Regarding Naming And Gold

 

Therefore, one fine morning, he called Honda to come along with him, gathered up a battery powered lantern that he had purchased for this very reason and the required tools. They set out together to mine some gold if they could. I didn’t go because I was supposed to take it easy for a while. 

*****

   Taking it easy was a new thing for me. It was like a game I didn’t quite believe in. A lady in waiting, but not in the court life sense, of course. All of my life I had always been a very busy girl, now I was in a state of being. Also, Jessie wouldn’t let me pick anything up! I didn’t mind. It was his role.
   I spent the day while Jessie and Honda were taking a little run at mining in with Aunt Julia. She was busy in the kitchen setting up some frybread dough and doing something about marinating some of the venison from the freezer. The day passed slowly. When the sun shone in the living room window it lit the sofa where I was reclining. I dropped off to sleep for an hour. When I woke Billy was tucked in beside me purring and cat napping like they do. Sort of a pretend sleep. He had never done that before.
   I thought as I dozed, of the coming child. I didn’t really want to know its gender before the birth. I thought a surprise would be better than knowing exactly who was coming. We could easily pick names for either case. I mused on naming. Does the name we name a child determine who they are in any way? Or does the name the parents decide on come to them as a sort of prophecy? Jessie and I had not even spoken about it yet.
   The sun moved around behind the hills, and I lost my beam of sunlight. There was happy barking outside. I sat up, waiting, and soon Jessie and Honda came in to join us. Honda ran out into the kitchen to greet Aunt Julia. I heard her chuckle. Then he ran up to me and laid his silly head on my knee, grinning. He was like we had always had a dog; it was this dog. He was so completely with us and for us. He was growing fast and filling out. He would be large and blocky when grown. He had the long legs of both of his breeds.
   “So, what did you find out Jessie?” I asked when he had come back into the room with a cup of that morning’s coffee nuked and full of cream. When he settled down in the armchair he said, “I found out that mining with a maul and a chisel is very hard work.
   “I can sure see why Uncle John was using dynamite. However, I knocked down some ore with small pieces of gold in it. Real miners grind that up to get at the gold. But, in addition to that, you will be interested to know that I dislodged this!”
   In his hand he held a bit of gold, a nugget, the size of a marble. In the dim light of the late afternoon, it shone. For a moment, I experienced the old thrill people must have felt forever when facing pure shining gold.
   “I wonder what it’s worth,” I said.
   “Gold is running around two thousand an ounce lately, but I don’t know how much this little one weighs, or even whether when you’re selling you would get what the price would be if you were buying. Though, sometimes a nugget is worth more than its weight would indicate because they are collectable,” Jessie said. “I have a lot to learn,” he added.
   Julia came into the room and looked too. “I know who buys in Winslow,” she said, with a grin. “He’s a friend of your uncle’s, and also a member of the tribe! He will be fair to us.” We all sat around grinning at each other. The possibilities seemed great. Gold will never go out of style or be of no worth.
   We had a fine dinner of venison stew, frybread, and slaw. Julia surprised us with some chocolate chip cookies. She must have made them while I was asleep on her sofa being snuggled by her cat.
   That evening, in our hogan, after Jessie built the fire, I brought up the subject of names. He wasn’t in any hurry, he said. We had lots of time and that the names would come to us. I figured he was right. Best not to get stuck on something and not be able to allow better choices to come as they would.
   “Let’s work on the garden tomorrow, Jessie,” I said as we were settling in for the night. “I won’t do anything hard. I will just plant seeds.” It was agreed that he would stay near tomorrow, and we would plant some spring vegetables, lettuce, and carrots, and maybe some peas, though I wasn’t sure that peas would do well in Arizona.
   I went to sleep dreaming of gardens, baby names and our life as it had been before. There were a few tears, but largely, I was filled with gratitude and peace.
   During the night Honda woke. He paced around the hogan in a nervous manner, grumbling deep in his chest.

All of it so far, They haven't taken my phone yet.docx