Skinwalkers Not Far From Table Mesa
The snow was falling as the young Navajo man started walking from
Bonds and Bonds store across the old bridge in Shiprock. It was late afternoon and snow had
come early to the rez.
Headed home for from up North, the day had started warm in Wyoming
where he started out
Getting on the road and sticking a thumb out, hitchhiking back to the
rez for a few days, with luck a hot meal at home in the cedars.
The day had gone well but a time in Monticello, a bordertown where how
ones looks can decide if you ride or not, and as each car passed he
walked on along the old highway and the clouds began to gather and the
wind started to blow. He wrapped himself up against the cold and
walked on toward Cortez taking in the blue colors of mountains in
Colorado, Dibensa, in Navajo and he knew he was not far from home and
finally a trucker from Texas stopped and give him ride on toward Four
Corners and as the sun set he was in Shiprock.
Bonds and Bonds is an old store with a coffee counter where he got a
cup and warmed up. Hoping in a way that some headed south would come
in and he could hop in and get a ride on toward home just beyond the
horizon to the South in the Chuska mountains. In the distance as he
stepped out he could see the outline of Shiprock and so he headed on
down the highway, Route 666.
It is narrow thin road the disappears into the southern sky, it looked
like a worn out spider web, it just one stretched out piece of patched
asphalt so cracked it was as is Spiderwoman herself had woven a web
and dropped it across the land and left it there.
He walked on, wet and cold. No one was on the highway and as a truck
came up from behind he could hear it before he saw it and it neared he
stuck his thumb into the air, asking quietly and silently for a chance
to get out of the night breeze as the dark clouds came from the west.
After a long walk it began to snow and he could see Table Mesa start
to come up slowly step by step and he just kept walking step by step
shifting his backpack from one shoulder to the other, but there was no
ride as the night fell and it was a dark night.
Step by step, one foot in front of the other he walked, looking at the
lonely strips of sage moving in the breeze and the snow started to
fall. He looked back toward Shiprock and could not see anything, not a
thing so he kept going and he started to think of home.
How would it be to be able to be there, to walk into the old house and
hear the crackling of the wood stove and smell some stew and feel the
warmth of being there, to be able to feel relaxed and to lay down on
the iron spring bed, to rest…fur just a little bed in the old levi
quilt…it would be so when he got there. He pulled up his collar and
walked on step by step and thought the Old Man, his pa who would
always smile at him and say, “Hey Eshkee”, it seemed no matter what he
was always there and gave him with just a look all the things he
needed and yet he gave him not much, but too know he was always s glad
to see him.
He shook the cold from his shoulders, and looked up and saw that he
was almost past Table Mesa, and on the East side of the road there
were some big rocks, an old spring used to be there from the old days,
from a time from way before he was born to his Chays’
grandfathers.time.
The snow was piling up and everything was white, but yet he was warm,
it was as if was a summer day. It was the walking it had warmed him up
and he could see that maybe he should find a place to rest for little
bit until early morning and so he stepped away from the old road and
walked to the big rocks and there found a cleft where two large rocks
came together, out of the wind and the snow fell lightly on the ground
and it was soft.
He turned his back to the snow, wrapping his coast up high around his
head and sat against the rocks and found he was warm. He remembered
that if the snow falls lightly it was like a blanket and could keep
him warm and as he sat down he didn’t realize how tired he was, he
slid to the ground and put the back pack in his lap and looked down
the highway. It was late and there was no one coming or going and so
he thought of home, of resting his head on his bed and leaned against
the rocks and thought to rest his eyes.
He remembered at time when he was with Old Man and they had walked to
the trading post to check the mail and talked about Old Man Turquoise.
He remember he asked his Grandpa, “That Old Man Turquoise tell me
about him,”
Who do you mean?
That one old man we passed on the way to the trading post, over by
Natani's place, down by the wash, just over that way. Eshkee motioned
with his lips to the Northwest.
Eshkee's father, who everyone called "the Old Man", looked up and
could see the low mountain rising to the West, from here at Two Gray
Hills it went up hill to the trading post nestled in the foothills of
Toadlena. He remembered the day not so long ago, when they had stepped
aside to let Old Man Turquoise walk by them.
"Well, I said I would tell you about him", the Old Man said. He sat
back from the small table where they were standing, just inside the
Chao-summer shade arbor where he was working on something. His eyes
were old, sort of brown, wrinkled around the edges and his eyes looked
as if they could see something a long ways off.
Old Man said let's go for a walk. They walked outside and to the South
where the rocks rose to a ridge like a dinosaurs back running north to
south, they climbed to a high point stepping through the sage brush.
It was after the First Frost, the time for Yei-Be-Ches, stories of
coyotes and legends. The Summer Sings were over, cermonies some
called them, where the Blessing Way was done to restore the spirit,
the body and to brings things back to harmony. As they made their way
through the sage, they slowly climbed the red sand stone rocks to a
place they knew very well, from this spot they had many talks, it
overlooked the whole valley running from Toadlena to Two Gray Hills
The twin rocks were to the East nestled against the mountain, the road
ran like a ribbon and the small houses and hogans dotted the valley
below. It was from here they sat and looked over the valley. Though it
was Fall, the day was warm one of the last few where it felt like
summer.
Old Man sat down and Eshkee sat nearby, as the Old Man pointed to the
wash that ran along the road connecting the mountain community of
Toadlena to Two Gray Hills, running against the two mesas to the east,
it ran all the way to the highway some sixteen miles to the East and
way further North on the horizon was Table Mesa.
Do you see those mesas, the one to the North. Yes, Eshkee said, it was
red, pink almost in the afternoon sun. There is a place on the mesa,
where some gather at night, when it is dark sometimes when there is no
moon.
Where is it at?
You can't see it right now but it is there, sometimes at night, late
at night some say there is a fire that comes from a place there where
the witches gather, the ones who follow the Dark side.
Have you been there before?
No, when I was younger I looked for it, but never did find it.
Who goes there?
It is the place where the Skinwalkers gather, where they meet and
carry on with the sacrifices they make. They look like regular people,
but they trade lives with each other, to belong to them you have to
sacrifice someone to be with them. They are quiet about it, they don't
tell anyone who they are. In our way there is a balance, between the
Beautyway and the Evilway, these people have chosen to follow the dark
side.
They can take your spirit, cause sickness, misfortune and witch those
don't know it. They are like bad luck that follows you around.
Eshkee looked at the mesa, seeing every part of it, from it's flat
top, to the large rocks that were cracked on everyside, there were
many places one could hide on that mesa. He thought about where this
place they gathered could be.
Old Man said, A long time ago maybe it was before World War II, one
dark night, when I was young, we had a gathering down by the Bain
bridge place. There was Mrs. Watchman, the cook at the boarding
school, Mrs. Belone, Kee Mike, Wareen Natani and myself, those women
weren't married then, they were single. We were all young.
We had gone down to eat, and to sing with the people gathered there.
You remember the Bainbridge place, it is small, with an open area, but
that night the whole place around there was filled with wagons, and
horses, people were camped there, some had come from Teec Nos Pos,
some from Tohatchi, and some from off the Flat-Halgai it is called.
Anyway there was food, bonfires and dancing. In those days there not
much liquour like there is now, it was very traditional. People had
respect for the Navajo Way. We went down there and spent the evening,
visiting with some of the old folks, the Benallys, Tellers, Deals, and
some of the old folks who aren't here any more.
It was late when we left, when the stars were straight up, the Small
Ring the comes up, when everyone takes a break. We decided to go home
then. In those days we didn't have cars to we walked everywhere.
People told us to be careful, since Skinwalkers were running around
during that time of night. We laughed and headed out for home.
It was really dark, there was not moon at that time, we could not see
very well.
We knew the area so we knew where to walk through the sage,
we had not kerosene lamp so we walked slowly and talked about who we
saw that evening. It was just over there, he pointed to where the
Bainbridges lived and motioned to the wash nearby. They had gone into
the wash to go home since it ran back up the mountain to Toadlena. The
sand was soft and easy to walk on.
They headed back, the five of them. It was the middle of the night and
there was no light they walked together and through the wash and from
behind they could hear the sound of pounding hooves, the sound of wild
horses running in a pack, wild ones. They were running as if they were
scared, crashing through the sage with not light, but running out of
fear.
These few young men and women turned around and could not see them
coming but could hear them as their feet smashed into the ground and
knew that had to get out of the way. So they ran up the wash to a Comb
Ridge, up on the rocks and waited to see what was coming and then
there was nothing. Not a sound, and they tried to look at one another
but it was so dark you could not see your hand in front of your face.
They sat and waited and nothing came, but they could hear a commotion
from the place they had come from, and then they heard a gun shot and
a wild animal cry out in pain, whincing and yelping and yet they saw
nothing, but hear it all.
From that night long ago they all remembered that after a few days Old
Man Turquoise was seen limping, his leg dragging after him, and it
became known in the community that he was somehow hooked up with the
Dark side of life and everyone in the community knew to be careful of
him.
Many years later, when Eshkee has grown a little he saw the bridge to
Two Gray Hills was washed out and everyone didn’t use that road for a
long time, and so he rode down that by horseback along the wash and
there found a foot trail he followed to an old Hogan, it was Old Man
Turquoise’s place. He could see from the looks of it that it was in
disrepair, and when he stopped to see if any was there.
He called outin Navajo if anyone was there, and the reply came faint
Oshe’-Come in, so Eshkee when in and saw Old Man Turquoise was sick,
he was just laying in bed alone.
He talked to him and learned that his children had not been back to
see him for sometime, and so Eshkee clean up his place all the time
wondering about what the hack he was dong there when he had been told
t leave this old man alone, everyone knew that but he could not turn
away from him and so he returned every few days to check on him but
told no one that he ever did this, but did so and always felt uneasy
about the place and after the old man started to move about he left
him alone as he could make his own way.
Old Man Turquoise never said anything to him after than never saying
anything to Eshkee when ever he saw him, so the boy thought that is
just how it is. At first the thought the old man would say something,
and he a little upset by it, but then he realized he had helped him
because e wanted to do it for himself not for the old one and the
reward was his own and he let it go at that. But he always wondered
about what things Old Man Turquoise knew about the Dark side, but it
was one of those things you will never know the answer to, so he let
it go.
Eshkee had drifted off to sleep, he was in his bed at home, it was
warm and he thought it was good to be home….when he was shaken awake
by the touch of something that had grabbed him and in a flash he was
awake. He was still there the snow and it was cold, he was stiff and
the snow had covered him and brushed the snow away. In the distance he
could see in the rocks of Table Mesa a distant fire and yet it seemed
just a little ways away.
Eshkee was so tired his legs moved like molasses as he stood up, he was groggy
and his walk was stilted and slow. He walked in a haze to the distant fire, and as
if in a dream found that he was in a place where it was warm and there was a bedroll
placed there for him, and there was kneel down bread for him to eat,
so he ate and fell asleep.
Eshkee woke up and he was sitting in a truck headed up the road to the
junction where he just lived a short way and it was morning and the
ground was all covered white. The truck stopped and he looked at the
driver and it was Manygoats.
Are you okay, boy?
Yes, how did I get home.
You were walking by the side of the road by Table Mesa just before
dawn in a daze, you almost walked into the road and could have got run
over. I stopped and you were standing there with Old Man Turquoise, he
said he found you and you almost froze last night. You should know
better than that didn’t your father teach you anything.
Eshkee said, Where is Old Man Turquoise.
He said he was at a Yei-be-Che at Bistai area, not too far from Table
Mesa and on the way found you. I don’t know how that old man found you
he can’t hardly walk himself, but he was there and it was a good thing
for you he was.
Eshkee got out and walked toward his place just a little ways through
the cedars. It was a clear day and sun had come out and he looked way
off toward Table Mesa and remembered the stories of Old Man Turquoise
and was just glad to be home. So it went one time years ago just
before Halloween…. rustywire