Chapter 15

We stopped in at the Wolf Legal Services office in Ethete. I needed some legal advice. Both of my parents – that was still a strange thought for me: I had parents! Both of my parents were in. Crying Wolf was on the phone and Desert Flower, his wife, was fiddling around with some papers. She leapt to her feet when we entered.

“Lexi! It has been a long time. Been busy, I hear.”

“Flower. It’s so good to see you again. I have been busy for a few days,” I said. Killing bad guys was demanding. “You heard about the attack down south. They didn’t get very close, but they had bad intentions. Very bad.”

I turned to the three men at the door. “Uh ... guys? Could you wait outside for a few minutes? There’s a couple of ... uh ... confidential things I have to go over. Please?”

They nodded and filed out. I closed the thick, wooden door behind them. When I turned to Flower, she had a quizzical expression on her face as she went to sit on the couch nearby. She just sat, looking at me expectantly.

I had forgotten that she’d mastered the art of the extended silence. I sat down next to her.

“I ... uh...” I started. “Do you know if the Shoshone or the Navajo laws have any proscriptions against plural marriages?”

“Whose marriage are we talking about?” she asked.

“Mine.”

She took my hand in hers and said, “I’m very pleased. You feel equally about both of them, don’t you?” I just nodded. “They are very devoted to you. And, I think, to your purpose.” I nodded again. “There is no written law in almost any tribe that talks about restrictions on marriage. Mostly, in recent times, it has been one man and one woman. In years gone by, the rule was that a brave could have as many wives as he could provide for. Among the Shoshone and Hopi, and other matriarchal tribes, women often took more than one husband.

“I would advise you NOT to make a spectacle of yourself among the white people of this country. Do not get married according to the white-man’s laws. Do not make who you love or how you live a matter of public concern. Have whatever Indian ceremonies you are comfortable with. Live among your people in whatever ways you choose.”

I sat there for awhile. “Thanks...” I paused, then said, “ ... mom. Please don’t tell Crying Wolf. I’d like to do that myself ... I better tell the guys first, though.” She laughed with me.

“Yeah. I think that would be the first step,” she said as she gave me a big hug.

I went over to the small fridge behind the desk and got four Cokes out. I opened the door and handed out the cans. “Y’all can come in. The secret stuff is all done.”

I smiled and mentally zoomed in on Rock. ‘She’s always doing that. Stuff we can’t know. I wonder what the big secret was.’ He’ll get to find out soon enough.

Crying Wolf came in a few minutes later. “I thought I saw you come in.” He gave me a hug and shook hands with the guys. “I hear you had a little dust up down south. We haven’t done anything worth fussin’ about. I didn’t think the big boys would be after her so soon.”

Tex replied. “It wasn’t about the projects. Apparently, y’all had a legal run-in with a law firm over in D.C. We was out East, straightenin’ it out.”

Wolf was angry. “Those sons of bitches! That was six years ago. Now we’re gonna have to...”

I interrupted. “No, we don’t Wolf. I met with some of them and we reached an understanding.”

Tex said, “Yeah. An ‘understanding.’ One of them dropped dead.”

“WHAT?” Wolf exclaimed.

“Yeah. He keeled over at the Denny’s we met at. I admit, I wasn’t sorry to see him go. But there’s no connection to us.” I said with a clear conscience. “He was very surprised to see me sitting there, when Rock introduced me. Then a few minutes later he just slumped. Broke a coffee cup with his head.”

“And you didn’t do ANYTHING?” Wolf was still prodding.

I told the literal truth, but not the actual truth. “Nobody even touched him. We may have made him uncomfortable with some of our questions.” Bear and Rock could have won a poker tournament; they didn’t even flinch.

Tex said, “Yep. Just keeled over.”

“And you met with the other partners?”

“I wasn’t introduced, but we had a meeting. Tex did most of the talking. Bunch of slime balls, if you ask me,” I said.

“Did you threaten them?” he asked Tex.

“Nope. I spun them a yarn about me being an oil man. I guess Lexi just wanted to ... um ... get a feeling if we could trust ‘em,” said my senior bodyguard.

“And based on this general ‘feeling’ you’re gonna trust ‘em?” Wolf wouldn’t let go.

“Yep. I’m entirely comfortable none of ‘em is gonna be coming after me again,” I said.

Wolf looked at me, then at Tex, and finally at Rock and Bear.

“Something is goin’ on here. But you’ll tell me when you tell me. Remember, I’m your lawyer, and everything is totally confidential,” he said.

“Okay, dad.” I laid my Cheshire Cat smile on him.

Flower chirped, “She did that to me too. Called me mom.”

Wolf took that in and used his patented silent treatment.

Flower picked up the conversation. “So, how was the flight?”

We had a meaningless talk that would have made the chat between a six o’clock TV anchor and his weatherman seem like an exchange of nuclear codes.

...

We stopped in at Dark Wolf’s place. The old Medicine Man was getting older – and he was pretty old to start with. I noticed he had a little hitch in his giddy-up. Probably meant he didn’t ride Missagua or go to the Powwow daily. Probably it was arthritis. Could I do anything about that? Probably not, but I’d give it a try. Toni was probably exercising Missagua. There were several younger horses in the pasture, so the stallion was still exercising his other duties with a crowd of admiring fillies.

Dark Wolf gave me a hearty “Arrumph” when we got to his home. He was having a ‘threes.’ That’s the meal that happens three hours after his lunch. You know, just to tide him over until dinner. He was putting on some weight, I saw. Probably due to a more sedentary lifestyle. I didn’t like to see my old friends getting unhealthy.