Jacinda Cross

[Jacinda]

   
2031

She was cold. No question about that. People always thought the desert meant you'd die of heat exhaustion or something. Well, this was about as desert as desert could be, the air seriously dry and already she could feel her lips were probably gonna be chapped bad. But without her thermals under her clothes, her heavy coat, scarf, gloves, and beanie she'd be seriously suffering from a case of being dead.

Ahh, but damn Monument Valley was beautiful. Massive redstone formations jutting out from the desert floor, fingers and hands and tables, arising out of the red and orange sands. The Three Sisters. The Mittens. Yei Bi Chei. Others. Being January, snow blanketed the ground, the shock of white against red rock and sand as sharp a contrast as one could imagine. It made everything more spectacular.

Her engine was off. The quiet pressed in around her. Not even the air stirred. Her eyes swept over the landscape, just letting it all soak in, to seep into her, letting the peace and stillness linger until she was one with it all. She needed that.

Her heart beat hard inside her chest. She was only a few hundred miles from South Fork. This was the closest she'd come in ten years. 10 Fucking years! Jump down highway 163 and head 20 miles to Kayenta, then east on 160, north at Teez Nez Iah, through Four Cornors. Just a Straight run on 160, past Shiprock, Farmington, Durango, over the Wolf Creek Pass, and there she'd be. And that damn carved Grizzly Bear monument just outside the same old restaurant would be there smiling at her. Welcome home.

She felt like she wanted to throw up. Instead she shoved it down. She wasn't a girl anymore. But still, this was harder than expected. Way harder.

The smell of woodsmoke caught her and she breathed it deeply. There was a hint of something blacker too, bitter, in the smell. Her nose twitched. Coal. Black Mesa still had massive deposits of coal, even after the Navajo Nation revoked Peabody Coal Mine's charter. The Navajo (the name still on the treaties despite Dineh being the proper term now) still had rights to all local minerals. Coal was nasty, but when it was cold and wood scarce, people didn't get caught up in worrying about the environment or their lungs.

But at least coal was the worst they'd use. There were uranium deposits around here too. She'd seen the remnants of the old pit outside Tuba City, all covered over now with rock and concrete, the houses next to it stripped down to nothing but a collection of foundation pads, occasional pieces of the framing sticking out like old bones. Yeah, the federal government hadn't had much concern about having families live and work next to those mines- or all the birth defects it would cause. 15 year old kids with the bodies of 80 year olds, frail and shakey and small. Fucked up.

Yeah, she knew this place. And was as close as she was willing to going home. Close enough. And already it hurt. She missed him. Badly. Felt guilt for having left him like that. She tried to honor all that was good about him. But it was a lonely life all the same. Empty save for the hunt. She had a hard time getting close to people. It was easier keeping things casual- everyone at arm's length.

Her tablet sat in the passenger seat. Still working. Of course she never applied the updates. There were a shit load of them now. Damn Apple. Only a matter of time one of those bricked it for good.  But she wanted this one. This exact one. It brought back good memories and she wasn't willing to lose it yet.

But there was something here. And she had someone to meet. No addresses in these parts. Or at least none like most places had. 'First right after the wash, left along the skeleton mesa ridge, between the two peaks, first hogan on the left next to the rock outcropping.' Not easy. But puzzles were always her thing.

The teepee would be a giveaway too. Not a Navajo thing.The  Native American Church  (NAC) would be holding a ceremony, with their peyote and mix of first people traditions and Christianity. Not her concern of course. She was bilagaana, so she'd stay away until they welcomed her. Nizhoni- or Jill- would be there, she was sure. When the teepee was rolled up. When the wool blankets were taken off the doors.

Then she'd show. They'd get started.

She was uncomfortable being here. It was too close. But she also....ahh....she didn't know. She was looking for something.
Edited by Jacinda, Jul 5 2018, 04:10 PM.