Face of the Earth

by Doug Raber

  “Anyway, Jack and Evie have had some tough times, especially after Jack had to go back in—when they sent him to Iraq in 2004. For a long time he wouldn’t get help at the Veterans Center. But things got better after a couple of years, and they were really happy when little Jackson was born. And now this sickness … they really loved that kid. Evie called us before they shut down the phones and told us that they lost him. And then Jack disappeared.”

  “Disappeared?” Sarah asked.

  “I think he just couldn’t handle it. I remember when he lost a couple of buddies in Desert Storm. He was real broke up about that too. But this time I think he’s just gone off into the hills to be by himself while he heals. It’s not doing Evie any good, that’s for sure. And she still has to take care of her dad. He lives with them, and his health isn’t so good anymore.”

  “Did they tell you anything about what happened to Jackson?”

  “All Evie said was that it was chickenpox. But we hear there have been other people dying down there too, and I sure never heard of any chickenpox being that bad. Then the government comes in and seals off the whole area.”

  “Because of chickenpox?”

  “No, something else is going on. I just don’t trust them. Jack and I grew up on the reservation. So did Evie, but she’s a lot younger. We’ve learned an awful lot about why Navajos shouldn’t trust the federal government. Our dads all worked in the uranium mines, and the government said that was okay too. Eventually, it killed all of them. All except for Evie’s dad. He’s not dead yet, but it’ll get him, too.”

  “What do you mean, it killed them?”

  “The radioactive dust. You keep breathing that long enough, it’ll get you. And they wouldn’t give them the medical care they promised. Just kept saying it must have been because they smoked or because they didn’t eat proper. The government men just sat back and stalled while the Indians died. Sometimes I wonder why we still love this country. Enough to fight for it. And enough to die for it.”

  Before Sarah could ask any questions, Annie started bringing food to the table. Her soft voice was accompanied by a generous smile. “I hope you’ll like this, Sarah. It’s traditional Navajo food to help you feel more welcome with us. We know you’ve come to help, and we appreciate that.”

  The dinner was simple but tasty. Navajo fry bread, pinto beans, and mutton stew. To Sarah, the fry bread tasted like a large homemade doughnut, but without the sugar on top. There was little conversation while they ate.

  “That was delicious, Annie. I’m grateful and I’m honored that you’ve brought me into your home this way.”

  Sarah reached for her plate as Annie got up to clear the table, but Annie gently put a hand on her wrist. “That’s all right, I’ll clean up. I think you and Raymond have some more serious talking to do.” Annie refilled the coffee cups, removed the rest of the dishes, and continued working in the kitchen.

  Raymond picked up his earlier narrative. “Even though they’ve tried to shut down all the lines of communication, the government folks really don’t understand us. Maybe the roads are closed, but there’s a lot of old trails we use to go back and forth. We’ve been able to keep up on the news. As I understand it, they think it’s smallpox, but they don’t want anyone on the outside to know.”

  Raymond gave Sarah an intense look to be certain she understood. “The only way to get out of this mess is for you to get this information to your newspaper. We don’t know why they’re doing this, but we’ve suffered too much in the past. I’m talking about all the Indian tribes, not just the Navajos. We need your help, and we’re willing to do whatever’s needed to help you get this into the news.”

  “I’ll do what I can.” Sarah felt overwhelmed by the responsibility. These people were counting on her, but she didn’t know what to do. She paused for a moment to make sure she could speak without her voice breaking. “I don’t know why they’re trying to cover things up, but I do know that hiding the truth never works. My job as a reporter is just to tell the truth, so I have to find out what’s really happening.”

  “Seems to me, we need to go talk to the people in who live there. Maybe your friend Jillian, Annie’s cousin, maybe some other people as well.”

  “One of the doctors who came out from the CDC in Atlanta is someone I know. At least I think he’s out here. If I can find him, he may have the answers. I can trust him not to turn me in when he sees me.”

  “He’d have to be a pretty good friend.”

  “He is.”

  “We may need to keep separate if you get to see him. Not much point in both of us going to jail.”

  “Everything is so crazy now. But you’re right. We have to be really careful, and we can’t put you at risk. Do you really think you can get me past the roadblocks or whatever they’re using to isolate Farmington?”

  “I’m sure of it. Like I said, there’s a lot of old trails, and they can’t watch them all. It’s not like a full military occupation. They’ve just tried to seal the place off by closing the airports and main highways. The real question is whether you’re up to it. The terrain is pretty rugged, and you aren’t used to the elevation.”

  “I’m in pretty good shape. I do a lot of running and biking, including some pretty good hills. So if you’re trying to say that you don’t think a woman can …”

  “No offense, Sarah. It’s rugged country, and you’re not used to the altitude. Some of this trip may have to be on foot. I make my living guiding people on hiking and camping trips. I need to know what your abilities are.”

  “Fair enough. Sorry. So, I understand it could be pretty difficult. But if you don’t expect me to go too fast, I think I can handle some fairly rough terrain. I went backpacking at elevations above 10,000 feet last year. It was hard, but I did it.”

  “All right, we’ll try to do as much as we can with vehicles, avoiding the major roads. The best way to get to Farmington is through Durango, and they’ll be watching those roads, especially near the airport. But they’ll never even think about the back trails.”

  He pushed a map across the table. “A straight line, from here to Farmington would go southeast, right through Mesa Verde National Park, then down through the Ute Mountain Reservation, and across the state line into New Mexico. But those lines on the map indicate deep canyons, so most of the roads don’t go through.”

  “Yeah, I can see why it’s a long trip.”

  Raymond paused. “Something has been bothering me. How could those people have caught smallpox? In the Marines, they told us it had been wiped out except for the possibility of germ warfare by the Russians. So how did we get it out here?”

  Sarah shook her head slowly. “I don’t know. I guess that’s why they’re trying to keep it a secret, and we need to find out why. If somebody attacked our country, then people need to know that.”

  “And if it wasn’t an attack?”

  “I suppose it could have been an accident, but I can’t imagine how it could have happened. And if that isn’t the reason … it would almost seem that our government was responsible. And people sure as hell would need to know about that. None of this makes sense, Raymond.”

  Raymond took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Even if it was just an accident somehow, like the nerve gas thing when all the sheep died* up near Dugway in the 1960s, people here in the West don’t have a lot of trust in the government. If people found out that the government was doing experiments with smallpox and killing Indians* … man, that would be war. Our schools teach how white people purposely infected Indians with smallpox during colonial times. There could be a lot more than just hard feelings.”

  “But nobody would …”

  “I know it doesn’t make sense, Sarah. But maybe this is a whole lot bigger than just little Jackson and the people who’ve already gotten sick and died.”

  Raymond looked over at Annie and then turned back to Sarah. “I think the best thing right now is for you to get some sleep. We’ll have a long trip starting tomorrow
morning, and you’re going to need as much rest as you can get. You should be pretty tired by now. You go on in and get some sleep.”

  Sarah said goodnight and went into the guest room. In less than 10 minutes, while she wondered what preparations Raymond was making, Sarah fell sound asleep.

  * * *

  Day 29: Canyons

  It seemed that only a few minutes had passed, when Sarah heard a knock on her door. She was momentarily confused, looking over at her alarm clock, only to find that it wasn’t there. She realized that she wasn’t at home, when the door opened and Annie entered with a hot mug of coffee. She set the mug on the bedside table and spoke softly. “Raymond says you should get up now.”

  “Thank you,” Sarah said as she reached for the mug. “You’ve been so nice … I don’t really know how to thank you.”

  “If you can help, it will be an important thing for our family—and for our people. For all of us.”

  Sarah didn’t know what to say, so she just nodded. Annie went out, and Sarah dressed quickly. She secured both of her backpacks, carried them across the living room, and set them by the front door.

  Annie had prepared breakfast and motioned Sarah to the table. Raymond came into the house and went to the kitchen sink to wash his hands. They sat at the table, and Raymond advised Sarah to eat well. “You won’t get another good meal for a few days.” Sarah wasn’t sure if this meant that they might be living on bread and water or just that Raymond liked Annie’s cooking. After trying the fry bread with eggs, beans, and chili, she decided it was the latter.

  When they finished, Raymond pushed his chair back from the table. “We need to be going.” Sarah’s watch said it was 6:00 a.m., and a touch of grey in the sky hinted at dawn. Raymond picked up Sarah’s packs and took them outside.

  Sarah turned to Annie. “Thank you so much for having me in your home.”

  “We have been honored to have you Sarah. I just hope you will be coming back.”

  “Oh, I’d be delighted to …” Sarah began with a smile, before she realized what Annie had meant. “We’ll be careful, and we’ll be back. I promise.” She wished she could be as certain as the words she had spoken.

  As Sarah turned toward the truck, she saw the all-terrain vehicles. It looked like Raymond wasn’t going to make her hike all the way to Farmington.

  “Have you ever ridden an ATV?”

  “Yeah. My mom and dad have them at their place in West Virginia. I’m not an expert, but I know not get caught going sideways on a hill.”

  “Mostly we’ll be on trails, so you won’t have that kind of problem. If we do go off road, I’ll lead so you can avoid getting caught in a bad situation. It’s good that you’ve ridden before. You’ll be okay.”

  Raymond told Sarah that he had built and welded the ATV carrier himself. “Lets me carry two ATVs and still have room for other gear. I have to drive slow, but it’s a lot better than hauling a trailer.”

  Sarah climbed into the cab of the truck and buckled her seat belt as Raymond started the engine. Soon, they were driving steadily on a paved roadway, and Sarah could see the lighter gray of the sky off to the left as they headed south toward New Mexico. She recognized the road they had driven the previous evening as they passed the Cortez airport on the right. A few miles later, they turned east onto a much smaller road. “Now we’re on BIA-204. That’s a route designation set by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. It’s also known as Indian Road 204. After a few miles, it becomes Mancos Canyon Road.”

  Raymond said they would stay on Mancos Canyon Road—not a highway, but a decent road—for about 15 miles and then take Grass Canyon Road. By the time they reached that turn, daylight had arrived. Raymond handed Sarah a map. “Take a look at this. It’ll help you understand where we were and where we’re going.”

  It was a topographical map of the area, and Sarah found the Four Corners with no difficulty.

  “Trace your finger in a loop around the Four Corners. There’s a belt of highways that make a rough circle about 50 miles in diameter. To most people, that defines the geographic area known as the Four Corners.”

  As Sarah traced their route from Cortez down to Mancos Canyon Road and then Grass Canyon Road, Raymond explained that their entire trip would be about 80 miles and would take them four or five hours driving time. “We’ll follow Grass Canyon Road for about 15 miles in Colorado, and then another 20 miles through New Mexico. It’s not a very direct route, but you can see from that map why the mountains and canyons make it impossible to do anything else. After we cross the Ute Mountain Indian Reservation, we’ll get to Farmington on a couple of unmarked roads.”

  At about 10:00 a.m., Raymond pulled the truck over into a clearing on the side of the road. The views were spectacular, with mountains in the distance and rocky ground that looked more like a moonscape than anything she’d ever seen before.

  Ahead of them was a rocky outcropping that seemed to be only a few miles away. “That’s where we’re headed. But you can’t get there from here,” Raymond added with a wry smile.

  “Those dark areas are canyons, some of them four or five hundred feet deep, with walls that are almost vertical. It’s pretty much impossible to get across, so we have to go around until we can cut back over there.” He pointed to a location somewhere in the distance with no distinguishing landmarks, at least none that Sarah could see.

  He reached for a brown paper bag from behind the driver’s seat and removed a couple of smaller packages, handing one to Sarah. “Go ahead, open it up.” She removed the paper wrapper from what she discovered were two blue-corn patties. After an encouraging nod from Raymond, she tried one.

  “Pretty good. I like it.”

  Raymond took two battered metal cups from the bag, handed one to her, and poured water into them from a canteen. “At this altitude, you need to make sure you drink plenty of water.”

  The next treat from the paper sack turned out to be sandwiches made with white bread. “Not everything we eat is traditional, and Annie made these from stuff that came right from the grocery store. She makes a mean bologna sandwich.”

  They ate quickly, again without any conversation. Raymond opened the door of the cab and started to get out. “I’ll use this side of the truck, and you can have your privacy over there. Not too many trees or bushes to hide behind, but I can’t help that.”

  “I’ll manage.”

  It was a bright sunny day, but chilly, probably no more than 40 degrees. So the windows stayed closed. Sarah followed the map with difficulty as the truck bounced along the back roads. Then she remembered the GPS unit in her pack, and she reached down and got it out. She turned it on and was bringing up their location on the small screen, when Raymond looked over.

  “You have a GPS. That could be a big help. Especially for you, if we run into problems. We’re going to hide the truck up in the hills above Farmington and use the ATVs for the last few miles. I’ll leave the keys under the seat, so you could always go back to the truck. Just be sure to write down the coordinates for where we leave it.”

  By mid-day they were well into New Mexico, skirting the small town of Cottonwood on a dirt road. Raymond slowed the pickup to almost a complete stop, turned hard to the left, and pulled into a small cleft beneath a rocky outcropping. The opening was partially obscured by a small stand of scraggly trees.

  “Make sure you’ve got these coordinates. I’m going to unload the truck and make sure it’s not visible, even from above.”

  Once the ATVs were off the truck, Raymond unloaded additional gear from the truck. He put a 5-gallon can in the carrying rack on one of the ATVs. “Extra gasoline. No gas stations out here, but we should have more than enough fuel.” When they were done, the ATVs were loaded with extra food and water, two sleeping bags, and a rifle.

  Then Raymond removed a sheet of camouflage netting from behind the driver’s seat and threw it over the truck. He tied down the corners, and Sarah watched as the truck virtually disappeared. Unless you were within a few f
eet of the vehicle, it blended completely with the natural vegetation and rocks of the high desert. She understood why Raymond had placed such emphasis on the GPS coordinates.

  “Our next stop is a friend’s house on the edge of Farmington. He knows we’re coming. Let’s get started.” They had moved the ATVs a few yards onto the rocky path, when Raymond dismounted and walked back toward the truck. He broke off a small branch from one of the trees and used it as a broom to sweep across the slight tire tracks that the truck had left, continuing the process as he walked back to the ATVs.

  “Old Navajo trick,” he said solemnly, and then he broke into a broad grin. “Actually, we learned how to do that in Marine basic training. It turned out to be pretty important for some of our operations in Desert Storm. I just want to be sure here that anyone happening by this location won’t spot the truck—or see the tire tracks leading to it.”

  “Won’t the ATV tracks be visible?”

  “We’ll drive off the trail for a little bit, and part of the time we’ll use that old stream bed. Any tracks that survive a day of normal winds will just look like someone was out doing some recreational riding. We have about 10 miles on these trails before we reach my friend’s house. We’ll be north of town, and by the time we get to a more populated section, we’ll just look like a couple of people out for a ride. Nobody will think twice about it.”

  An hour later, Sarah saw houses, and Raymond pointed to one of them, a modest one-story cement-block building. They pulled the ATVs behind the house and walked around to the front. Before Raymond could knock, the door opened and an unsmiling face beckoned them inside.

  Raymond motioned Sarah go in. “This is Anthony Chee.” She stepped through the doorway, as Raymond continued the introduction.

  “Anthony, this is Sarah, the reporter I told you about.”

  As Sarah extended her hand, Anthony turned away. Sarah glanced uncomfortably at Raymond.

  Anthony pointed at a small table as he walked toward the kitchen with his back toward his visitors. “I have some food for you. You can wash up if you want. The bathroom is over there.” He turned and walked away.