Dad smiled and quietly said, “Okay, honey. See you later kids.”

I said, “Mom you need to go home too, and get some rest.”

“Honey.”, Mom said. “I wouldn’t get any rest. I need to be here. Besides, I noticed that they have some nice recliners in the ICU waiting room. So, I’ll get some rest.

“You two go home and get some sleep. Then come back down, and if Dad is doing good, I’ll go back home with you and get some rest.”

“I should stay.”, I said. “But I feel that Dad’s going to be just fine. So Amy and I will go and get some rest. And we’ll see you later.”

Amy and I gave Mom hugs and said so long to Dad.

On the way home, Amy said, “You knew your Dad was going to make it through this. Didn’t you?”

“I guess.”, I said.

“No. You knew.”

“I felt that he would.”

Amy just smiled.

Amy and I were sound asleep when the phone rang. Sometimes when someone is in the hospital and the phone rings here’s an air of foreboding. But I somehow knew it was good news. I answered it, and it was Mom. Mom told me that Dad was doing great and the nurses had told her to go home and get some sleep. And she wanted us to come and get her. I told her that I’d be there in about twenty minutes and that I’d pick her up at the hospital’s front door.

Amy got up with me, and we quickly dressed and headed to the hospital. Mom was standing at the front door when we got there. As Mom got in the car, I asked, “So Dad is doing good?”

“Yes.”, Mom replied. “He’s doing so good that they’re talking about moving him to a private room later today.”

“That’s wonderful.”

“Honey, I’m so glad that you picked up on something being wrong with Dad.”

Amy then said, “If that aneurysm had burst he might not have made it.”

“Well, you caught the symptoms.”, I said. “They meant nothing to me.”

With a grin, Amy said, “Well hand trembler Tom.”

“How do you two know about the hand tremblers?”, Mom asked.

“We were talking to Naainish about healers, and he told us.”, Amy replied.

“Well if I’m a hand trembler then you’re a medicine man.”, I said to Amy.

Mom looked at me, and said, “You know the Navajo believe that a hand trembler can sense illnesses by using divine powers.”

“Yes, Mom. I know. And I’m not one of those. I had no idea that Dad was sick. I just asked a question.”

“Honey.”, Amy said. “You just asked the right question with your dad.”

I just shook my head no, and said, “And I don’t know why I even asked that question.”

“Maybe you are a hand trembler, but in your own way.”

“My own way?”

“There must have been a little something that you saw or sensed, that caused you to ask.”

“It’s possible. But I have no idea what it was.

“And you know. While Mom and I were sitting there during the surgery, I heard the Navajo Healing Song.”

“You what?”, my mother asked.

“I heard someone chanting the Navajo Healing Song. Like what Naainish chanted at the bonfire the night after that guy attacked us. It was a soft chant.”

“Who was chanting it?”

“I don’t know, but the voice was familiar. But I don’t know.”

“Was it Naainish?”, Amy asked.

“No. It was a younger voice.”

“Was it yours?”

“I don’t know. It had to have been in my subconscious. But I don’t know the words and Mom hasn’t taught us enough Navajo for me to even know or understand the words.”

“I don’t even know the words.”, Mom added. “It’s the medicine men that learn the chants. And a medicine man can only learn a few chants during his lifetime as each requires a lot of time and effort to learn and perfect.”

“We only heard the Navajo Healing Song that one time.”

“Then what about Mary?”, Amy asked

“Mary.”, my mother said. “Is something wrong with Mary?”

“No mom.”, I said. “I just told her that she was pregnant before she knew.”

“What?”

“I hugged her and felt three spirits.”

“Three spirits?”

“Usually when I hug someone, I can feel their spirit. That night I felt three spirits in Mary and figured out that she was pregnant with twins.”

My mother just looked at me.

“Tell her the rest.”, Amy said.

“There’s more?”, my mother asked.

“Yes.”, I said. “I knew the sex of each.”

“How?”

“I felt a girl’s spirit and a boy’s spirit. Along with Mary’s spirit.”

My mother just let it drop, but I figured that it would come up again.

It wasn’t long after we got home that the phone rang, and Mom answered it with, “Hello.” … “Oh hi, honey.” … “How are you feeling?” … “That’s good to hear.” … “What’s your room number?” … “Okay room 324.” … “Great. We’ll see you a little later.” … “The kids send their love. … See you soon. Bye.”

“They did that quick.”, Amy said. “It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours.”

“I know.”, Mom replied. “They told me before I left that he was doing well. But I didn’t think it was this well.”

“I’ve never known him to be sick.”, I said.

“He hasn’t been. An occasional cold, but nothing else.

“Mom, why don’t you get some rest, and Amy and I will go and see him. And then the three of us can go down after dinner.”

“Mom, you do need to get some sleep.”, Amy added.

“You’re both right.”, Mom said. “I am tired.”

“Honey.”, I said to Amy. “I’m going to get a quick shower. Then we can grab some lunch at the drive-in, and go and see Dad.”

A little later Amy and I were walking into Dad’s hospital room. He was sitting up and reading. There was a bandage on his half shaven head. And Amy said, “Well, Daddy. You’re looking good after having had major surgery less than twenty-four hours ago.”

“Hi kids.”, dad said. “I’m feeling good too. I guess they were surprised when they checked on me a little while ago. So they promoted me to a private room.”

Me being me said, “I love your haircut Dad. I only hope that it doesn’t become a trend.”

“My haircut?”

“They shaved half of your head for the surgery.”

“Oh. That’s got to be look funny.”

“You might have the hospital barber come up and finish the job. That way it’ll look the same.”, Amy said.

“Good idea. Now, Tom, how did you know.”

“Know what, Dad?”, I asked.

“That I was sick.”

“Like I’ve told Mom and Amy. I don’t know. I just felt something was wrong and asked. And if Amy hadn’t of been there no one would have picked up on what you said.”

We talked with Dad for a while longer. Then Dr. Greenwood and about eight others walked in. The doctor said, “Dr. Young, you came out of the surgery better than anyone I’ve ever seen. You were only in ICU for a short time, and now you’re sitting up and talking.”

“Thank you, doctor.”, my dad said. “It’s probably the good care that I’ve received here and the support from my family.”

“I met your family, and especially your daughter-in-law, last night. And your daughter-in-law was in surgery with us. It was strange to have a family member in surgery, but with her being a third-year nursing student I allowed it. And she asked some interesting questions.”

Then looking at the doctors with him, Dr. Greenwood said, “And gentlemen, this third year nursing student asked some questions that you should be asking.”

Then I saw him look at Amy and wink. And she smiled.

After the doctor and his entourage had left, Dad asked, “Amy, were you really in surgery with me?”

“Yes, Daddy.”, Amy replied. “You asked me to stay with you. And my friend Patty spoke with Dr. Greenwood, and he allowed it.”

“Who’s Patty?”

“She’s the evening shift nursing supervisor in the Emergency Room and a friend.”

“Did you really stay through the whole thing?”

“Of course. It was interesting. Plus I had to be there for you.”

“Thank you, daughter.”

Amy just smiled.

Then I asked, “Who were the other doctors with Dr. Greenwood?”

“I’m guessing surgical residents.”, Amy said. “And I’m glad he didn’t introduce me.”

“Why?”

“Being a surgical resident and having a nursing student thrown up in your face and then him introducing me might not be a good thing for me.”

“Why?”

“I might end up working with one of them, and it could be problematic.”

“I guess you’re right.”

We stayed a little longer, then told Dad that we would be back with Mom after dinner. And as Amy and I were walking out of the hospital, I said, “I caught the wink from Dr. Greenwood.”

“Yeah.”, Amy said. “I think it was just his way of acknowledging me without the residents catching on.”

Mom, Amy, and I did visit Dad after dinner, and we stayed until visiting hours were over. The next day when we went in to visit Dad, his head was completely shaved. And Amy was the first to say anything, when she said, “Dad, you look good with your head shaved.”

“Yeah, Dad.”, I said. “That’s a good look for you.”

“It’s a little cool.”, dad said. “But I figured that I could borrow Kai’s wig if my head got too cold.”

I frowned at him. And Amy said, “No, Daddy. I don’t think you’d look good with long black hair. Your coloring just isn’t right.”

“Well, maybe a hat.”

With a grin, Amy said, “You could borrow my pink cowboy hat.”

My Dad frowned, and said, “No thank you.”

“Dad.”, I said. “You’re not a hat kind of guy. Just go natural.”

Dad was home a few days later. And I was right. He was supposed to rest for a couple of weeks, but after a few days, he was doing things around the house. And nothing that the three of us did could stop him. Three weeks after his surgery, with a very short haircut, he went back to work.

Things were finally back to normal. Well as normal as they can be around here. My Dad had recovered from his brain surgery and was back at work. Amy and I were finishing our fall quarter classes. We were also taking our karate class. Mom was working on our Navajo lessons. Tammy and Amy were out together, along with our friends. Kai wasn’t around. Hmm.

At the end of fall quarter, both of us were on the Dean’s List. And missy smarty pants got a 4.0 average for the quarter, so Amy was again on the President’s Honor List.

Both Amy and I also earned our yellow belt in karate. And we also opted to continue our training.

We had a month between the end of fall quarter and the beginning of winter quarter. So along with Christmas and New Years, we had some free time. We spent some of that with our friends. And Tammy was around from time to time. Still no Kai. Maybe what Naainish had said about Kai taking a back seat to Tammy when we were back home was true.

One thing did happen. Just before Christmas, Amy heard from Patty, and she and Ralph wanted to get together with us. So one day between Christmas and New Years, we met them for dinner. It was terrific to see them again, and we caught up on a lot of things. They told us about the rest of their trip up into Colorado and then home through the Dakotas.

Patty wasn’t happy when Amy mentioned that we might move to New Mexico after graduation and that Amy might do her masters out there. But Patty did say that she knew that we loved it out there and with just their short visit she could see why. And she hoped that Amy would rethink her decision.

We told them about the seminar that we’d attended, and how my friend was verbally attacked over the paper he’d written. Both Ralph and Patty were shocked by it. But they had a good laugh when Amy told them what I’d done.

Ralph talked about the support group that meets at a local church and asked if we’d like to go to a meeting with them this Friday. I was sensing something that made me uncomfortable. Amy looked at me, and I think she knew I was sensing something.

I asked, “Is the minister of the church a Reverend Mary Miller?”

Ralph said, “Yes. Do you know her?”

“No. I know of her. The husband of the woman that does my hair presided over our fake wedding. He’s an associate pastor at that church, he talked to Reverend Miller about me, and she wanted to meet me. I had an uneasy feeling about it and decided not to. I don’t think it was anything about her. It was just too many people finding out about me.”

“Wait a minute.”, Patty said. “A fake wedding?”

“Amy, our parents, and some of our friends surprised me with a fake wedding where I was the bride, and Amy was the groom.”

Patty and Ralph just looked at me for a few seconds, then Patty said, “You two are really something else. And the way you're supported is amazing.”

“Is it too much?”, Amy asked.

“No. But your lifestyle and the support you receive. … It’s … It’s just out of sight.”

“I think the support is from the people feeling Tammy’s female spirit.”, Amy said. “It’s like they see her as a girl.”

“Ralph.”, I asked. “Tell me a little bit about this group?”

Ralph replied, “With a university the size of ours there is a diversity of people in the students, staff, and faculty. A few of us found out that there was no support for people like us on campus, and decided to do something about it. We looked around and found this church that was very liberal and open to all. They don’t care who you are. We talked to them about hosting a support group. And they welcomed us with open arms. One of the associate ministers is even a member.”

“That would be the minister that performed our fake wedding.”, Amy said.

I asked Ralph, “Are you associated with the university?”

“Yes.”, he replied. “Having a degree in meteorology and being employed in the field, I teach meteorology at the university.”

“Honey.”, Amy asked me. "You’re sensing something about this meeting. Aren’t you?”

“Kind of.”

“Sensing what?”, Patty asked.

“Tom can usually sense how people feel about people like him and Ralph.”, Amy replied.

“And usually I have to be fairly close to the person.”, I added. “But there’s something about this meeting that’s bothering me.”

“Does sensing things have something to do with the two spirit stuff?”, Patty asked.

“Yes. But sometimes it doesn’t work.” And I went on to tell them what happened to us the day they left the resort. When I finished, Patty said, “My God you could have been hurt or worse.”

“I know.”, I replied. “If it hadn’t been for the actions of the room clerk I probably would have.”

“So what are you feeling about this meeting?”

“I’m not really sure. But I’ll tell you what. We’ll go to the meeting with you. But I’ll want to wait outside until everyone is there, and if I don’t sense anything, we’ll go in. But if I do, I’d suggest that none of us go in.”

“You’re really serious about this.”, Ralph asked. “Aren’t you?”

“Very. It’s like a sixth sense. Maybe a survival instinct. Naainish told me that I’d be able to sense people who don’t accept us. And that what I sense and how I sense it will get better as time goes on.”

“Naainish. He’s the medicine man. Isn’t he?”

“Yes. He’s also a friend. He and I have talked, and have learned much from each other.”

“So, he’s also a two spirit person?”

“Yes.”

The first Friday night after winter quarter started we, Patty, Ralph, Amy, and I, were sitting in the church parking lot watching people going into the church. I was Tammy, and Ralph wasn’t dressed yet. He told us that he always changed at the church.

It was a cold evening, so both Amy and I were dressed warmly. Skirts, boots, and sweaters. And of course a coat and gloves. We'd done our hair in matching ponytails. And our makeup was a subdued evening look. And I was wearing my signature glasses.

It was about ten minutes before the meeting was to start and we felt that everyone was there. But then a car pulled in and parked. A guy got out and took a suitcase out of the trunk of his car, and started walking towards the church.

“Ralph.”, I asked. “Do you know him?”

“He’s a new member.”, Ralph said. “He’s only been to a few meetings. But he’s okay.”

“There’s something about him. But I’m not sure what.”

“Do you feel strongly about it?”

“I just don’t know.”

As Ralph got out of the car, he said, “Okay. You three wait here, and I’ll be back.”