Chapter 2: Words of Warning

Clunk!

Wolf woke up out of a deep sleep, sure that he had heard a noise. As he glanced around the room which was dimly lit by moonlight he felt slightly disoriented, not recognizing his surroundings at first then remembering where he was. He looked at Cora who was sound asleep next to him with her head on his shoulder and her arm across his chest. Carefully reaching for his watch on the nightstand so as not to wake her, he saw that it was just after two in the morning. He listened to the silence and, deciding that he must have imagined the noise that woke him up, he closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep.

Clunk!

This time he heard it clearly! It sounded like the bathroom door had been closed. Listening, he heard footsteps walking across the livingroom floor and he relaxed, assuming either Alice or Uncas had gotten up to use the bathroom. But instead of returning to the bedroom next door, the footsteps continued to pace around the livingroom, making the floorboards squeak in a distinct pattern. Whoever it was then walked into the kitchen and Wolf next heard what sounded like the lid from the tea kettle being removed.

Thinking whoever had gotten up could not sleep, he was just about to get up himself and join them for a cup of tea when he heard the bedsprings squeak in the other bedroom and someone opening the door. More footsteps were heard walking across the livingroom, followed by the clunk of the bathroom door being closed. Soon after, the toilet flushed and water was run in the sink. Then the bathroom door was reopened and footsteps again slowly walked across the livingroom.

As Cora mumbled a complaint in her sleep, Wolf slipped out from under her, quickly pulled on his briefs and hurried out of the bedroom, nearly colliding with Uncas who was just reaching for the doorknob to his room. Shooting a quick look toward the empty kitchen, a confused Wolf looked at his brother who himself had a puzzled look on his face.

"What's the matter?" whispered Uncas.

"Where's Alice?" whispered Wolf nervously.

"She in bed sleeping. Why, what's wrong?" asked Uncas, still trying to figure out why his brother was acting this way.

"She didn't get up just now, before you did?"

"No."

Wolf walked into the kitchen and looked at the tea kettle sitting on the cooktop, its lid in place. Pulling out a kitchen chair, he sat down and rubbed a hand over his eyes and then covered his mouth, resting his elbow on the table.

"Just before you got up, I heard the bathroom door being closed twice and someone pacing around the livingroom. Then whoever it was walked into the kitchen and pulled the lid off of that kettle over there. That's when I heard you get up."

"There wasn't anybody out here. This place is so small, I'd have seen them." said Uncas as he checked the locks on both the front and kitchen doors.

"Doors are locked, so nobody ran outside. Are you ok?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. But I swear I heard someone out here and I wasn't dreaming it either. I was wide awake. You sure you didn't hear anything before you got up?"

"No, I didn't hear a thing." replied Uncas.

"Listen, don't tell the girls, ok?" said Wolf. "We're really isolated out here and I don't want to scare them. Besides, it's probably nothing."

"You thinking it's those chindi again?" asked Uncas.

"I don't know….maybe. Most likely it's just because I'm staying in a strange house and I'm not familiar with the normal sounds it makes."

"Uncas?" said a sleepy Alice as she walked out of the bedroom rubbing her eyes. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah! Everything's fine! Wolf and I were going to sneak some of that leftover stew for a midnight snack but you caught us in the act. Go back to bed. I'll be there in a minute." Giving his wife a kiss on her forehead, Uncas turned her toward the bedroom and gave her a gentle pat on her back to start her on her way.

"Ok." she mumbled sleepily as she went back to bed.

"You alright?" Uncas asked his brother, who was still sitting at the table, staring toward the livingroom.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Wolf said, forcing a smile. "Go back to bed and get some sleep. I'm just gonna sit here for a little while. Goodnight Fox."

"Goodnight." said Uncas, giving his brother a worried look as he walked back to the bedroom and closed the door behind him.

Sitting in the dark, Wolf looked around the kitchen and livingroom. Tomorrow he would do a cleansing ritual and smudge the home with sage to bless it. The house probably didn't need it….but it wouldn't hurt…..just in case.

After breakfast the next morning, Wolf performed the cleansing and blessing, telling the curious women it was just a polite thing to do. Not understanding the Apache words he spoke, they were not aware of what he was really doing.

Meanwhile, Uncas was exploring around outside and found a trail leading up to the top of the mesa behind the house where a vehicle could be driven in order to fill the large water storage tank buried at the top. Checking the measuring gauge, he saw the tank was about three quarters full.

As he started to walk back down the trail, a glint of light hit the corner of his eye and he looked out toward one of the distant mesas. Seeing movement, he could just barely make out a few free ranging cattle and what appeared to be a black truck with something large and white on top of it driving past them. He watched the truck for a few moments as it moved farther away until it was out of sight. Continuing back down the trail, he returned to the house just as Wolf finished the smudging.

"What's with all the smoke?" he joked as he walked in the back door, fully aware of what burning sage smelled like. "Are the girls cooking again?"

His joke earned him a swat with a dishtowel from Cora and as he dodged it, he looked at Wolf.

"You did a smudging?" he silently asked his brother.

"I figured it can't hurt." was Wolf's silent reply.

"By the way, I saw somebody driving along the base of that mesa out front."said Uncas out loud, gesturing with his head in the direction he saw the vehicle. "We're not as alone as we thought. We'll have to be careful about running around naked."

"Who'd be driving around out there?" asked Cora. "And we're not going to run around naked!" she added, giving Uncas another swat with the towel.

"There were some cattle out there as well, maybe the owner was checking on them." said Uncas, grabbing the end of the towel and having a tug of war with Cora as Alice joined in, swatting him from behind. "All I saw was what looked like a black pickup with something white on back of it, like a camper. Hey, can I get some help over here?"

Wolf shot his brother a look. "A black pickup with a white camper on the back? That's what those guys in the parking lot were driving yesterday. You know, the ones selling something to the guy in the suit."

"I'm sure there's more than one black pickup truck with a camper out here." said Uncas. "As for the man in the suit, he probably bought something from those guys on the Internet and they met there to complete the sale. Wolf, will you do something with your wife? Alice, will you stop! Wolf, help!" True to his namesake, Wolf was relentless when he got on the trail of something and Uncas was equally as determined to get his brother to forget about the parking lot incident. Besides, he was losing badly.

"Yeah, your probably right." said Wolf, not sounding convinced. Setting down the abalone shell with the still smoldering smudge stick in it, he left Uncas at the mercy of the sisters and went outside. Standing on the front deck with his hands on the railing, he looked off toward the mesa where Uncas said he saw the truck.

"Wolf? What's the matter?" asked Cora as she joined him outside on the deck, holding the towel Uncas was forced to surrender when Alice jumped on his back.

"Nothing! I'm just enjoying this beautiful view!" said Wolf, trying to sound cheerful as he scanned the horizon. Looking at Cora, he took her into his arms and held her to him tightly. "And now I'm going to enjoy my beautiful wife." As the two embraced, Wolf looked over the top of Cora's head toward the mesa.

Having tidied up the kitchen after breakfast, the two couples went outside and sat in the shade under the large ramada. Underneath it, the homeowner had placed a picnic table and two lounge chairs, making a comfortable outdoor sitting area. Not far from the ramada was the log building with the dirt roof. Alice wandered over to it and walked around the exterior, looking for a window to peek in but found it had none.

"What is this building I wonder?" she asked as the others came over to join her.

"It's a Hogan." said Uncas. "It's used to be the traditional home of the Navajos. Don said not many people actually live in them anymore, but they still use them to hold traditional ceremonies in."

"Can we look inside?" asked Cora.

"As long as we just look but don't actually go in it." said Uncas. "It's a sacred place to the family."

Opening the latch on the door, they all quietly peered inside. A large square smoke hole in the center of the domed roof provided the only light in the interior, aside from what filtered in through the now open door. A stone rimmed fire pit was in the center of the room and various blankets and deer skins hung from the walls. A number of large throw pillows were scattered about on the floor and several bundles of sage and other dried herbs hung from the logs which supported the roof. After everyone had a look inside, Uncas closed the door and secured it and joined the others back under the ramada.

"I checked the water tank up behind the house and it's still pretty full." he said as Alice scooted over on one of the lounge chairs so that he could lay down with her. "But we don't know how quickly we'll empty it, so I think it might be a good idea to take the pickup and fill that portable tank in back of it. Besides, then we can check out the trading post."

Arriving at the Shelter Rock Trading Post in the crew cab pickup belonging to their host, Uncas parked the vehicle in the shade under a large cottonwood tree and everyone piled out to have a look around. Made of red sandstone blocks, a large one story building situated next to a stand of cottonwoods housed the trading post itself, while a wooden barn of equal size, with an attached corral containing several horses was on the other side of the trees, serving as a stable and equipment storage.

Inside, the trading post consisted of a large main room in the front of the building, with a woodstove in the center. Shelves from floor to ceiling on each wall were stocked with an assortment of canned goods, boxed foods and various household supplies and toiletries. Wooden counters with glass display cases ran in front of the shelves on three sides, with an opening leading to another room on the right that contained a variety of Navajo rugs, paintings, wood carvings of kachina spirits, and woven baskets. Another door in this room led to the private living quarters in the back.

Uncas and Wolf felt like they had stepped back in time again, each having visited similar trading posts back in the old days. The couples looked around at all of the merchandise and at the silver and turquoise jewelry in the display cases which was divided into two sections, old pawn and new pawn.

A man stood behind the counter, assisting an elderly Navajo woman with her purchase. He looked to be in his mid fifties with a stocky build, light brown hair which was graying at the temples and a moustache. Finished with the elderly woman's purchase, he greeted his new customers as she left with her bag of groceries.

"Morning!" he said cheerfully. "Can I help you folks with anything?"

"Yeah, we were told we could fill our water tank here?" said Uncas.

The man looked out the open front door at the truck parked outside.

"Isn't that Annie Tsosie's pickup? he asked.

"That's right." replied Uncas. We're staying at her place for a while."

"Oh right! Yeah, she said two young couples were going to watch her place for her while she's away." Holding out his hand to both Wolf and Uncas, he introduced himself. "Name's Tom Lester." Looking from Wolf over to Uncas, Tom gave a short laugh.

"Holy smokes! I guess there's more than a few people who have gotten the two of you mixed up!" he joked. "I've seen identical twins before, but never any that looked as perfectly alike as you two."

While Tom enjoyed a hearty laugh at his own joke, Wolf and Uncas both smiled politely. Alice and Cora each shared a grin to each other as they remembered several incidents where people had indeed confused the twins, one of which had been down right hilarious.

"The pump's out on the side of the building facing the barn." Tom continued. "Just pull your truck up next to it and swing the bar with the faucet on it over the opening in your tank. Come back in when you're done and tell me what the meter reads and I'll ring the sale up for you. Its five cents a gallon. Let me know if you need some help."

"Thanks." replied Wolf as he and the others went outside.

After filling the water tank in back of the pickup, the couples began the trip back to the camp. About a mile down the road from the trading post, they saw the elderly Navajo woman from the store walking along side the road with her bag of groceries. Uncas pulled up along side of her and stopped the truck as Wolf leaned out the window.

"Yá'át'ééh Shima!" Would you like a ride?" he greeted her.

"Ah-Hyyehh-hheh'. she replied.

Wolf got out of the front passenger seat and held the groceries while helping the woman climb in. Taking a seat in the back crew seat with the girls, he introduced himself and the others and asked her where she was going.

The woman introduced herself as Ella Begay and gave directions to the camp where she and her husband lived. As they drove along the dusty dirt road, Ella commented on Wolf's knowledge of the Navajo language.

"You speak Navajo really good, but I can tell you're not Dine'. Are you Apache?" she asked.

"Our mother is Apache but our father is Mohican. How did you know?" asked Wolf.

Ella gave a little laugh. "Apaches always speak really, really fast!" Looking at Uncas and then at Wolf, Ella broke into a big grin.

"Your mother must have had some time raising you two…Whooo!" she said as she looked up at the top of the cab and laughed. Then Ella's mood suddenly became serious.

"I recognize this truck. It's Annie Tsosie's. You must be the people who are watching her place for her. She said some friends of her son were coming to stay there while she's gone"

"That's us!" said Uncas. We're really enjoying our stay out here and we're looking forward to doing some exploring around the area. Annie's son told us there are some Anasazi ruins out there near the house."

"Yes, there are. Some of the Ancient Ones from Wupatki split off and moved near Jackrabbit Mesa. But be very careful. There's a lot of chindi out there and skinwalkers too!"

"Skinwalkers?" asked Alice.

"Navajo witches." answered Wolf.

"Oh…that's…nice." said Cora hesitatingly.

"Don't worry, Shima. We'll be careful." said Uncas. "Is this your place up here?"

After dropping her off in front of her house, Ella stood outside and watched the couples leave, saying a prayer of protection for them in Navajo. As they drove away, she felt a shiver go down her spine and she added in English, "Be careful, my children. Don't you go getting yourselves killed too!"

Author's Note: Thank you for your reviews and for being patient while I write this story. Another chapter is in the works. My job keeps me very busy and the only time I have to do any writing is in the evenings and sometimes in the morning before I leave for the day, so I'm not able to post new chapters as fast as I would like to. The Navajo language is known as one of the most difficult of the Native American languages to speak. I thought you might enjoy it if I put a little example of it in this chapter for you. The translations are as follows (minus the tones and accents of course):

Yá'át'ééh Shima! means 'Hello my mother'

Ah-Hyyehh-hheh' means 'Thank you'

Dine' means Navajo, or more specifically, the People

By the way, the incident in the beginning of the chapter actually happened to me while I was the caregiver for my late mother who was terminally ill at the time. I assumed it was my mother who got up the use the bathroom the first time, not Alice or Uncas. (I wish it had been Uncas!) Unlike Wolf, however, I did NOT get out of bed to investigate after my mother did indeed get up. No, no…I turned my back to the bedroom door and pulled the blankets over my head because the noises continued after she went back to bed. I have had many paranormal experiences both before and since, but that is the one and only time I was truly scared out of my wits!