I then found out, from Dr. Joe, that all of Dr. Kilmer research had been collected as evidence, so Dr. Joe and I were going to have to start from scratch, which might not be a bad thing. And Dr. Joe talked with me about bypassing my Master's degree and going straight to my Doctoral.

Then, while rereading the research proposal, I found out that the Los Alamos National Laboratory is somehow connected to the research project. Los Alamos was the top-secret lab where the atomic bomb was developed in 1942. But now they were doing some things other than developing weapons. But what are we doing for them?

On Saturday I had gone on a class field trip, as a guest, with our next door neighbors, Charlie and Jackie, to the rock carvings or Tse’ Hone (the rock that tells a story). I was surprised to find Naainish there, and it turned out that he was going to be our tour guide.

We’d been on the trail for about twenty minutes when we heard a scream from the back of the group. Then someone yelled, “A snake! A snake bit him.”

I looked at Naainish, he looked at me, and said, “Come on Kai.”

I thought, ‘What the hell can I do. Where’s Amy when you need her?’

Naainish, Mr. Kelly, the class's instructor, and I made it to where some students were standing around a male student sitting on a rock holding his right leg.

I heard Mr. Kelly ask, “Did anyone see it happen?”

“I did Mr. Kelly.”, one of the girls said. “He was fooling around and went behind a rock, and I think he stepped on the snake.”

Naainish asked, “Did anyone see the snake?”

One girl said, “Yeah. I did. It was big.”

“Where is it?”

The girl pointed to some rocks, and said, “It crawled into those rocks.”

Naainish started towards the rocks, and I said, “Naainish, be careful.”

“Don’t worry, Kai.”, Naainish said. “I will.”

I turned my attention to the boy that had been bitten. Mr. Kelly was with him, and the boy was agitated. He wanted to move around and said over and over, “I’m going to die. I’m going to die.” And, Mr. Kelly wasn’t having any luck calming him down.

I looked at him, and said, “You need to calm down. And, you’re not going to die.”

“But … But, it was a big snake, and I felt his fangs go into me.”

“I know. We’ll get you to the hospital, and you’ll be fine.”

“How do you know? You’re just a girl.”

This kid was in a panic, and I had to try to calm him down, so I said, “I live out here, and I’ve never heard of anyone dying from a rattlesnake bite.”

“No. No. I’m going to die.”

I looked at Mr. Kelly and said, “Mr. Kelly, see if you can stop the bleeding.”

Naainish came back, and said, “I found it. It’s a western diamondback rattlesnake. He’s a little over four feet long.”

Hearing that didn’t help the kid, and he became more agitated. I’ve got to get him calmed down. Where the hell is Amy when you need her. I looked at the boy, and he was still saying over and over, “I’m going to die.”

I asked the boy, “What’s your name?”

“Stan.”, the boy replied.

“Okay, Stan. Look at me.”

He looked at me, and I took his hands in mine. Then I quietly said, “Stan. You need to calm down. You’re going to be fine. We need to get you out of here and to the hospital. And you’re going to be fine.”

“Yeah. Okay.”, Stan said. He appeared to be calming down.

“I don’t want you walking out of here. So we’re going to have to carry you. And you are going to have to relax and let us help you.”

“Okay. I’ll try.”

Then I said, “Mr. Kelly, I noticed a couple of big guys in the group. We’ll have them carry him out of here.”

“I’ll round up a few of the boys.”

Once we had a crew together, I showed them how to make a chair with their hands. We helped Stan to stand up, and he sat on the human chair. The first two guys carried Stan for about five minutes, then we switched off to another two guys, and so on until we were back at the parking area.

I held Stan's hand and kept talking to him all the way back to the parking area, trying to keep him calm. And it appeared to work. I also kept an eye on the site of the bite.

When we were in the parking lot, and as we were getting Stan into the backseat of my car, Mr. Kelly was talking with Naainish. And I heard Mr. Kelly asked, “Who is she?”

I heard Naainish respond, “Who?”

“The Navajo girl.”

“Who, Kai. She’s someone that you want on your side.”

“She seemed to be able to quickly calmed the boy down.”

“She has that effect on some people.”

“Is she special or something?”

“Or something. She’s a Nádleeh. I think I’ve told you about them. The native two spirit people. Like I am.”

“Yes you have But isn’t it unusual for a girl to be a Nádleeh?”

“Yes. But it’s not unheard of.”

“Interesting.”

“Yes, she is.”

I glared at Naainish with a look of, why are you telling him about me. He saw my look and walked over to me. I took him aside, and said, “If I didn’t need to get this boy to the hospital we’d have a serious talk right now.”

“Kai.”, Naainish said, “Mr. Kelly is a friend. He understands the Navajo people. He and I have spent time together, with me teaching him our ways.”

“Naainish, you know I don’t like people, especially people who are strangers, to know about me.”

“I’m sorry Kai.”

“Naainish, if it were anyone but you I would be very angry. But, I can’t be angry with you. Now, I’ve got to get this boy to the hospital.”

Charlie and I got in the front seat, and Jackie got in the back with Stan. I turned and looked at Stan, and asked, “Stan, how are you feeling.”

“Kind of weird.”, Stan said. “I’ve got a headache, and my stomach hurts. I’m going to be all right aren’t I?”

“Yes, Stan, you’ll be fine. We’ll be at the hospital in a few minutes. Seat belts on everyone. And, Jackie keep an eye on him.”

I fastened my seat belt, started the car, and headed for the hospital. Twenty minutes later I was pulling into the ambulance entrance for the Emergency Room. As I got out of the car, the security guard, yelled, “Hey, you can’t park there.”

I yelled back, “I need a wheelchair. I’ve got a guy that was bitten by a rattlesnake.”

The guard stopped in his tracks, turned around, went inside, and was quickly back with a wheelchair. And as he brought it up to the car, he said, “Miss, you and your friends take him inside. Give me your keys and I’ll move your car.”

As I handed him my keys, I said, “Okay.”

We got Stan out of the car, into the wheelchair, and wheeled him inside. We stopped at the triage nurse long enough to say, “Snakebite.”

She picked up the phone, made a call, and someone quickly came out. And Amy was right behind them. Amy saw me, and said, “Kai, what happened?”

“We were on that hike, and he got bit by a diamondback rattlesnake.”, I replied.

As Amy asked questions, the other nurse took Stan into the ER.

Amy asked, “How long ago was he bitten?”

“A little over an hour ago. It took us over half an hour to bring him back to the parking lot, and then about twenty minutes to get here. I didn’t want him to walk, so we carried him back to the car.”

“And it was a diamondback rattler.”

“That’s what Naainish said.”

“Naainish!?”

“I’ll tell you later. He also said it was over four feet long.”

“Okay. A big one. Is someone here with the boy?”

“I guess the class’s instructor will be here as soon as he can get back. But I’ll stay until he does.”

“Good girl. Is he a student at the university?”

“I guess so. He was part of the class that was on the field trip.”

“Yes.”, Charlie said, “He’s in two of my classes.”

“Okay.”, Amy said. “Go have a seat in the waiting room. And I’ll go tell the doctor what you told me.”

With that, Amy ran back into the ER. And Charlie, Jackie, and I went to the waiting room. As we sat, Jackie said, “Amy is all business. Isn’t she?”

“Yes.”, I replied. “When she has a mindset of what needs to be done, she does it.”

“I only 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 smiled, as I said, “Jackie, study hard, and you can be as good as Amy.”

“Summa Cum Laude. I don’t think so.”

“Don’t cut yourself short. Do your best, and you will go a long way.”

Hmm. Was I feeling the same thing with Jackie that I did about Dibe Bylilly and even Amy?

About twenty minutes later Mr. Kelly walked into the ER waiting room, saw us, walked over, and asked, “How’s Stan?”

“We haven’t heard anything yet.”, I said. “He’s been back there for about twenty minutes. And I know as soon as they know something they’ll tell us.”

“Kai’s cousin is one of the nurses.”, Jackie added.

It was another ten minutes before Amy came out. She walked over to us, sat down, and said, “Stan is doing fine. We’ve taken care of the wound, and given him anti-venom. We’re going to keep him overnight to be sure that there is no reaction to the anti-venom.

“And, Stan is from out of state, so we’ve talked to the university's student health services, they will look after him, and notify his parents.”

“That’s good to hear.”, I said. “Amy, this is Mr. Kelly, the instructor for the course. Mr. Kelly, this is my cousin Amy Young.”

They exchanged a greeting. Then Amy looked at me, and said, “So, Kai, how did Naainish get involved in this?”

“Mr. Kelly had asked him to be the tour guide at the Tse’ Hone.”, I replied.

“Yes.”, Mr. Kelly said. “I’ve known Naainish Yazzie for a long time. And he’s taught me a lot about the Navajo people.” Then looking at me, Mr. Kelly added, “Including what the Nádleeh are.”

I knew where this was going. I looked at Amy. She looked at me. And in front of Charlie and Jackie, I said, “Mr. Kelly. I’m sorry, but I don’t know you. And I don’t like to talk about things like this with people that I don’t know. I know that you and Naainish are friends, and that means a lot to me. But I just don’t know you.

“I feel that you are a good person. And if I knew you better, I’d be happy to talk with you. But now. I’m sorry. No.”

I got up and walked outside. Amy followed me, and said, “Kai. Honey. Are you okay?”

“Yeah.”, I said. “Just a little mad at Naainish for telling Mr. Kelly that I was a Nádleeh (two spirit person).”

“He didn’t?”

“He did. After we’d helped Stan, Mr. Kelly asked Naainish who I was. I guess that he was impressed with the way I was able to calm Stan down. All I did was hold his hands and talk to him. Mr. Kelly asked him if I was special. And Naainish replied that I was a Nádleeh. I got upset with Naainish and told him that I wasn’t happy with what he’d told Mr. Kelly about me. Naainish then told me that he had taught Mr. Kelly a lot about the Navajo people.

“And now I think Charlie and Jackie know too much.”

“Wait ‘till I see Naainish!”, Amy said.

Just then Charlie and Jackie walked out of the hospital. And, Jackie asked, “Kai, is everything all right?”

“Yeah.”, I replied. “Are you two ready to go.”

“Sure.”, Charlie said. “We have things to do.”

“So do I. Amy, I’ll see you at three.”

“Okay. You three did a good job of taking care of Stan.”

“Kai did most of it.”, Jackie said.

I retrieved my keys from the security guard, and Charlie, Jackie, and I headed back to the apartments. It was a quiet ride. I think that Charlie and Jackie wanted to ask some questions, but weren’t sure if they should or not.

As I pulled in the driveway, I stopped so that Charlie and Jackie could get out of the car. As they we were getting out Jackie said, “Kai, are you sure that you okay.”

“Sure.”, I said. “I handle three or four snake bites every day.”

“Kai. Now you're being silly.”

“Sorry. I needed to be. Things have been too serious.”

“We’ll see you later.”

“Okay.”

They went to their apartment, I pulled the car into the garage. Then I sat in the car for a minute, thinking, before I went into the apartment.

I fixed a quick late lunch, then worked on my classes for next week. And I was at the hospital just before three. Later as Amy and I walked into the apartment, she said, “Kai, you’re too quiet. What’s going on?”

“A couple of things.”, I replied.

“Come upstairs while I change and you can tell me.”

I followed Amy upstairs and lay on the bed as she changed clothes. Doing this brought back memories of a few years ago. And I guess I was smiling, because Amy asked, “What are you smiling about?”

“Remember me telling you about me lying on my mom’s bed while she got ready for work.”, I replied.

“Sure.”

“Seeing you reminded me of it. Except I’m seeing a lot more now than I did then.”

“I sure hope you didn’t see this much of your mom.”

“I was only there when she was doing her makeup and hair.”

“So, what’s bothering you?”

“Jackie.”

“Jackie?”

“Yes.", I said. "When we brought Stan in, and she saw you, and how you were in the ER, she said that she hoped that she could be half the nurse you are.”

“Oh.”, Amy said.

“I told her to not sell herself short. And to do her best and that she’ll go a long way.”

“That’s what I’d tell her too.”

“I figured that. But I was feeling something.”

“What?”

“What I felt when I talked with Dibe.”, I said.

“So, you feel that Jackie can go a long way as a nurse?”, Amy asked.

“Yes. She has the same drive that I feel in you and Dibe.”

“You … You also feel the same drive in me!?”

“Yes.”

“Why … Why didn’t you say something?”

“Did I need to?”

“I guess not. You’ve always been there for me.”

“I was. I knew that you always knew where you were going and how you were going to get there. And I was just along for the ride.”

“I love you.”, Amy said. “And, you were not just along for the ride. You were my guiding spirit.”

“You’re guiding spirit. … I love you too.”, I said. “Now. Do I tell Jackie about what I’m feeling or not?”

“Good question.”

“I know. What do I do?”

“Play it by ear. And if you feel the time is right, have a talk with her. Now, what else is bothering you.”

“Charlie and Jackie.”, I replied.

“What about them?”, Amy asked.

“With what they heard about me today, I could tell that they had questions, but didn’t know how to ask.”

“What do you think they heard?”

“Well, they may have overheard what Mr. Kelly and Naainish said about me. And then there’s what was said at the ER.”

“I see what you mean.”

Amy sat down next to me on the bed. And I said, “Do you think we should talk with them about that?”

“Maybe. But what are we going to say?”

“Maybe play that by ear too. Maybe talk about what happened to the boy and what they may have heard from Mr. Kelly and Naainish.”

“When do you want to do this?”, Amy asked.

“Soon. What are we doing for dinner tonight?”, I asked.

“We could go for pizza, and invite them to join us?”

“At Nunzios’?”

“Sure. Now the big question. How do you feel about Charlie and Jackie?”

“We haven’t been around them that much. But when I have been, I’ve felt good about them. It’s kind of like what I feel about our friends back home.”

“That’s good.”

Now, I’ve been lying here watching this sexy girl remove her nurse’s uniform, and she’s now sitting next to me, on the bed, in only her panties and a bra. And I may look like a girl, but way down somewhere inside me Tom is still there. Boy is he! And I’ll leave it to your imagination what happened over the next hour.

After we’d straightened up the bed and ourselves, and gotten dressed, we walked over to Charlie and Jackie’s apartment. I knocked on the door, and Jackie answered it. When she did, she said, “Hi guys. Come on in.”

We went into the apartment, and Charlie was sitting at the table studying. He looked up and said, “Hi.”

“Looking studious.”, I said.

“Yeah. I figured that I needed to get at the books.”

“That’s good. We were wondering what you guys were doing for dinner?”

“As usual, just going over to the resident hall dining room. Why?”

“We were wondering if you’d like to join us at Nunzios’ for pizza.”

Charlie looked at Jackie. Then Jackie said, “I don’t think so.”

Amy looked at her with a puzzled look, and asked, “Is it something we did?”

“No. It’s not you guys. You’ve heard of the poor college student. Meet two of them. We have to watch every penny.”

“We understand.”, I said.

“How about as our treat?”, Amy said.

“You can’t afford that.”, Jackie said.

“We can. I’m on a full ride scholarship. So we have some extra money. And we splurge from time to time. And we’re splurging, and want to share with you.”

“Well. I … ”

“Just say yes.”, I said.

“We can’t.”

“We’d really like you to.”

“Oh okay. Just this once.”, Jackie said.

“Good.”, I said. “We’ll stop over at six and pick you up. And then we can walk over.”

“Sounds good. See you at six.”

Just before six Amy and I were knocking on Charlie’s and Jackie’s door. We were both dressed in long skirts, blouses, Concho belts, moccasins, and a little jewelry. We’d both done our hair in a single ponytail, with nothing fancy.

When Charlie answered the door, he said, “Holy crap. Why are you two so dressed up?”

Jackie walked up behind him, and said, “I feel underdressed.”

Amy smiled, and said, “We’re not dressed up. We consider these comfortable clothes. You should see us when we’re really dressed up.”

“Those shirts and blouses do look comfortable.”

“They are. And so are the moccasins.”

The four of us walked over to Nunzios’ and stood in line. Charlie asked, “Is the line always this long?”

“Yes.”, I replied. “And the food is worth it.”

Jackie asked, “Charlie, can I have anchovies on our pizza?”

“No.”, Charlie replied. “Crazy girl. She loves those stinky little fish. It must be the Italian in her.”

“Get ‘em on the side.”, I said.

“Yeah.”, Jackie said. “Good idea.”

As we stood in line, we talked about what we’d seen in this morning at the stone engravings. And Amy reminded me that I’d promised to take her there.

Forty minutes later the four of us were sitting in a booth in the back of Nunzios’ and looking at menus. Charlie and Jackie didn’t like the same things that Amy and I did, so we ordered two medium pizzas with a side of anchovies for Jackie. Amy and I ordered wine, and Charlie and Jackie ordered pop.

After we’d placed our order, Jackie asked, “How was the guy that was bitten by the snake?”

“Oh. Stan, he was fine when they took him to his room. And they’ll probably release him tomorrow.”, Amy replied.

“That’s good.”

It was noisy in here, so I wasn’t too worried about being overheard. So, I softly said, “Speaking of that. You heard some things about me today. And I think you had some questions on your mind.”

“Ah. … “Not really.”, Charlie said. “Well maybe one.”

“So ask.”

“They … They said that you were a … a Nedleck or something like that. What is that?”

“Before I answer that question. I’m going to ask you something.”

“What?”, Charlie said.

“I’m going to ask you not to repeat what I’m going to tell you. I’m a private person. Can you promise me that?”

Jackie was the first to quickly reply, “Yes. I can.”

Charlie nodded his head yes, and said, “Yes. I like you two. So, yes I can promise you that.”

“I’m glad.”, I said. “You know that we’re members of the Navajo Nation?”

“Yeah.”

“The Navajo people, and I think all American Indians, believe in spirits. And that everything has a spirit, like trees, birds, bees, animals, and of course people. There are even some hot springs north of here, and there are spirits there. A few people have two spirits. And these people are special to the people of their tribe.”

Then with a smile, I looked at Charlie, and said, “These two spirit people are known to the Navajo as the one is changing or Nádleeh, not Nedleck.”

“So.”, Jackie asked. “You’re one of these?”

“Yes.”

“What makes you so special?”

“Those two spirits. One is a male spirit, and one is a female spirit. And, it's said that the two spirit person sees the world through the eyes of both a man or woman. It helps them see things that others don’t or can’t. And, to feel things that others can’t.”

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

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

“You’re not what?”, Jackie asked.

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

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