Blue Coyote Motel (9 page)

The Old Ones say you can feel your spirit during a vision quest. They say that no water, no sleep, and no food strips one of the pleasures of the body. Sam felt the hatred coursing through him. Finally, after many hours, he was spent and exhausted. The rage that had threatened to take over his very life seemed to have finally passed out of his mind and body. Where there had been a tidal wave of hatred and anger, now there was a calm pool and peace of mind.

Strong Medicine told him that the quest would end at sundown on the second day. Dusk came and still he couldn't bring himself to stand up. Finally, he arose. He was completely disoriented. Where was the reservation? There were no landmarks in the dark to guide him. He stumbled down the mountain, unsure of what direction he was going. He walked for many miles in what seemed like a long, long journey.

He could see some lights in the distance. Relieved, he thought they must be lights from the reservation, but as he got closer to the lights, he realized that he must be lost. This was not the way to the reservation. When his eyesight cleared and the movements of his body brought him back to the present, he saw a neon sign that said "Blue Coyote Motel."

Sam became aware that the lights he had seen were coming from the small motel and that there were several cars in the motel parking lot. He desperately needed food, water, and sleep. He had nothing with him. He had no identification or money, but he had memorized his credit card number.

Sam staggered to the front of the motel, opened the door to the office and entered. He was greeted by an incredibly beautiful young woman with jet black hair which reflected the light above the desk. She took in the sight of the nearly naked, filthy Indian standing in front of her with a look of amazement. Forcing herself to remain calm as he seemed to be quite harmless, she said, "Welcome to the Blue Coyote Motel. If you're looking for a room, you're in luck. We have one room left and you're welcome to it.”

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 spoken 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.