Chapter 1: John's Life

I am John Henry Sanders III, an averaged size 27 year old man. My friends call me JH which was my mother's nickname for me. She gave it to me when I reached nine years old and asked her to stop calling me Johnny. Being smaller than most of the other boys I wanted to start changing people's perceptions of me.

I had been out of University for a year and a half now and living in Tucson, Arizona. He had grown up in New Haven, Connecticut and then gone to Boston College where he studied accounting. His father and uncles had all been accountants and also his grandfather. Accounting was the family business and the Sanders men were all regular kind of guys.

I was an only child and wasn't big enough for any of the all American sports but had excelled at running cross country. Today I liked light mountain climbing and caving. Physically I am 5' 9" tall but am what you could call wiry. My muscles don't stand out like some guys, but I am considered tough and athletic. After graduating from high school at 17 (I had skipped a year) and finished my degree in only three years.

I was good enough to compete in high school track, but my stature did not allow me to compete well against the bigger men found at a large campus I was able to devote himself to my education.

My family is not rich in the traditional sense, but is what they called "comfortable" so when I had the money and desire to get a masters degree, I moved over to Harvard to the Graduate School of Business Administration to get my MBA.

I now work at a Tucson Bank in the business services area and am on a fast track to become a leader in the bank someday. I work with businessmen setting up their merchant services, credit cards, debit cards, check cashing and sometimes even some basic investment counseling.

As far as romance was concerned, I have dated quite a lot, but was in no hurry to get tied down. I like women and love the sex, but hadn't found one that could take my physical lovemaking style for long.

Today my coworker and semi-buddy Hal and I were going caving. We had to get up early because the cave in question was four hundred miles away near Yuma Arizona. Yuma was in the bottom left corner of Arizona, but there were freeways most of the way there. We were going in Hal's old F-150 which gave us lots of room for gear.

"So you met George Villanueva while in college" I asked.

"Yes, he and I went to Arizona State in Phoenix at the same time. He works at the Cocopah Casino now. He was sent to college specifically so he could be a manager at the casino. He is lucky to get away this weekend because unlike you and me, he doesn't have bankers hours" Hal said.

"Well, it's a lucky thing you know him because it can be very difficult to get an invitation to a real live American Indian reservation. Those folks tend to be insular after all the years of bad treatment" I said

"Yes, and like your south and north, the poor have a high incidence of alcohol abuse and drugs too. That creates all kinds of problems" Hal said.

"Where are we meeting George" I asked.

"We are meeting him in Yuma at a 76 station just off the freeway. George said we would never be able to find him on the reservation. The Cocopah are more urbane than most other tribes since their reservation is adjacent to Yuma so they get more exposure to a city than many other tribes" said Hal.

They continued to talk about work and even stopped once to get some more coffee for the road before they got to Yuma.

They pulled off the freeway and pulled into the 76 station where they were supposed to meet George. Even before they were stopped George was standing next to Hal's side of the truck.

"You boys looking for a good time" George asked.

"What do you have in mind" asked Hal.

"Just joshing, I know you white guys are always wanting some of our fair Indian maids so I thought I would BS you a little" George said.

"I think we have about BS'ed each other out the past few hours while driving here" I said.

"You must be JH" George said.

"That would be me, nice to meet you" I said as we shook hands.

"Well, lets get the show on the road" George said.

"OK, we'll follow you" Hal said.

They followed George's truck out of town and down several two lane blacktop roads. The only sign they saw that it was a reservation was when they first crossed onto Cocopah land. There were a few signs there. Eventually they were on a dirt track that took them to a bluff over the Colorado River.