After we’d had our talk with Mr. Uintillie on Tuesday the rest of the week was normal. Well as normal as it can be for us.

Friday, we’d decided that on Saturday that we’d to go to Taos and see Mr. Yazzie, then go to the Taos Pueblo. And, of course, we had to take Jackie and Charlie along. And we planned on seeing the Governor and Quah Ah, the medicine woman.

Saturday was fun, we stopped in Taos and did see Mr. Yazzie. We dropped off the two gold dollar pieces that we’d found in my grandfather Nez’s box for Mr. Yazzie to make into Christmas presents for our mothers. Mr. Yazzie also got to meet Jackie and Charlie.

At the Pueblo, we met with the Governor and Quah Ah for lunch, and then we received a private tour of the Pueblo.

While we were at the Old San Geronimo Church and graveyard, Quah Ah questioned my blue eyes. And that question led to more. I ended up telling the Governor and Quah Ah a lot about Kai and who she really is. The biggest surprise they received was when they found out that I’m a boy and that Ajie and I are married.

Something Jackie said made me remember lying to them about helping her with her school fees. And remembering that made me feel terrible. Jackie had been talking about Ajie and me, and had said, ‘I don’t think Charlie and I could ask for better friends.’

Do friends lie to friends?

After an excellent tour of the Pueblo, and as we were saying so long to the Governor and Quah Ah, we thanked them for everything and promised to come back. As Quah Ah was hugging me, she whispered, “Kai, as Naainish has told me you are special. You will do special things for your people and others. Some will never know that you are helping them. But you will know.”

“Thank you, Quah Ah.”, I whispered back. “You’re a good friend.”

As we drove out of the Pueblo and headed towards Albuquerque, I said, “We have a two hour and a half hour drive home. Santa Fe is a little over halfway and might be a good place to stop for dinner.”

And, that’s what we did. Ajie and I had heard about the Pantry Restaurant in Santa Fe, and that’s where we stopped. As we walked out of the restaurant, Ajie and I were walking behind Jackie and Charlie, and Ajie whispered, “Honey, you’ve been too quiet. What’s wrong?”

“I need to talk to Jackie and Charlie.”

“Why?”

“We’ve lied to them. And, I’m feeling bad about it.”

“Lied to them?”

“About Jackie’s scholarship and stuff.”

“Oh. Tell you what, let me talk to her alone before you say anything.”

“Okay. I guess.”

“Please?”

“Yes.”

We finished the drive back to Albuquerque, and as we pulled into the driveway, Jackie said, “Kai and Ajie, this has been a fun day. Taos was great, and the tour the Governor gave us of the Pueblo was amazing.”

“Yeah.”, Charlie said. “And, finding out that Kit Carson was real was also interesting.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.”, Ajie said. “We’ll do something else like it soon. Maybe take you to the Navajo Nation.”

“Sounds good to us. Good night.”

“Good night you two.”

Jackie and Charlie got out of the car and walked to their apartment. I pulled the car into the garage, and Ajie and I went into our apartment. I looked at the answering machine to see if we had any messages, and we didn’t.

Ajie then said, “All right love. What brought on this thing about not telling Jackie and Charlie the truth?”

“Something that Jackie said today bothered me.”, I replied.

“What did she say?”

“She said, I don’t think Charlie and I could ask for better friends.”

“Why did it bother you?”

“Should friends lie to friends?”

“I guess they shouldn’t. But, what did we lie to them about? They know that we helped find Charlie his job. And, that we helped them find their furniture at the resort.”

“Jackie’s scholarship.”

“Oh.”

“And, it really bothers me. Not telling Jackie, like we did Dibe with her scholarship, that we helped."

“I see your point. Let me see if I can talk to her alone.”

“Okay.”

Later as we were getting ready for bed, I said, “I’d love to wear a long skirt and a fancy blouse to Los Alamos tomorrow.”

“So, do it.”

“What about teaching classes. I won’t have time to change, and we’re leaving at Noon right after my grad class.”

“Everyone tells us that we look dressed up when we wear them. So, you’d probably meet the unwritten dress code that Vickie told us about.”

“True.”

“Just go light on the jewelry when you’re teaching.”

“Right.”

Sunday turned out to be a catch up day. Catch up on housework, grocery shopping, school work, and so on. But, we did find time to drive up to the Sandia Crest, and they had snow. Six inches of snow. Amy and I had a snowball fight, which is something we hadn’t done in years. And we were glad that our mothers sent us a care package, and that it contained mostly winter clothes.

Monday morning I was still not sure about going with the native look of a long skirt, a fancy blouse, wrap moccasins, and some jewelry. But after I got out of the shower and walked into the bedroom, Amy had made my mind up for me. She was dressing, and on the bed were a long skirt, a fancy blouse, and a pair of wrap moccasins. I looked at Amy, and said, “So, you think I should go with the native look?”

“Yes.”, she replied. “You need to make a statement today.”

“To who?”

“Everyone. Aren’t you a Navajo girl?”

I was one of the last to walk into my nine o’clock Electronic Circuits and Systems class. And as I walked up to my desk at the front of the classroom, I looked at the students in my class, and I could see some questioning looks from them.

I was dressed in the long skirt, fancy blouse, and wrap moccasins that Amy had placed on the bed. Amy had braided my hair into a single braid, and I went without a headband. My earrings were the ones that my grandfather had made with the silver dimes and gold feathers. I wasn’t wearing a Concho belt, but I had one in my purse for later along with a choker and another bracelet. I was currently wearing two rings, one on each hand, and a bracelet on my right wrist.

As my last student took his seat, I said, “Good morning gentlemen. I have to apologize for the way I’m dressed. It's typical Navajo dress, and I’m wearing it because I have a meeting this afternoon at Los Alamos. And, I won’t have time to change before I have to leave.”

And, I went on to teach my class. My second class was just about the same.

When I walked into my eleven o’clock graduate level class, my professor looked at me, and said, “That’s a different look for you, Miss Nez.”

“Sorry, professor.”, I replied. “Dr. Oshie and I have a meeting in Los Alamos, and I won’t have a chance to change before we have to leave.”

“Los Alamos. Hmm. By chance at the National Laboratory?”

“It could be, sir.”

“Non-committal, Miss Nez?”

“Yes, sir.”

I made it through that class without further comment.

Just before Noon, I walked into Dr. Joe’s office, he looked at me, and said, “Kai, I do like being seen with you when you’re dressed up.”

E:\TedTemp\what ever\Completed Stories\Tommy Pictures\Choker-2.jpg

I set my briefcase down on the floor and my purse on Dr. Joe’s desk. I opened my purse, took out the Concho belt, and put it on. Then I took out the hair-pipe bone choker with a silver disk that had a silver feather hanging from it with two side hair-pipe bone pieces out of my purse and placed it around my neck. Then I added the other bracelet to my right wrist.

Dr. Joe shook his head, and said, “You’re trying to make a statement aren’t you?”

“Trying? No.”, I replied. “I am making a statement.”

“Yes, you are. The thing is you’ve already made one.”

“I have?”

As he handed me an envelope, Dr. Joe said, “Read this.”

I took the envelope from him and noticed that the return address was from the Engineering School’s Dean’s Office. And my name, Miss Kai Nez, was typewritten across the front.

I looked at Dr. Joe, and asked, “Am I in trouble?”

“Open it and find out.”

I opened the envelope, took out the letter, unfolded it, and read it. When I finished, I looked at Dr. Joe, and said, “Are you kidding me?”

With a smile, Dr, Joe said, “No. For some reason, and I don’t know why they like you. What with Dr. Kilmer no longer here, there is an open position. They can’t offer you a full-time position, yet. But they can offer you a part-time instructors position with a research fellowship. And, at the salary that they’ve listed. Then, if you want it, when you finish your masters you could become a full-time instructor.

“The Dean and I have been talking about this for a couple of weeks. And, he’s the one that brought up you filling the position.”

I sat down hard in a chair. And, just looked at the letter.

“Kai.”, “Dr. Joe continued. “You are a great research partner. I couldn’t ask for anyone better. We made it through the project for the National Laboratory in amazing time. And, it was all because of you and your knowledge of the subject. I couldn’t have done it by myself. I even learned things from you.”

“I’m … I’m stunned.”, I said.

“I figured you would be.”

“I’ve got to talk with Amy about this.”

“I figured that too. Take a few days and talk with her before you make any decision.”

“Oh, I will. I may have to go meditate someplace, and it’s getting too cold to sit at the bonfire.”

“Figure that out later. We need to get going, or we’re going to be late for our meeting with Dr. Fontheim.”

We put everything that we were taking with us in my briefcase and headed to Los Alamos. The drive was very quiet. Meaning I didn’t say much. My mind was going in a hundred different directions. Why me? Am I that good of an instructor? Is Dr. Joe right when he says I’m a great research partner? Do I want to do this? I like teaching. And, I love doing research.

As we pulled up to the guard building at the visitor’s parking lot at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, we told the guard why we were there, he told us to park the car and go into the building. We found a parking place, and as we got out of the car, Dr. Joe said, “Kai, I’ve never seen you so quiet.”

“Sorry.”, I replied.

“That’s all right, that letter hit you with a big decision, and you’ve been thinking.”

“Yeah. A huge decision.”

We walked into the guard building, they checked our identifications, looked in my briefcase, and purse. Then they checked a list and found our names as visitors expected by Dr. Fontheim. They gave us visitor badges. Then someone showed up and drove us to an office building.

At the office building, they rechecked our identifications, and also looked in my briefcase and purse again. Then someone escorted us to a suite of offices. The secretary asked who we were scheduled to see. We told her, and she told us to have a seat.

About five minutes later Dr. Fontheim walked through a door, saw us, smiled, walked over, and said, “Dr. Oshie. Miss Nez. It’s good to see you again.”

We stood up and shook hands with Dr. Fontheim. Dr. Joe said, “It’s good to see you too, Dr. Fontheim.”

“I take it that you brought me something?”

“Yes, sir.”, I said. “We did.”

“Come back to my office and let's have a look.”

We followed Dr. Fontheim to his office. We all sat, I placed my briefcase on my lap, opened it, removed everything that we’d brought with us, and handed it to Dr. Joe.

Dr. Joe set the circuit board, in its protective wrapping, on Dr. Fontheim desk. Dr. Fontheim put on a grounding strap, picked up the circuit board, removed it from its protective wrapping, and looked it over very carefully. As he did, he said, “Very nice work. Dr. Oshie, this is some very nice work.”

“Thank you.”, Dr. Oshie said. “It’s all Miss Nez’s work.”

Dr. Fontheim looked at me, smiled, and said, “Miss Nez, you do very nice work.”

“Thank you, sir.”, I replied.

“I’ll be honest with the two of you. There are a total of five parts to the final circuit. We figured that this part would be the hardest one to do and would be the last one to us. But, we only have one other piece so far. The other three are still a week or more away from being completed. And, the first one in was much simpler than this one.

“You’ve impressed us.”

Dr. Joe said, “Thank you.”

We then went over everything that we’d brought with us, that included the schematic of the circuit, the design of the printed circuit board, and other things. Then Dr. Fontheim gave us a tour of their electronics lab. Impressive.

As we were walking around the lab, Dr. Fontheim took me aside, and said, “Miss Nez, we are very impressed with you, and want you to consider coming to work for us once you have your masters.”

I looked at him, and said, “Sir. Work here?”

“Yes, Miss Nez. Not only are you a good researcher, as the circuit you brought us shows, but we know that you are also a good instructor. And, those two disciplines are very useful.”

“Thank you for the offer, Dr. Fontheim. I’ll consider it.”

“That’s all we ask, Miss Nez.

“Now, if I remember correctly, you asked me what this circuit was going to be used for.”

“Yes, sir. I did.”

“I can only say one word.”

“One word?”

“Yes, Apollo.”

“Apollo?”

“Yes, and that’s all I can say.”

As Dr. Joe and I were leaving, Dr. Fontheim said, “I may have another project for you, if I can have the same research team again?”

“We’d love to do another project for you, but that will probably be up to Dean Rutherford.”, Dr. Joe said.

“I’ll talk to him.”

We were driven back to the guard building at the visitors parking lot. We turned in our visitor’s badges and walked to the car. Again on the way home, I was quiet. So, Dr. Joe said, “Not still thinking about the job offer from the university. Are you?”

“No.”, I replied. “I’m thinking about the one Dr. Fontheim just offered me.”

“What!?”

“Yeah. He said that they’d love to have me work for them once I finished my masters.”

“Oh boy. That’s all you needed.”

“No kidding.”

We drove in silence for about half an hour, then Dr. Joe said, “We missed lunch!”

“We did.”, I said. “Didn’t we.”

“Want to take Mary and Amy out to dinner?

“Where?”

“I could use a pizza and a beer.”

“So, Nunzio's Pizza?”

“Sure.”

“So, find a pay phone, and we can call ‘em.”

We found a pay phone and called Mary and Amy. They both said that it sounded good to them.

Dr. Joe and I agreed on a time to meet at Nunzio's. Then, he dropped me off at the apartment, and when he did, I told him not to say anything to anyone, including Mary, about the job offers from either the university or Los Alamos. And, that I’d do that when I was ready. He agreed.

When I walked in the door of the apartment, Amy greeted me, then said, “It looks like you had a rough day.”

“In a way I did.”, I said.

“Want to talk?”

“Yes. But after dinner. I’m starved. We missed lunch.”

“Okay, honey. Whenever you want to talk, I’m here.”

“Thanks love. I want to get cleaned up a little before we go.”

Fifteen minutes before we were to meet Dr. Joe and Mary, Amy and I walked out of the apartment and headed for Nunzio's. As usual when we walked up the line was out the door, and Dr. Joe and Mary were already in line, so we joined them.

As we waited in line, Dr. Joe and I told the girls about our meeting with Dr. Fontheim. And as we did, the bulb lit. Apollo. The Apollo Spacecraft. There hadn’t been any activity in the Apollo project since the tragic fire earlier this year in the Apollo 1 module that had killed the three astronauts. Could the circuit that Dr. Joe and I worked on have something to do with the revitalization of the Apollo project?

“Kai.”, Dr. Joe said. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah.”, I replied. “Dr. Fontheim told me something after he told me about the job and I just figured it out.”

“Job!?”, Amy said. “What job?”

“Oh. … Ah. … Yeah. I’ll tell you about it after they seat us.”

Amy glared at me. And, Dr. Joe looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

I whispered to Amy, “Too many people here.”

“Okay.”, Amy whispered. “But, you’d better tell me.”

“I will.”

Fifteen minutes later we were seated in a booth, and after we’d ordered, Amy said, “All right. What’s this job thing about?”

I said, “Shh. Let’s keep our voices down.

“Dr. Fontheim and I were talking as he was giving me a tour of their lab. And, out of the blue, he said that they’d like me to come and work for them after I get my masters.”

“And, what did you say?”, Amy asked.

“That I’d think about it.”

“It would be a great place to work.”, Dr. Joe said.

“Yeah. Until they did a background check and found the Kai and Tom connection.”

“Oh. I didn’t think about that. Well, there’s always the other thing.”

I glared at Dr. Joe, as I said, “Real nice. Thanks, buddy.”

“Oops. Sorry.”

“What other thing!?”, Amy asked.

I picked up my purse, opened it, and took the envelope from Dean Rutherford out of it. And, as I handed the letter to Amy, I said, “I was going to talk to you about this when we were alone, but we’re among friends, and Dr. Joe already knows. After you’ve read it, let Mary read it.”

Amy took the envelope from me, removed the letter from it, and started reading it. When she finished, she handed the letter to Mary, looked at me, and said, “You are kidding me?”

“No.”, I said. “I guess that someone at the university likes how I teach.”

“This is a formal job offer. Isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“This is also for the full academic year. Isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Are you going to do it?”

“I told Dr. Joe that I’d have to talk to you first. And, the spirits next.”

“So, you want to meditate?”

“Yes. But, it’s getting too cold to sit at the bonfire.”

As Mary finished the letter, she said, “Kai, this is wonderful.”

“I know, Mary.”, I said. “I’m just not sure it’s what I want to do with my life.”

“You’ve always said that you enjoy teaching and more so doing the research.”

“I know. And, it’s true. But, I need to think about it before I take this step.”

“Honey.”, Amy said. “Could this be what Naainish meant when he told you that you’d soon be asked a question that would determine if you will go on to help your people or not. And that the decision would also determine which way your life would go?”

“I’ve thought about that.”, I replied. “And, you’re right. It is.

“But, if I accept the position with the university how would it affect the way that I can help my people? I’d still be here in Albuquerque. We would still see all of our family and friends. Wouldn’t we?”

“You know we would.”, Amy said. “I wonder … ”

“Wonder what?”, I asked.

“If the decision that Naainish was talking about was which of these offers to take. Work on your masters, then either go to work for the National Laboratory after you earn it, or stay in a university environment and continue teaching and doing research as you work on your masters.”

“I’ll add a third option.”, I said. “Not do either.”

“Honey.”, Amy said. “It’s your decision.”

“No, it’s our decision.”

I’d caught a look from Dr. Joe when I’d said, not do either. He finally said, “Kai, I know that you’ll make the right decision. But, I’m going to put in my two cents worth.

“Kai, I’ll do anything that I have to do to keep you as a researcher and working with me. You not only know what you’re doing, but you’re also teaching me things as we work together. To lose you would be a significant loss.

“Also, you’re teaching skills are wonderful. You know the subject matter and know how to make your students understand it. Again this would be a loss if you didn’t continue.”

“Dr. Joe.”, I said. “I understand. And I like working with you too. But, I need to do some soul searching before I decide. There are things that I’ll need to do for my people, the Navajo Nation. What those things might be, I don’t know.

“But, I’ll promise you that you’ll be the second to know what I decide.”

“Who’ll be first?”, Dr. Joe asked.

“Amy. Because she’ll be there when I, or we, make the decision.”

They brought our pizza and drinks. Wine for Amy and me, beer for Dr. Joe, and pop for Mary. Remember Mary is pregnant.

I changed the subject, to what the security was like at Los Alamos. And that lasted about a whole minute. Then I just started working on the pizza, and I ended up eating a whole half of a slice. The wine on the other hand disappeared, and Amy didn’t have much of it.

Amy looked at me, and asked, “Kai, are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah.”, I replied. “Why?”

“You almost finished the bottle of wine by yourself and have hardly eaten anything.”

“That’s why my head is swimming.”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry. I’ve been lousy company.”

“No, you haven’t, Kai.”, Dr. Joe asked. “You’ve just been tossed a bunch of stuff that you have to figure out.”

“Yeah. And I’m not going to be able to do that until I can meditate.”

“Do it soon, so you don’t drive the rest of us crazy.”

“I’ll try.”

“Kai.”, Dr. Joe said. “You’d started to tell us about something else that Dr. Fontheim told you.”

“Oh, yeah.”, I said. “He told me that he could only tell me one word about what the circuit was for.”

“And?”

“The word was, Apollo.”

“Apollo?”

“Yeah. And while we were standing in line, I figured out what Dr. Fontheim meant.”

“Care to share?”, Dr. Joe said.

I very quietly said, “I think it might be to help with the possible revitalization of Apollo Spacecraft project. After the fire that they had.”

“Now, that’s a worthwhile research project.”

Later as we were standing out in front of Nunzio's saying goodnight to Dr. Joe and Mary, Dr. Joe asked, “When do you think that you could go up to the resort?”

I thought for a few seconds, then said, “I know that we could run up to the resort after we finish with our classes on any day, but being back to teach the next morning would be difficult.”

“Your Monday, Wednesday, and Friday classes don’t start until nine.”, Dr. Joe said.

“That may be doable. If we run up tomorrow or Thursday after classes, and leave the resort before seven the following morning.”

“What if we’re up all night?”, Amy asked.

“That would be a problem.”

“I could fill in for you.”, Dr. Joe said. “That way you wouldn’t have to rush.”