by D. J. Holmes
* * *
After driving I-15 South for several hours, Evan has decided to pull off the road behind a large truck stop and rest for the night.
Leaving his car behind the trucks as the sun rises, he goes into a restaurant for breakfast.
“What’ll you have for breakfast, sir?”
“I’ll have pancakes, bacon, eggs over easy, toast and orange juice.”
“You must be hungry?”
“Do you have any Utah maps here?”
“They’re up by the cash register. Shall I get you one and put it on your bill?”
“That would be great. Thank you, very much.”
After breakfast, Evan follows several trucks as they enter I-15 South on their way to southern Utah.
Knowing most of the way, Evan grabs the map he bought at the truck stop to verify his path to Goblin Valley.
“Julia, I wish you were with me, but then again I’m glad that you’re not. You’re safe at Daniel’s, and I don’t know how this whole thing is going to turn out.”
“Maybe I should relax a little. Maybe, just maybe, I’m over reacting.” He begins to notice his surroundings, as he continues to drive.
“Everything looks so different from what I remember as a young boy. Maybe it’s the type of homes that people live in now. Or, maybe it’s because I’m traveling in a car rather than riding on a horse… But what I feel is different also. I can feel fear, loneliness and confusion in the air. When I was a boy, all I could remember feeling was strength, togetherness and a clear direction to lead my life. My childhood was a wonderful time.”
“I remember the fun that I had as a child with my friends. My older brother wasn’t that fun. He was always mean to me. My tribal friends were my true brothers.”
“My father, Chief Joseph, taught me how to make bows and arrows, how to hunt, how to be a leader, and he set an excellent example of how to be a good husband and father.”
“My mother, Mother Willow, taught me how to cook the meat that I killed and how to keep my belongings picked up in our tipi. She also tried to teach me how a woman thinks.”
Laughing, Evan wondered if a man would ever understand that. Quickly thinking of Julia, he remembered that she had said many times that it was hard to understand why men think the way that they do. “I suppose that we are completely different in how and why we think the way that we do. Why did my parents get along so well then?”
Thinking for a while he remembered how they treated each other. “I remember them telling me that I couldn’t expect other people to act and react or to think through things the same way that I did.”
They also told me “You have got to allow people to be themselves; to think of things in their own way, to act and to react to things in their own way. You see we are all different because God made each of us unique. It becomes our job to be patient and to learn to understand others, especially the people that we marry and that are in our family.”
As I was growing up they pointed out that it was important that abuse was never to take place physically or through words: no hitting, no yelling and no cursing because it brought negativity into your relationship and into your home; God did not dwell in a home of this kind.
“Both of my parents were great they taught me that I should be kind, gentle and always show respect to anyone that I come in contact with. Not only did they teach me this quality, but they showed me through their example also…. Yes, that was a childhood that all children should have. But, right now, I’ve got to get back to the present.”
Looking once again at the map, Evan begins to plan his way to the top of Big Wild Horse Mesa. “If I can hike from the town of Hanksville to Goblin Valley where the Big Wild Horse Mesa is, and then climb to the top of it, Daniel, will come to get me there like he did before.”