the waiting room, she saw me, I stood, and walked over to her and said, “Busy night?”

“That’s an understatement.”, one of the other nurses said.

“It was crazy.”, Amy said. “I need a shower and some food.”

“Okay when we get to the apartment, you take a shower, and I’ll order us a pizza.”, I replied.

“Is Nunzio's open this late?”

“On a Friday night. Are you kidding? I think they’re open until two.”

By the time Amy was out of the shower, the pizza was here. We enjoyed pizza and wine, and we filled each other in on how our day went.

Saturday morning, late Saturday morning, when we woke up and were eating brunch, we were trying to decide what to do. Then Amy said, “How dressy are we going to go to see the house tomorrow.”

“I don’t know.”, I said. “Why?”

“Most of the silver is still at the bank.”

“Oh. Yeah. Think we should make a quick run to the bank?”

“Yes.”

We quickly finished brunch, put the dishes in the sink, and ran to the bank. We got there fifteen minutes before they closed, and were the last customers out of the bank as they locked the doors.

On the way back home, we continued our discussion as to what to do this afternoon. So, a short time after we were back home, and had the silver in the safe, we were dressed in our hiking gear. We headed up the Sandia Crest National Scenic Highway to hike one of the trails on the Sandia Crest. We found that there was no snow left on the Crest, but it was still on the cold side.

We hiked a four-mile trail, it was muddy in places, but it was nice to be out visiting with Mother Earth. We had the foresight to bring a change of shoes so that we wouldn’t track mud into the car or the apartment. As we hiked, we were talking about that it might be fun to take the tram to the top and then hike back down along one of the trails on the west slope. We agreed that we’d do that as soon as we could.

The rest of the day we spent doing housework.

Sunday morning I was going to try and sleep in. And it didn’t happen. My mind was working. It was working on the house that we were going to look at this afternoon. Well really the second look, and this would include the interior.

At about four in the morning, I gave up trying to sleep and worked my way out of bed, trying not to wake Amy. And I think that I accomplished it. I tossed on my robe and made my way downstairs. I turned on the radio and found the university’s radio station, and they were playing some beautiful music. I sat on the couch and covered up with the Churro wool rug that I’d been given when I’d gone with Naainish to visit his father. And, I fell asleep.

Sometime later, I felt a kiss on my cheek, I opened my eyes, and Amy was looking at me with a sweet smile on her face. And, she asked, “Couldn’t sleep. Could you?”

“No.”, I replied. “I couldn’t. Too much on my mind.”

“The house thing?”

“Yeah.”

“Honey, don’t worry. Everything will work out for the best.”

“I know. It’s just such a big step.”

“It is. Just like when we married. Like when we moved out here. And like you finding out about being a Nádleeh. And, we always made the correct decision when things like this come up. And, we’ll make the correct decision on a house. It may not be this one. But it could be.”

“You’re right, love. We’ll do this together.”

I went back upstairs with Amy, and we threw on some clothes. Then we made breakfast. As we ate, Amy said, “Love, we need to do your hair.”

“My hair?”

“Yeah. Your blond roots are just beginning to show.”

“I guess it’s about that time isn’t it. I’ll run to the drug store when they open and get some hair dye.”

“Get some for me too.”

I was at the drug store when they opened, and along with the hair dye, I also grabbed a copy of the Albuquerque paper and the Navajo Times. And, it wasn’t long after that that both Amy and I had redyed our hair. It helps to have someone help you.

After a light lunch, we got ready for our look at the house. We knew that Sam Tl'izilani and his family were Navajo, so we were going to dress up. We both did our hair in a single braid with a fancy wrap at the end, and used the simple braided leather headbands. Then for both of us, it was the long skirts and fancy blouses. Wrap moccasins were also a must. Ajie wore the choker that my two grandfathers made. I wore the bone choker with the Concho. We wore the matching silver feather earrings. Concho belts were also a necessary addition for this look. Ajie chose to wear two bracelets and three rings. I also went with two bracelets, but only two rings. Of course, our makeup was minimal.

Just before one we were backing out of the garage and heading north, with Ajie navigating. I didn’t want to get lost. And, just before one-thirty, we were pulling into the driveway of the adobe house. There were three cars here. One was my aunt and uncles car, one of the others was the same car that was here the last time we were here and belonged to Sani “Sam” Tl'izilani, the third car I’d never seen before.

I parked the car next to my aunt and uncles car. Ajie, with her camera, and I got out of the car and walked up to the opening in the courtyard wall, and the fancy iron gate was open. We walked through the gate and down the tiled walkway and up onto the stone front porch. The two large wooden doors were closed, there was a pull rope next to the door, that I took as the doorbell. I pulled the rope, and you could hear a bell inside the house. Shortly the door opened, and Sam Tl'izilani was standing there smiling. He said, “It’s good to see the two of you again.”

I said, “Yá’át’ééh - (it is good), Sam.”

“It’s Kai and Amy. Right?”

“Yes, her Anglo name is Amy Young, but the tribal elders have given her the name Ajie Nez.”

“Well, Kai and Ajie come on in.”

“Sam do you mind if we take some pictures?”, Ajie asked.

“No, not at all.”, Sam replied.

As we walked into the house, I looked at the door jamb, and said, “Sam, how thick are the walls?”

“The exterior walls and the walls of the courtyards are twenty inches thick.”

“Twenty inches!?”

“Yes, Adobe bricks are ten inches thick, and the exterior walls are two bricks thick, and the interior and exterior surfaces of the adobe are covered with a mud plaster to protect them. The interior walls, except the wall between the garage and the house, are of typical lath and plaster on studs construction. The wall between the garage and the house is adobe.”

“All the exterior wall ar twenty inches. That’s amazing.”

“It provides a good thermal mass and helps control the temperature in the house.”

We walked into a nice large entrance way. There was a steel rack of firewood against the far wall of the entrance way. We followed Sam through one of the four doorways off of the entrance way and into a large room. My aunt, uncle, two women, and another man were there.

Sam said, “Everyone, this is Kai Nez and Ajie Nez.

“And I know you know your aunt and uncle.”

I smiled and said, “Yá’át’ééh, Aunt Ruth, Uncle Paul.”

“Hello, girls.”, my aunt replied.

Then Sam moved to the woman standing next to my aunt and introduced his wife, Ooljee, who they call Jean. Then he introduced his sister, Dezba. And, then his brother-in-law, Bisahalani Tso who they call Hal. And, Sam explained that Hal was a state senator.

Then Sam said, “Please feel free to look around to your heart's content.”

“Thank you, Sam.”, I said. “Would you or your sister or both of you please go with us in case we have questions?”

“Of course.”

“And, you don’t mind if we take pictures?”

“No, not at all.”

We looked around the big room first. It had a beautiful big stone fireplace with a hand-hewn wood mantel and a stone hearth. On the opposite side of the room from the fireplace were sliding doors that opened onto the back courtyard. On one side of the big room, you could look into the kitchen and dining room, on the other side were doors, that I assumed led to the bedrooms.

Both Sam and his sister walked around with Ajie, Aunt Ruth, Uncle Paul, and me. Sam started by showing us the almost identical group of three bedrooms that shared a big bathroom, and each had a Kiva fireplace. Then he took us back to the master suite. It was very nice. Very roomy with a large Kiva fireplace, a walk-in closet, the en suite has a full-size tub, a large glass enclosed shower, and a counter with two sinks. What impressed me was the rustic log bedroom furniture.

I whispered to Ajie, “What do you think of the furniture?”

She whispered back, “I love it.”

While we were in the master suite, I noticed that there was a sliding glass door that opened onto the back courtyard. So I asked Sam if we could go out there. He took us out to the courtyard. What wasn’t tiled of the floor was done in loose stone with plantings. There was a beautiful brick lined fire pit in the middle of the courtyard. And there were some nice seating areas. There was the a heavy wooden gate that led to the backyard.

I stood there and looked at the fire pit for a couple of seconds.

Then we went back into the house through the sliding door into the big room. Then he showed us the dining room and kitchen. The dining room had a beautiful wooden table with seating for ten. The kitchen had all modern appliances. Then he showed us the laundry room, and along with the washer and dryer was a large freezer. From there, we went out into the garage, and we saw the two classic cars. And, I commented that we would need room for four cars.

Sam said, “The two of you have four cars?”

“No.”, I said. “But, if we move out here we’d need to find a car for Ajie. Plus I have a ‘57 Chevy Bel Air, and my dad has his ‘53 Corvette out here.”

Sam looked at me and said, “Now there are two classic cars.”

Then we went outside and walked around, and I commented that I loved the landscaping. Sam told us that his mother was very picky about how the house looked.

Then Sam said, “We just did the annual roof service.”

“Annual roof service?”, I asked.

“With a typical adobe house like this, the roof is also made of adobe, and it needs to be serviced every year. It’s to remove any weeds and to be sure that water flows properly to the scuppers.”

“Doesn’t the water leak through the ceiling?”

“Not if the roof was properly installed and properly maintained. My dad supervised the building of this house himself. And the roof was over-engineered.

“My dad made this roof by applying latillas on top of the roof beams, and you can see that in every room. Then he had them lay a five-inch layer of adobe mud on top of the latillas, and then twenty inches of dry adobe dirt on top of that. Then that was contoured with a slope in such a way that channels are leading to the scuppers.

“Then, when it gets wet, the dry clay particles absorbs some of the water, and it creates a membrane that is waterproof.”

I asked, “Does your brother's company do this kind of maintenance work?”

“Of course. They have several crews that do nothing but maintenance work on adobe homes.”

“That’s good to know.”

We went back inside where everyone else was, and sat in the big room with them. Finally, Sam asked, “So, Kai and Ajie, what do you think of the house?”

“Sam.”, I said. “It’s a wonderful house. Isn’t it, Ajie.”

“Yes, it is.”, Ajie said. “And, would make a wonderful home.”

“I sense a but?”, Sam said.

“It’s a big house. Maybe too big for us.”

“Kai.”, my Aunt Ruth said. “It may be big, but isn’t this everything that you and Ajie said that you wanted in a house?”

“Yes. But it’s also a big step.”

“I know. How about you, Ajie, your uncle, and I go out in the courtyard for a minute?”

The four of us excused ourselves and walked out onto the back courtyard and sat. I won’t go into detail about what we talked about, but my aunt and uncle made me feel better about buying a house. We probably talked for about ten minutes, and then we went back into the house.

As we sat down, Sam said, “Kai, I know that you and Ajie are interested in the house. We probably won’t put it on the market until the middle of April, and if we don’t have to use a realtor, we’d be willing to accept less than the market value. So, if you let us know, let’s say, by April 15th, we will try to make a deal that will make us all happy.”

“Sounds reasonable to me.”, I said. “Any idea what you’re going to be asking?”

“Not yet. But I’ll be sure that you’re the first to know as soon as we do.”

“Good. Are any of the furnishing going to be sold?”

“Yes, everything. Is there something that you’re interested in?”

“We saw a few things that interested us.”

“And?”

“Well, the dining room set is very nice.”

“So, is the furniture here in the big room.”, Ajie added.

“And, the bedroom set in the master suite.”

“Not interested in the furniture in the three bedrooms?”, Sam asked.

“We have two bedrooms of furniture at the apartment, so we’d probably bring that.”, I said. “And, maybe use the third bedroom as an office until we need it.”

“We might be able to work out a deal since we wouldn’t have to sell everything separately.”

“We’ll keep that in mind.”

“I hope we can work things out.”, Sam said

“I think we can.”, I replied.

The whole time we’d been here I’d been watching Sam’s sister, Dezba. I was feeling deep sadness from her. I know she’d lost her father a short time ago, and now her mother was in a nursing home. Could I help her?

“Dezba.”, I said. “I hope that I’m not prying, but can I ask what’s bothering you?”

“Nothing.”, Dezba replied.

“No, I can tell that something is bothering you.”

“How could you?”

“Dezba.”, Aunt Ruth said. “You know that Kai is a Nádleeh – (a two spirit person).

“Yes, I guess I do.”

“She is a special Nádleeh. She also has the power of the wolf.”

“Oh!”

“Dezba.”, I said. “Please come and sit with me in the courtyard.”

“Honey.”, Dezba’s husband said. “You know you’ve been depressed since your father died. And, now with your mother in the nursing home, it’s gotten worse. Go with Miss Nez. She may be able to help you.”

As I stood up, I offered Dezba my hand. She looked up at me, reached up, took my hand, and I helped her stand. Then I led her out onto the courtyard, and to one of the benches. We sat. I took both of her hands in mine, looked her in the eyes, and said, "I know your sorrow. I lost my grandmother a while back. We were very close, and the loss hurt. But, I now remember her with a smile.

"There is a prayer that has helped me and others. It’s called Life Must Go On.

“Grieve for me, for I would grieve for you.
Then brush away the sorrow and the tears
Life is not over, but begins anew,
With courage, you must greet the coming years.
To live forever in the past is wrong;
It can only cause you misery and pain.
Dwell not on memories overlong,
With others, you must share and care again.
Reach out and comfort those who comfort you;
Recall the years, but only for a while.
Nurse not your loneliness, but live again.
Forget not. Remember with a smile.”

When I finished, Dezba looked at me and said, “Miss Nez, you are special. I felt something as you held my hands and recited that prayer. And I do feel a little better. I hope that when my mothers time comes that I can handle it.”

“Dezba, first it’s just Kai. And, when your mothers time comes, please let me know. I’ll try to help her and the family with her passing. I can’t do it for everyone, but I'll try.”

“Kai, thank you. I’ll let you know. I’m afraid that it may not be very far away. Her heart was broken when my father passed. They were very close for many years.”

“I understand. It’s hard to lose a loved one. But, it happens to us all. It’s part of life. But as the last line of the prayer says, ‘Forget not. Remember with a smile.’”

“I will, Kai.”

We got up and walked back into the house. Dezba’s husband looked at her. She smiled and nodded. Then he said, “Miss Nez, I learned a lot about you while you were outside. You were the one that set up the scholarship for the Navajo children.”

“No, sir.”, I said. “Ajie and I did that with the help of anyone and everyone who has contributed to it. We just set it up with the support of the leaders of the Navajo Nation.”

“And you’ve done other things.”

“I may have. But, they’re not important. I just do what I feel needs done.”

“And, on top of this, you are at the University of New Mexico as an instructor and researcher while working on an advanced degree.”

“Yes, sir, I am. And, so is Ajie. One thing I will ask. Ajie and I are private people. Too many people already know about us, and we’d appreciate it if nothing goes outside of this room. And, sir, it’s just Kai.”

“Kai, I appreciate your request, and I’ll honor it.”

“Thank you, sir.”

It was a little after four when we said, thank you and hágoónee' - (see you later) to Sam and the members of his family. I received a hug from Dezba. And, we left with my aunt and uncle.