Читать книгу Komatke Gold - Benjamin Vance - Страница 10

My thoughts raced as I prepared to face the library ladies who were then likely equipped with a bad opinion of me. As I walked into the cool building and smelled the smell of used books and wood furniture again, I found myself looking around to avoid any accusing eyes. From the glass-walled office came a distinctly female voice welcoming me back.

It was like old home week; a stark contrast to what I expected. The lady in the office, whose name tag said “Lucy” rose from her chair and started toward me. Another lady, “Geraldine”, came from behind the stacks where she’d been shelving books, and yet another, “Cristal” introduced earlier and not wanting to miss the show, came ambling out from a room in the rear of the building, sans name tag. Lucy said, “Hey, Mr. Wayne! Welcome back! We thought you’d been eaten alive and we would never see you again.”

All three started laughing uncontrollably, apparently at their inside joke. I must have looked bewildered and embarrassed because Geraldine took pity on me and said, “We thought the Wicked Witch of the North cast a spell on you or sumpthin”. The uncontrolled, hand-over-the-mouth giggling started all over again.

Now, if you haven’t been fortunate enough to witness the contagious laughter of a bunch of Indian women sharing a joke, usually about a man, you haven’t witnessed giggling at its best. After a while though, they made me feel at ease again and I learned Cristal was actually related to both Lew-Lew, whom she called “Miss Twiggy,” and to Myra. After pleasantries and with a very serious and cautious face she told me Myra still lived on the reservation. With my temples pounding, my ears ringing and after promising to bring back some lunch for Lucy and Geraldine, Cristal and I went to eat.

This time I had a very nice lunch with a very nice lady who had nothing very nice to say about Lew-Lew. Over the course of a two-hour lunch with an intermission delivery to Lucy and Geraldine, Cristal told me about how close her and her first cousin had become after I’d left; how much Myra had loved me and wanted me to come back, even though I was married and had a career and children. In her optimistic innocence Myra clung to the idea I would divorce my wife. Cristal also had kids and knew it wouldn’t happen. She’d consoled Myra when the phone calls stopped and eventually Myra began to accept reality as well. Although she didn’t like my involvement with her cousin, she understood Myra’s’ propensity to endear herself to almost everyone.

The fact that Myra had loved me in return was in my favor I guess. They’d remained close over the years and she said Myra reflectively mentioned me now and then. She also told me that so far no one had told her I was back in Arizona. A bit fretfully, Cristal mentioned that she should tell Myra before Lew-Lew got to her. Sometime during the conversation she also mentioned she thought Lew-Lew had her own agenda with regard to Myra and me, but I simply thought it was that of an attorney for the tribe, bent on protecting her people and her job. In retrospect, maybe I should have listened closer. In my defense though, I had only one thing on my mind at the time.