I’ve also gotten the same feeling from Jackie that I’d gotten from Dibe Bylilly and Amy. Do I tell her?

Amy and I decide to invite Jackie and Charlie to go out for pizza with us. And, we find that they are indeed a poor college student couple, so we told them that we’d pay. I started to explain what a Nádleeh was to them.

Charlie had said, “I heard Mr. Kelly say that it’s rare for a girl to be a Nádleeh.”

“It is.”, I’d replied. “But there are some. And I’m not.”

“You’re not what?”, Jackie had asked.

I looked at Charlie and then at Jackie, and thought, ‘What are you going to do when I answer that question.’

Then I’d taken a deep breath, and said, “I’m not a girl.”

I couldn’t read the expressions on Jackie and Charlie’s faces. Jackie looked at Amy, and said, “Did I hear Kai right?”

“Yes.”, Amy replied.

Jackie just sat back in her chair and shook her head. Charlie finally said, “I’ve heard of people like you. Their … their … ”

“Homosexuals?”, I said. “No, Charlie, I’m not a homosexual. I’m as straight as an arrow.

“Out here my female spirit is very strong, and it’s probably due to my ancestors being from here. Back home my two spirits are almost equal. And since, here in New Mexico, my female spirit is the strongest she wants to be here, so I dress as she would dress.

“My people accept me for who I am and they accept me with open arms. And to be completely honest with the two of you, I enjoy being Kai.”

Jackie looked at Amy, and asked, “Amy, you accept this. Don’t you?”

“Completely.”, Amy replied. “I feel Kai’s spirit. And I see her as a girl.”

“Who knows about this?”, Charlie asked.

“Back home, both sets of our parents, some relatives, and close friends. Out here, most of the Navajo people. At the university, the President, three of the college Deans, and a few others. But we try to keep it quiet, that’s why I was upset with Naainish, the medicine man, when he said something to Mr. Kelly.”

“I take it that this Naainish is an elder of the Navajo people.”

“Yes, he is a well-respected medicine man.”

“And you can speak to him the way you did.”

“Charlie.”, Amy said. “I wasn’t there, but knowing Kai as well as I do, she stands up for herself. And she’ll do that no matter who it is. You should hear her talk to the Chief of the Navajo Nation sometimes. It doesn’t matter to her who it is. She stands up for what she believes is right.”

“Isn’t the Chief of the Navajo Nation kind of like the President of the United States?”

“Kind of.”

“Charlie.”, I said. “I have a lot of respect the Chief and Naainish. We’re friends, and they both know that I’ll speak my mind and they accept that. We have another friend that is a Clan Chief, and he uses me as an advisor. And he realizes that I will not always agree with him.”

“Amy.”, Jackie said. “You speak of Kai so easily as a girl.”

“I see her as a girl.”, Amy replied. “I feel her female spirit. So it’s easy to talk about her that way.”

Just then they brought our pizzas, so I said, “We can finish this discussion later. If that’s okay?”

“Sure.”, Charlie said. “I want to know more.”

“Me too.”, Jackie added.

As we ate, we did talk more, but it wasn’t about Kai. Then on the way back to the apartment, Jackie asked, “Why are you telling us all of this about you and being a Nádleeh ?”

“Jackie.”, Amy said. “Kai thought that with what you heard this morning that you had some questions. And rather than keep you guessing, we decided to talk to you.

“Kai and I both look at the two of you as friends. And she feels that you can be trusted, or we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

“See, Charlie.”, Jackie said. “I told you that they could be good friends.”

“I know.”, Charlie said. “I’m just having problems wrapping my head around Kai being a guy.”

“I know honey. But I feel okay with it. And like Amy said, I see Kai as a girl.”

“Yeah. So, do I.”

When we were back at the apartment, we invited Charlie and Jackie to visit for a while. As we were sitting in the living room talking, Jackie finally asked, “So, are you two really cousins?”

“No.”, Amy replied.

“Brother and sister?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

“Do you think you’re ready for more information?”

“I think I am.”

“I guess.”, Charlie said.

As Amy got up, she said, “I’ll be right back.”

She went into the small room and was quickly back carrying a box. As she sat back down, she asked, “Are you sure you’re ready for more information?”

“I don’t think that you can tell us anything that will shock us too much.”, Jackie said.

Amy opened the box and took out the two picture frames that held our diplomas from Ohio State. She handed hers to Charlie and mine to Jackie. They looked at both of them, and Charlie asked, “What are the cords for?”

I replied, “One of the ones on Amy’s diploma is for her Summa Cum Laude, and the other is her honor cord for the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. The one on mine is for my Cum Laude.”

“Wait.”, Jackie said. “The name on the one diploma is Thomas Bly Young and on the other is Amylin Elizabeth Young. But, you’re not brother and sister, or cousins. … Oh my God!”

Amy and I had seen the light go on, we both smiled, and nodded yes. And Amy said, “These are married student apartments.”

“Oh my God.”, Jackie said again.

“Too much information?”

“You two are married?”, Charlie asked.

“Yes, they are Charlie.”, Jackie replied.

Charlie sat there for a few seconds like a deer caught in the headlights. Then he stammered, “No. You can’t be. … But … But you are. Aren’t you?”

“Yes, we are Charlie.”, I replied.

“We were married between our sophomore and junior years of college.”, Amy said.

Jackie then said, “You two are so pretty, and you’re married. But one of you is a boy. I … I would have never known.”

“That’s the way we like it. And we’d love it if you kept our little secret.”

“Oh, we will. You two are the best.”

I felt this was a good time to bring up what I was feeling about Jackie, so I asked, “Can I tell you a little story?”

“Sure.”, Jackie replied.

I started by telling them about our first trip out here, where I was given my native girl’s name, and that I’d posed for a photo shoot and donated the money from the photo shoot to the scholarship fund of a Navajo girl that wanted to be a doctor. Then I told them how on the second trip, the same year, that Amy and I were both made members of one of the Navajo clans, and I was made a member of the Navajo Nation. And that Amy was given the Navajo name of Ajie Nez.

Then I told Jackie and Charlie, that on that second trip out here that we’d also met the girl, Dibe, who I had donated the money to. That she was a fantastic native dancer, and how that I felt that she had the drive and compassion to become the doctor that she wanted to be.

Then I said, “Until now, I’ve only felt that drive and compassion from one other person, and that was Amy.” I then looked at Jackie, and added, “Now I’ve felt that same drive and compassion from someone else.”

“Kai, why are you looking at me?”, Jackie asked.

“I think that Kai feels that you also have that drive and compassion.”, Amy replied.

“No, I don’t.”

“Jackie.”, I said. “Don’t sell yourself short. People like you, Amy, and Dibe, don’t see it in yourself. It takes someone else to see it. Sometimes it’s never seen, and the talent is wasted.

“When we were at the hospital with Stan, and you saw Amy and how she worked, you said, ‘I hope I can be half the nurse she is. She’s a great teacher, and she makes you feel like you want to learn.’”

“I said that?”

“Yes, you did. And I felt right then and there that you would make a great nurse and educator.”

“Me!?”

“Yes, you. I can feel things about certain people.”

I saw tears appear and start to run down her cheeks. And I said, “Jackie, don’t cry.”

“I’m sorry.”, Jackie said. “I can’t help it.”

“What’s wrong?”

Charlie held Jackie, looked at me, and said, “Money is so tight, that we don’t know if we’ll be able to be here next quarter.”

“What about your parents?”

“We both come from poor families. We came out here because Jackie got a partial scholarship and we both got student loans. I looked for a job on campus, but I was too late, they’d all been filled.

“I’m thinking of dropping out of school and finding a job so that Jackie can continue.”

I looked at Charlie for a minute, then said, “Don’t do that. We know people on campus. What skills do you have?”

“I’m a good carpenter. I can work on cars. And I like to tinker with things.”

“What kind of money would it take to help you?”

“If I could make twenty bucks or so a week it would help a lot.”

Between sobs, Jackie said. “Why … Why would you help us?”

“Honey.”, Amy said. “Friends help friends. And we do know people.”

“But we’ve only known you for a short time.”

“It doesn’t matter. You guys need help. The only thing that we ask is, that if you can, that you help someone else in the future.

“We don’t know what we can do to help you other than council you in what you need to to do. But, we’ll help you in any way that we can.”

We spent some time helping Jackie calm down. And as they were leaving, Amy and I got hugs from both Jackie and Charlie. After they’d gone, Amy asked me, “Kai, are you sure about what you’re feeling with Jackie?”

“Yes.”, I replied. “It’s just the same as I feel with you and what I felt from Dibe. Why?”

“I just wanted to be sure before I call Vickie.”

Amy walked over to the phone, picked it up, and dialed.

I heard Amy’s side of the conversation, “Hi Vickie. It’s Amy.” … “We’re good. How are you guys.” … “Great. We have a small problem that I hope that you can help solve.” … “Well, we found out that one of the first year girls in the nursing program is having financial problems.” … “Yes, it’s Jackie Hamilton.” … “And there’s something else.” … “Do you remember me telling you about how Kai felt about the girl that we awarded the first Chief Todachine scholarship to?” … “Yes, her. Kai feels the same way about Mrs. Hamilton as she did about the native girl. She feels that she has the drive and compassion to become an excellent nurse.” … “Let me ask.”

Amy then said, “Kai, honey. Could we go over to Vickie’s for lunch tomorrow?”

“Sure.”, I said. “As long as I can have some time in the morning to work on my classes for next week.”

“I need to do that too.”

Then Amy said into the phone, “Vickie, we’ll see you about Noon.” … “Okay. I’ll tell her.” … “Bye. See you tomorrow.”

“Honey.”, Amy said. “Tom has some tribe business to talk to you about too.”

“Oh. Okay.”, I replied.

We spent the rest of the evening sitting on the patio, not talking. Just sitting there, holding hands, and watching the Moon and stars, or what stars we could see that the light pollution from city lights were’t washing out.

As we sat there, I said, “I wish we were out of the city.”

“I know, honey.”, Amy replied. “Being further out in the country is so much better.”

We sat there for a while longer, then went to bed.

Sunday morning Amy and I worked on the things we needed for our classes next week. Then we changed into our hiking clothes, packed what we’d need for a hike on the east slope, and at eleven we headed for Vickie and Chief Tom’s house. When we walked up to the door, we didn’t even have to knock, Chief Tom opened the door, and said, “Yá'át'ééh, nizhonigó íiná aadóó hozhónahasdlíí.” - (Hello! It is good, and all is harmony around us.)

I returned a “Yá'át'ééh, Naat'áanii Tahoma.” - (Hello. Chief Tom.)

Amy smiled, and said, “Chief Tom. You’re Navajo has improved.”

“Thanks to your help.”, Chief Tom said. “Come on in.”

Vickie walked into the living room, and we both received hugs. Then we went out onto their patio. Chief Tom made some fantastic hamburgers for lunch, and Vickie had a nice spread of food to go along with the hamburgers. I won’t tell Chief Tom, but his hamburgers weren’t quite as good as the ones at our favorite drive-in.

As we ate, we talked about Jackie Hamilton and how I felt about her.

Finally, Vickie said, “So I figure that you two want to help her?”

“Vickie.”, I said. “I can’t see her talent being wasted. So yes we want to help her.

“And we want to keep it quiet. We don’t want Charlie and Jackie knowing where any of the money comes from. Plus, I’d like to see Jackie's husband, Charlie, get a part-time job so that he feels that he’s helping.”

“What can he do?”, Chief Tom asked.

“He told us that he’s a good carpenter, can fix cars, and likes to tinker with stuff.”

“Is he also a student?”

“Yes, he’s in the General College. He said he tried to get a student assistant job, but they were all gone when he got there. And not having that money hurt them. Their apartment is very plain with very little furniture.”

“Hmm. Let me make some calls tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Chief Tom. Anything will help them.”

“What’s his name?”

“Charles Hamilton.”

“What can we do for Jackie?”, Amy asked. “Without it being obvious where it came from.”

“You say she has a partial scholarship and that they’re living in the married student apartments.”, Vickie said. “I’ll need to check on this, but we may be able to tell Jackie that the scholarship came up with some more money and that it’s being given to her. I’ll want to look at her scholarship application first and talk with the scholarship people.”

“That would be great, Vickie.”

“Now, you two, how do you do this? You set up the initial funding for that scholarship for the Navajo children. And now you want to assist a student directly. It’s nothing against the law is it?”

“No, it’s nothing illegal. Just good investments.”, I replied. “And, we were just told that the Chief’s scholarship should be able to fund four scholarships next year.”

“That’s wonderful. You two sure know how to invest.”

“I have no clue on investments. My dad picked an excellent financial advisor.”

Vickie asked, “If I’m able to work out something with Jackie’s scholarship, how are we going to put the money into it without anyone finding out?”

“We’ll get you a cashiers check. And you can give it to them as an anonymous donation directly to the holder of that scholarship.”

“You have this all worked out. Don’t you?”

With a smile, I said, “Don’t we always.”

We did talk some more, but not about school. I brought up how much we liked their house on the outskirts of town and how much I hated living in the middle of town in an apartment. And, how much we’d love someplace out where we could see the stars, trees, and mountains.

And Amy added, “I’d like to be able to have a hogan.”

“A hogan?”, Chief Tom said. “Isn’t that a little too rustic?”

“Kai’s uncle has two hogans out behind their house. One is a sweat lodge, and the other is a very nice guest room. With wooden floors and electricity.”

“That doesn’t sound very rustic at all.”

“It isn’t, and it even has a door. Kai and I spent the night after the clan meeting in it. We didn’t use the electric lights, only the fire pit, and one lantern. It was cozy, and we hardly heard the thunderstorms that rolled through. But, we had to go into the house to use the facilities.”

“That sounds interesting.”

“It was. And I’d do it again.”

Chief Tom and I then talked a little tribal business. Nothing major, but it was important.

It was early afternoon when we left Chief Tom and Vickie and headed to the east slope. We had time to hike the Armijo Trail before it got too dark, so we headed over that way. As we pulled into the trailhead parking area, we noticed four Forest Service trucks parked there. Two of them were ranger trucks.

We parked, got our stuff out of the trunk, strapped on our sidearms, I grabbed the backpack, and a rifle, and we walked towards the trailhead. As we got closer, we noticed that the trail was closed off and a sign was posted that said, ‘Danger Bears - Trail Closed.’

I said, “Uh oh!”

“Yeah.”, Amy said. “I wonder what happened?”

“Me too?”

Just then we heard voices that sounded like they were coming down the trail. We stood there and waited. Soon we saw six men in Forest Service uniforms walking towards us on the trail. Two of them appeared to be rangers, and they were carrying rifles.

As they got closer, we noticed one of them was Ranger Carter. And we waited for them to come off the trail. As they did, I said, “Hello, Ranger Carter.”

He looked at us, and said, “Oh. Hi, you two.”

“What happened?”

“We had a bear attack a hiker.”

“Is he all right?”, Amy asked.

“He’s lucky. Some other hikers heard his screams and came to his rescue. One had a gun, shot at the bear, and missed. But their yelling and the gunshots scared the bear off. The guy was hurt, but not too badly.

“We just finished setting a trap. Hopefully, we can trap him and relocate him before he hurts someone.”

“Is it the cinnamon bear?”, Amy asked.

“Yes, people kept feeding him, and he came to expect food. And if you didn’t have any food, it was trouble.”

“Well.”, I said. “We were going to hike, but I guess we’ll just head home.”

“Why? There’s another loop trail east of here that you can do in about two hours.”, Ranger Carter said.

“That would be good, and we’d be off the trail before dark.”

“Go back out to the road, turn left, go about a half a mile, and you’ll see a dirt road. Turn onto that road, go in about half a mile, and you’ll come to the parking lot. And you’ll see the trail signs.”

“Thanks, Ranger Carter. Hope you catch that bear.”

“Me too. Be careful.”

Amy and I went back to the car put the rifle away in the trunk along with the backpack. We drove to the other parking lot and got everything back out, and hiked the new trail. It wasn’t as hard as the other trail, but it was nice. But there were no picnic areas. So we just had a nice hike.

That night, at home, we made up for no picnic areas on the trail that we hiked.

All I can say is that Monday was a typical day, Amy and I both taught in the mornings. And I had one of my graduate level classes. And Amy went into the ER at three and worked until eleven. Dr. Joe and I got together and worked on the project for a little while. It was a skull session since we didn’t have everything that we needed.

While Amy was in the ER, I went shopping. Tomorrow was our third wedding anniversary. And I called the Pink Adobe in Santa Fe for dinner reservations. We had eaten there when our parents were in town for grandma’s funeral. We’d loved the food, and said that we’d be back at some point.

Tuesday I was teaching and had my other grad level class. Even though Amy wasn’t teaching, she wasn’t working at the hospital either.

When I woke up on Tuesday morning, Amy was lying there looking at me. And she said, “Morin’ lover.”

“Morning love.”, I replied. “You’re awake early?”

“I know I wanted to say happy anniversary to you as soon as I could.”

“You’re crazy. But, happy anniversary.”

“I wish you didn’t have to teach today.”

“Why?”

“I wanted to spend all day in bed with you.”

“You’re bad.”

“I know.”

“I wish I could.”

With a sly smile, Amy said, “We’ll make up for it tonight.”

It was hard leaving Amy this morning, but our parting kiss told me that we would make up later for not being together all day.

I stopped in to tell Dr. Joe that today was my wedding anniversary and that I wouldn’t be in to work on the project. He reacted with a fake surprised look, and then said, “Your anniversary can’t be more important than the project.”

“Dr. Joe.”, I said. “I want you to say that to Amy. But I want to be a long way away from you when you do.”

“She wouldn’t like it would she?”

“You have no idea.”

“Okay. I’ll see you on Wednesday.”

“See ya, Dr. Joe.”

When I walked into the apartment, Amy attacked me. She grabbed my hand and pulled me upstairs in our bedroom. As she started to undress me, I said, “We need to be out of here by four-thirty.”

“Honey, I’ll just be getting started by then.”

“It’s Noon.”

“So, are you going someplace?”

“No, we’re going someplace. And we need to be there by five-thirty.”

“Where?”

“It’s a surprise.”

“Well, we can get started, take a break, and pick up when we get back.”

At four-thirty we were heading north to Santa Fe. An hour later we were pulling into the Pink Adobe Restaurant. We were both dressed in fancy long skirts, fancy blouses, wrap moccasins, and various pieces of jewelry. Concho belts, chokers, bracelets, rings, and the silver feather earrings. We’d both done our hair in a single braid with a fancy wrap at the end. And we both wore the braided leather headbands with the Eagle feathers.

When we walked into the restaurant, we made a statement. As we waited in the reception area for our table, other diners that were coming and going were really looking us over. Then as we walked to our table, we noticed that everyone was looking at us. A woman did walk over and complimented us on how we were dressed. And of course, we thanked her.

For an appetizer, we shared Clams Lucifer, and it was good. I didn’t have an alcoholic drink, but Amy had her favorite, a Sangria. For our meal, we both went with Seafood Enchiladas. They didn’t offer fried ice cream for dessert, so we settled for Chocolate Chip Mousse, which was good.

On the way back home, Amy told me that the university had cleaned out Adam’s and Mary Ann’s apartment. And I wondered if we would get a new neighbor this quarter.

She also told me that we’d had a half a dozen cards in the mail for our anniversary. I said that I’d have a look at them when we were back home.

When we were back home, Amy was in a hurry to go back upstairs, but I put a temporary halt to that when I said, “Patience, little girl. I have something for you.”

“Oh.”

“Yes. Just stay there.”

I walked into the small room, and took a package and envelope down from the closet shelf. I walked back into the living room with them behind my back. The I handed Amy the envelope, she opened it, and it was a beautiful card. She read it, looked at me, and with her cute smile, she said, “I love you so much.”

I pulled the box from behind my back, and as I handed it to her, I said, “I love you too.”

She opened the box, looked at what was in it, looked at me, and said, “You’re so sweet.”

“Like it?”, I asked.

“No, I love it.”

It was a necklace with a teardrop pendant made of a single piece of turquoise. The turquoise was wrapped and backed with sterling silver, and a silver bale was holding it to a fine sterling silver chain. Cousin Ahiga had made it.

Amy said, “Put it on me.”

I put it around her neck and fastened the clasp. She walked into the downstairs bathroom and looked in the mirror. I’d walked in behind her. She turned around and kissed me. When we broke the kiss, she said, “I’ve got to run upstairs for a second. Meet me in the living room.”

She left the bathroom and ran upstairs. I walked into the living room, found the cards, and looked at them while I waited. She was back downstairs quickly. She handed me a card. I opened it, and as the cards from Amy always were, it was sweet. I read it, and said, “You’re so sweet.”

“Sweets for the sweet.”, Amy replied.

Then she handed me a small box. I opened it and in it was a pair of gorgeous earrings. Like the pendant on her necklace they were a teardrop shaped pure blue turquoise stones on a fancy silver backing hanging from a fancy post.

“Honey, these are so pretty. I love them.”

“Thanks. I got them from your cousin, but he didn’t make them. He said they were very old, and didn’t have a maker’s mark.”

Then with a sexy look, Amy started up the stairs, and said, “Honey, close up the house, and come upstairs. I want to finish what we started earlier.”