laughing girl's blanket...a story from the navajo fair

Crumbo Motors was going to be torn down and the old man was outside
standing there selling what was left, he hired a young Indian boy, he
was a Deal, Jasper Deal. He cleaned up the stalls and threw the trash
out. As the young boy was cleaning he reached into a corner of old
boxes and junk and found a stained blanket with holes, it looked like
an old time Navajo rug. He picked it up and threw it out with the rest
of the things but decided to take it home after the old man told him it
was ok if he kept it.

Old man Crumbo was a Potowattamie Indian from Oklahoma and had moved
out west to a small town and had his own garage, he had picked up the
rug years ago for ten dollars on a train trip to Albuquerque in 1930.
He put on the floor and it had taken a beating as it layed there all
those years with loose fringes, it was sort of brown with soft colors,
zig zag in design, it was of little worth, that Burnwater rug.


Jasper took it home and his mother washed it and put it across the bed
to keep his little sister's legs warm at night, her name was Karen, but
everyone called her Laughing Girl. She got used it taking it everywhere
with her and when she stood up she could wrap herself in it. She was
small and watched everything and everybody, and played around the yard
with her toys. They lived in Bakersfield, California. That blanket
covered her each night and she got used to it.


It was Fall and the family decided to go to the Navajo Nation Fair back
home and they packed up and left, staying with their grandma way down
there at Oak Springs.


They went to the carnival, and saw all the exhibits. The little girl
would get tired and her mother brought a small wagon for her to ride
and she took that blanket with her. They spent the whole day at the pow
wow and traditional song and dance and night fell upon them. Laughing
Girl was five years old and had heard her Shimasani-grandma talking
about learning to share and how all people, not just Navajos have to do
that to grow up the right way.


Laughing Girl sat quietly and watched at the Pow Wow as there was a
give away by a family of their most prized possessions, a dancers
rocker or roach as it is called, some buckskin leggings and shawls of
all kinds. It was a nice thing to see.


It was late and they decided to leave and it was getting cold.


A young mother came from Pinon, way over west of Chinle, to the Fair
with her boyfriend, who dropped her off and told her he would meet her
at the carnival in a little bit. Pinon Lady, she waited for him to
return, and after awhile she and the baby went and saw all the exhibits
by themselves. She saw some old friends from Chinle who held the baby
and talked to her about how she was doing. She told them she was fine
and that she was living in Pinon way out in the sticks; that they were
just there for the day.


As night fell the wind began to blow and it was a cold wind. Pinon Lady
had left somethings in the vehicle, thinking if they needed them she
would get them later. She was tired and sat by the entrance to the Fair
grounds waiting and looking for her boyfriend to come and get her. She
sat on a parking strip and tried not to notice the people looking at
her, saying to themselves why didn't she bring a coat or something for
her and the baby.


The little red wagon came by her and a little Laughing Girl watched
her as she was being pulled by her mother. There were a lot of Indian
people going home and the gate was full so they had to stand in a crowd
waiting for people to get through the gate. The wind had a chill and
the young mother stood up and tried to see over the crowd looking for
someone so she could catch a ride home.


The little red wagon got to the truck with a camper, and Laughing
Girls' family noticed that the blanket was gone.


It must have fell out. It was dark but they went back since they
thought the little girl would cry to lose it there. They went back to
the fair grounds and saw it. It was wrapped around Pinona Lady and her
baby sitting by the front gate. The family stopped and Laughing Girls'
father went to the woman sitting there and said, I think that blanket
belongs to us.


The woman with the baby, looked at him and then the little Laughing
Girl said in a quiet voice....It is ok, Daddy...I gave it away to
her....


The father looked at his little girl and she looked at him and said, it
is my give away...the baby needs it...it is cold...


The family stood around there and looked at the little girl...she said,
it is my give away like at the pow wow....grandma said we do that at
sings, they crawl on the hogan and throw things down the people like
and sometimes what they need.


The father looked at his little girl and then at the woman with the
blanket and the said to her....my little girl has given your baby a
gift I think...


Just then a person walked up and said, to Pinon Lady, Rita what are you
doing here? Do you need a ride or something? The young mother got up
and said, Yes, I think I dom U am so glad to see you...she turned
around and gathered the things she had and took the blanket off to give
to the Laughing Girl.


The little girl said, you can cover him with it, it is a warm one...it
is his now...


So it was this way at the fair one night sometime ago.....
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