I’d told Dr. Joe that I wouldn’t be in to work on the project on Monday afternoon, as Amy and I wanted to talk to the bank. We’d talked with the loan people at the bank, and they had been positive about us being able to secure a loan. Then we’d talked with our lawyer, Mary Harman, about buying the house. And she suggested that we talk with Chief Clah, as with his position with the Navajo Nation he dealt with a lot of real estate things.

We did call and talk with Chief Clah. He was surprised that we were looking at the Tl'izilani house. But, he agreed to help us with it.

On Wednesday, I’d been too nervous to work on the project, and Dr. Joe had chased me home. When I’d gotten to the apartment, Amy had just heard from our lawyer and had the information on the tax value of the house. Then we heard from the bank, and they had accepted our loan application. We took Charlie and Jackie out with us for hamburgers, fries, and shakes in the ‘57 Chevy, and we’d put the top down.

Thursday was going to be an interesting day, the antagonist in my eight o’clock Computer Design class was going to make a decision. Was he going to stay in the class or was I going to buy his book back?

I was in my classroom just as the first bell at seven-fifty rang. I sat there and watched as everyone walked in and took seats. As the eight o’clock bell rang, I noticed that my antagonist was in his seat.

I had a surprise for my class, their first pop quiz. As I walked up the aisle passing out the quiz, I said, “This is just a little five-question quiz to see if I’m getting the subject across. Be sure to put your name and section number on the test.”

After I’d handed out the tests, I went and sat at my desk. It wasn’t long until I saw people finish the test. After ten minutes, I asked if there was anyone that wasn’t finished. No one raised their hand, so I told them to pass their quiz towards the aisle, and then pass them to the front. And it was only a minute or two until I had all the test in my hands. I walked back up on the stage, set the quizzes on the desk. And, lectured for most of the remaining time. I was going to let them go five minutes early.

As I was giving them their reading assignment for Thursday, my antagonist stood, and said, “Miss Nez, may I have a minute.”

I looked at him and said, “Yes, sir.”

“Miss Nez, I have to apologize to you and the class for what I did and said on the first day of class. I was out of line. You do know your subject, and you present it in such a way that makes it interesting. Your lectures aren’t boring. They cover other, important things on the subject.”

I think I surprised him when I called him by name when I said, “Well, Mr. Johnston, I want to thank you for your apology. And, I hope that by the time the class is over in June that I will have instilled some knowledge and encouraged you to be curious and learn more.”

“I’m sure you will, Miss Nez.”

“All right, gentlemen, you have your reading assignment. Have a good weekend, and we’ll see each other on Tuesday.”

My second class was as good as the first, except I think that the word had gotten out that they were having a pop quiz.

At eleven, after my grad class, I walked into Dr. Joe’s office, and he wasn’t there. So I went to work on the project. I very carefully, using a magnifying glass, looked at all the solder joints that I’d made. I was looking for cold solder joints, bridging solder joints, and so forth. Then I took various meter readings. And, so far, so good. Then I started placing the integrated circuits into the correct sockets, and when I finished that I took some additional meter readings.

Then just before I was going to lock the board in the file cabinet and go to the lab to get the test equipment that I needed, I heard a key in the door, and in walked Dr. Joe. After the usual greetings, I said, “I’m going to run and get the test equipment.”

“So, you’re finished with the board?”

“I think. Everything looks good, and the next step is powering it up.”

“Go get what you need.”

I ran to the lab and retrieved what I needed to run the tests. When I was back in Dr. Joe’s office, I carefully hooked up what I needed to. Then with Dr. Joe watching the output, I cautiously started applying power. When I reached the nominal input values, I looked at Dr. Joe and asked, “Well?”

“What I’m seeing looks good.”, Dr. Joe said. “Try applying something to the input.”

I slowly brought up the input signals, and I watched Dr. Joe for a reaction. He started nodding yes, and slowly got a smile. I hit the nominal point of input strength and walked around to where Dr. Joe was and looked at the meters. What I was seeing was the same as what we saw from the breadboard version of the circuit.

Dr. Joe looked at me and said, “Kai, you’ve done it again.”

“No, we’ve done it.”

“Kai you did most of the work.”

“You provided some good suggestions.”

“But, you put it all together.”

“Okay.”, I said. “Let’s stop this. We did this as a team.”

“You’re right.”, Dr. Joe said.

“Thank you.”

“What do we need to do next?”

“I’d like to run a long term test.”, I said. “Let’s say at least twenty-four hours.”

“With school in session, we can’t block off this wing of the building like we did before.”

“I know. But, we need to do that test before we turn this over to Los Alamos.”

“I agree.”, Dr. Joe said.

“Could we set up a twenty-four-hour test?”, I asked.

“Yes, but we’d have to babysit it.”

“I know.”

“When could you do it?”

“Tomorrow or Sunday.”, I said. “I’m a little busy on Saturday.”

“I know. The house.”, Dr. Joe said. “If we start the test early tomorrow morning, then we could take turns being here.”

“I have an eight and nine o’clock tomorrow morning. I could be here before seven, get it set up and running as long as you were here before eight.”

“No problem there.”, Dr. Joe said.

“I’ll just need to be out of here early on Saturday morning.”, I said.

“If we shut it down at seven on Saturday morning. Lock everything up. We should be good to go. We’ll just set up a schedule, so at least one of us is here.”

“Let’s do it.”

Friday morning, I was in Dr. Joe’s office before seven setting up the test. And, Dr. Joe walked in at seven-thirty. We started the test running, and I headed for my eight o’clock class.

I’m not going to bore you with the next twenty-four hours, other than to tell you that at seven on Saturday morning Dr. Joe was all smiles as we took the final readings, and shut down the test.

One last thing I’ll tell you is that Amy made a stop at our bank, transferred money from our savings account to our checking account, and then had the bank cut a certificated check made payable to Sani Tl'izilani and Dezba Tso.

As we were cleaning everything up, Dr. Joe asked, “So today's the big day?”

“If you mean with the house. Yes.”, I said. “We should know one way or the other by tonight.”

“Call me and let me know?”

“Sure. If you really want me to.”

“Kai, I asked. Didn’t I?”

“Yes. I’m sorry the nerves are starting again.”

“I can imagine.”, Dr. Joe said.

“But, we’ll call you and let you know.”, I promised.

“Good. Now, get out of here.”

I looked at Dr. Joe and said. “Thanks for being a good friend.”

“Kai, with you and Amy it’s easy.”, Dr. Joe said. “Now, go!”

As I walked to the door and turned the handle, I said, “I’m gone.”

I walked over to the apartment, and Amy was there waiting for me. And something smelled good. She saw me sniffing the air and said, “I know you didn’t have any breakfast, so I’m making breakfast tacos.”

“Only the Great Spirit understands how much I love you.”, I said.

She smiled and said, “I think I know. Now come help me finish.”

At about twelve-thirty, Ajie and I were walking into the VFW Post where the feast was being held for Mrs. Tl'izilani. We were both wearing Biil dresses and wrap moccasins. We’d braided each other's hair into a single braid with the four different color leather strips woven into them that represent the sacred mountains, black, white, turquoise, and yellow. At the end of our braids was a fancy end wrap.

We each wore one of the braided leather headbands with one of the Eagle feathers hanging at our left ear. We also wore the matching silver feather earrings.

Concho belts are a must with the Biil dresses. We both wore chokers, I wore the one that my two grandfathers made, and Ajie wore the bone choker with the Concho. Ajie loves rings, so she was wearing five, and only one bracelet. I only wore two rings but had on two bracelets.

As we walked into the hall, there was soft flute music playing, and the wonderful smell of food. There must have been fifty people already there. We looked around, and we spotted Chief Kinlicheeny, and he was talking to Sam Tl'izilani, his sister Dezba, her husband Bisahalani “Hal” Tso, and Naainish.

Sam Tl'izilani saw us standing there, we saw him say something to everyone, they all looked at us, and then following Sam, they all walked towards us.

As they walked up to us, Sam said, “Kai Nez and Ajie Nez, I’m glad to see you.”

“Thank you for inviting us, Mr. Tl'izilani.”, I said.

“Please, it’s Sam.”

“Okay, Sam. And it’s Kai and Ajie.”

“Yes, Kai and Ajie. I know that you know my sister, Dezba and her husband Hal. But, do you know these other two gentlemen?”

“Yes, we’ve known the Chief and Naainish for some time.”

“I thought you might.”

“Yes.”, Naainish said. “Kai is a special Nádleeh - (two spirit person), and she’s well known to the Navajo people. And, Ajie is also well known.”

“I need to see some of the others that are here. Please enjoy the food, and we’ll talk after the feast.”

“We’ll see you after the feast, Sam.”, I said.

We talked for a little while, then Ajie and I excused ourselves and started walking around. We picked up a little food, stood, ate a little, and talked with people. Then we were found by both sets of my aunts and uncles. We chatted for a short time. Then Chief Clah walked up, and I said, “Yá’át’ééh, Naat'áanii Chah. - (It is good, Chief Clah.)”

He smiled, and said, “Yá’át’ééh, Kai dóó Ajie.”

Then he and my aunts and uncles exchanged greetings. Then Chief Clah asked, “Did you find out anything from Miss Harman?”

I opened my purse and handed him the paper that Amy had written the tax valuation on. Chief Clah looked at it and just nodded yes. Then I said, “She also told us that Sam and his sister are the ones that are the current owners.”

“Smart.”, Chief Clah said. “Bypassing probate that way.”

“So, what do you think?”

“Let’s wait and see what they put on the table.”

“Okay.”, I said. “Sam said we’d get together a little after three.”

“That’s good.

“Kai.”, my Uncle Paul said. “Do you want us to stay?”

I looked at Chief Clah, and he said, “Paul, I don’t think that it’s necessary, unless you want to find out what the outcome is.”

“I’d like to stay.”, Aunt Ruth said.

“Me too.”, Aunt Ginny said.

“I guess we’re staying.”, Uncle Paul said.

By three o’clock, most everyone had left. And Sam Tl'izilani, his wife Jean, his sister Dezba, and her husband Bisahalani “Hal” Tso, who is a state senator, walked over to where the seven of us were sitting.

There were no introductions needed, as everyone knew everyone else. Sam was a little surprised that Chief Clah was with us. So, I said, “Sam, since Ajie and I have never done anything like this before we thought that we might need some guidance. And it was suggested that Chief Clah would be a good person to do that.”

“Kai.”, Sam said. “I guess he would be who’d I’d have chosen too. We do have Hal, Dezba’s husband, as our advisor. But, I hope they’re here to guide us through this sale. So, that we have all the T's crossed and I's dotted.

“We have a private room set aside where we can talk.”

“Let’s do this.”, I said.

“We’ll wait here.”, my Uncle Paul said.

“You’re welcome to sit in, Paul.”, Sam said.

“That’s all right. We’ll give Kai and Ajie moral support from out here.”

As we stood, I looked at my Uncle Paul and smiled.

Ajie, Chief Clah, and I followed the Tl'izilanis’ to a room at the back of the VFW. There was a table in the room that had four chairs on either side. Ajie, Chief Clah, and I sat on one said, and the Tl'izilani family sat on the other side.

Sam Tl'izilani then said, “Kai, I hope that the reason that we’re here is that you and Ajie are still interested in buying the house that we showed you?”

“Yes.”, I said. “As long as we can agree on a price that is acceptable to both of us.”

“I think that we can do that.”

“And this is the house at 5290 Blue Spring Circle NE in Albuquerque. Isn’t it?”, Chief Clah asked.

“Yes.”, Sam replied. “And the price that we are quoting is only for the property and house. None of the contents.”

“We understand that.”, I replied.

Sam unfolded a piece of paper and slid it across the table in front of the three of us. And as he did, he said, “This is our asking price.”

Ajie, Chief Clah, and I looked at it, and then I looked at Chief Clah. Then I looked at Sam, and said, “Sam, is this correct? It’s only five thousand more than the tax value on the property.”

“Yes, Kai.”, Sam said. “It’s what we want for the property and house. … At least from you and Ajie.”

“Why just from us?”

“Well, you’re Navajo. We’re not dealing with a realtor. And, just because.”

“Just because, just because why?”

“We could tell when you went through the house that you loved it. And, we felt that you would take good care of it.”

“But, it’s worth more than what you’re asking.”

“We know. But, Dezba, our two brothers, and I agreed that you and this house belong together. And we want you to have it.”

I looked at Chief Clah, and he said, “Kai, it’s an amazing offer. And I can’t believe that they’re making it.”

I looked at Amy and said, “Well.”

“Kai. I can’t say no. Can you?”

“No, I can’t.”

I reached across the table and shook Sam’s hand. Then his brother-in-law picked up his briefcase, set it on the table, opened it, and took out some papers. As he did, he said, “And, that means we have some paperwork to do.

“Let’s see. Your names are Kai Nez and Ajie Nez. Am I correct.”

“No.”, I replied.

The four members of the Tl'izilani family looked at me. And Sam said, “No?”

“No, those are our Navajo names. They were given to us by tribal elders. Our legal names are Thomas Bly Young and Amylin Elizabeth Young.”

“Wait.”, Dezba’s husband said. “Thomas Bly Young. But, you’re a girl?”

“Am I, Senator Tso?”, I said.

“I would swear that you’re a girl.”

“You are a Navajo. You should know what a Nádleeh is. Do you?”

“A two spirit person.”

“Yes, but it also means, one who is changing.”, I said.

“So, you’re telling us that you’re a man?”, Senator Tso asked.

“As Ajie would say, I have the body of a boy and the spirit of a girl.”

“Care to explain?”

“If I could, I would. But, as Naainish told me a while ago. Exactly why we are the way we are, no one knows. The Great Spirit doesn’t give us a choice. He picks us, and we are.

“I do have two spirits, a male one and a female one. And here in New Mexico, because of the strong native spirits, the female spirit, who we feel is Navajo, is strong. She needs to be out and be seen, hence Kai Nez.”

“Who knows about this?”, The Senator asked.

“A lot of people. The leadership of the Navajo Nation. The administration at the university. All of my friends, both here and in Ohio. All of my family and Ajie’s family. And, some people who I wish didn’t know. And now you four.”

I saw Sam’s wife smile, I looked at her, and she said, “So, the rumor that we’ve heard about you is true?”

“What rumor is that?”, I asked.

“The rumor that the new Nádleeh, even though she looks like a pretty Navajo girl, is really a boy.”

“Do you think we can keep it as a rumor?”

“I think I can.”

I looked at the other three, and they all agreed.

Then Dezba’s husband as he wrote said, “Let’s see Thomas Bly Young and Amylin Elizabeth Young are the buyers, and Sani Tl'izilani and Dezba Bisahalani are the sellers at the price agreed upon. Now, Kai, how much of a down payment are you and Ajie going to make?”

“Well.”, I said. “We were planning on putting down half of the selling price as a down payment. But, today, I have a certified check for twenty thousand made out to Sani Tl'izilani and Dezba Tso. Then next week I’ll have our financial advisor wire transfer the rest of the down payment, and I’ll have another check for you.”

“Twenty thousand?”, Senator Tso said. “You … You don’t have to do that.”

“It’s what Ajie and I want to do.”

“I take it you're going to finance the rest.”, the Senator asked.

“Yes, they are.”, Chief Clah said. “They have a pre-approved loan from the bank and will also have a check from the bank for you after they present the bank with the paperwork and they approve everything.”

“That will be fine. But, why don’t you, when you give us the money from the loan, give us the remainder of the down payment that you want to give us? What you’ve given us today is more than enough.”

“We could do that.”, I said.

“It’ll take a week for the bank to do their magic, and by then the rest of your down payment will be here. Now, all I need is some signatures then we’re all set.”

“Senator Tso, would you mind if I look over the papers before they’re signed?”, Chief Clah asked.

“No, not at all, Chief Clah.”, the Senator said as he handed the papers to the Chief. “Then you and I can witness the signatures.”

Sam then said, “Kai and Ajie, I know that you’re interested in some of the furnishings in the house.” Then as he handed me a couple of sheets of paper, he continued with, “Here is a listing of everything that we want to sell, and what we’d like to have for it. You don’t have to make your decisions now. Take it home and look it over and get back with me.”

“Sam.”, I said. “I think we can do this quickly. Ajie and I have talked about it, and the only thing that we know for sure that we wouldn’t want was the bedroom furniture from the three small bedrooms. But we'll give the list a quick look.”

We looked over the list of furnishings that they were going to sell. And there were only two other things that we crossed off along with the furnishings in the three small bedrooms. And, I handed the list back to Sam.

“Well, that was quick. We’ll just subtract the prices on those items from the total.”

Sam, did that, and the total came to just under nineteen hundred dollars. He showed us the total, Ajie and I looked at it and smiled. Then I said, “Sam, we feel that that is more than fair.”

“Now.”, I said. “Let me propose something to you. We have a block of IBM stock that we’ll sign over to you for this furniture. At closing, on Friday, it was worth one-thousand six-hundred and twenty-three dollars. I know that that is less than what you want for the furnishings.

“Now, here’s the carrot, our financial advisor has told us that he feels that within the next month that the stock is going to split. He said that all the indicators are pointing to it. It may be a two for one, or a three for two, or some other split. We’ll either sign over the stock certificate to you, or I’ll write you a check right now for the total amount on your sheet.”

Senator Tso looked at me and asked, “Did you say IBM?”

“Yes, sir.”

Then the Senator looked at Sam and the two woman, and said, “It’s your call on this. But if the split happens, and from what I know, I have no reason to believe that it won’t, you could end up with two-hundred shares of an excellent stock.”

Sam asked the Senator, “Hal, would you take this deal?”

“Sam, I’d take it in a heartbeat.”

Sam reached across the table, and we shook hands. And, as I pulled the stock certificate out of my purse, I said, “Sam, write up that list of furnishings as a sales receipt. And, Ajie and I will sign this stock certificate over to you.”

And, that’s what we did. As I handed the stock certificate to Sam, I said, “That’s now a bearer document, so be careful with it until you get it to a stockbroker and I’d do that on Monday.”

“Kai.”, Sam said. “I’ll do that. Now, one last thing.”

“What’s that, Sam?”, I asked.

“We’re going to give you a free five-year contract for your annual exterior inspection of the house.”

“We appreciate that. But why?”

“When we build a new adobe house, we always do that for the new owner. And, since this house has not been out of the family until now, you are the new owners. And you get the five-year contract.”

I looked at Sam and said, “Thank you very much.”

“Kai, for what you and Ajie did for mom and Dezba, it’s the least that we can do.”

Chief Clah finished looking over the papers and said that they were fine. Then he gave them back to Senator Tso who then passed the paperwork around for Sam, Dezba, Ajie, and me to sign. And, then the Chief and Senator signed as witnesses. I had to remember to sign my legal name.

As we were getting up to leave the room, Dezba and her sister-in-law Jean came over to Ajie and me, and Jean asked, “Kai, are you really a guy?”

“Yes.”, I replied.

“Why do I feel that you’re a girl?”

“It’s his strong female spirit.”, Ajie said. “Everyone that’s around Kai feels that she is a girl, even though many of them know she isn’t.”

“So, Ajie, are you cousins?”, Dezba asked.

“No. And, I’ll tell you a little secret.”, Ajie whispered. “We’re husband and wife.”

“No!”

“Yes. And, remember it’s a secret.”

“It’s our secret.”

Then Ajie said to everyone, “One thing that we ask, is that what you heard about Kai today is kept a secret.”

Everyone agreed.

Then the Senator said, “Kai and Ajie, I should have all the paperwork completed for you to take to the bank on Monday afternoon. You live in Albuquerque, and my office is in downtown Albuquerque, so if you stop by after one, I’ll have everything ready.”

“We can do that, Senator.”, I said.

The Senator then handed me his business card.

And, then I said, “You will meet Tom on Monday as the bank knows me that way.”

“Tom?”, the Senator said.

“My male side.”

“Oh. I understand.”

We all walked out of the small room together. My aunts and uncles were sitting at a table enjoying a drink. They looked at us, and my Aunt Ruth said, “It looks like someone bought a house?”

Ajie and I were grinning. And, I said, “Uncle Paul, it looks like you’ll only have to move the two sets of bedroom furniture and the desk from the small room to the new house from the apartment.”

“That won’t be bad.”, Uncle Paul said.

“Oh, I forgot. The safe has to come too.”

“Not that monster!”

With a grin, I said, “Yep. That monster.”

“Kai!”

That got a laugh.

We all walked out of the VFW Post and said, “Hágoónee' t'áá ájíltso. - (See you later all people [everyone].)” to everyone. And, Ajie and I headed back to the apartment.

As I drove, Ajie said, “Honey, you said that we received our Navajo names from the Tribal elders. I did. You’re Uncle Paul gave you yours.”

“Well.”, I said. “Uncle Paul is a Tribal Elder. He’s a member of the tribe, and he’s old.”

“Kai! Wait until I tell him you said that.”

“You wouldn’t do that.”

“Oh, yes, I would.”

As we pulled the car into the garage at the apartment, I asked, “Do you want to go celebrate someplace?”

“We could.”, Ajie said. “But don’t you think we should make some phone calls first?”

“Yeah. We should.”

We called our parents and told them about buying the house, and they were excited for us. Then, as I’d promised Dr. Joe, I called him and told him that we’d purchased the house. He said that he and Mary would like us to come over for dinner on Sunday at seven. And, we said we’d be happy to come for dinner.

Then there was a knock on the door, Amy answered it, and it was Charlie and Jackie. I heard Jackie say, “Hi, I thought we’d stop in and see what happened.”

“Come on in.”, I heard Amy say.

When they came into the living room, where I was, Jackie said, “I can tell. You bought the house.”

“How can you be sure, Jackie.”, I asked.

“Kai, both you and Amy look happy..”

“You’re right.”

“So, we’re losing you.”

“No, you’re not losing us. We’ll only be twenty minutes away.”

“But, we don’t have any way of getting there.”

“If there was a car.”, I said. “Not a new car. But, a low mileage car that was available would you be interested?”

“Yeah. Maybe.”, Charlie said. “But, we don’t want a handout.”

“Charlie, it wouldn't be a handout. You’d have to pay for it.”

“Who has this car?”

“It’s my grandmother’s car. And it’s sat since she passed. And my uncle would like to get rid of it.”

“What’s he looking to get for it?”

“He hasn’t said, but I think it would be around two-hundred.”

“We don’t have that.”

“Could you make payments?”

Charlie looked at Jackie, then he said, “Yeah. How much do you think?”

“Oh, maybe ten or fifteen a month.”

“Yeah. Since I’m working here and then working for your uncle this summer, I think we could do that.”

“Honey.”, Jackie said. “It would be good to have a car.”

“I know.”, Charlie said. “But, who would give us a loan.”

“I know someone.”, I said.

“Who? And don’t say you.”

“Why not us, we only charge twenty percent interest compounded daily.”

“Kai. We can’t borrow money from you.”

“Why not?”

“We owe you so much already.”, Charlie said.

“You don’t owe us anything.”, I said. “We’re friends. And friends help friends.”

“I’m afraid to borrow from you because you are our friends. And, we don’t want to lose that friendship if something would happen that we couldn’t pay you.”

“Hmm. I see your point. I wouldn’t want to lose your friendship either.”

“Honey.”, Jackie said. “There is that money we’ve been setting aside to go home this summer. And with us working here all summer we won’t be able to go home.”

“You’re right.”, Charlie said. “I’d almost forgotten about that.”

“That’s because I’ve been taking care of it.”

Then Jackie whispered something to Charlie, and Charlie said, “Really?”

And, Jackie said, “Yes.”

Then Charlie asked, “Kai, when could we see the car?”

“Maybe we could take a run up to the resort tomorrow.”, I replied.

“That would work for us.”

I walked over, picked up the phone, and dialed my aunt and uncle’s number. When my aunt answered, I asked if they had sold grandma’s car yet, and she said that they hadn’t. Then I told her that Charlie and Jackie were interested in it and that we’d like to come up tomorrow so that they could look at it. And she said to come up for lunch. I checked with everyone, and then I told Aunt Ruth that we’d see them for lunch.

Right about ten on Sunday morning, I pulled the ‘57 Chevy up to my aunt and uncle’s house. And we parked right next to grandma’s car. I pointed to the car and said, “There’s the car, Charlie.”

The four of us got out of the car, and Charlie and Jackie looked over grandma’s car. Charlie then said, “Nice. I’m not seeing any rust or damage of any kind.”

“I know.”, I said. “Grandma didn’t drive it that much.”

Then as we usually do, Ajie, Jackie, Charlie, and I walked into the house. My aunt and uncle were there. My aunt was working in the kitchen, and my uncle was in his little office.

We all said yá’át’ééh to Aunt Ruth, and asked if we could help with lunch. She told us that it was all done and that we could set the table when the time came.

Uncle Paul walked into the kitchen and said, “So, Charlie, I hear you’re interested in a car.”

“Yes, sir, Mr. Biakeddy.”, Charlie said. “With Kai and Amy moving away from the university, we need some way to go visit.”

“Did you forget that it’s Uncle Paul?”

“Oops. I did.”

“Well, we still have Grandma Devereux’s car. It’s a ‘60, but for out here it has low mileage. It’s been sitting outside by the garage, but it’s been in the shade of the ash tree. We can take a look before lunch.”

“Sounds good, Uncle Paul. We gave it a quick look when we got here, and I liked what I saw. What are you going to want for it.”

I mouthed two-hundred to my uncle. And he acted like he was thinking, then he said, “Well, I haven’t given it much thought. But, maybe somewhere around two-hundred. Let’s take a look at it, and you can drive it, and then make me an offer.”

“That sounds good, Uncle Paul.”

“Now, Kai.”, Uncle Paul said. “Were you serious about taking the monster safe into the house?”

“Uh-huh.”, I replied with a grin.

“Where are you planning on putting it?”

“In the walk-in closet in the master suite.”

“You’re not putting that ugly thing in that closet with all of our clothes!”, Ajie said with authority.

“I’m … I’m not?”

“No, you’re not! Put it in the garage or the bedroom that we’re going to use for an office.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Kai.”, my uncle said. “You might want to look into a safe like your Uncle Gaagii has. You can bolt that type of safe into the concrete floor of the garage.”

“Hmm. Good thought. Speaking of Uncle Gaagii. Who built the fancy hogan in his backyard?”

“Why? You want one?”

“Isn’t a hogan the sacred house of the Diné – (Navajo). And, isn’t it needed to practice the ceremonies and keep ourselves in balance?”

My aunt, uncle, and Ajie were looking at me. Then Ajie asked, “Kai, where did that come from?”

“Just like the other day, it was just there?”, I said.

“What happened the other day?”, my aunt asked.

Ajie said, “When we were at the christening and Kai, or Tom at that time, was talking to the priest he said somethings about the Navajo people that her mother and I figured we’d only hear out of a Tribal Elder.”

“Where’s Naainish when you need him?”, I asked.

“It is strange that he’s not here.”

“You never know, he may show up at any time.”, my aunt said. “But, Kai, you’re right. The hogan is the sacred house.”

“And, Kai.”, my uncle said. “The people who built your house are the people who built your uncle's hogan. So, talk with the Tl'izilanis’.

“Are you going as modern as your uncle did?”

“I don’t think so, Uncle Paul. I want to keep it more traditional. Maybe the log construction and the adobe roof. And a lockable door, but no electric. And, of course, we have to have a smoke hole, have to keep the ghosts out. Maybe a bed, but then again maybe not.”

Then Uncle Paul said, “Charlie, do you and Jackie want to look at the car.”

“Sure thing, Uncle Paul.”, Charlie said.

Jackie and Ajie decided to stay with Aunt Ruth. So, Charlie and I went out to look at the car with Uncle Paul. Uncle Paul said that he would take the car for a drive once a week, and had changed the oil a couple of times.

Uncle Paul and I then watched as Charlie carefully went over the car. Finally, Charlie asked Uncle Paul if he could take the car for a drive. And, the two of them went out for a ride. I elected to not go with them, and went into the house and got the keys for the Corvette. Then I told Ajie that I was going to take the Corvette for a ride, and asked if she wanted to go along. She, Jackie, and Aunt Ruth were doing something, and she opted to not go along with me.

I then went to the garage, took the cover off of the Corvette, and put the top down. I opened the garage door, got in the Vet, put my seat belt on, started the car, and backed it out of the garage. I looked at the gas gauge, and it was reading a little below half full, so I took it to the maintenance building to gas up.

As I was pumping the gas, I opened the hood and checked the oil. It was fine. Then I heard someone say, “That is a very nice car.”

I turned and looked, and it was someone who I’d never seen before. And I had a bad feeling about this.

He then said, “Give me the keys little girl.”

I just looked at him. Then he said, “I don’t want to hurt you. Give me the damn keys.”

As he got closer to me, I tossed the keys into a large group of cactuses. He stopped and yelled, “Bitch, you’d better get those keys out of there and give them to me.”

I just stood my ground. The guy finally came at me again, and things happened. And when the dust cleared, he was on the ground and not moving, and I was looking at the torn sleeve on my blouse.

I then heard someone say, “Miss Kai, what happened.”

I spun around and took a defensive stance until I realized that it was Francisco, the head of maintenance for the resort, who was standing there. And I said, “Hi Francisco.”

The next thing I remember was waking up on the couch in my aunt and uncle’s house with Ajie kneeling beside me, and Jackie and Aunt Ruth standing behind the couch and looking at me. Ajie smiled as she saw me open my eyes, and she said, “Hi.”

“Hi, yourself.”, I said. “What happened?”

“Some guy attacked you, and Francisco carried you in here a few minutes ago.”

“The Corvette. Where’s the Corvette?”

“It’s safe, but no one can find the keys.”

“I tossed them into a group of cactuses. Where’s the guy?”

“You mean the one you left sprawled in a heap on the ground?”, Aunt Ruth said.

“I guess.”, I replied.

“The cops are talking to him. And, they’ll talk to you later.”

“How do you feel?”, Ajie asked as she pumped up a blood pressure cuff and took my blood pressure.

“Okay.”, I replied. “But why am I on the couch. And why is there a blood pressure cuff on my arm? And why does the side of my face hurt?”

“Francisco said that after the fight, he said hello to you, and you just collapsed. So, he brought you here. And you were unconscious.

“He thinks that the guy was able to land a punch and I think that you were high on adrenaline, and it didn’t affect you until it was all over. Francisco saw part of what happened and couldn’t get there quick enough to stop it.”

Just then we heard the door open, and Uncle Paul, Charlie, and a police officer walked it. Uncle Paul looked at me, put his hands on his hips, and said, “Kai Nez, I can’t leave you alone for a minute.”

“Thanks a lot, Uncle Paul.”

Not thinking of my self, I asked Charlie, “So, Charlie, you going to buy the car?”

“Yes, I like it, and it’s in good shape.”, Charlie said.

“Good.”

Then the police officer walked over, looked down at me, and said, “Hello again, Miss Nez.”

I looked up at him and said, “Oh. Hello, Deputy Atwood. We meet again.”

(Deputy Atwood was one of the officers that were at the resort when we went after my nemesis from the university Dr. Kilmer who was pretending to be a Mr. Black and working for my uncle.)

“Yes, we do.”, Deputy Atwood said. “And we’ve got to stop meeting this way.”

“Yes, we do.”

“Don’t tell me that Corvette that you were driving is yours?”

“No, my parents are selling their house, and my dad sent it out here for safekeeping. And, I’m not doing a good job of that.”

“Miss Nez. You did an excellent job of protecting it. I’m just happy that you didn’t get hurt any worse than you did.”

“You and me both.”

“Do you feel like talking?”, Deputy Atwood asked

“Sure.”, I replied.

I slowly sat up and told Deputy Atwood my story of taking the Corvette out of the garage, to the maintenance building for fuel, and the guy accosting me.

Deputy Atwood then said, “The guy told us that you attacked him. But the resort’s maintenance supervisor saw the whole thing, and he verified your story of the guy attacking you and you defending yourself.”

“I just want to know how he hit me?”

“It was probably a lucky punch. But, just like the last time we met, you put the hurt on the bad guy. He’s on the way to the hospital with a concussion and a broken arm.”

“Who is he?”

“Francisco, the maintenance supervisor, told me that they had just hired him a few days ago as maintenance laborer.”

I read and signed my statement, and we said so long to Deputy Atwood. Then I said, “I’d better go get the Corvette and put it back in the garage.”

“You are not driving anything for twenty-four hours.”, Ajie said in her take-charge voice.

“Why not?”

“You were knocked out and may have a slight concussion. So, you’re not going to drive. No discussion.”

“Kai.”, my uncle said. “Come with me and show me where you tossed the keys. Then I’ll drive the Corvette and put it in the garage, and you can ride with me. Then we can have lunch.”

I slowly stood up, got my land legs, and we walked to where the Corvette was. Francisco was there, and he said, “Miss Kai, are you all right.”

“Yes, Francisco, I am.”, I said. “Thank you for your help.”

“I’m glad I could help, Miss Kai.”

My uncle ran into the maintenance facility and came back with a pair of heavy gloves. Then I showed him where I threw keys in the group of cactuses, and Uncle Paul went looking. And, he found the keys.

As Uncle Paul handed the gloves to Francisco, he said, “Well, Kai. That was a safe place to throw those keys. I wouldn’t want to stick my bare hands in there.”

“Me either, Mr. Paul.”, Francisco said.

Uncle Paul and I got into the Corvette, and he started it. Then he said, “Where’s the shifter and clutch?”

“Remember, Uncle Paul.”, I said. “It’s a two speed automatic, so no clutch and the selector lever is next to the driveshaft tunnel.”

He looked, and said, “Oh. That’s a clever place to put it.”

He put it in drive and gave it a little too much gas. And, we left some rubber on the asphalt. Uncle Paul then said, “Damn. This thing has some guts.”

“Yes it does, and it also handles like a sports car.”, I said.

Uncle Paul carefully drove it back to the house and put it in the garage. We wiped it down, put the top up, and then put the cover over it.

As we walked into the house, Uncle Paul said to Charlie, “Come on, Charlie, we have some paperwork to do. Then we’ll run up to the hotel and have my signature on the title notarized.”

When Uncle Paul and Charlie were back, we had a late lunch. And, while we were eating Ajie, being Ajie, asked me, “How are you feeling, Kai.”

“Fine.”, I replied. “I can probably drive back to Albuquerque.”

“No!”

“Are we still going to be able to make dinner with Dr. Joe and Mary?”, I asked.

“Yes.”, Amy said. “It’s at seven, so as long as we’re out of here by four, we’ll be fine.”

Then, I looked at Charlie and said, “Charlie, we’ll get the ‘57 out of your garage as soon as we can.”

“No, rush.”, Charlie replied. “Wait until you’re in the house.”