As the Eagle Flies. J. D. Oliver

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СКАЧАТЬ are you both comfortable right here?”

      “Oh, I want to stay in the same room,” Faith said, with a diabolical giggle.

      “Alright, Clay there’s a specimen cup in the bathroom, over there. You give me some urine, I’ll give Faith her shot and take a blood sample from her. Just leave the bottle on the sink when you come out.”

      I went in and did what she asked. Then I came out and sat beside Faith on the exam table. Gail pulled a couple of vials of blood out of me. Then said, “Okay, stand up and drop your drawers.”

      “Are you sure we have to do this?” I said, as Faith reached over and unbuckled my belt. “Yes, I’m sure,” Gail said. As she snapped some latex gloves on, she too had a diabolical grin on her face.

      “Turn your head and cough,” She said, I did so. “Well there’s no hernia’s anyway, stand still so I can feel for lumps.”

      Faith said, “Can I do that, I should know what to look for, shouldn’t I?”

      “Sure,” Gail said, “just feel all around, you can tell if there’s something amiss.”

      “I don’t feel anything.” Faith said.

      “Good, turn around Clay and bend over, here’s a tissue, sometimes you might leak a little bit.” I think she really took delight in my discomfort. I know my face must have been bright red.

      “No, that’s fine too. You can just throw that tissue in the garbage. You can get dressed now.”

      “Do you do that to everyman that gets married?” I asked.

      “No, of course not. Faith just wanted to see if you were a good sport or not; you are. But really, a man should get checked every year for prostate cancer, it didn’t hurt you any did it?” Gail said.

      “No, it was just embarrassing is all. But come to think of it, I would a lot rather have a woman doctor do that than a man. I always felt uncomfortable when a man doctor did that. With you it wasn’t so bad.”

      “That’s just because my fingers are smaller.” She said, then added, “would you two like to get a cup of coffee?”

      I looked at Faith, she nodded. “Sure,” I said, “do you know of a place?”

      “Why wouldn’t I? I’m a local around here, you know. There’s not too many choice’s in a little town like Abiquiu; my cousin has a small Café. He needs the business anyway, you two being a couple of money bags, you can leave a big tip.”

      “Oh, we can, can we? But yes, I usually do anyway, especially if the waitress is cute.” Faith kicked me. “But not anymore, even if their ugly, I’ll leave a big tip.” Faith kissed me.

      “Alright, I’ll take my car, you two can meet me there, Faith knows where it’s at.”

      It was a little bigger than Gail had led me to believe. Gail was already inside, she was setting at a corner booth. She waved us over. There were perhaps ten people already there, Natives with a long history in New Mexico, mostly Navajo and Mexican, a couple of whites. Or what could be called whites, now all of the races were so intermixed, it was hard to tell, look at me.

      We were sipping our coffee, when Gail said, “You know, Faith’s condition made me think of something my mother told me. You’ve heard of the ‘Long Walk’, haven’t you?”

      “Yeah, I have, I don’t know about Faith, how about it Faith have you?”

      “Perhaps, something about the Indian wars, wasn’t it?” Faith said.

      “But what does that have to do with Faith being a milk factory?” I asked.

      “That was what I was coming to, it’s a little bit yucky, but not really. You see it was a matter of survival. The year was 1864. The Army had completed the burning of all of our crops and orchards; we had no way to sustain ourselves. In short we lost. Kit Carson was the officer in charge, he told us he would make sure we were treated fairly. They were going to relocate us from our homes, it started at Canyon de Chelly in Arizona. They made us walk, men, women and children from our homes to Bosque Redondo in Eastern New Mexico.

      Anyway, they didn’t provide them with enough food; over three thousand perished on that walk. My Great Grandfather was just a small baby. My Great, Great Grandmother had the same condition as Faith, she made lots of milk. So what they did was to give her the food, in turn she fed both the baby and my Great, Great Grandfather on her milk. I told you it was little bit yucky, but when you think about, it wasn’t that bad, they all survived anyhow.”

      “I don’t see anything yucky about that,” Faith said, “but I guess, some people probably would, but not me.”

      “As long as were telling survival stories,” I said. “My Great Grandmother survived the Sand Creek Massacre. That was on Dec. 28, 1864. On Sand Creek, Chief Black Kettle was camped there with Cheyenne and Arapaho families. Chivington and 700 so-called Colorado Militia. That was when he said, ‘Kill them all, big and small, nits make lice.’ Out of 123 dead, a hundred of them were women and children.”

      We three sat there for awhile, not saying anything. I finally spoke up, “Of course those two depredations were only two things that happened. There were many more. In the whole world things like that are going on everyday: Still! It has never stopped. But Hell, there’s not much we can do about it. I guess the only thing we can do; is for us not to be a party to any of it.”

      Gail took a deep breath and said, “So, when do the four of you want to get married? I can have the paper work ready tomorrow.”

      “That’s fine with us,” Faith said, “but I had better call you in the morning, after we talk to Felicia and Karl.” On that note, we all said our goodbyes. Faith and I got back in the Pickup. It snapped to life, with a throaty growl. “So how fast does this thing go? I asked Faith.

      “I don’t’ know this is the first time I’ve every rode in it. But Teddy did say that he could bury the needle, whatever that means.” She said.

      I looked down at the speedometer, it read up to 140. I don’t think I would like to go that fast, but it was nice to know it could. When we got back to the Hacienda, Alita was awake and hungry. The four of them were playing cards, Texas Hold Em. Alona was winning. I looked at Jake, for once he wasn’t a sore loser.

      Dad and Felicia were playing by remote control I think, because they couldn’t take their eyes off of each other. Which made me glad, Dad deserved some happiness again.

      Faith had taken Alita into the bedroom to feed her. The poker game broke up. Alona went off to bed, Jake went to his own room. I guess I was supposed to sleep with Faith, my bag was in there anyway. And I think Dad’s was in Felicia’s room.

      The three of us were having a short nightcap. I told Felicia about what Gail had said; that some lawyers were poking around the records.

      She said, “Yes, I know. They have been trying to overturn my Spanish Land Grant. They haven’t made any progress though. But still I’m worried, you know how some of these crooked lawyers are; if they can’t find a loophole they will try to make one.”

      “You know, there is one thing about loop holes; they sure resemble a hang man’s noose,” Dad said. “That old СКАЧАТЬ