A trip to Taos turned interesting when we ran into Uncle Paul’s Cousin Ahiga at Mr. Yazzie’s shop as Mr. Yazzie was trading for another piece of my Great-Great-Grandfather Kilchii Nez’s silver pieces.

The two Eagles. Hmm. Were they local and just happened to find us? Or did our two feathered friends from back home follow us out here?

Every Sunday, when we were at the apartment, along with calling home and talking to our parents, we also worked on our karate. This Sunday when we called home, we told our parents most things, but we didn’t mention the trouble Amy had with her New Mexico license. We just told them that she had gotten it.

That afternoon I had a feeling that I wanted to visit Cousin Ahiga. So I said, “Honey, let's go to Old Town this afternoon and then have dinner at La Placita Dining Rooms?”

“I like your thoughts. And I also think that you want to stop in and see Cousin Ahiga. Don’t you?”

“Are you reading my mind?”

“No. It’s that you told him that the next time we were in Old Town that we’d stop in and see him.”

“I did. Didn’t I.”

“Yes, you did. Are we going to take any silver with us.”

“I did tell him that I’d show him some of Kilchii’s work. But with all the tourists in town right now, I don’t think so. Maybe we’ll wear a few pieces.”

After lunch, Amy and I got dressed. Amy went with the long skirt and fancy blouse. She put her hair in a single braid down her back and went with one of the braided leather headbands and a pair of beaded earrings. And she wore a pair of moccasins.

I went with almost the same things that Amy, now Ajie, did. Except I used one of the Eagle feather headbands and a pair of the silver feather earrings. And I wore a pair of the wrap moccasins. And Kai was here.

We went downstairs to the small room and opened the safe. Ajie put on her Concho belt, and I put on mine. We both added a couple of rings and a bracelet. All but one of the Concho belts was Kilchii’s work.

We had to park quite a way from Cousin Ahiga’s shop. But the walk was enjoyable, and we window shopped. And we even went into one shop that supposedly had native made pottery. There were a few very nice pieces of native pottery, and some weren’t made by native artists, they just looked too machine made.

As we walked into Cousin Ahiga’s shop, we saw him behind the counter talking with a couple of customers, there was also another man behind the counter also talking to other customers, and there was also a woman behind the counter. We walked around looking at the things that he had. Everything was under glass. And he had a lot of beautiful things.

The other man had finished with his customers, walked up to us, and asked, “Can I help you?”

“We stopped in to see Ahiga. He’s my uncle’s cousin.”

With a laugh, the man said, “Ahiga has more cousins then I have hair.”

Ajie and I smiled at that. Then the man said, “I’ll tell him as soon as he finishes with his customer.”

A few minutes later, Ahiga had finished with his customer, and the man pointed us out to him. I saw him smile, and they walked in our direction. As they walked up, Ahiga said, “Kai. Ajie. It’s good to see you. What brings you to our shop?”

“We said we’d stop in and say hello when we were in Old Town.”

“I’m glad you did. Did you like the piece I traded to Sike?”

“Yes, it was very nice. And I want to talk to you about that.

“We brought a little of Kilchii’s work with us. I was going to bring more, but I think I’ll wait until tourist season is over.”

The other man perked up, and said, “Kilchii. As in Kilchii Nez?”

“Yes, Yas.”, Ahiga said. “Oh. Kai and Ajie, this is Yas Lapahie. He and I are partners in this shop. Yas, this is Kai Nez and Ajie Nez.”

“Are … Are you related to Kilchii Nez?”, Yas asked.

“Yes.”, I replied. “He’s my great-great-grandfather.”

Looking at Ahiga, Yas asked, “Is she’s the one you told me about.”

“She’s the one.”

“And she has more pieces of his work?”

“I do.”, I replied. “But we didn’t bring them all today.”

“Can I see what you have?”

“Of course.”

Yas walked behind the counter and placed a black cloth on the counter. Ahiga walked behind the counter with Yas. I took off my Concho belt and put it on the cloth. The two men handled it like it was made of eggs.

After looking over the Concho belt very carefully, they handed the belt back to me, and Ahiga, asked, “Do you have anything else with you?”

Ajie took off her bracelet and two of her rings and placed them on the cloth. Again the two men looked very carefully at the pieces, and Yas said, “These pieces are fantastic. I haven’t seen much of Kilchii’s work, but he was a real artist. An old master.”

I smiled as I said, “Thank you.”

“I really would like to see your other pieces.”

“We’ll do that after the tourists clear out.

“Now, Cousin Ahiga, I have to apologize to you.”

“Apologize? What for?”

“When I looked at it the maker’s mark on that piece of Kilchii’s work that you traded to Sike Yazzie, it didn’t seem right, and I questioned its authenticity.

“But, Mr. Yazzie put me straight by explaining that Kilchii put his maker’s mark on that piece by hand.

“I’m sorry that I questioned you.”

“Kai.”, Ahiga said. “Don’t worry about it. You saw something that didn’t look right to you and said something. And you seeing something like that, and not being a collector or silversmith, it amazing. It was hard to see.”

“Mr. Yazzie told me that Kilchii put his maker’s mark on by hand before he got a stamp.”

“Yes, all his early work had the maker’s mark added by hand. And there’ll be slight differences in each of those older pieces, but it makes them special.”

“All of his pieces are special to me. It’s that I just wanted to apologize to you.”

“Kai, no need. You saw something and questioned it.”

“Thank you.”

“Kai.”, Yas said. “You have some very nice pieces.”

“Thank you, Mr. Lapahie.”

“Kai, for you it’s Yas.”

I smiled.

There were no more customers in the store, so the woman walked over to us, and with a smile said, “Yas, I can’t trust you. You see pretty girls, and you can’t stay away.”

“Be careful, Manaba.”, Yas said. “This is Kai Nez and her friend Ajie Nez. Kai and Ajie, this is my wife, Manaba.”

After we exchanged greetings, Manaba looked at me, and said, “Kai Nez. The Kai Nez that’s been in the paper?

“Yes.”, I replied.

“You’re the … “

“The Nádleeh. Yes.”

“Oh. It is so nice to meet you. Yas, she’ll bring good luck to the store.”

I smiled, and said, “I don’t know if I do that or not. But I hope I do.”

“Oh. Honey, you do. You do.”

We said hágoónee' (see you later) to everyone, and left the store. As we walked Ajie asked, “Do you think we could take a walk after dinner?”

“Sure. Where?”

“Along the river.”

“Want to see if the Eagles will be there. Don’t you?”

“Sort of.”

“Don’t you think we’re a little overdressed for that?”

“Yeah, but we could change after dinner.”

“Or before?”

We ran home and changed into our hiking gear. We left on the blouses that we were wearing but exchanged the long skirts for shorts and the moccasins for hiking boots. The only jewelry that we removed was the Concho belts, and those went into the safe. And we both left on the headbands that we were wearing.

It wasn’t much later that Ajie and I were seated in the placita or plaza room of the La Placita Dining Rooms. That’s the room with a large tree growing out through the ceiling. And we shared an appetizer of Nacho Grandes.

Amy ordered a Sangria to drink, and I went with ice tea. I was driving.

For dinner, I went with the beef Navajo Taco Plate. They make the tacos with Indian style frybread. Ajie went for the La Placita's Original which is two sopaipillas, one stuffed with beef and pinto beans, and one stuffed with chicken and pinto beans. And both are covered with chili and cheese. For dessert? You guessed it, fried ice cream.

After we finished eating, we drove over to the parking area that we’d used our first time at the trails that ran along the east side of the Rio Grande River. There were more cars here tonight, and a lot of them had out of state plates on them, including ours.

We started walking the trail that we’d walked before, the trail that runs right along the Rio Grande River. As we walked, we did encounter a few people. And when we’d gone about a mile, we came across the bench where we’d sat the first time we were here. And there was a pair of young lovers there cuddled together. Amy saw them, and said, “Oh well. I guess we can’t expect the privacy that we had back home.”

“I guess not.”, I said. “This is closer to town than our park was.”

We continued walking further north along the river. We’d gone another half a mile when we spotted another bench. This one wasn’t occupied. We walked over to it and sat. The Rio Grande River split here to go around an island, so we were looking at the eastern shore of the island. We sat there quietly for a while and watched the water. Then Ajie said, “I wonder if they’ll show up?”

“Who?”, I asked. “The Eagles?”

“Yeah. I loved seeing them the other day.”

“Me too. Do you still think they're the ones from home?”

“No. Not really. It was just wishful thinking. But it would be nice if they were.”

“It would be.”

Usually, when I’m Kai, Ajie and I don’t show much if any, affection when we’re out. But tonight Ajie cuddle up to me as we sat on the bench. And it wasn’t much later that we saw a large bird circle overhead, and land towards the top of a dead tree on the island.

We both sat up and looked at the bird, as it looked at us. It was an Eagle. Shortly a second Eagle showed up, circled overhead, and landed in the same tree. There was no way to know if they were the same Eagles that we’d seen earlier this week. But, maybe, just maybe, they are.

We sat there and looked at them, and they at us. Ajie even quietly talked to them. They visited with us for about fifteen minutes. Then the Eagles flew off towards the north.

We sat there and watched them until they were out of sight. Ajie then looked at me, and said, “I love seeing the Eagles. They make me feel at peace.”

“You sure had a nice talk with them.”, I said.

“I guess I did. I was telling them about what happened this past week.”

“Did they answer you?”

“No. Like you, they’re good listeners.”

“Ready to go?”

“Yes. But I want a milkshake.”

We stopped at our favorite drive-in, and Ajie surprised me when she ordered a cherry milkshake. I had a ginger ale milkshake. And our friendly carhop wasn’t working, so, thank the Great Spirit, I didn’t have to fend off his advances.

Amy had classes tomorrow, so after we finished our milkshakes, we headed back to the apartment. Ajie took a shower and got ready for bed. Then I did the same. But we didn’t go to bed. We sat on the couch, listened to the radio, and cuddled.

Monday began a typical week for us. Yes, no problems, just Ajie going to class and me going to the library to read. I even found some technical papers on integrated circuits. I know it sounds boring. But it’s my thing. So they were interesting.

We did make it a point to get together with Chief Tom and Vickie on a regular basis to work on Chief Tom’s Navajo. What was interesting was that Vickie was also trying to learn Navajo. And I think that we might be stirring things in Chief Tom from many years ago when he lived on the reservation.

Friday brought another trip to the resort and a fun barbecue. Dibe was even there and having fun. She saw us, and as soon as she could she ran up to us, and the three of us hugged, and she asked, “Kai and Ajie are you coming to the dance competition?”

“When is it?”, I asked.

“On Saturday the nineteenth. And, it may be my last one.”

“Your last one. Why?”

“I’m going to be away at school, and won’t get to practice with my friends.”

“There’s no Indian dance groups in Colorado?”

“There might be.”

“I’d find out. It’ll keep you active, and you’d add a lot to their group.”

“You’re right, Kai. I would miss dancing. So will you be there on the nineteenth?”

“We wouldn’t miss it.”

Dibe ran off to join the dancers.

And Saturday was a relaxing day before we headed back to Albuquerque. We used the thermal pools and got massages.

Sunday Amy and I went up to the Sandia Crest and explored. We found a trail that ran along the ridgeline, and we hiked that for a couple of miles before turning around and heading back. I think both of us had acclimated to the elevation out here, as we didn’t have any altitude problems.

Then after dinner at the apartment, we drove over to the Rio Grande River and hiked the trail along the river. We found that the first bench that we’d sat at was unoccupied, so we sat, and hoped that the Eagles would show up. And we weren’t disappointed. They both came in together and landed in the dead tree on the far bank. We spent about twenty minutes visiting with them. Then they took off and headed back north.

Monday brought another week that was almost a copy of the previous week. The biggest difference was that instead of going to the Sandia Crest on Sunday we went to the east slope of the Sandia National Forest and started looking at those trails. The guy that I’d met at the library had suggested the Armijo Trail, and that’s where we started.

The guy at the library had mentioned pasture pies, better known as horse droppings, and they were there. It appears that there is a lot of horseback riding on this trail.

But this trail proved interesting. We found that there were picnic areas along the trail. Not many, maybe two or three. But they’re off the trail a little distance. And we explored those too. At the second one Amy became amorous, and as she nuzzled my neck, she whispered, “You know something that I’ve missed since we’ve been out here.”

I whispered back, “Uh huh. The same thing that I’ve missed.”

“Do you think we dare?”

“We haven’t seen anyone else on the trail except for the couple going the other way.”

As she started unbuttoning my shirt, she whispered, “I know.”

“We don’t have a blanket with us.”

“Do we need it?”

“No.”

And we didn’t. One of the picnic tables worked. After we redressed, we continued the hike, and I know Amy had a smile on her face the whole time we walked. I had one too.

As we walked, Amy asked, “Think this might be the place to replace the pine forest back home?”

“It could very well be.”, I replied. “We’ll check out some of the other trails too.”

“Better bring the blanket with us.”

“I will.”

When we were back at the trailhead parking area, a Forest Service Ranger was posting a notice on the bulletin board. We walked over to where he was and read the notice. It was a warning that bears have been spotted in the area.

He was still standing there, and I said, “We just came off the Armijo Trail and didn’t see any signs of bears.”

“Do you know what to look for?”, he said.

“Yes, My uncle taught us both how to hike in bear country.”

“So, he knows about bears?”

“Yes, he’s a full-blooded Navajo and spends a lot of time in the mountains west of Taos.”

“There are a lot of bears up there. So, why aren’t you carrying a gun?”

“Didn’t feel a need for it until now. But we’ll get a couple.”

“Two?”

“When we hiked in those mountains west of Taos we both carried long guns. And we both know the signs a bear leaves. And to make noises, so we don’t startle the Mountain People.”

“You know about the Mountain People?”

“Sure, we’re Navajo, and we know that’s what the Navajo call bears. So there’s no problem carrying guns in the National Forest?”

“A lot of the horse people carry only a sidearm, which I consider a backup gun. If you’re hunting, you’ll need a hunting license. Otherwise no problem.”

“So a sidearm isn’t good against a bear?”

“I wouldn’t say that. If it’s charging you, a .45 semi-automatic handgun can put a number of rounds into the bear before it gets to you. And that’s what you need to do to stop it. At a distance, a rifle that uses a .45-70 Government cartridge is a good choice.”

“We both feel comfortable with rifles, but a handgun will be something new.”

“A good gun shop will have a range and instructors to help you.”

“Know of one in Albuquerque?”

The ranger took out a business card and wrote something on the back, and handed it to me. I looked at the card and said, “We’ve been there. It’s where we got some of our hiking gear. But I don’t remember seeing guns.”

“There next door.”

“Good. So we know where this is.”

“It’s a good all around outdoor store.”

As I turned the card back over, I said, “Thanks. Hope to see you again, Ranger Carter.”

“And you are?”

“I’m Kai Nez, and this is my cousin Amy Nez.”

“It’s been nice speaking with you girls. Enjoy the trails, and be safe.”

“We will try to do both.”

On the way back to the apartment we talked about guns, and Amy said, “I guess if we’re going to hike in the mountains and forests we should be prepared.”

“I completely agree.”, I said. “The store probably isn’t open tonight. But we can run over after your afternoon class tomorrow.”

“Only if you buy me dinner at the drive-in afterward.”

“Yes, my lady. I will be happy to procure our meal at the Inn of Ginger Ale.”

“You’re funny.”

On Monday right after Amy’s afternoon class, we headed over to the outdoor store. And sure enough, right next door to the outdoor shop was a gun shop. We walked in, and there were three or four employees there and maybe half a dozen customers.

One of the employees walked up to us and asked what he could do for us. And we told him about talking to the Forest Service Ranger about bear protection. He asked about the name of the ranger, and I showed him the business card, he looked at the name on the card and said that that ranger knows what he’s talking about.

We spent about an hour and a half looking at handguns and rifles. We settled quickly on a nice lever action rifle, and bought two of them. It was the same rifle that my uncle had given Amy to carry when we were at the cabin. It took us a little longer to pick a handgun. I was worried about Amy’s smaller hand, but the guy assured me that with practice she could handle it. He said that his wife uses one as a sidearm when they’re hunting and that she is about Amy’s size. So we settled on two of the same handguns, both were .45 semi-automatics. We also bought cleaning supplies for the guns, some ammunition, and holsters for the pistols and cases for the rifles.

Then we set up some time to learn about the pistols. Such as how to load, shoot, and clean them. And that was going to be after Amy’s class on Wednesday.

On Wednesday after Amy’s afternoon class we were back at the gun shop learning about handguns. The store provided ear protection and eye protection when we shot. They went over proper gun handling and loading the weapon. When we’d finished shooting, they showed us how to clean the guns properly. We then set up a time to come back and use the range, so that we could practice. I think we need to bring the rifles too so that we can get used to them again.

As Amy and I were walking back to the car, she said, “When I first shot that handgun, I thought it was going to break my hand.”

“It did have a kick to it.”

“No kidding.”

“But you quickly got a hand on it.”

“I know. Two hands.”

On Friday, when we were at the resort, we were talking with my aunt and uncle, and we told them about the Ranger and buying the guns. My uncle was happy that we’d purchased the rifles that we did. But he was a little concerned about the handguns, but after we told him that we’d had instruction on how to properly use them he was happier. He also agreed that having a sidearm wasn’t a bad idea.

My uncle then said to bring the guns along the next time we were going to spend Friday night. And on Saturday we could go to the same range that we went to last time and we could practice. I told him that we’d left the handguns home locked in the safe but had brought the rifles with us because we didn’t have any way to lock them up.

Uncle Paul then said, “We could go to the range tomorrow.”

“No, Uncle Paul, tomorrow is the dance competition.”, I said. “You should come along. It’s fun.”

“I don’t know.”

“They have good food and your favorite, dah diniilghaazh (frybread).”

“Kai. You’re being bad again. And you’re tempting me.”

“I’m looking forward to the dah diniilghaazh myself. But, we, and especially Aunt Ruth, makes better frybread then they do.”

“Kai, are you trying to butter me up to make frybread?”, Aunt Ruth said.

“What! Me butter you up. I’d never do something like that, Aunt Ruth. Would I?”

“Kai, you’d do it in a heartbeat to get frybread.”

“Sunday for breakfast?”

“If you help.”

I looked at Ajie, and she was smiling, so I said, “We’ll be happy to help.”

“What ya mean we?”, Ajie said.

“Okay, if she won’t help, I will.”