Chapter 15

Dale sat on the couch looking out the window at the view. He put an arm around his girl friend. She nudged him in the manner that lovers have used throughout time to get attention. Confident that he was being attentive, she asked, "Are you thinking of building a house like this?"

"No," Dale answered. He was much more traditional in what he wanted in a house. Leaning forward, he said, "I want a simple house with three bedrooms, a family room, and a kitchen with enough room for a kitchen table."

"How about a dining room?" she asked looking over at him.

"I don't want a den, dining room, or an office. I don't want to work there. I don't want rooms that sit idle until company comes over," Dale said. He looked over at his girlfriend and said, "I want a home for a family. I want to have two or three kids running around; leaving their toys on the floor like kids have done ever since people moved into caves. I want a place to live in and I mean that in the most exuberant meaning possible."

"Wow," she said wondering if he included her in that picture.

"I don't need a great house to impress guests. When company comes over, I'll take them to the backyard where we can share the view of the desert," Dale said. He would have said more except William and Lucy had arrived holding hands.

Looking at the couple on the couch, Lucy said, "Sorry we're late. We were working and lost track of time."

Dale said, "No problem. We were admiring the view and talking."

"Excellent," William said.

Dale said, "May I introduce you to my girlfriend, Little Desert Rose. Everyone calls her Rose. Rose, this is Talks with Animals and Walks with Wisdom. Everyone calls them William and Lucy."

"It is nice to meet you Rose," William said looking at the woman. She was a year or two older than him. Like many Native American women her age, her hair came down to the middle of her back. She was not movie star beautiful, having features that were more Native American than white, but she was an attractive woman.

"It is an honor to meet you Talks with Animals," Rose said. Even though she was dating Dale, meeting Talks with Animals was a major event. Dale looked at her with a frown. She turned to Lucy and said, "I've always wanted to meet you, Walks with Wisdom."

Lucy laughed while taking a seat on the loveseat and said, "You're going to give me a swelled head with that kind of talk."

"We can't have that happen. You won't be properly proportioned with a big head and a small body," William said with a grin. He sat down beside Lucy and put an arm around her.

"Oh," Rose said feeling a little embarrassed. She realized she had come off as a star-struck teenybopper. Turning to Dale, she asked, "How did you and William meet?"

"We were classmates at the Native American College," Dale answered.

"He'll never admit it, but I was the better behaved student. He was always getting in trouble," William said.

Dale snorted and said, "Who put the rattlesnake in Kotyit's bed?"

"It promised to behave," William said.

"I know, it told me," Dale replied. Kotyit had called him to remove the snake from the bed.

Lucy looked at Dale and said, "I didn't know that you could speak with animals, too."

"Yes, that is one of the things that William and I share in common," Dale said. Grinning at William, he added, "He just got the better name."

It was a long standing joke between the two of them. The fact was that Dale's name fit him. If anyone was able to connect with the feel of the desert, it was Dale. William glanced at his watch and realized that it was later than he had thought. Gesturing to the couple on the couch, he said, "Let's head to the dining room. Our Chef, Peter, is probably furious that we're not there yet."

Peter entered the dining room and looked at William with a slight frown. He asked, "Are you going to behave?"

"I suppose so," William said looking over at the Chef with a smile.

At the look of surprise on the faces of their guests, Lucy explained, "Carter men tend to make the life of the Chef miserable."

"You should have seen the look on his face when I brought that lizard here for him to cook. You'd think he had never prepared lizard before," William said shaking his head.

"You never brought me a lizard to cook," Peter said rolling his eyes.

"Look at him deny it," William said shaking his head.

"How does he do with rattlesnake?" Dale asked keeping a straight face.

Shrugging his shoulders, William answered, "After he burned the lizard, I wouldn't trust him with such a fine meat as rattlesnake."

"I did not burn a lizard," Peter said.

"Deny, deny, deny," William said. Looking over at Peter, he asked, "What are we having tonight?"

"Road kill surprise," Peter said before returning to the kitchen.

Rose looked at the back of the retreating Chef with wide eyes. Worried, she asked, "He's kidding, isn't he?"

"Of course he is," William said.

Peter proceeded to deliver a seven course meal that was out of this world. The basic style of the food was Haute Cuisine with very small portions for each course. The end result was that everyone was fuller than they could imagine. The preparation and presentation was exquisite.

Sipping coffee at the end of the meal, Dale said, "That was outstanding."

"I'm glad you liked it," William said.

Of everyone there, Rose was the most impressed by the meal. She couldn't believe that the servers replaced the entire place setting with each dish. Awed by the entire experience, she asked, "Do you eat like this every night?"

Lucy answered, "No. Most nights we have simpler meals. All of the staff usually joins us for dinner. You can't spend three hours eating every night."

"What did they do for dinner tonight?" Rose asked.

"They probably had the same dinner, but ate it upstairs in the break room," Lucy answered.

"You have more than one dining room?" Rose asked.

William answered, "Lucy, why don't you take Rose for a tour of the house? I'm sure that she'd like to see all of it."

Dale watched Lucy lead Rose out of the dining room. Once they were gone, he turned to William and said, "I'm sorry. She seems a little awestruck."

"Don't worry about that. It is understandable. I've been getting some advice about making myself a little more accessible to people. Lucy and I realized that we hadn't been invited to any celebrations since we've moved here. We thought that if I were to get a little more exposure to people on the Reservation that we might be able to tone down the awe and remove some of the distance that exists," William said.

"That's good. I've been worried about you living out here all alone. I was pleased to hear that you were teaching at the high school. That was a rather amazing course you put together," Dale said. He'd heard from a lot of the parents how pleased they were when they saw the material their children were studying. A lot of them had photocopied the pages that William had handed out and read them for their own education.

"I hope it helps them," William said.

"I'm sure it will. So tell me, what did you think of Patrick?"

William laughed at the question. Shaking his head, he said, "I like him. He's either going to be a comedian or a Tribal Chief. I'm not sure which."

"Some say there's no difference," Dale said with a laugh.

William laughed and asked, "What is your interest in him?"

"His father asked me to teach him some of the old ways over the summer," Dale said. He took a sip of his coffee and noticed that it had cooled too much.

"Why doesn't his father do it?" William asked.

"Well, he grew up at a time when a lot of the young men were turning their backs on their heritage. He was one of those young men who actually prided themselves on not doing anything Indian. He never even visited a sweat lodge. Now he regrets it," Dale answered. He grabbed the carafe and refilled his cup. The result was a tepid coffee, but it was better than cold.

"Maybe we ought to do something for them," William said. He drained his cup before taking the carafe from Dale and refilling his cup.

"We?" Dale asked with a grin at the expression on William's face as he drank the cold coffee. He had a feeling that he'd end up doing all of the work.

"Sure. You and I could probably put together a nice group of tribal elders who'd be happy to hand off some of their knowledge. I'm sure that Chief White Feather would be more than happy to take some of the older men out on their first hunt," William said.

Dale nodded his head while thinking about it. As far as he could see, it wouldn't be a bad idea. He said, "Robert White Feather would make sure that they learn to use their guns safely."

"Fathers could then teach their sons how to hunt," William said.

"Did any of your fathers teach you to hunt?" Dale asked. He was curious about William's relationship with his family. He'd seen William when he was a young man and knew that he was different than most. It had to have affected his childhood relationship with his parents.