They Call Me Emmy

 

     They call me Emmy, short for J.M.

    Above all, I know my mother. But even she doesn’t know that I am already awake. I learned later that most are born still drowsy, barely aware of anything except the milk and the warmth and the hands that hold them. I was already awakening before my birth. I waited.
    I see my father also. He was only a voice before. But now he has a face. His spirit is very strong. He doesn’t speak often. He is like a wall around us.
    There is an old one. She’s not clear to me. I see her, but I see something else at the same time. She has some authority given to her by the Maker of all. She is a guardian.
    The old one gave me her small beast. She says he is a Watcher. He is always here.

*** 

    Emmy lay in her crib. Billy slept beside her. It was early morning a few weeks after the stormy morning of her birth. Beth and Jessie still slept. But she was awake. She was looking at her hands. The fronts and then the backs. She moved her fingers one by one. She was pleased at the effect. She listened to the sounds of day beginning. It was almost like a crackling in the air. Some early bird calls began. She could see the hummingbirds in the garden and the quails fussing around on the ground. A sole raven greeted her from his high perch in the rocks.
    Honda picked his head up and smiled. Dogs live in a world of scents, so sensing that the child and the cat were well, he went back to sleep. He was growing to be a very large pup, almost filling the space under the crib.
    Emmy was not given to crying. Many times, a first child never needs to cry since they are the single focus of their parents’ attention. She made the small vocalizations that are described as cooing. As she examined her fingers, she cooed and even laughed.
    This was Beth’s signal to wake. Hearing the small sounds next to the bed, she smiled in the warm dark. She rose and tended to her daughter, cementing for always the bond between them. She laid Emmy on the bed between herself and Jessie and woke him, to share the moment. The three lay together in a little nest made of love and contentment in the old Navajo hogan in the early morning late summer light.
    Soon, Jessie put Emmy in the crook of his arm, Billy woke, Honda did too, and they all got up to go into the little blue house and start another day with Aunt Julia. She had already started the coffee, and breakfast was in the works too. Julia had been awake for a while making baking powder flat breads. These are the quick version.
    “I’m glad you decided to call her Emmy Beth,” said Julia, “or I would never know who you were talking to!” She had used this joke a couple of times recently. It seemed to tickle her.
    Jessie went out to feed and water the six hens and see if there were any eggs. Four eggs came right back into the house and were scrambled.
    “Tomorrow, I think I will go look at Uncle John’s mine again,” said Jessie as they were all seated together in the kitchen. “I would like to see about that line of sparkles we saw in the rock. I’m not prepared to grind ore, but I would like to see if I can find some small pieces to take to Peter Tso soon.”

*** 

    The day after Emmy’s birth Beth had called her parents to share the news. They were planning a trip to Arizona to meet their granddaughter in the next few weeks. In addition, Jessie purchased and installed seat belts in the pickup so they could take Emmy with them in her car seat which had been a gift from Sarah.
    A few days later they drove in to see Dr. Miller in Winslow, who pronounced Emmy healthy, and filled out a birth certificate for a home birth. Honda had to ride in the back for that trip. Billy didn’t like it, but he had to stay home to wait with old Julia.
    When the pickup drove back up the driveway Billy was waiting. He followed Emmy and her parents into the house. When they set her down in her car seat he was right there. He sniffed her all around. He read the strange scents from the doctor’s office with measured approval. He settled into her car seat with her while she slept. If he could manage it, Billy never left her side. 

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