Blue Coyote Motel

by Dianne Harman

  Sam could only imagine what he looked like. He had not slept for well over forty hours. He was weathered, dirty, and dressed only in a loincloth. He thought the namesake of the motel, the blue coyote, must be shaking with laughter. Fortunately, the young woman seemed unfazed by his appearance. She handed him a registration card attached to a clipboard. He filled it out and paid for the room with his memorized credit card. He was relieved when she didn't ask for identification or to see the card.

  "Come. Let me show you to your room," Maria said. "We also have a refreshment room with an honor bar which can be added to your room charge. Beer, wine, and food are in there. You look tired. You may want to rest before you eat," she went on. "I think you'll like your room. It's large and the air-conditioning is wonderful. You'll feel refreshed in no time at all."

  As he entered the room, he thought he could detect a faint hint of sandalwood in the air. His senses were very acute after his time on the mountain and the air flowing from the air-conditioning vent was cool on his skin. He saw a blue coyote painting on the wall and recognized the artist, one of his tribe.

  "I know this is a strange request," Sam said to the young woman, "but do you happen to have any men's clothing here that may have been left behind by one of your guests? I have just finished a vision quest on Rising Sun Mountain and I really would like to have some regular clothing."

  "As a matter of fact, I have some clothes that a guest left a few weeks ago. I think they'll fit you. You're welcome to them. I'll be back in a minute." Maria returned shortly with a shirt, pants, underwear, and some sandals. He showered, letting the water wash away the last of the nightmares and the heat of the day. The clothes and sandals fit perfectly. Although it was very late, he used the phone in the room to call Strong Medicine.

  "Strong Medicine, I am here in a motel. I finished my vision quest. I got disoriented coming down the mountain and made a wrong turn. I went in the opposite direction of the reservation. I followed the distant lights of a motel, thinking they were the lights of the casino."

  "My son, I am so glad to hear your voice. You have been in my thoughts since you left. Do you think your vision quest was successful?" Strong Medicine asked.

  "Yes, I feel much better," Sam said. The cool air in the room was in stark contrast to the heat of the day. "I am finished with my hatred of Joe. The anger is gone. I will always miss my mother, but her relationship with Joe was her choice. It was not up to me to change her life. I'm ready to finish my pediatric residency and do whatever I can to benefit the tribe. My plan is to return to the reservation when I complete my residency in two months.

  "Can you come to the motel and pick me up tomorrow morning? The motel is called the Blue Coyote and is a few miles west of the reservation on the main highway. You can't miss it. I need some sleep now and this is a very comfortable place."

  "I will be there at nine o'clock tomorrow morning. I know of the motel. It's not that far from the reservation. You have probably passed it many times and never paid attention to it. Sleep well. I will tell the Council of your successful vision quest. I am proud of you, my son. We have much work to do to prepare you for your coming responsibilities."

  Hanging up the phone, Sam began to feel really, really good. He drank some cool water and walked to the refreshment room. Entering the room, he again noticed the very faint scent of sandalwood. Strange, he thought, why would there be the smell of sandalwood here?

  He heated up a large Reuben sandwich in the microwave and took a container of potato salad out of the small refrigerator. He decided he would celebrate the end of his vision quest with a piece of chocolate cake he spotted in a small plastic box. He filled out a small form that would result in his purchases being added to his room charge. Ravenous, he sat down at the small table in the refreshment room and devoured the food.

  After he finished eating, he headed back to his room, undressed, and got in bed. The soft movement of air coming from the air-conditioning vent felt good to him. Actually, he felt the best he had felt in a long, long time. The sweat lodge event was over and the vision quest had been completed. The anger, which had been so much a part of him for so long, was gone, replaced by a sense of peace and calmness. Sam was really looking forward to completing his residency and having the opportunity to provide much needed medical treatment to the children of his tribe. He soon fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

  At 9:00 a.m. the next morning, Strong Medicine pulled into the motel in his old truck. As he jumped into the truck, Sam waved good-bye to the beautiful young woman standing by the front door of the motel. He was looking forward to working with the tribal children and his work with Strong Medicine. He was feeling really good about the future. In fact, he realized he felt the best he had felt in years. He thought it was because of his successful vision quest. Later, much later, he would learn that it was not just the vision quest that made him feel so good.

  CHAPTER 8

  The last two months of Sam's residency flew by. Upon completion, he would be a bona fide pediatrician. He couldn't wait to return to the reservation and begin his new life, a life dedicated to helping children. Remembering the terrible childhood he had endured, he had one hope—to make each tribal child's life better than what his own had been.

  Strong Medicine had been busy during Sam's last two months of residency. He had overseen the finishing touches of the newly constructed school and adjoining pediatric center. The pediatric center had been constructed to Sam's specifications, with Strong Medicine personally overseeing the project. The reception area was kid-friendly, painted in bright colors with toys and games everywhere. The furniture was small and child-sized, with the exception of a few adult-sized chairs for the parents.

  The pediatric center opened six weeks after Sam completed his residency. He was proud of the fact that he was the first, and for that matter, the only doctor on the staff.

  One of Sam's very good friends was the same artist who had painted the blue coyote painting Sam had seen at the motel where he stayed after his vision quest. Sam persuaded him to paint murals on the walls of the reception area and in each of the four treatment rooms. The Muppets, Babar, and a host of other cartoon and storybook characters were cheerily painted in rainbow colors on the walls, showing them engaged in all types of fun activities. The children loved them. Even when a child had to have an injection, Sam and the nursing staff were able to divert the child's attention away from the needle and direct it to some sort of activity taking place on the walls. Sam loved his work at the pediatric center. He woke up every morning excited to get to the center so he could care for his young patients.

  True to his word, Strong Medicine began meeting with Sam three to four times a week, instructing him in the ancient ways of the tribal medicine man, just as Strong Medicine himself had been taught by his mentor, Laughing Bear. In the evenings, after Sam had finished his work at the center, he would go to Strong Medicine's home, eat a simple meal prepared by Strong Medicine's wife, Little Doe, and continue his studies. Straddling the two worlds was difficult at times for Sam. Having been scientifically trained, many of the things Strong Medicine taught him seemed absurd. The medicine available to doctors was quite different from that dispensed by a tribal medicine man.

  Strong Medicine showed Sam which herbs, minerals, and things from nature were effective when treating certain ailments. He taught him when to starve an illness, when to use prayer and when to sing the ancient healing songs. By ancient tradition, passed down over generations, the medicine man secured the help of the spirit world in healing disease and the psyche as well as promoting harmony between humans and nature.

  The healing songs were the most difficult for Sam to master. Even though his tribe was not Navajo, it was rooted in the Navajo culture. The language was similar, but the tonal scales taxed his musical ability to the limit. He, as all tribal children, had heard their language being spoken by the elders, but it wasn't allowed in the classrooms because of regulations requiring that only English be spo
ken in school classrooms. If anything, the children of his era were discouraged from learning to speak their native language. Sam felt like he was starting from scratch and even though the songs were difficult, it left him with a good feeling.

  Not only was he expected to learn the music and the language, he was expected to sing them in the presence of a sick patient. He also had to memorize and prepare the natural herbal concoctions that were taught to him by Strong Medicine. At times, it all seemed too much. He had to constantly remind himself that he was doing it for his tribe as well as for the children of the tribe. He didn't want his heritage to be lost or forgotten, and he knew that many of Mother Nature's herbal remedies were probably better for the patients than the synthetic drugs touted by the drug companies.

  As if learning all of this wasn't hard enough, Strong Medicine expected him to learn how to forage for the plants that were such an integral part of the herbal medicine prescribed by the medicine man. The barren landscape didn't lend itself to easy foraging and he and Strong Medicine often had to travel far from the reservation to find what they needed. This was not the type of learning one could find in a book. There was no written record about the things that Strong Medicine was teaching him. It was tribal lore and tradition that was expected to be handed down verbally from one medicine man to the next medicine man, generation to generation. Even so, Sam often found himself jotting down notes of various herbal remedies and words of the songs after some of his sessions with Strong Medicine.

  The tribal children who came to the center loved Sam and very soon both they and their parents had complete faith in his ability to heal them. As part of gaining the parent's trust, he found that he often had to use the herbal concoctions and sing the healing songs he learned from Strong Medicine. The children were fine with Sam's background in western medicine, the parents not so much. He could insert a little western medicine here and there because the parents could see the positive results that were taking place in their children, but there was still a lot of reluctance and wariness on their part. Sam knew it would take time and resigned himself to learning all that Strong Medicine could teach him, knowing he would use it sooner or later.

  Phyllis Chee was a member of the same tribe as Sam. She left the reservation after high school to study at the University of New Mexico. She had taken the name Chee rather than her father's name, Bidzil (the name given to him at birth meaning “he is strong,” because of how loudly he cried and how early he crawled and walked). She knew that the name Bidzil would cause endless questions and she wanted to fit into the modern world as best she could. Having to constantly explain the name would make it much harder. She graduated from college with a degree in Medical Management and went to work for a large hospital in Phoenix.

  Phyllis returned to the reservation several times a year and was pleased to see that the tribe was building a pediatric center and a school, something she thought was long overdue. She had very bad memories of going to school off the reservation. At the school she attended, which was located nearly twenty miles away, the Indian children had been made fun of for their hand-me-down clothes, their looks, and their different ways. Many of the children simply dropped out of school and returned to the reservation, preferring to give up their education rather than be ridiculed.

  In earlier days, even though visiting doctors came to the reservation from time to time, generally a sick child was taken to a hospital in Blythe. The tribe distrusted the white man's medicine. The doctors, all of whom practiced western medicine, just weren't able to connect with the tribal children. When a child had to be hospitalized, it created even more trauma; often enough to thwart the healing that needed to take place. As the children became more fearful, the doctors and nurses became more assertive in trying to heal the child. This often ended up in a lose-lose situation for everyone.

  Now that the center was open, the children could be treated by a member of their own tribe and if a child needed to be hospitalized, there were several rooms fitted out for short hospital-like stays at the center. Nothing that could help the healing process had been spared. The equipment was the most modern and sophisticated available, thanks to the ample funds generated by the casino's earnings.

  Phyllis had straight, shoulder-length, dark brown hair, which surrounded a heart-shaped face with flawless skin. Soft, liquid brown eyes with long black eyelashes looked out under thick, black winged brows. Long legs and a body built for physical work reflected the genes of the female Native American from olden times. She was a strong, beautiful woman, greatly respected by the tribe. Many of the young men in the tribe had been attracted to her, but none had succeeded in gaining her attention. Her standards were high and she had seen what alcoholism and dysfunction could do to tribal families.

  She was well aware that the $30,000 monthly allotment each tribal member received from the casino revenues had killed whatever ambition many of them might have had to work or further their education. Even though the tribe paid for the higher education of its members, very few took advantage of the offer. Phyllis valued her free education and was sorry that others weren't doing the same. She was the first tribal member to leave the reservation to obtain an undergraduate degree fully funded from the casino that opened just as she graduated from high school. She often wondered what would have happened to her if her education hadn't been provided by the tribe. Phyllis knew her parents couldn't afford to send her to college and she knew she probably would have ended up like so many of the other men and women of her age, lots of children and days marked by trips to the store to buy alcohol.

  She was also aware that she could pick and choose among the male members of the hospital staff in Phoenix. It was not for lack of invitations that she stayed home and led a rather quiet life; she just didn't find any of the men she met particularly interesting. Her heart was still on the reservation and she was gradually coming to the realization that she was fated to be a spinster and just enjoy her nieces and nephews.

  On one of her visits back to the reservation, her father asked her to come with him, as he wanted her to see the new pediatric center. She treasured her time with her father who was getting up in years. She knew that he wouldn't always be there when she returned home for a visit. Her mother had passed away several years earlier and it still hurt to come back to the small doublewide trailer and not see her mother patting out the fry bread for Phyllis' welcome home dinner.

  They slowly made their way up the long walkway that led to the center. Her father had trouble walking after being thrown by his horse many years ago. Without the proper medical care, his broken leg had not healed properly and his limp was very pronounced. Even so, he still kept a couple of horses, as did many of the tribe's members.

  The center was just as colorful on the outside as it was on the inside. It had opened a few weeks earlier and most of the kinks typical of a new building had been worked out. Phyllis was thrilled with what she saw. She knew that many future generations of children would benefit from the center. With healthier bodies, she was hopeful that the young people would resist the readily available alcohol and drugs. There was a strong anti-alcohol anti-drug program in the newly built school and if this generation could buck the addictions of the previous generations, there was a strong possibility that these young people could achieve the greatness of their tribal ancestors. The future for the tribe's young people looked particularly hopeful, thanks to the revenues provided by the casino.

  As they rounded a corner, preparing to go into the hospital section of the center, they almost collided with Sam and one of his nurses. "Phyllis, is that you?" Sam asked. "How wonderful to see you! It's been what, eight years or so?"

  As he spoke, he apprised the young woman in front of him and thought how beautiful she was. She was probably married with several children, although he hadn't seen her on the reservation. Then he remembered someone had told him she lived and worked in Phoenix. Sam thought she'd probably left the reservation long ago, mentally and emotionally.

&nb
sp; Phyllis told him she had just arrived for a short visit with her father. He then vaguely recalled hearing that she had gone to school at the University of New Mexico and taken a job at a hospital in Phoenix. He also remembered that she had been the first young person to make use of the tribe's offer of a free education.

  She recognized Sam from years earlier. Bedzil had told her that one of the tribal members had become a pediatrician and was coming back to the reservation to practice medicine. He also had told her that Strong Medicine had taken Sam under his wing, preparing him in the ways of the medicine man. She hadn't paid much attention, as Sam was a little older than she was and their paths had rarely crossed.

  As Sam gazed at Phyllis, seemingly struck by her beauty, an idea occurred to him. "Didn't you get a degree in Medical Management? What are you doing these days?"

  "It's been a long time since we've seen each other. Congratulations on opening this beautiful and much needed pediatric center. And to answer your questions, yes, I did get a degree in Medical Management and I'm working at a hospital in Phoenix."

  The nurse accompanying Sam turned to him and said, "Doctor, I'm sorry to interrupt, but we're running way behind schedule. At this rate, we won't finish until late tonight. Please, you're needed right away in Room 2."

  "Sorry," Sam said. "I never should have agreed to be both the center's director as well as the only staff physician. I just run from one to the other, never spending enough time at either. It’s been good seeing you. How long will you be here?"