On Thursday when Charlie and Jackie returned to their apartment, they found out that there’d been a fire in their apartment complex. Their apartment and two of the other three apartments had smoke damage. But, the fourth apartment had been gutted. And two of our old neighbors, Tim and Rachel, had perished in the fire.

The fire had been in our old apartment complex, and it was in the apartment directly behind Charlie and Jackie's apartment. We felt that if Charlie and Jackie had been there that they might have also died. The smoke damage to their apartment was heavy. That was stressful.

When I'd gotten to the apartments, I ended up having a discussion with Dr. Lingham, the President of the University, and a Mr. McLaughlin, who is head of Student Housing. The discussion got a little heated when Mr. McLaughlin said that it none of my business and that it would cost too much to install smoke detectors. Dr. Lingham took my side and requested that Mr. McLaughlin put a proposal on his desk by Monday morning for smoke detectors in all of the married student apartments. Mr. McLaughlin wasn’t happy with me.

The University had nowhere for Charlie and Jackie to stay, so Amy and I are going to have house guests for a little while. Friday Amy was working in the ER from four till midnight, which turned out with her not getting home until two on Saturday morning because they were busy. When Amy and I finally were out of bed very late on Saturday morning, we found that Charlie and Jackie had installed the two garage door openers.

After Amy had heard that the garage doors had been installed, she said, “Good. Now you two can help me hang the wall hangings.”

“Ah, honey.”, I said. “Did you forget, we haven’t gotten the hardware from Mr. Yazzie yet.”

“Oh.”

“We’ll have to wait until at least Wednesday to get them.”

With a sad look, Amy said, “Oh.”

“We could plan where to put them.”, Jackie said.

“I guess we could.”

It was just before noon when we put together lunch and sat at the breakfast bar to eat. As we were cleaning up the dishes, the doorbell rang. I looked at Amy and said, “Did I leave the front gate open last night?”

“I don’t know.”, Amy replied.

“Go answer the door and see who’s here.”, Amy replied.

I got up and went to the front door. I was surprised as to who was standing there. It was Dr. Lingham, the President of the university and one of our next-door neighbors. It was the first time that I’d seen him wearing something other than a suit. I said, “Dr. Lingham?”

“Hello, Miss Nez.”, Dr. Lingham said. “I would have called first, but I couldn’t find your phone number.”

“Oh. Well, come in. What can we do for you?”

As we walked into the house, Dr. Lingham said, “I know it’s the weekend, but I wanted to talk to you about a couple of things before Monday.”

“We just finished lunch, and everyone is in the kitchen.”

As we walked to the kitchen, Dr. Lingham said was, “I like the open concept of this house.”

“We do too.”

Jackie was the first one to see who I was with and just stared. Then Amy saw him and said, “Good afternoon, Dr. Lingham.”

“Good afternoon, Miss Young.”, Dr. Lingham said.

Then I said, “I think that you’ve met our house guests, Charlie and Jackie Hamilton.”

“Yes. I’m so sorry about the fire and for the loss of your friends. And I’m also sorry that we don’t have a place for you to stay.”

“Dr. Lingham, their staying here with us is no problem.”, Amy said. “We have the room, and they’re friends.”

“I’m glad that you were here for them.”

“So are we.”

“Could we sit somewhere where we can talk?”

“Of course.”, I said. “Let’s go into the big room.”

Charlie said, “We’ll go out to the courtyard and leave you alone.”

“Mr. Hamilton.”, Dr. Lingham said. “Please join us. You may find this interesting.”

The five of us walked into the big room. We sat on the couch and overstuffed chairs that were in front of the fireplace. As we sat, Dr. Lingham said, “Miss Nez, as you know, I’m having Mr. McLaughlin put together a proposal for smoke detectors in the married student apartments.”

“Yes, sir.”, I replied.

“I’m taking it to the next board meeting, and I’d like you to accompany me.”

“The Board of Regents?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know if I ever want to see them again.”

“I know, Miss Nez, but the board has almost been completely replaced.”

“I guess I could go for the good of the students. When?”

“One o’clock Monday in the Scholes Hall board room. It’s their regular meeting, and we’ll be the first thing on the agenda.”, Dr. Lingham said.

“Oh.”, I said. “I have a meeting with the people from the Los Alamos National Laboratory on Monday afternoon.”

“Can that be changed?”

“Possibly. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thank you. Come to my office at twelve-thirty, and we can go to the Board meeting together.

“Now, I know that you knew the two students who died in the fire.”

“Yes, sir. All four of us knew them.”

“When a student dies, we try to have a member of the administration attend the funeral to represent the University. And, we’d like to ask you, since you knew them if you’d be that representative.”

I looked at Amy, Charlie, and Jackie. Then I asked Dr. Lingham, “When is the funeral?”

“They have a memorial service scheduled for Tuesday evening, and the funeral is Wednesday morning.”, Dr. Lingham said.

“Where?”

“In Tucson.”

“The four of us were talking about driving over for the funeral.”

“I can authorize airline tickets for two people, two rooms at a hotel or motel, meals for two, and a rental car.”

I again looked at Amy, Charlie, and Jackie. “Okay. But Amy and I both teach classes on Wednesday morning.”

“Is there anyone that can fill in for you?”, Dr. Lingham asked.

“I think Dr. Oshie can fill in for me.”, I said. “Amy, how about you?”

“I might be able to have Cheryl fill in for me or maybe Dean Etsitty.”, Amy replied.

“Good.”, Dr. Lingham said.

“So, we’ll need two tickets and two rooms.”, I said. “And, we’ll figure out how to get Charlie and Jackie there.”

“So, there’ll be four of you going?”

“Yes, sir.”

I saw Charlie and Jackie both looked at me in a questioning way.

As he stood up, Dr. Lingham said, “I’m glad that we could work this out, Miss Nez. And, we’ll take care of your reservations on Monday.”

As I stood, I replied, “I hope I can change that meeting with Los Alamos. It’s about our research project.”

“Let me know if there’s a problem.”

“I will.”

I walked with Dr. Lingham to the front door and then to the gate in the wall, we shook hands, and he got in his car and left.

I walked back inside to the big room, flopped down on one of the overstuffed chairs, and said, “That was completely unexpected.”

“No, kidding.”, Amy said.

“No, that was unbelievable.”, Charlie said. “Having the President of the University show up at your front door and ask for your help.”

“I guess that’s what happens when he’s your next-door neighbor.”, I said.

“Now, what’s this about us going to the funeral with you?”

“And why not. You said that you wanted to go. We’ll have two rooms. So, all we have to do is get you there and feed you.”

“How do we do that?”

“We get you two round trip tickets on the same flight we’re on, and then when we eat, we’ll bring you back a doggie bag.”

“A doggie bag!?”

“Sure. It’ll beat eating resident hall food.”

“Kai, stop it.”, Amy said. Then looking at Charlie and Jackie, she said, “Ignore her.”

“Why?”, Jackie said. “She’s funny.”

“I’m funny?”, I said.

“Sure. But, where do we come up with the money for the airplane tickets?”

“Let us worry about that.”

“No, we can’t let you do that.”, Charlie said. “We’ve invaded your house, and now you want to pay for our tickets.”

“First, you haven’t invaded our house.”, I said. “You were invited, the drawbridge was down, and the portcullis was up. Second, I’m going to put the two of you to work while you’re here and the tickets are your pay.”

“Oh. Put us to work doing what?”

“I’ll find things. Besides you’ve already installed the garage door openers.”

“You could have done that yourself.”

“Yeah. And it would have taken me three times as long.”

Charlie just shook his head.

“Well, I’d better call Dr. Joe.”, I said.

I picked up the phone, dialed his number, and when he answered, I said, “Hi, Dr. Joe. It’s Kai.”

“Hi, Kai. What’s up?”, Dr. Joe said.

“Can we change the meeting with Los Alamos?”

“Why?”

“Well, we had a visit from Dr. Lingham this morning.”

“You what!?”

“You heard me. … ” Then I went on to tell him what had happened, including us going to Tucson for the funeral. And me wanting him to cover my Wednesday classes.

When I finished, Dr. Joe said, “Kai, what are you going to get into next.”

“Hopefully a nice walk along the river or up on the Crest.”

“I’ll call Los Alamos first thing on Monday and see if I can get our meeting rescheduled for either Thursday or Friday. And I’ll cover your Wednesday classes.”

“Thanks, Dr. Joe. I’ll see you sometime on Monday after the meeting. Hágoónee'. - (See you later.)”

“See you later, Kai.”

As I hung the phone up, I said, “Anyone for a hike?”

“Where?”, Charlie asked.

“Either along the river or up on the Crest.”

“Isn’t it still cold up on the Crest?”

“It might be, and there may also still be snow up there.”

“I’ll vote for the river.”

“Me too.”, Jackie said.

Amy called Vickie and told her what was going on, and from hearing Amy’s side of the conversation, Vickie was very surprised that Dr. Lingham had come to the house. But, Amy reminded Vickie that he just lived next door. And Vickie was going to cover Amy’s Wednesday classes.

We parked at the place that we’ve parked every time we’d been to the Rio Grande River. As I parked the car, I said, “I wonder if there are any other access points further north on this trail?”

“I guess you’re just going to have to look or ask someone.”, Amy said.

Then as we got out of the car, I spotted a park ranger’s truck parked by the trailhead. The four of us started walking north on the trail. We'd gone about three-quarters of a mile when we saw a ranger walking towards us.

As we got closer to each other, I recognized him. It was Lieutenant Zimmerman. The park ranger that we met when another park ranger had tried to confiscate two Eagle feathers that our Eagle friends had given us. And, he had also been there when I had my problem with the Los Alamos security people.

As we got close enough, I said, “Yá’át’ééh, Zimm. - (It is good, Zimm.)”

“I thought that was you, Kai.”, Lieutenant Zimmerman said. “How are you?”

“Doing great.”

“How are those Eagles of yours?”

“They're not mine. But, they’re doing good. They even have young.”

“Really?”

“Yes, you’ll have to go with us the next time we go. And there are three Eaglets.”

“Three!?”, Zimm said. “I’d love to go. Do you still have my phone numbers?”

“Yes.”, I replied. “We haven’t been there for a little while, so we should visit them. That may be something to do tomorrow.”

“I’m not working tomorrow. So, that would work for me.”

I looked at my three companions, and said, “Everyone want to visit the Eagles tomorrow?”

Everyone agreed that it would be nice. So, we decided that we’d go after lunch and meet at the reservoir at one. We said, hágoónee' - (see you later) to Lieutenant Zimmerman, and we continued our walk north along the river. We went as far as the second bench, stopped there, and sat for a while.

Then on the way back down the trail, I said, “I should have asked Zimm about other access points to the trail? There has to be one closer to the house.”

“Ask him tomorrow.”, Charlie said.

“I will.”

Back at the house, I called the Santa Ana Pueblo’s Government Offices. The call was answered by one of their police officers, and I asked if he could get a message to Iz Yupanqui and tell him that Kai Nez will be at the reservoir tomorrow afternoon at one, with friends, and that we’d like him and his wife, Nita, to join us. The officer said that he’d be sure that Iz got the message.

We spent the rest of the afternoon working on school stuff. Amy and I worked on what we were teaching and our grad level classes. Plus we both put together class notes for Dr. Joe and Vickie since they were covering our Wednesday classes. And, Charlie and Jackie worked on their school work. For dinner, we put together a great southwestern salad.

At Sunset, we were out in the courtyard, with a nice fire burning, and watching the stars start to appear. Amy asked, “Kai, have you looked for anything more comfortable to sit on than these benches?”

“Haven’t had time, love.”, I replied.

“Kai.”, Charlie said. “I noticed a fairly large hardware store that is close to where Tramway Drive crosses the Interstate. They sometimes have patio furniture and stuff like that. We could stop there tomorrow and see what they have.”

At one o’clock, Sunday afternoon, we were pulling into the parking area at the Jemez Canyon Reservoir. There were two pickup trucks parked there. One was Iz’s. The other one I didn’t recognize, but in seeing the three people, Iz, his wife Nita, and Zimm, standing outside of the pickups, I figured that it belonged to Lieutenant Zimmerman.

We pulled in, parked, got out of the car, and walked over to them. As we walked up to Iz, Nita, and Zimm, I said, “I see you’ve met each other.”

“Hello, Kai.”, Iz said. “Yes, I’ve met the Lieutenant before at meetings.”

Then I went to introduce Charlie and Jackie, but it wasn’t necessary as everyone remembered them.

Then Zimm said, “So, your Eagles have three young ones?

“We saw three little fuzzy guys the last time we were here.”, Amy said.

“This will be fun if there are. And it will be good for the area to have five Bald Eagles.”

As we walked down the trail, we told Zimm about the guy from Fish and Wildlife and what happened when they tried to climb the tree and band the Eaglets. And, Zimm said, “That had to hurt. Your Eagles are very protective parents, and showed those people that they are.”

We walked to where we usually stand to look at the nest. We didn’t see any movement to start with, but it wasn’t long until we saw a little fuzzy face looking over the edge of the nest. Soon one of the adult Eagles came over to the side of the nest, looked at us, and squawked. And shortly the other two eaglets joined them.

Zimm got out his binoculars, looked at them, and said, “They look to be in excellent condition.”

Amy and I had our binoculars with us too. So we passed the binoculars around for everyone to look. As we watched them, I said, “They’ve grown since we were here last.”

“They grow quickly and will leave the nest in about ten weeks. But they’ll hang around until later in the year.”

“This is so cool.”, Jackie said. “I never thought for one minute that I’d ever see something like this.”

“Well, young lady.”, Iz said. “Neither did I, but we’ve met up with Kai and Ajie, and magic happened.”

As we were talking the other adult Eagle flew in with a fish, he dropped it in the nest, flew over to and landed on the edge of the nest, and squawked at us. Zimm took out his camera and took several pictures.

Then the Eagles went back deeper into the nest and just before we were going to walk back to the parking lot, I spotted something. I worked my way over to the base of the tree. And there were three Eagle feathers there. Two were tail feathers, and one was a flight or wing feather. I picked them up, and all three were in prime condition.

I walked back over to our little group and showed them the feathers. Iz said, “Kai if you keep finding Eagle feathers, you’re going to have to have a bigger headdress.”

“I know, Iz.”, I said. Then as I handed the flight feather to his wife, Nita, I said, “But, I keep giving them away.”

“I … I can’t accept this.”, Nita said.

“Why not, Nita?”

“It’s yours. You found it.”

“If I found it doesn’t that mean I can do with it what I want to?”

“I guess.”

“I want you to have it. So, I’m giving it to you.”

“Thank you, Kai.”

“You’re welcome, Nita. Just remember that it needs to be displayed.”

“Yes, I know.”

As we were walking back up the trail towards the parking lot, Zimm asked, “Kai, would you mind if I publish one of the pictures of the Eagle family in the Albuquerque Park’s newsletter?”

“No.”, I said. “As long as there is no hint of where they are.”

“I’ll be careful. I’ll say something like there’s a Bald Eagle family in the Albuquerque area this spring.”

“That’ll work.

Ajie and I said, “Hágoónee' t'áá ájíltso.” - (See you later all people [everyone].) And of course, I had to translate it for everyone.

Ajie, Charlie, Jackie, and I headed back to the house. And, Charlie reminded me that we wanted to stop at the hardware store on the way back to the house. Just before we crossed over the Interstate, the hardware store was on our left, so I pulled in. It was more of a hardware store/lumber yard combined.

We walked into the hardware store and started looking around. It’s a nice place and looked like they had a lot of things. I noticed the Charlie was taking a really good look around.

We found where they had some patio furniture on display in an outdoor display area, and we started looking at everything. Amy finally spotted something. It was a gray wicker couch with a three-cushion seat in white. She sat on it, smiled, and said, “This is nice.”

I walked over, sat, and said, “Not bad.”

“What do you think. Two of these and a table?”

“What do you think, Jackie?”, I asked.

Jackie walked over, sat, and said, “This is nice. And it’ll look nice by the fire pit.”

“It will.”, Charlie added.

“The price isn’t bad either.”, I said. “I wonder if they deliver?”

“We do, young lady.”, we heard a woman say.

I looked over my shoulder, and a thirty-something woman was standing behind us.

I stood up, looked at her, smiled, and asked, “Do you have two of these?”

She looked at a tag on the couch and said, “Yes, in the warehouse.”

Amy turned and looked at the woman and asked, “Do you have a square table that will go with them?”

“Yes, Miss, right over here.”

We followed the woman a short distance, and she showed us a table with a glass top that was also wicker and in the same gray as the couch. Then the woman said, “How’s this?”

“It’s nice, and it looks like a match.”, Amy said.

“It is. And we can deliver that with the couches.”

“You know.”, I said. “A four-seat couch would look good along with the three-seat couch and table.”

Amy looked at me and said, “You’re right Kai. That would look good.”

I looked at the woman and asked, “Do you have a four-seat couch that matches the three-seat couch?”

She took us a little further into the display and showed us a matching four-seat couch. Amy loved it, so I said, “Do you take checks?”

“Yes, written on a local bank?”, the woman said.

“Will the Bank of Albuquerque work?”

“Can’t get much more local than that.”

“We’ve just moved and don’t have checks with the new address on them. Is that a problem?”

“Not if you have proper identification.”

“A drivers license and faculty ID cards from the university.”

As we drove out of the hardware store, I said, “I’m glad that they can deliver those things tomorrow afternoon. I may need them after tomorrows meeting.”

“And, you picked up some one-inch dowel rod too.”, Charlie said.

“Thanks to you reminding me.”

Later on Sunday, we made our weekly call to our parents. Both sets of our parents were both shocked and saddened about the fire and the deaths. And they were happy that we were not there when it happened. We also told them that we were going to Tucson for the funeral and that we would be representing the university. We also told them about the three Eaglets and that we’d take them to see them when they visited this summer.

That night I was laying on the bed staring at the ceiling waiting for Amy to finish in the bathroom. When Amy came out of the bathroom, she asked, “Honey, what’s wrong?”

I sat up and said, “I was just thinking about Tim and Rachel.”

“What about them?”

“Do you know how they died?”

“Do you really want to know?”, Amy asked.

“Yes.”, I said.

Amy sat down next to me on the bed and said, “They died of smoke inhalation. Rachel was gone by the time they got her to the hospital. And, Tim lasted about another half an hour. The firemen found them on the second floor. They were at the top of the stairs, and they were holding on to each other.”

I felt the tears start. Amy sat on the bed and took me in her arms and held me. And she whispered, “It’s okay to cry. I thought that I was tough. But I’m not. I cried too.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Honey, don’t be sorry.”

Monday morning, I was nervous about this meeting between me, Dr. Lingham, who’s the President of the university, and the Board of Regents. Dr. Lingham and I were going to talk with them about smoke detectors for the married student apartments. Amy picked up on my nervousness and said, “Honey, this meeting will be fine. You’re there to support Dr. Lingham on something that you feel is very important. And, the Board of Regents isn’t the same Board that went after you.”

“You’re right.”, I said. “I need to look at this as something done in the memory of Rachel and Tim.”

“You’re right.”

I dressed up as I do for any meeting. My hair was in two braids and hanging over my shoulders. I was wearing a fancy long skirt, fancy blouse, wrap moccasins, and a few pieces of silver jewelry. I also had a few things in my purse to add after I taught my classes and attended my grad level class.

At breakfast, Jackie looked at me and said, “Kai, you’re going to knock ‘em dead.”

“Is it too much?”, I asked.

“No, honey.”, Amy said. “You’re making a statement.”

“And, a pretty girl is tough to say no to.”, Charlie said.

Amy left for the university at seven to teach her eight o’clock class, and Charlie and Jackie left not much later for the same place. So, I had a little time to myself before I had to leave. So I went out through the back courtyard, and into the backyard. I stood there looking to the west for a minute or two. Then I went into the courtyard and stood at the fire pit. I could feel the spirits of the fire even though there wasn’t a fire burning. And what I was feeling helped me feel good about what was going to happen today.

At a little before eight, I walked through the house, checking to see that everything was locked. I walked into the garage, pushed the button to open my garage door, and as it went up, I smiled. I got in the car, fastened my seat belt, started the car, and backed out. I pushed the remote and watched the garage door close.

I was at the university in plenty of time to make my first class at nine. Then after my grad level class, I went by Dr. Joe’s office to drop off my briefcase. He wasn’t there, so I used my key to unlock the door, I dropped off my briefcase, relocked the door, and headed to Scholes Hall where the administrative offices of the university are.

I stopped in the first-floor ladies room in Scholes Hall, took the choker that both of my grandfathers had made out of my purse and put it on, then I removed the simple braided leather headband that I had been wearing and replaced it with the braided leather one with the Eagle feather. I also added fancy ends to my braids. And, I touched up my lipstick.

I walked out of the restroom and down the hall to Dr. Lingham’s office. As I walked in, his secretary looked at me and said, “You must be Miss Nez.”

“Yes, I’m Kai Nez.”, I replied.

“I’ll tell Dr. Lingham that you’re here.”

She picked up a telephone, dialed a number, and when it was answered, she said, “Dr. Lingham, Miss Nez is here.” … “Yes, sir, I’ll tell her.”

As she hung up the phone, she said, “Miss Nez, Dr. Lingham will be right out. Please have a seat.”

I sat and waited. At a quarter to one, Dr. Lingham walked out of his office. I stood. He stopped, looked at me, and said, “Miss Nez, Dean Rutherford has told me that you always dressed up for meetings. And he wasn’t exaggerating.”

“Thank you.”

Then he handed me a piece of paper. As I looked at it, Dr. Lingham said, “I had my secretary make the reservations for you for the trip to Tucson. And this is your itinerary. Keep your receipts and turn them in and you’ll be reimbursed. The airline tickets will be at the airline’s counter when you get there. And there is a car reserved for you in Tucson.”

I looked at him and said, “Four airline tickets?”

“It’s the least that we can do.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Then, Dr. Lingham handed me another sheet of paper, and this was the proposal for installing smoke detectors in the married student apartments. I looked at it and said, “I take it that the building codes say that they must be hard-wired?”

“Yes, that’s what Mr. McLaughlin told me.”

“Doesn’t the university have people who can do this kind of work?”

“Of course we do.”

“So why aren’t they going to do it rather than an outside contractor.”

“Good question, Miss Nez.”

“And the university’s maintenance people are going to be replacing the fuse boxes with circuit breaker boxes this summer. Aren’t they?”

“Yes, they are.”

“So why doesn’t the crew doing the box swap install the smoke detectors at the same time. It would save the cost of the separate installation. But, my concern is that it isn’t planned to happen until summer.”

“I understand your concern, Miss Nez. And that’s an interesting thought on having our maintenance people do the smoke detector installation. We’ll propose that to the Board. Are you ready.”

“Yes, sir.”

Dr. Lingham and I walked out of his office and down the hall. We walked to a room that had ‘Board Room’ on the door. We didn’t knock. We just walked in. I looked at the seven people, six men, and a woman, sitting behind a long table. Mr. McLaughlin was already seated at another table. There was also someone there to take minutes. And a few other people there that must have business with the Board.

Dr. Lingham and I took seats at the same table that Mr. McLaughlin was sitting at. Luckily Dr. Lingham sat between Mr. McLaughlin and me. I was feeling some bad things, but it wasn’t coming for the Board, but from Mr. McLaughlin. And I’d expected that.

The Chairman of the Board of Regents then called the meeting to order, and he then asked Dr. Lingham what he had to present to them.

Dr. Lingham said, “First I know that you all know Mr. McLaughlin, who is sitting on my left. And I know that two of you know the young lady sitting on my right, but five of you don’t.”

“Dr. Lingham.”, the Chairman said. “Some of us have never met this young lady, but we are well aware of who Miss Kai Nez is. Miss Nez, we hope that your visit with us today is a more positive experience than your last one.”

Without smiling, I said, “I do too, sir.”

Then they introduced themselves, and when the two who were at my last meeting with the board, and that included the student member, introduced themselves they both smiled and said that it was nice to see me again. I returned their smiles.

Then Dr. Lingham said, “I know that you are all aware of the fire in the one married student apartment units last week that took the lives of two of our students. Miss Nez lived in that unit until a week or two ago. And, she knew those students, as well as the other students who lived there.

“Miss Nez brought to our attention, when Mr. McLaughlin and I were at the fire scene, that these units don’t have any smoke or fire detection devices in them. And she also made it known that she was going to make it her mission to see that they are installed before anyone else dies. And I support her in this.

“I had Mr. McLaughlin prepare a proposal for the installation of those smoke detectors. And you have copies of that proposal. This morning I showed that proposal to Miss Nez. By the way, for those of you that don’t know, Miss Nez has a degree from the Ohio State University in Electrical Engineering, and that she earned that Cum Laude. She is also an instructor here in Electrical Engineering while she works on her doctoral degree. And she’s a research fellow currently doing research for the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

“Miss Nez looked at the proposal this morning and pointed out that money and time could be saved by having the maintenance people from the university install the smoke detectors while they were replacing the fuse boxes with circuit breaker boxes.

“She also told me of her concern about waiting until summer to do the work. And I have to agree with her. It may be a little inconvenient to the residents, but I think that they won’t mind after what has happened.

“So, we would like to see the work moved up on the schedule so that it can start immediately.

“Do you have any questions for us?”

The Board Chairman said, “We looked over the proposal this morning. And we all agreed that it needed to be done as soon as possible. And I feel that it can be done when the electrical modifications are being made.”

“Do we have any questions for Dr. Lingham, Miss Kai, or Mr. McLaughlin?”

“I have one for Miss Nez.”, the lone woman board member said.

“Mrs. Kline, what’s your question.”

“Miss Nez.”, Mrs. Kline said.

“Yes, Mrs. Kline.”

“I’m curious. We’ve heard that the fire department found pennies behind some of the fuses in the fuse box for the apartment that had the fire. Could this have caused the fire?”

“That’s for the State Fire Marshall’s Office to determine.”, I said. “But, it has caused fires in the past.”

“How?”

“It bypasses the fuse, not allowing the fuse to protect that circuit. That allows the circuit to be overloaded, that causes the wiring to overheat, which breaks down the insulation and allows the wires to short. And without the fuse or circuit breaker to interrupt the circuit, you have enough heat to ignite the wood in the construction of the building. And this sometimes happens quickly, or it can happen over a period of time.”

“Do you think that the current residents of that apartment did this?”

“I can’t answer that. Because I don’t know, and Tim and Rachel, who would be the only ones that would know, can't be asked because they are no longer with us. Only the Fire Marshall’s Office might be able to determine that.

“Why do I feel that I’m getting the third degree?”

“I’m sorry, Miss Nez. I didn’t mean to come across that way. I’m just curious.”

“I’ll tell you this.”, I said. “They died of smoke inhalation. The fire department found them at the top of the steps to the second floor, and they were holding each other. If they would have had another minute, they might still be alive.”

I felt the tears in my eyes. And it was quiet for a few seconds. Then the Board Chairman said, “Are there any other questions.”

“I don’t have a question.”, the man who was on the original Board of Regents said. “But, I’d like to thank Miss Nez for bringing this to our attention.”

“Thank you, Mr. Halsey. I think that we all agree with you. Are there any more questions or comments.”

No one else said anything.

“Hearing none. I’ll entertain a motion.”

The woman said, “Mr. Chairman, I make a motion that we approve the installation of smoke detectors in the married student apartments along with the replacement of the fuse boxes. And that it is to be completed as soon as possible.”

“Do I hear a second?”

The man, Mr. Halsey that was on the Board when I had my problem, said, “I’ll second that.”

“Is there any more discussion?”, the Chairman asked. “Hearing none, all in favor?”

We heard a bunch of “Ayes.”

Then the Chairman said, “All against?”

There was nothing said. So, the Chairman said, “The motion passes. Mr. McLaughlin, will you see that it happens.”

“Yes, sir.”, Mr. McLaughlin said.

“We know that Miss Nez is involved in a research project and is also going to the funeral in Tucson tomorrow, and Dr. Lingham has other obligations. So, before we continue with our regular business, I’d like to say thank you to both of them for being here and opening our eyes to an urgent problem.

“And, Miss Nez, we’d like you to give the families of the two students condolences from the whole university.”

“Yes, sir, we will.”, I said. “Their names were Tim and Rachel Parker.”

“Thank you, Miss Nez.”

The three of us, Dr. Lingham, Mr. McLaughlin, and I got up and left the room. As Mr. McLaughlin walked away. Dr. Lingham said, “Miss Nez, thank you very much for being here today.”

“Dr. Lingham.”, I said. “Thank you for inviting me. And this meeting was much better than the last Board meeting that I was at.”

“Yes, it was.”

“But, do me one favor. Keep an eye on Mr. McLaughlin and this project. I don’t trust him.”

“Miss Nez, don’t worry. I’m going straight to the head of maintenance and putting this in motion myself. And, the building where the fire was will be the first one to get the circuit breakers and smoke detectors, and that will be done while they’re being cleaned and rebuild.

“We’ve decided to make this a priority project. And, your two friends, that are staying with you should be back in an apartment by the end of the week.”

“They will be happy to hear that, Dr. Lingham.”

“And be sure to give my condolences and that of the universities to Tim and Rachel's families.”

“I will, sir.”

We said so long, and Dr. Lingham headed to his office, and I headed to Dr. Joe’s office. As I walked into Dr. Joe’s office, he looked at me and said, “Well, you look like the cat that ate the canary.”

“You could say that. The guy from Student Housing wasn’t happy with me.”, I said. “But that was an excellent meeting. … ” And I went on to tell Dr. Joe what had gone on.

When I finished, Dr. Joe said, “Outstanding job, Dr. Kai.”

“Thank you, Professor Oshie. Now I’m going to lunch. Want to join me.”

“Sure. Where are we going?”

“I need a celebratory double cheeseburger with pickles, french fries, and a ginger ale milkshake.”

“So, we’re going to the drive-in?”

“Yes, and I’m driving.”

Before we left his office, I picked up my briefcase, set it on the work table, opened it, and took out a folder. And as I handed the folder to Dr. Joe, I said, “Here’s what you’ll need for my Wednesday classes. Have Sara make you copies of the quiz and that will fill fifteen minutes. Then there are notes on what needs to be covered.

Later as I was dropping Dr. Joe off at the university, he said, “I talked to Dr. Fontheim and changed our meeting to Friday afternoon at three, and he’s coming up here.”

“That’s good.”, I said. “That will give me Thursday and sometime on Friday to go over the documentation again. So I’ll see you on Thursday.”

“Hágoónee', Kai. - (See you later, Kai.)”

I drove home, and when I got there, Amy was home. She’d come home after her classes because they were delivering the new patio furniture this afternoon. I changed, took a piece of paper out of my briefcase, and went looking for Amy. I found her out on the back courtyard sitting on one of the new couches and reading. As I walked out there, I sat next to her and said, “I like the way you arranged the couches. The four-cushion was facing to the southwest and the three-cushion facing the northwest with the table between them.”

“I thought it would look good that way.”, Amy replied.

“So, how was your day, love.”

“It was good.”, Amy replied. “How about you.”

“It was nothing to write home about.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“You don’t believe me! Why not?”

“You had a meeting this afternoon. Didn’t you?”

“Oh. That.”

“Yes, that. So, tell me.”

I did just that. Amy sat there and listened intently. When I finished, Amy said, “That’s amazing. That’s a complete turnaround from the last time that you met with the Board of Regents. And it looks like you were able to accomplish something worthwhile while you were at it.”

“I know.”, I said. “Now, all I have to do is make sure that they follow through with their promise.”

“You don’t think they will.”

“I don’t think they have a choice with Dr. Lingham cracking the whip.”

“Charlie and Jackie will be interested in all of this.”

“Yes, they will. And they will be more surprised to find out that the university is covering the cost of their flight to Tucson.”

“What!?”

As I handed her our itinerary for the next two days, I said, “Read this.”

She looked it over, and said, “Two rooms, four seats on the flights, and food for four for three meals. I don’t believe it. They’re also paying for Charlie and Jackie’s flights.”

“Dr. Lingham said it was the least they could do.”

A little over an hour later, as Amy and I were starting to put together frybread tacos for dinner, Charlie and Jackie walked in. The walked over, sat at the breakfast bar, and Charlie said, “Kai, I don’t know what you did, but you sure stirred things up.”

“What do you mean?”, I asked.

“I was at the maintenance building this afternoon, and the boss told two of us to take a panel truck to the Electric Supply Company and pick up a bunch of stuff. We picked up forty circuit breaker boxes, a bunch of different amperage breakers, wire, conduit, conduit fittings, and ten wired smoke detectors. And they told us that they’d have the other thirty smoke detectors for us next week.

“When we got back, one of the guys asked what all of this was for. And the boss said that he’d been told directly by the University President that all the married student apartments were going to be switched over to circuit breaker boxes and have smoke detectors installed. And it was to be done quickly.

“Then I asked if it was because of the fire? And the boss said yes and that someone was pushing to have it done. I just smiled.”

“Kai, how do you do this?”, Jackie asked.

“I guess I just know what buttons to push.”

Then I handed them our itinerary for Tuesday and Wednesday. As they looked at it, Jackie said, “The university is picking up our flights and meals?”

“Yep.”, I said. “Our flight leaves Albuquerque at one-fifteen. So, if we meet here at the house and leave a little before noon, we can take one car to the airport. Think we can we do that?”

“I think so.”, Charlie said.

We had a nice dinner of frybread tacos with sopaipillas for dessert. And as we were eating dessert, I said, “Oh, by the way. I heard that you might be back in your apartment by the end of the week.”

“Kai, where’d you hear that!?” Jackie asked.

“From the President of the University.”, I replied.

“You’re kidding?”

“No, that’s what he said.”