The Empty Chair

 

Jessie had always been a praying man though he didn’t make a big deal of it. It was just a subtle part of his personality. Most people didn’t even know. He thought it would be unmanly to draw that kind of attention to himself. Jessie could be a very inward sort of man. 

Spring was well underway one day when we woke early because of the mighty fuss being made by the local birds and the sunlight leaking in the doorway. As usual, we put on slippers and headed to the mobile. I was showing pretty well by then. It was obvious to any observer that there was a baby coming in a few months. So, I was stepping carefully, and Jessie went with me to make sure I made it, of course.

Everything indoors looked the same as usual but there was no one home. A mystery indeed. Aunt Julia had never driven and besides, the truck was still out in the driveway as usual.

Nothing had been done in the kitchen. Everything was cold. She wasn’t still in bed. Her lamp beside her chair was on, as always. She never turned it off. But to make matters very much worse, her cane was lying on the floor where she normally put it down when she was sitting there. If there had been any reason for her to walk anywhere the cane would be with her. Stranger and stranger, Billy was missing also.

None of this made any sense at all. It was like someone had picked her up in their arms and carried her away. This also made no sense at all. Such things do not happen. We didn’t know what to make of it or what to do next. We didn’t know if it was something to get the police involved with or not.  

I went out into the kitchen to start coffee while we thought about this for a few minutes. When I came back into the room Jessie was deep into the quiet prayer thing he did. His eyes were closed, and he didn’t seem to be aware of me at all, so I stood watching over him and waiting. When he opened his eyes and saw me, he said, “I think I should call Ben Sr and let him know his mom has vanished. It seems like he should be part of any decision making. Also, if we didn’t, he would have a good reason to be furious.”

“Maybe he knows something. Maybe he has her, but in that case, it would have to have been a sudden medical thing where he zoomed in here and grabbed her and didn’t even tell us,” I said. I thought maybe if that had happened she would call her son, because there was no phone in the hogan.

Jessie made the call. Ben didn't have his mother, nor did he have any idea where she might be, and he was on his way. He was bringing Ben Jr along also. Nobody mentioned the police yet. I had the feeling that there might not be a great deal of confidence in the local force. We did figure that eventually, if we couldn’t find her, we would have to submit a missing person report. Obviously, Jessie and I were not eager to be recognized by any police department. But we had to put that aside.

Jessie left me in the house and went outside just to look around. When he came back, he said, “nothing. Not a sign. Though I would have been surprised to see anything out there really. There were some cat tracks, that’s all.”

The minutes ticked by while we waited for Ben Sr and Jr to arrive. The little house seemed very hollow without Julia, very much its animating spirit.

Finally, a pickup came tearing up the driveway and parked rapidly beside ours. Two sets of steps quickly approached. Both Bens came in looking very serious. There were no smiles and happy greetings this time. They both stood, hands in jeans pockets looking at us.

“Did you look outside,” asked Ben Sr. Jessie said, “yes, but just around the immediate area. I didn’t go out into the brush yet.”

“We’re going to have to do that and look down at the stream and into that old mine too, though none of it makes any kind of sense,” said Ben the elder. “I’m going to call a couple people to come and help.” He sat right down in Julia’s chair and started phoning his friends.

I was beginning to be very afraid for her and was near tears. “We love her so much,” I said. “We heard nothing during the night. Nothing at all.”

We all waited for another half an hour, while Ben Jr went to look down at the little stream. She was not there. Then two men arrived in another pickup. They were friends of Ben’s. They went out immediately to fan out around home, further out into the desert around the house. They found nothing. The whole thing was strange. But they had to do the search of the surroundings. Next, they went up to the mine taking Jessie’s lantern with them. She was not in the mine.  They did not mention cat tracks, even though Jessie had.

It became time to make the missing person report. There was no police dept in Joseph City. Jessie called the Navajo County Sheriff’s office in Holbrook. An officer would come and talk to us and take the report he was told. While we were waiting to talk to him, the four men continued to search further out around the area. I thought maybe I should make something for people to eat because people have to eat. So, I started on sandwiches. Tuna and cold cuts. I stuck them in the fridge for whenever they were wanted. Jessie and I took a few minutes to get dressed. We had been in our pajamas and slippers all during this part of the searching.

The Sheriff's dept officer was not a tribal member, but he was a local man. He was kind, and he was very concerned also. He said they would get a dog out here to help search and some more men. That would take a couple hours, he said. The dog was in Winthrop. He suggested that Jessie and I drive around the area’s roads, just to be sure.

The officer left. The two Bens and their two friends stayed around the place looking in any corner they could think of. Jessie and I got into the old blue pickup and drove out of the driveway. It was a sad sort of drive. It didn’t seem like there could be a good outcome no matter what. We drove up and down highway 77 for quite a few miles very slowly, both north and south. Then we went into Joseph City. Jessie went into the Trading Post and talked to the clerk there. Of course, he knew her slightly, but had not seen her. We drove the streets of the little town just because we had to look. She was nowhere in sight. It was just like she had become air.

We drove home, still watching out of the windows carefully. We examined everything along the road in detail, pulling over out of the way when other vehicles passed us.

When we arrived home the other two pickups were gone.

Jessie took a moment to take care of the chickens. Then we went into Julia’s little blue house together.

Looking around the room, I grabbed Jessie’s arm in shock. Aunt Julia Chee was asleep in her chair with Billy on her lap. A tiny Native lady in her blueprint dress and knee length leggings. Her hands were lying still, loosely wrapped around Billy. Her black eyes were closed, but she was breathing. Her hair was slightly mussed. She had a cup and a half-eaten tuna sandwich on her little table with the lamp.

So far....They haven't taken my phone yet.docx