picking up a hitch hiker on a dark night...

remember this one hitchhiker I picked up late one night on the road
near Woodsprings, not far from Kinlichee west of Window Rock headed
toward Ganado, it was on State route 264. It was this time of year and
it was snowing, late and there was no moon. It was cold and the wind
was blowing the snow in swirls.
There was no traffic, it was late at night and I hadn't seen anyone on
the road since I left St. Michaels. I was in a police unit, Navajo PD
headed out to the Joint Use Area, Hopiland, those were the days of
border disputes and they were taking Navajo cattle and we were on 24
hour patrol driving the back roads from Jeddito to Pinon then west to
Hard Rock, Dinnebito and Big Mountain then South to Sand Springs along
the Turquoise Trail then along the road to Coal Mine mesa, it was a 48
hour shift, maybe 300-400 miles along dirt roads not many tourists
drive.
Anyway, as I was driving along the road, there was lone stick figure,
a dark shape on the road that I passed. I knew it was someone walking
out there late n the highway and a long ways from anywhere. I stopped
and went back to pick them up.
I thought it must be an old person, since the figure was small in size
wrapped in a blanket head to toe. I stopped and could the person
standing in my headlights, wrapped against the blowing crystals of
cold snow. It looked to be an old woman but I could not see her face.
She stood by the door to the police unit and couldn't open the door.
Her fingers were too cold, so I opened the door and said in Navajo.
"It is too cold, get in Grandmother, I am headed to Dinnebito and can
give you a ride"
She didn't say anything just got in and we headed down the road. My
unit was warm, I had shot gun mounted in the middle, was wearing my
side harm, had a .223 with a scope and an AR-15 in the trunk. The unit
was marked and I was in uniform dressed in a green down jacket with
good boots so I was warm and ready for anything. Well she didn't say
anything to me. Sometimes hitchhikers are like that too tired to talk,
and it was cold out so I could see why. The ride was quiet, she didn't
say a word. She looked from the size of her to be an old woman, but I
couldn't see her face.
I drove on down the road passed Morgan Shell, Ganado, Burnside
Junction, and Whipporwill turnoff, Steamboat, Toyei, and Beshbito,
passed Jeddito and into Keams Canyon where I gassed up. I got some
strange looks from the BIA cops from North Dakota that numbered
probably 200 or so who were sent to watch the Navajos and their errant
cattle. They watched me as I watched them. The old woman was asleep.
Some of the BIA cops in their blue uniforms were looking inside my
unit as I was paying for the gas. They didn't say anything to me when
I got outside. Even though we were cops we were on different sides, in
a way, they didn't talk to me. They were looking at the old woman but
they couldn't see her face either.
I drove off through Hopiland, passed Second and Third Mesa and then
got to Dinnebito turnoff. I stopped by the road and the old hitchhiker
just sat there. I said, I am going to Hard Rocks from here. She didn't
say anything just motioned with one arm to go ahead. I left the paved
highway and headed north on the bumpy washboard road leading to Big
Mountain. I drove thirty miles went past the boarding school and
thought to myself I wonder if she knows where she is going, Maybe she
has no place to go and just wants to ride around in a warm car. I
asked where are you going Grandmother, but she said nothing, just
motioned with her covered arm to go forward. I watched the road it was
dark.
Way out in the middle of nowhere there is a mission surrounded by
small houses. It was foggy and the dark, as I got to the mission there
were no lights on in any of the houses. It is a remote place. The only
light was from a glowing cross on the church, green neon cross that
seemed to float above the fog; it glowed strangely in the dark. There
was a mist on the ground and road was rutted so the ride was a hard
ride, bouncing up and down the road.
As I slowed there was a pickup that had been following me for
sometime, the lights appeared in my rear view mirror. I parked by the
mission turned my lights off and waited for the pickup. Who would be
following me around this place?
I waited with my quiet rider and then I saw it was two BIA cops in BLO
truck, they looked lost and so I got out and went to talk to them.
They were surprised to see my flashlight come on as I approached them.
They stopped and rolled down their windows. They were from someplace
up north, they looked lost.
What's going on guys, I said. I had thermos in one hand and offered
them a cup of coffee. They looked at one another, wondering whether to
take it. After all if worse came to worse we could be trying to arrest
each other over the JUA maybe, maybe not, who knew what was to happen.
They thought for minute. I said, there isn't another cup of hot coffee
anywhere for a hundred miles I said. They took the thermos and poured
themselves a cup. It broke the ice, we talked a little bit about our
work, the cold and things cops talk about and then I went back to my
unit to get back on the road. I told those two to head East into to
the dark, they would pass Wepo Wash of Hillerman fame and then would
come across a dirt road headed South that road would take them back to
Second Mesa. It would take them pass Awatovi, the site of a Hopi
village massacred by the other villages way back in the 1600's, I told
them not to stop there since there were some strange things known to
happen to people who went there especially this time of night. They
just looked at one another and I left them there.
When I got back to my unit the old one was gone. The door to the unit
was left open and she was nowhere to be seen. As I looked around all I
saw were the dark shapes of the houses not one had a light on. A chill
went up my spine as I wondered who I had given a ride to. I got in my
unit and headed down the road, heading North up through Black Mesa and
thought about getting to someplace where there were some lights. Maybe
the dispatcher at Kayenta PD might have a cup of hot coffee waiting
for me as I drove north through the fog. I switched radio channels and
called out.
820 to Kayenta. 820 to Kayenta. All I heard was static. 820 to
Kayenta, I called out, then after a little bit. I heard Rose the
dispatcher say, Is that you Sgt. Rustywire, her voice was friendly. I
said it's 820, we were supposed to be professional on the airwaves and
besides the other guys were listening. After all they were following
me around. I'm coming in for a cup.
She said when will you be here. I said I am at Black Mesa and will see
you in an hour and she said I will brew some up for you. I said
thanks, I told her I just dropped off a skinwalker, maybe I can find
one for you out here for you to bring back with me. She double clicked
the mike, meaning an affirmative ok and I laughed as I drove North
through Black Mesa heading toward sunrise.