Komatke Gold. Benjamin Vance
Читать онлайн книгу.
uncle on her mothers’ side, the side that counts. Yep, I’m a Chemehuevi, whatever that means. I think we’re all just a bunch of mixed up Papagos lookin’ for fancy names. I can speak Hopi, English and a little Chemehuevi, but that language’s almost lost. ‘Seems like most people prefer Hopi or English now, ‘specially the kids. There’s only about three hundred or so of us left around here, and no one wants to learn the Shoshonean words or songs anymore.”
He quickly continued in a new direction, “Myra’s a good lady who’s been through a lot in her life. She had a husband, one of the tribal police force guys. She met him at the hospital after he started a fight and got beat up pretty bad by some drunken Anglos. He needed a nurse and she needed somebody to nurse. It turned out he liked to beat up about anybody. Especially when he got the fire water in ‘im.” He grinned impishly. “They didn’t get married for a few years. They had two kids, a boy and a girl. Great kids! That’s because of Myra’s’ side of the family. She thought that gettin’ married would help their relationship, so she talked him into it. ‘Just made things worse though. He started beatin’ her and the kids when he got drunk. Myra reported him to his boss about a hundred times, but it didn’t do no good.”
He took a sip of coffee, looked straight ahead stirring it slowly and continued, “Finally, she took it up with the tribal council. The council had been waitin’ on her to do it. He was fired pretty quick after that. He got so mad he moved to Gallup to live with some Zuni friends. I guess he’s still there. Myra never got no divorce, so she’s still legally married to him, but not tribally married. I think she wants the kids to be “legal” is all. My old wife and me watched out for ‘em, especially the boy; he’s older and a lot like his father, but better in the right ways.
“Myra works for the La Paz County hospital now. They’ve been good to her. She’s about eight years from retirement, but the way she works, I don’t know if she’ll make it. She picked up some of those fry-bread genes somewhere and now she’s got sugar diabetes. Bein’ a head nurse has a lot of responsibility and she always took her responsibilities to heart. She takes real good care of those kids, her Hogan and her relatives who need it. She tries to watch her weight ‘cause of the diabetes. You want more coffee? My old wife’s gone now though.”
“No thanks Mr. Flashes. I’m sorry about your wife.”
“You can call me Preston ‘til we get to be friends” he said, grinning. “Does Myra know you’re back on the reservation? Has Lew-Ann Lewis tried to scare you yet? If it was up to her all the Anglos would be kicked off the reservation. She never thinks beyond her nose though. Who would take care of her Lexus if all the whites were gone? All us Indians know how to work on is pickups.” He laughed silently at his own Res-grown humor.
I told him I didn’t think Myra knew I was back yet and that Lew-Lew had definitely tried to scare me. We talked quietly a while longer and I learned a great deal about the honorable man. “Duty, honor, country” were still part of his vocabulary as well. However, it was hard for Preston to trust a white man, especially one who was intent on seeing his niece again. Because of our mutual distrust, some imagined … some real, he kept many things from me over the next months that would have alleviated the stress between us. I guess what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger. Still, it’s hard to stay on a straight path with a bunch of broken bones.
Chapter 9.
The next morning I awoke early to the sound of a “Jake Brake” illegally blasting to a stop somewhere nearby. I lay awake for about thirty minutes attempting to make sense of the recent conversations and trying to find the guts to get up and face the possibility of seeing Myra for the first time in so many years. The usual things ran through my head; would she throw something at me, would she avoid me if we met by accident, would Lew-Lew completely despoil our chance to see each other, would Myra try to kill me out of revenge? The telephone finally got me up. It was Cristal. “Hey, White Man, you sure do sleep late.”
“I was just lying here trying to figure out what to do today and how to do it, when you rang.”
Very slowly she said, “I-got-some-news-for-you-white-man-who-thinks-too-much.”
“What … About Myra? Did you get to her before Lew-Lew?”
“Hey Will, you gotta give Myra a little more credit you know!”
“Did you get to her before Lew-Lew?”
“No! Not this time!”
“I don’t understand “this time”. What does that mean?”
“Well, while you’ve been saving our country and the Res from the scourge of the rag-heads all these years. Me and Myra been pretty close you know, and Myra is a smart cookie and Lew-Lew is a self-serving bitch most of the time. So, don’t you think Myra can think for herself?”
“I see where you’re going. I just don’t want her to tell Myra the wrong stuff or mislead her.”
“Shit, you’re one to talk. Where you been all these years while Myra was raisin’ two-no, three-kids including her ex?”
I felt my ears get hot and all I could see was the loss of my one and hypothetical ally. I hadn’t expected this angle from Cristal. Since the best defense is an active offense I fired back.
“I guess that’s what you guys do huh? Cry on each other’s shoulder and join the mutual ‘hate all men society’. Well what have you been doing all these years? Having kids, working for the tribe and gettin’ fat? That is something you’ll be remembered for isn’t it Cristal?” I slammed down the phone. It didn’t ring again. I was pissed, embarrassed and didn’t care. It was a real change from her attitude the day before, it was confusing and I was confused enough.
I shaved, showered and walked to Dave’s’ Diner, hungry for a delicious ham and cheese omelet and Texas toast. I wasn’t disappointed. Talk was small, but I asked the waitress if there was a gym around where I could work out later. She smiled and told me there was only the YMCA, but they were pretty well outfitted. I finished, drank my milk with ice, tipped her well and walked out the door into a glorious Arizona morning. I thought for a fleeting instant it would be nice to share it with someone who had the intelligence and heart to appreciate it. But, on second thought what the hell, there’s not too many of those around!
The short walk to the motel was cool and drier, with a ruby-throated humming bird who seemed to like my colorful cap, keeping me company part way. What beautiful little flashing gems they are in the early morning sun.
As I rounded the corner next to the motel office I saw a woman getting into the passenger side of one of the last model K-Cars. It was near my room, but … I stopped dead while my mind sought to catch up. I remember vaguely thinking, “Well at least it isn’t Lew-Lew with a gun and a ‘gorilla’ to run me off the reservation.” It was someone with a vaguely familiar profile though.
I started walking again and in the eternity it took me to close the distance and attempt to clear the confusion, my senses began to reward the fraction of my soul that must be “hope”. The woman turned and looked at me, then diverted her eyes to the ground and got out and stood by the car as if for support. As I got closer and she looked directly at me with those copper eyes, they quickly became whirl pools. My heart started to pound, my breath came in short gasps and I tried to choke back the years of regret, remorse and loneliness. Even with weak knees and tingling skin I was inexorably drawn forward. Then suddenly as if finally blessed, I could accept that it was my Myra standing there in front of me!
I saw that her eyes were moist and red. Involuntary tears began to pour down my face and when she saw, she began to cry in earnest as I found my strength for her weakness and ran the last few steps to enfold her in my arms. She was my love and my life, the beautiful brown reason I’d lived until that moment. I felt as though all my years had brought me to that day. I softly kissed her face, her neck, her ears, and her lips, uncontrolled. As we held each other; touched, kissed and drank each other in, she smiled and cried and quietly mumbled words I didn’t understand. I thought I heard someone else crying too and through the tears