Johnny and Julie had been married for several weeks when Johnny received an unexpected telephone call from Oklahoma.
"That was my cousin Hachi," he told Julie. "My Aunt Sawni is very ill, and Hachi says if I ever want to see her alive again, I'd better come right away."
"Oh, Johnny, I'm so sorry!" Julie went to her husband and embraced him. "I know that you were always very close to her."
"She finished raising me after my parents were killed in a car crash when I was sixteen," Johnny replied. "They'll let you off work at your job, won't they?"
"Oh, yes, that's no problem!"
Johnny was able to get airline tickets for the following morning, and early the next day, they flew out of Los Angeles headed for the reservation in Seminole County, Oklahoma.
The flight took several hours, and they arrived at the airport in Oklahoma at about lunchtime. Hachi and her sister, Hialeah, were there to greet them. Both women were in their mid to late twenties and were very beautiful, with coal black hair and eyes, swarthy skin, and high cheekbones. Hachi was accompanied by her husband Nokosi and their two-year-old son, Micco.
"This is my beautiful wife, Julie," Johnny proudly told his cousins.
"It's so nice to meet you." Hachi's teeth looked very white against her dark skin as she smiled and shook Julie's hand.
"It's nice to meet you as well," Julie replied.
"What do you do?" asked Hialeah.
"I'm a bookkeeper," Julie told her. "What do you do?"
"I'm a nurse, as was my sister before Micco was born," Hialeah replied.
"Wow, you sure have a lot of medical professionals in your family!" Julie exclaimed.
"I think both of us were inspired by Johnny," Hachi said with a smile. "Shall we go, then?"
The stopped at McDonald's for a quick bite and were then on their way.
Riding onto the reservation in Nokosi's van, Julie felt that she was entering a whole different world. The tiny, closely-spaced shacks with worn, ancient vehicles parked out front, the run-down, filthy buildings, and other obvious signs of poverty tore at her heart. She glanced at Johnny, who stared solemnly ahead, and felt him squeeze her hand.
At last the van reached what appeared to be a more prosperous area, with ranches and larger, sturdier, newer-looking homes. Nokosi parked in the driveway of one of these ranches, and the group got out and approached the house.
Julie felt apprehensive as she and Johnny walked hand-in-hand toward the door. She'd never met someone who was dying before and wasn't sure what to expect. Was Aunt Sawni in tremendous pain? Would she still be able to recognize Johnny?
The inside of the house was pleasant enough, with colorful tapestries hung on the walls and lovely pieces of handmade pottery adorning most surfaces. An aroma of incense pervaded the house. The atmosphere changed immediately as soon as they entered Aunt Sawni's bedroom. An antiseptic odor barely disguised a deeper underlying stale one of illness and decay. Aunt Sawni lay in bed, her body wasted and shrunken, her face haggard, her cheeks sunken in. As soon as she saw her, Julie knew right away that she couldn't have much longer to live.
The listless black eyes surrounded by doughy, puffy skin brightened immediately when they fell on Johnny. "Johnny, my boy!" Aunt Sawni's voice was weak, but Julie could hear the enthusiasm in it.
"Aunt Sawni!" Johnny exclaimed, going to his aunt and embracing her firmly but gingerly. "I want you to meet someone. This is my wife, Julie. We just got married not quite a month ago."
"You didn't!" Aunt Sawni gazed in wonder from Johnny to Julie. "Come here, girlie. Let me get a good look at you. So you're married to my boy now?"
"Yes ma'am." Julie suddenly felt shy as she approached Johnny's aunt, who reached out to embrace her.
"I'm so happy!" Aunt Sawni exclaimed as she pressed her cheek against Julie's. "My boy finally has a woman to look out for him!"
"I do my best," Julie replied modestly. In Aunt Sawni's welcoming arms, she suddenly felt as if she were truly a member of the family, a part of the larger whole that was Johnny's people.
