Monday, while I was working on the research project, a group from the Los Alamos National Laboratory showed up and removed the project from our control. You could say the tension between me and the goons from Los Alamos’s security department was so thick that you could cut it with a knife, and was on the verge of becoming physical.

We ended up giving them everything that belonged to them. And Dr. Fontheim had slipped me a note. He wanted me to call him.

After this mess, I just went home.

At eight o’clock that evening, I was at a payphone dialing the number that was on the note that Dr. Fontheim had given me. When Dr. Fontheim answered, he told me that the people that we were researching for had a problem with me and Dr. Oshie doing the research. It appears that they are bigots. Bigots towards Indians.

On the way home, we'd stopped and told Dr. Joe, what Dr. Fontheim had told me. And I could tell that he wasn’t happy with what I said.

Ajie and I spent the night in the hogan.

Sometime Tuesday morning. Early Tuesday morning I’d had the vision of the Indian maiden and the wolf, The wolf was still standing and showing his teeth. So maybe this wasn’t the trouble. If not, what is it?

At three o’clock on Tuesday afternoon, I was in a meeting with my Dean, the Universities President, and four people from Los Alamos. The people from Los Alamos had come to apologize to us. I gave them a piece of my mind and left the meeting. Dr. Joe came after me and talked me into going back to the meeting.

We talked some more, and I told them that I needed time to decide what path I was going to take. They agreed that I could have all the time I wanted. I never did accept their apology. I’d done that before, and it proved to be a false promise.

Ajie and I decided that a trip to the resort and a hike in the mountains was called for.

Tuesday evening, Ajie and I were walking into my aunt and uncle’s house at the resort. We found my aunt and uncle sitting in the living room, they were reading, and there was a small fire burning in the fireplace. I said, “Yá’át’ééh alní'íní. – (Good evening.)”

My aunt said, “Yá’át’ééh alní'íní, Kai dóó Ajie.” 

“What kind of trouble are you into now, Kai?”, my Uncle Paul asked.

In a serious tone, I said, “Uncle Paul, it’s not funny.”

“Kids, ignore him.”, my Aunt Ruth said. “Sit and tell us.”

Ajie and I walked over and sat on the couch. Then I said, “This goes no further. And especially I don’t want Uncle Gaagii hearing about it.”

“Honey, your Uncle Gaagii just cares about you. As do we.”

“I know, Aunt Ruth. It’s that sometimes Uncle Gaagii overreacts.”

“He’s just trying to protect you. He sees you and Ajie as daughters. So he acts like a doting father towards you.”

“You do too. Don’t you.”

“Of course we do. Now, what happened?”

“Please remember, this goes no further.”

“It won’t.”

“Okay.”, said. “Monday some people from the Los Alamos National Laboratory showed up at the university and … ” And I went on to tell them, in detail, what had happened both on Monday and today.

When I finished, my Uncle Paul said, “Bigots! Bigots towards the People?”

“That’s what I was told, Uncle Paul.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. But who?”

“My friend couldn’t or wouldn’t tell me.”

“Do you think that he knows?”

“I’m not sure. He knows a lot of what goes on, but I don’t think he knows everything.”

“Do you trust him?”, Uncle Paul asked.

“Yes.”, I replied.

“So, you two are going for a day hike tomorrow?”

“I thought we would.”

“Up by the cabin?”

“Yes, but we’d park at the fire tower.”

“They say that there’s a cold front coming through late tomorrow, so I’d be back here before dark.”

“We’ll do that. We haven’t had dinner, so Aunt Ruth, would you mind if we throw something together?”

“The restaurant is open for another hour, and we’ll go with you.”, Aunt Ruth said.

“Sounds good.”

After we’d had a light dinner, we were back at the house and bringing everything in from the car. We’d brought both rifles and both pistols with us, as well as all of our hiking gear.

Then we used my aunt and uncle's phone to call most of the people that we wanted to use as references on our adoption application. And everyone that we spoke to was happy that we’d picked them.

And we were in bed early as we wanted an early start in the morning.

Wednesday morning, Ajie and I were up early and dressed in our hiking gear, but Aunt Ruth had gotten up before we did, and she had an excellent breakfast ready for us.

I hadn’t had a vision of the Indian maiden and wolf last night.

After we’d eaten, we packed our backpack with our canteens, our snacks, and lunch. We put everything, the rifles, the pistols, the ammunition, the backpack, our hiking staffs, and hats in the trunk. And just as the Sun was coming up, we were on the road. And I’d better mention the Sunrise was full of reds. So, if the saying holds true, we were going to have stoms later on.

Just like the last time that we’d made this drive, it was like we’d made it a hundred times. We passed the driveway to the cabin and continued to the fire tower. The car that was parked there looked familiar, and Ajie asked, “Is that Paul’s car?”

“I think so.”, I replied.

We parked next to the car and got all of our stuff out of the trunk. We loaded both rifles and both pistols. We both strapped on our pistols. I then put the backpack on, and we both slug rifles on our shoulders. And we headed down the trail towards the cabin. We hiked past the cabin and further down the trail. When we reached the area where the side trail was, that had taken us to the sacred place, we looked for it and looked for it, but couldn’t find it.

Was it the spirits who felt that we didn’t need to find the sacred place this time? Were they keeping us from finding it again? Hmm.

Ajie said, “If I remember correctly, this is where that cross trail was.”

“Your’re right.”, I said. “Maybe the spirits don’t think we need to find it.”

“Could be.”

“Well, let’s hike a little further down the trail and see what we can find.”

“Might as well.”

Ajie and continued hiking down the trail, we did find the other cross trail but decided not to take it, and we continued further down the trail. We came to a fire road and decided to sit on some rocks and eat our lunch.

After we’d eaten, we started hiking back towards the fire tower, and when I could see the sky, I wasn't liking what I was seeing. The clouds were building. So, I said, “We’d better hurry up.”

“Why?”, Ajie asked.

“Look at the clouds. I think the cold front is moving faster then they thought it would.”

Ajie looked at the clouds and said, “Oh!”

We almost ran back up the trail until we were at the fire tower. When we got there, I said, “If it’s going to rain hard as I think it is, I don’t want to drive in it.”

“Okay. What do we do.”

“Go see if Paul is here.”

We started up the tower. There are ten landings between the bottom and the top. I let Ajie lead, and she’d stop and rest every few landings. As we approached the top, we started hearing the grumbling of thunder.

At the top landing, there was a gate across the steps that go up to the cab. We stood at the gate at the bottom of the steps, and both of us yelled, “Paul. Paul Goodfellow.”

It wasn’t long until the trap door opened, and Paul started down the steps. He said, “What are you two doing here?”

“We were day hiking and thought we’d be out of here before the cold front got here.”, I replied.

As he unlocked the gate, Paul said, “The cold front picked up speed.”

“I guess it did.”

“Come on up.”

The three of us walked up into the cab, and as Paul closed the trap door, he said, “If I remember correctly, it’s Kai and Ajie.”

“Good memory, Paul.”

“Okay, there are some rules to being up here in a thunderstorm. Stay away from any metal, such as the stove, the bed, and windows. They are grounded, but still could be a problem. The couch over there is okay, it’s all wood and rope.

“I need to get back to spotting lightning strikes.”

“Thanks, Paul.”

Ajie and I walked over and sat on the couch and watched Paul work as the storm got closer and the thunder louder. Then there was a bright flash and a loud bang at about the same time. Ajie jumped and grabbed me. And Paul said, “That’s the first one.”

“First one?”, I asked.

“Yeah. That’s the first lightning strike to hit the tower during this storm.”

“How … How many usually hit during a storm?”, Ajie asked.

“Sometimes, none. Sometimes six or eight.”

“Oh!”

Looking at Ajie clinging to me, Paul said, “Someone doesn’t like thunderstorms. Do they?”

“No, she doesn’t.”, I replied.

“Well, you’re actually inside one now.”, Paul said.

“I thought I was feeling the electrically charged air.”

“Oh yeah. Happens all the time.”

Ajie still jumped every time there was a lightning strike. And the tower was hit again. But something was a little different. It seemed that she wasn’t as nervous as she’d previously been. Then she pointed and almost screamed, “What’s that?”

Both Paul and I looked and saw the ball of blue light. And I said, “That’s St. Elmo’s fire.”

“St. Elmo’s what?”

“St. Elmo’s fire.”, Paul said. “It’s the first time I’ve seen it inside the cab.”

“It’s the first time I’ve ever seen it.”, I said. “But I’ve read about it. And it won’t hurt you.”

“So they say.”

Paul went back to work, and Ajie and I watched the blue ball move around the inside of the cab until it disappeared. The storm finally started to die down and move off. Paul could finally stop plotting lightning strikes, and he turned, looked at us, and said, “What in the hell were you two doing hiking out there when there was a storm predicted.”

“The forecast we heard, said it wouldn’t come through until after dark.”, I said.

“That was yesterday's forecast. It changed overnight.”

“Someone at the radio station didn’t get the word.”

“At least you were smart enough to come here.”

“We parked here to hike. Then when I noticed the clouds building, we hurried back. And at first, I thought about driving out of here, but then I thought better of it. Not knowing the roads that well and how much rain we’d get, we decided to visit you.”

“That was probably a good idea.”

We visited with Paul for another hour, and then he walked back down to the base of the tower with us. As we were leaving, we said, “Hágoónee', Paul.”

He smiled and said, “Hágoónee'.” 

“Oh, you know what it means?”

“Yes, I’ve worked with some Navajo people, and it means see you later.”

“Very good.”

“Hey, do you know anything about this code talking thing I've been hearing about?”, Paul asked.

“A little. Both of my uncles, Yiska, or as you know him Paul, and Gaagii, were Marines during World War Two, and were part of the Navajo Code Talkers.”

“That’s great. I’ll have to talk to your uncle the next time I see him. Oh, do you want to see how much rain we had out of that storm?”

“Sure.”

We walked with Paul to where several instruments were out in the open. He opened one that had a tube within a tube in it. And he explained the smaller inside tube measures rain up to one inch in increments of one-hundredths of an inch and the outside tube will hold the overflow of up to 20 inches.

He carefully removed the inner tube, which was full to the top with rainwater, and said, “That’s one inch.”

He emptied the small tube, and then using a funnel, he emptied the larger tube, one inch at a time, into the smaller tube. When he finished, he said, “We had five and thirty-five hundredth of an inch of rain.”

“That’s a lot of rain.”, I said.

“It’s about normal for a storm that was as big as that one. And I don’t think that you’d have enjoyed driving on the roads up here during that downpour.”

“I wouldn’t have.”

We said hágoónee' to each other again. And Ajie and I headed back to the resort.

When we were back at my aunt and uncle’s house, there was a familiar pickup truck parked by the door. Naainish was here.

As we walked into the house, my aunt said, “Oh good. You’re safe.”

“Were you worried?”, I asked.

“Very. That was one nasty storm.”

“We were up in the fire tower with Paul Goodfellow.”

“That was probably the safest place to be.”, Uncle Paul said.

“That’s what I figured.”

“And that was fun.”, Ajie said. “We even saw St. Elo’s fire.”

I corrected her with, “That’s St. Elmo’s fire.” 

“Yeah, St. Elmo’s fire.”

“It was interesting watching that blue ball float around inside the cab of the tower. And you don’t see that very often.”

“My skin did tingle a little.”, Ajie said.

“A blue ball of what?”, my uncle asked.

“Technically it’s plasma or ionized gas.”, I replied. “It usually forms around an object during a thunderstorm when there’s a high voltage differential between the clouds and ground. But sometimes it shows up as a ball as it did today.

“It’s harmless to people, but you might get a prickly feeling, or your hair may stand on end. And it’s even possible for sparks to jump from the St. Elmo’s fire to your body.”

“I guess it helps to have a niece that’s an electrical engineer.”

I smiled and said, “You asked.”

“I did.”, Uncle Paul said. “And I’m glad that I did.”

Naainish had been sitting and listening to all of this, and finally, he said, “You didn’t find the sacred place today. Did you?”

“No.”, I said. “We couldn’t even find the cross trail, and we knew right where that was.”

“The sacred place felt that you didn’t need to find it.”

“That’s what Ajie and I came up with too.”

“It is good.”, Naainish said.

“But I don’t have any answers.”, I said.

“The sacred place may not have your answer. But it will come in time.”

“I hope it will be sooner than later.”

“It will.”, Naainish said.

Later that night, Ajie and I were in bed, and I asked, “You liked being in that storm. Didn’t you?”

“It was kind of different.”, Ajie replied.

“Different? But we were inside that thunderstorm that time we stayed in the cabin.”

“I know. It just seemed so safe up in the tower, even though it was hit by lightening a couple of times.”

“So, you're becoming more comfortable with the storms?”

“I wouldn’t say comfortable.”, Ajie said. “Maybe I’m seeing them through you, and I’ve learned the if I respect the storms that I won’t be hurt.”

“So no more foot massages when there are storms around?”, I asked.

With a cute smile and a twinkle in those amazing blue eyes of hers, Ajie said, “Oh no. I’ll always need my prince to administer a good foot massages. In fact … ”

Thursday morning, we had the house to ourselves. My aunt and uncle had to be in Santa Fe early this morning and wouldn’t be back until dinner time. So after breakfast, Ajie and I went to work on the adoption application. I had most of my information already written down, and so did Ajie, we just had to combine it in a way that we felt was best. I’m glad Ajie brought along our address book because they wanted all kinds of references. And we gave them a bunch, from people here in New Mexico to people in Ohio, and Ajie also gave them some in Minnesota with her maiden name, Amylin Elizabeth Grant. They also wanted our education in detail. Our financial standing. Our employment. And the reasons that we wanted to adopt.

A few of the reasons that we came up for wanting to adopt were, that due to a traumatic injury, we can not have a biological child. And we feel that we can provide a loving home to a child. We also thought that we’d have a better chance of adopting then trying to continue to work at having a biological child when we can’t have. Also, being academics, we feel that we could provide a good foundation for the child's education. And lastly, we feel that the spirits would be happy if we would fill out our family. This last one was Ajie's idea.

“You know.”, Ajie said. “If Chief Clah is here on Friday, we could have him look this over, and then maybe he could take it to Window Rock the next time he goes and give it to the proper people at the Navajo Children and Family Services.”

“Like, Mrs. Biakeddy.”, I replied.

“Yes, she did say to be sure that the application went directly to her.”

“I wish I’d brought along a copy of our last financial summary from our financial advisor.”

“I did.”, Ajie said.

“Smartypants.”

“I thought it might be good to attach that to the application.”

“It couldn’t hurt.”

We met up with Charlie and Jackie for lunch, and we told them about the adoption application. And that we’d like to add them as a reference, and they agreed that we could. We talked until they had to go back to work, and as we were saying so long, we told them that we’d see them at the barbecue.

I won’t bore you with the rest of Thursday. Ajie and I just did stuff around the resort. We hiked a little. Then soaked in one of the thermal pools, and took in a massage. Then we just relaxed on the patio at my aunt and uncle's house.

When my aunt and uncle were back from Santa Fe, my aunt was going to make dinner, but Ajie and I chased her out of the kitchen, and we cooked. After dinner, we showed them the adoption application. They were both quiet as they read it. And when they finished, my aunt said, “Kids, it's excellent. I would be amazed if they don’t accept it.”

I said, “The only thing that bothers me is when they do the home visit.”

“Why is that, honey?”, my aunt asked. “Your house is wonderful.”

“It’s not so much the house, but me. Mrs. Biakeddy from the Navajo Children and Family Services will be one of them, and she knows about Kai. But there will be others, and they won’t know about me, or I don’t think they will until they meet us at the house.”

“Who is this, Mrs. Biakeddy?”, my uncle asked.

“She’s Mrs. Dezba Biakeddy, and she’s the administrator of the Navajo Children and Family Services.”, I replied.

“How did you meet her?”

“When we went to talk with Chief Clah about adopting, he had her at the meeting because he felt that she could answer our questions better than he could. And she was very helpful.”

“How did she feel about you when she met you?”, my uncle asked.

“At first she was surprised by meeting two girls, but the more we talked, the more of a positive feeling I got from her.”, I replied. “She was amazed when she found out who Kai is.

“But I do feel that she is open to us adopting. What happens will depend on the selection committee.”

“Well, Kai, if you come across like you usually do, you shouldn’t have a problem.”

“I hope you’re right, Uncle Paul.”

“Honey, he is.”, Aunt Ruth said.

I looked at Ajie, and she was smiling.

The rest of the evening was spent sitting on the patio, star gazing and pointing out constellations. And Uncle Paul even told us a story about being a code talker on one of the Pacific islands during World War Two. When he finished, Ajie said, “Uncle Paul, you need to write those stories down before they’re forgotten.”

“I might do that.”, Uncle Paul said.

Friday morning after breakfast, the four of us, Aunt Ruth, Uncle Paul, Ajie, and I went to the gun range. Ajie and I haven’t shot much, and we figured that it would be a good thing to do. Ajie, once again, out shot us all with the rifle. As we were looking at the targets, Uncle Paul asked, “Ajie, who are you mad at now?”

“No, one. Why?”, Ajie replied.

“I just remembered the first time we were here, and you did this well. You were upset about something. Now I remember. It was with ex-Chief Peshlakai.”

Ajie frowned at Uncle Paul, and said, “Why did you have to mention his name?”

“Sorry, Ajie.”

“That’s alright. But after all the trouble he caused, I was hoping that we could forget him.”

“He’ll be in prison for a few more years. So you can.”

“I’ll try.”

After using the pistol range, we headed back to the resort, and my aunt and uncle's house. We had lunch and then cleaned our rifles and pistols. Then we looked over the spent cartridges that we’d collected and discarded any of them that couldn’t be reloaded. Uncle Paul said that he’d take care of reloading everything.

After we finished our chores with the guns, Ajie and I went and got cleaned up for the barbecue. We took a shower. Yes, together, so it took a little longer than usual. Then we changed into fancy clothes, fancy wrap moccasins, long skirts, and fancy blouses. Both of us put our hair into a single braid with a fancy end. Of course, there was the silver jewelry, earrings, bracelets, rings, Concho belts, and chokers. I even opted for a squash blossom necklace. And since our hairstyles were matching, we both decided to wear the braided leather headbands with the Eagle feathers.

My aunt and uncle had already gone to the barbecue area, so Ajie and I walked together. And of course as we got closer we saw guests heading in the same direction. Then I saw someone, and I whispered to Ajie, “Isn’t that the Fairbrothers over there?”

The Fairbrothers were from Michigan and are members of the Ojibwa tribe, and they travel around judging dance competitions. And we met them back in 1966 when we were here. They’re also related to Dr. Joe.

Ajie looked to where I was pointing and said, “Yes, I think it is.”

We caught up with them, and when we were behind them, I said, “Yá’át’ééh alní'íní, - (Good evening,) Mr. and Mrs. Fairbrother.”

The Fairbrothers stopped, turned around, looked at us, and Mrs. Fairbrother said, “Kai! Ajie! It’s so good to see you.”

“Yes.”, I replied. “It’s been a couple of years.”

“It has. You two always look so good.”

“Thank you. My uncle insists that we look good for the barbecues.”

“No, I don’t.”, I heard Uncle Paul say.

“Okay, you caught me, Uncle Paul.”

“I’ve got to watch you all the time.”

I smiled and then looked back at the Fairbrothers and said, “I didn’t know there was a dance competition here this weekend.”

“There isn’t, Kai.”, Mrs. Fairbrother said. “There’s one in Arizona on Sunday, and we planned it so that we could stop here on Friday and enjoy the resort and barbecue.”

“That’s great.”

“So, what have you two been up to?”

“Trouble.”, Uncle Paul said.

“Uncle Paul!”, I said. “Maybe a little. But we’ve both been involved at the university. Both Ajie and I are teaching, and she’s working in the emergency room, and writing a textbook for her doctoral degree. I’m also working on my doctoral degree and have a Research Associate position and have been doing some research. Plus, we bought a house.”

“You two have been busy.”, Mrs. Fairweather said.

“Oh, just a little.”

“You’ll have to excuse them. We’ve got to get this show on the road.”, my Uncle Paul said.

“That’s okay, Paul.”, Mr. Fairbrother said. “We’re hungry.”

“I’ll tell Kah-Ge-Ga-Gah-Bowh and Meegwun Oshie – (Dr. Joe and Mary Oshie), that you said hello.”, I said.

“I forgot that you know them.”, Mrs. Fairweather said.

“We more than know them, I work with Dr. Joe at the university and they’re both good friends.”

“Yes, please tell them that we said hello.”

“We will.”

“Come on, Kai.”, Uncle Paul said.

As we walked to where the microphone is, Uncle Paul handed me a list of special guests, and it was a shortlist. Chief Kinlicheeny wasn’t here, but Chief Clah and his wife, Mai, were here as was Chief Tom and Vickie, and that was it. So, my introductions didn’t take long. And of course Naainish gave the prayer.

Ajie and I then found Charlie and Jackie, and there were hugs all around. But they were busy, and we couldn’t talk long.

And as usual, the food at the barbecue was delicious.

After we’d finished eting Ajie and I found Chief Clah, and I said, “Chief, would you have a few minutes to look over our application for adoption?”

“Of course Kai.”, Chief Clah said. “Do you have it with you?”

“It’s at the house. I’ll go get it.”

“Why don’t we go there. It’ll be a little more private.”

“That would work.” Then I looked at Mai and said, “Mai, you’re welcome to come along.”

“Are you sure?”, Mai said.

“You know most of this, so it’ll be fine.”

The four of us walked to the house and went into the living room. I went to our bedroom and retrieved the application. Before I sat next to Ajie, I handed the application to Chief Clah, and said, “Mai, you can read it too. If you like.”

“Are you sure, Kai.”, Mai said.

“We are.”

Chief Clah carefully read over the application, then without a word, gave it to his wife. Finally, Chief Clah said, “I’ve heard rumors about you two. But now they’re no longer rumors. Are you two really worth this much?”

“Chief, we are.”, I said. “Plus the house, the two cars, and the silver which we didn’t mention.

“My grandparents on my dad’s side of the family set up trust funds for my cousins and me when we were born. My dad was the trustee of mine and found someone good to handle the investments. And you can see the results.”

“Your investment guy has done a good job.”

“Yes, he has. He’s also handling the Chief Todachine Scholarship, and that’s why we’ll be able to offer five scholarships next year.”

“Five!?”

“Yes, five. Now, what about our application?”

“Sorry, I was just surprised by your financial summary. And your application is excellent. And I’d sign it, and Mai and I can witness it.

“I also noticed that you didn’t say anything about the Chief Todachine Scholarship.”

“That’s my Ace in the hole.”

“That may be good.”

“Would you take it to Mrs. Biakeddy the next time you’re in Window Rock?”

“Of course, but I won’t be in Window Rock until Tuesday.”

“That’ll beat the mail, and it will go into the correct hands.”

Ajie and I signed the application, and Chief Clah and his wife witnessed our signatures.

The Mai said, “Can I say something?”

“Of course, Mai.”, I replied.

“I was looking at your education, and the two of you graduating from college the way you did was wonderful.”

“Thank you.”, Ajie said.

“And I can see the two of you passing that love of education on to any child that was in your home.”

“I hope that we can do that.”

By the time we were done, we’d missed the Sunset. But not the bonfire.

As we were leaving the house for the bonfire, I took the application back to our bedroom and retrieved a rug. I folded it, and placed it over my arm. Then Chief Clah, Mai, Ajie, and I walked to where the bonfire pit was.

As we walked up, my aunt, uncle, Naainish, Chief Tom, Vickie, and the Fairbrothers were standing there. I handed the rug to my aunt, and as he usually does, my uncle handed me two matches and something to strike them on. Ajie and I walked over to where we usually light the fire. We knelt, I handed Ajie a match, then I struck and lit my match, and Ajie did the same. Then we lit the little trough of kerosene.

As the bonfire grew, Ajie and I backed away and walked to where my aunt was. She handed me the rug, and Ajie and I walked over to where we usually sit. After I’d spread out the rug, and Ajie and I sat. I concentrated on the fire and felt it’s spirit. I also sensed other spirits, spirits of the sacred area where we were. As Naainish started a chant, I closed my eyes.

When Naainish finished his chant, I opened my eyes and looked at Ajie, who was looking at me. I smiled at her, and she smiled at me. We got up, I picked up the rug, and we headed back to where everyone was.

As we walked, Ajie asked, “You had the vision again. Didn’t you?”

“Yeah.”, I replied.

“And the wolf was happy?”

“Yes.”

As we walked up, Naainish said, “The wolf was at ease. Wasn’t he.”

“Yes, he was lying down next to the Indian maiden with his head in her lap, and the Eagle was also returned.”, I replied.

“Did the Eagle have the three necklaces?”

“Yes.”

“It is good.”

Then Mr. Fairbrother said, “Kai, last time we witnessed this, it was interesting. But tonight it was more so. Seeing you and Ajie, being one with the spirits, was wonderful. And the way the people who were here treated it as it was your special time.”

“Thank you. We love coming here and feeling the spirits. And sharing some of our heritage with the resort’s guests.”

“That is a good thing to do.”

My aunt then said, “If all of you would like to join us at the house, I have some dessert.”

No one turned down my aunt's invitation. We all walked to the house, and everyone went out on the patio except my aunt, Ajie, and me. My aunt put us to work making fried ice cream. As soon as we had three made, I ran them out to the patio. We only needed eleven but made twelve. The twelfth one went into the freezer.

Once the three of us were able to join the others, my aunt received compliments from everyone on the fried ice cream. As we ate, we talked about some things. Then Ajie, who’d been looking at the stars, pointed and said, “Look there’s three shooting stars together.”

Everyone looked and saw them. And Naainish said, “It is good.”

“So, that was a good sign, Naainish?”, Chief Tom asked.

“Yes, three is a good number. We believe that the Diné – (Navajo) passed through three different worlds before emerging into this world, the Fourth World, or the Glittering World.”

We told the Fairbrothers about what we’d been doing, but we left out the problems that we’d had. We also told them about the house and wanting to adopt a Navajo child.

When we told them about adopting, Mrs. Fairbrother said, “I can see the two of you as parents. And you will be good, but strict parents. And fair in your dealings with problems.”

Ajie looked at her and said, “Thank you. I hope we will.”

“You will. There’s no doubt in my mind.”

Ajie and I looked at each other, and I said, “Maybe we will.”

Saturday, not long after breakfast, and making a phone call to Iz at the Santa Ana Pueblo, we were on the road back to Albuquerque. And of course, we made a stop when we were about an hour from home. And that was to see the Eagles. As we pulled up to the entrance of the parking area for the Jemez Canyon Reservoir, we noticed that the barricades had been removed. We pulled in and parked. As we got out of the car, we saw a pickup truck coming up the access road that we’d just used.

The pickup truck belonged to Iz. Iz is the whole parks department for the Santa Ana Pueblo Indian Reservation. And his wife, Awinita or Nita, is the Tribal Governor.

They parked next to us, and we greeted Nita and Iz. Then the four of us walked the trail to where we could see the Eagle’s nest. Iz and his wife had been one of the calls that we had made the other night about the adoption application, and they were excited for us. And we talked about it.

When we were at the nest, we stood and waited. There was no activity in the nest. But it wasn’t long until one of the adult Eagles flew in, landed on the nest, and walked over to the edge. He looked at us and squawked. Then a minute or so later, the other adult Eagle flew in and landed on the nest and joined the first Eagle at the edge of the nest looking at us.

We waited a while hoping one or more of the Eaglets would show up, but they never did. Then Iz said, “None of Pueblo Police officers have seen the young Eagles very much.”

“I guess that they’re out exploring the area.”, I said. “It’s part of their growing up.”

“Yes, it is. I hope they don’t go too far.”

“They could. But if there’s enough food around for the adult pair, they’ll probably stay here and maybe have more young next year.”

“I sure hope so.”

“So do we.”

We said so long to Iz and Nita and headed home. As we pulled into the driveway, I stopped and rescued the mail and the newspapers. Then we pulled into the garage, and after putting the rifles and pistols away, we changed clothes and did a little grocery shopping. When we were back home, and everything was put away, we put together dinner and sat at the breakfast bar to eat. Then relaxed out in the courtyard.

Sunday was a work in the house day. Ajie worked on her textbook and other things. And I worked on installing the electric eye at the front gate and I was able to get it wired to one of the chimes that I'd put in the kitchen. The open beam construction of the house made it easy to run the low voltage wiring in a way so that it was hidden, besides I had chosen brown wire for this. And Ajie helped me when I was aligning the electric eye. I’d installed the power supply for the electric eye and the chime on the electrical box in the garage. I’ll wire in the chime that I want to put in our bedroom later. Now I had to figure out what to put in the driveway, but that was a project for another day.

After dinner, we were relaxing in the back courtyard, and Ajie asked, “Have you made any decision about Los Alamos?”

“Well, I’ve been thinking about it.”, I replied.

“And?”

“Can I trust them?”

“Was this last time their fault?”

“Yes and no. Yes, because of the way they handled it. And, no, because they had to do what they were told to do.”

“But the wolf in your vision was at ease with everything.”

“I know. The wolf was fine with it, but I don’t know.”

“Do you need another night in the hogan?”

“Maybe. But, I think I want to meditate over it first.”

“Here or in the hogan.”

“Maybe here under the stars.”

“Can I join you.”

“Ajie, what’s your name mean?”

“My heart.”

“And didn’t the elders gave you that name because you share my spirits in your heart?”

“Yes.”

“You never have to ask if you want to do anything with me.”

She smiled and said, “Ayóó' áníínísh'ní - (I love you).”

I returned the smile and said, “Ayóó' áníínísh'ní aldó’, Ajie.”

I got up, walked into the house, and came back with two rugs. I placed the rugs on either side of the fire pit. I hadn’t lit a fire earlier, so I laid a fire and lit it. Ajie walked over to the fire pit and sat on one of the rugs. I sat on the other.

We looked at each other across the fire and smiled. Then we started concentrating on the fire. I quickly felt the spirit of the fire. Then I heard a chant in my mind and started a soft chant. I heard Ajie join me.

We sat there, meditating until the fire started to burn down. Then we both got up, and I took the rugs back into the house. When I came back out, Ajie wasn’t here but she was quickly back with two glasses of sangria. We sat, enjoyed the night, the sangria, and each other's company.

At one point, Ajie asked, “So?”

“So, what?”, I asked.

“Did the meditation do any good?”

“Yes. I’m going to give Los Alamos one last chance. And I’m also going to tell them that.”

“Do you think you should? Maybe just let it go the way it goes and see what happens.”

“I could do that.”

“I think you should.”

Then Ajie asked, “Are we spending the night in the hogan?”

“Do you want to?’ I asked.

“Do we need to?”

“No.”

“But, I do sleep so well in the hogan.”

“I do too.”

And that night, we did sleep well.