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believed I was receiving special privileges because of financial incentives
and grants in college. Many others treated me with honor I didn t deserve,
specifically because I was part Navajo.
You trying to tell me that didn t affect you?
I became more suspicious of people who were kind to me, and less patient
with those who were unkind simply because of my blood. I try not to let it get
in the way of my job performance.
Then you were one of the lucky ones, because it affected my whole career. At
the university in Flagstaff, I was blessed with a Hopi professor who hated me
because I was Navajo. He influenced the university bureaucrats to have me
blacklisted, the same kind of thing the Hopi are doing to us here on the
reservation. Kai sat rigid with remembered anger, as if four and a half
decades had dropped away. That s what racial prejudice did for me.
And so now you re doing the same thing to Sheila, Canaan said. Didn t you
learn from that experience?
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Kai shook his head. I m not trying to take all this out on her.
You could ve fooled me.
I just don t want people from other cultures coming to this school and
ingratiating themselves with our kids. We have enough trouble keeping the
younger ones on the reservation as it is.
I heard you once tried to leave the reservation. How can you blame others
for the same desire?
I wanted to be a physician. The initialsM.D. would have earned me acceptance
into the white man s world. I was premed all the way, and I made the grades. I
graduated early and was told that I d been given glowing recommendations.
Kai s short, thick fingers dug into the deep pile of the chair. But no med
school would even consider me. So don t talk to me about racial prejudice.
Do you hate it here so much? Canaan asked.
Kai looked down at his hands, and his grip eased on the chair. No.
You love the kids, and they obviously love you. I don t know many kids who
go to all that trouble for their teacher s birthday.
Kai returned Canaan s gaze. People change. I ve changed over the years.
Maybe you should think about changing a little more, Canaan said gently.
Kai held his look for a long moment, then looked away. You ll have trouble
if the parents find out Tanya s staying with Sheila.
Times have changed, Kai. You re looking too far into the past.
Kai shook his head and got up. It s no use talking to you, is it? You re not
going to listen.
I wish you d listen to yourself for a moment, Kai. You re a Christian. You
know we are commanded to bless our enemies and forgive them. Sheila isn t even
the enemy. You ve allowed a root of bitterness to grow inside you, and it s
affecting everything around you. Why can t you let it go?
For a moment, Kai stood still, staring at the door. I m getting old, Canaan.
Some things are still hard to change.
Try, okay? Sheila s done nothing to deserve your resentment.
Kai shot him a sharp glance. It isn t Sheila as much as& He shook his head,
pulled the door open and left, letting the door slam shut behind him.
Canaan made a note on the pad in front of him. He had a meeting to attend in
Flagstaff at the university next weekend. Old Doctor Whitter was a professor
there, and he was Hopi. He d been there for probably fifty years and was
likely to have had Kai Begay in a class or two. Maybe he even knew something
about Kai s bitter anger. It was time to find out.
Preston carried a stack of files through the sliding-glass door of Canaan
York s apartment onto the second-floor balcony, shaded from the sun by a vine
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trellis overhead and several potted cacti along the perimeter. The temperature
here was probably about the same as in Missouri, but the dryness of the air
made it feel ten to twenty degrees cooler, especially out here, with the
breeze coming in across the desert.
With the frenetic pace of the day, there had been no chance for Preston to
really talk to Canaan. After giving a tour of the campus, the
doctor-turned-principal had handed Preston a stack of files and explained that
his predecessor had been in the process of compiling the year-end financial
report. Canaan, who did not have a head for finances, had been shoving the
project aside until he could find time for it.
Judging by the lack of organization Preston had seen in the files, he
gathered that Canaan intended to pay a CPA to attack the mess when the need
became too great to ignore.
An expensive option.
Canaan had said that Preston and Blaze s arrival was an answer to prayer, but
Preston dismissed that. He didn t remember anyone ever before implying that he
was an answer to prayer.
In the files, Preston found some discrepancies that he thought could be
explained if he had more information. At the moment, however, it appeared that
several of the staff weren t salaried, but worked for room and board and a
minimal stipend every month. Kai Begay was one. So was Betsy Two Horses and
Jane Witherbe. Doc Cottonwood also earned a particularly low income, and
though none of the staff was paid enough to build a comfortable retirement,
these people appeared to be at this school simply for the joy of serving the
kids.
When Preston had first discovered the anomaly, he d thought he must be
missing something. Perhaps stock options were being provided, or another
incentive he hadn t yet discovered. Thinking about it, he supposed it was
possible for the staff to see the work purely as a labor of love the way he
did with his cabin in the woods to be dedicated to the jobs and the children
they served. But what if something else was going on?
As he continued to ponder this puzzle, he heard voices down at the edge of
the campus. A man in red gym shorts and a white T-shirt with a coyote insignia
across the chest called to the children who ran in a line beside him.
That s right, Jamey, swing your arms, the man said. Swing them hard. You,
too, April. See how those vitamins helped?
Moving his chair closer to the edge, Preston peered through the cactus screen
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