Shadow of Time

by Jen Minkman

  Hannah jumped up when she heard her cell phone vibrating in her bag. It was a message from Ben. “sis! r u in page 2?? i just saw your car :)”

  She stared at the text. Ben’s message made it painfully clear that Josh hadn’t told Ben she’d been outside the music store. So he obviously didn’t want to talk to her. Heck, he hadn’t even tried to run after her or call her.

  She dropped the phone in her lap, feeling miserable. Okay, Josh had every right to think she wasn’t interested in him after the ‘kitchen incident’. But he didn’t have the right to ignore her like he was doing now. Why was he acting like that?

  “You know what? Screw this,” she mumbled, switching off her phone. No meeting up with Ben when Josh was tagging along. Things were complicated enough as they were. Besides, she had a perfectly good reason to switch off her phone – she was in the library.

  A voice interrupted her train of thought. “Excuse me. Are you still reading that?”

  Hannah looked up and saw a brown-haired guy standing next to the couch, pointing at the book about Navajo religion lying on top of her bag. He looked about her age.

  “I’m sort of done with it,” she replied. “Why? Do you want to borrow it?”

  The guy grimaced. “You could say that. I’ve been searching the library for that book for hours.”

  “Oh, I’m so sorry! I just took it from the shelf to flip through it here.”

  “Yeah, thought so. According to the computer system, no one borrowed it, so I knew it still had to be on the premises. My most recent genius idea was to look for people reading books inside the library.”

  “What do you need it for?”

  “I’m writing part of my dissertation about the Navajo culture.” The guy extended his hand. “My name’s Nick, by the way.”

  “I’m Hannah.” She shook his hand. “Well, in that case you’ve come to the right place. Page isn’t far from the reservation.”

  Nick flopped down on the couch despondently. “You make it sound so easy. The truth is, I don’t know anybody in Navajo Nation, and most Navajos aren’t exactly eager to talk to a paleface asking them all kinds of questions about their culture and customs. So books are my best friends at the moment.”

  “Well, maybe I can help you out. My best friend actually lives in Naabi’aani on the rez. And my brother’s best friend is also a Navajo. I could ask them to talk to you.”

  Nick’s face lit up like a light bulb. “Really? Do you live in Page? Can you introduce me to them?”

  “I don’t live here. My brother and I are staying in my mom’s log cabin in St. Mary’s Port for the summer. Why don’t you drop by on Saturday? We were planning to go to the rez for a rodeo anyway.”

  Nick looked so excited she half-expected a ‘you’re-my-savior’ hug from him. “That would be awesome! I’m staying with my uncle in Page, but I can borrow his car and drive to St Mary’s. No problem.”

  Someone next to them distinctly cleared his throat. Hannah looked sideways and caught a dismayed librarian glaring at them. They were clearly talking too loud. “Let’s go outside. I think our enthusiasm is bothering people.”

  Nick followed her stare. “Good idea. I want to borrow this one.” He grabbed the book about Navajo religion and followed Hannah to the library desk. A few minutes later, they were outside, walking toward a bench in the shade.

  “So why did you decide to write about the Diné?” Hannah inquired.

  “Well, I’m a history student, but I took a few extra courses in sociology. I started to read a lot of background information about the birth of our nation, and about the way the European colonists dealt with the original inhabitants of this country.” He waved the book in his hand. “And I was wondering if it’s possible to explain why the Native American culture couldn’t withstand white domination by looking at it from a sociologist’s point of view. My uncle lives close to the reservation, so I picked the Navajo history as a case study.”

  “Oh, I’m sure Emily and Josh can help you with that. Especially Josh. He knows a lot about his own history, but don’t expect an objective story.”

  “Sounds good. Where and when do we meet up on Saturday?”

  Hannah looked around. “Why don’t we talk some more and grab lunch somewhere? I brought my own lunch, but those peanut butter sandwiches can wait.”

  They got up and sauntered past the stores and cafés on the main street and found a place to eat. While Hannah was leafing through the library book about Navajo religion, Nick was scrolling through the playlist on Hannah’s iPod. She was happy she’d met him. She felt completely comfortable around him.

  “Would you like another drink?” she asked Nick. He was absent-mindedly staring past her to the other side of the street.

  “You know what? There’s a Navajo guy standing across the street keeping an eye on us.”

  Hannah felt her heart skip a beat. Oh help. She knew what was coming next.

  “Hey, Hannah!” Ben’s voice called out. She turned around and sure enough, her brother and Josh were coming toward them. “I phoned you and texted you,” Ben continued when he got to their table. “Don’t you have your cell with you?” He flopped down on the seat next to Hannah. Josh sat down next to Nick, a smile on his face but a guarded look in his eyes.

  “I do. I just switched it off, I was in the library.”

  “We saw your car up the road,” Josh said. “Have you been in Page for long?”

  This was crazy. So he still pretended he hadn’t seen her at the music store. “Since this morning. And you?”

  “Yeah, us too.”

  “Let me introduce myself.” Nick shook Josh’s hand. “Nick Hartnett. I met Hannah in the library. I am working on my final thesis about the Navajo culture.” He launched into a full-fledged saga about his dissertation, telling Josh everything about the research he’d done so far, while bombarding him with questions. Josh immediately got caught up in Nick’s stories and didn’t as much as glance at her anymore.

  Okay, that was it. She’d had enough. First he completely blanked her at the record store and now he gave her the cold shoulder again. Distant much?

  Ben had flagged down the waiter to order some food as well. He poked Hannah. “We should invite Nick for our barbecue tomorrow. So Josh and he can talk some more.”

  Hannah shrugged. “Yeah, whatever.” For the moment, she didn’t feel like being a part of any activity involving Josh anymore. He could go on running hot and cold without her getting in the way of his mood swings, for all she cared.

  After lunch, Nick decided to go back to the library and look up some more topics that he and Josh had talked about.

  “What are you guys up to?” Hannah asked Ben and Josh, once they had paid and walked away from the restaurant.

  “We’re going to drop by the visitor’s center to get a program for Movies in the Park,” Ben replied. “You know, the annual open-air movie theater. You coming?”

  “Nah. I’m going to skip town and go to a quiet spot for a while. To enjoy nature.”

  Josh looked intrigued. “By yourself?”

  Like he cared. He’d left her standing by herself this morning too.

  “Yes, by myself. I can’t open up to my environment with other people around. Call it meditation or whatever.”

  “Beware, the Crazy Hermit is on the loose,” Ben teased.

  Hannah punched him. “Sticks and stones...” she replied. “Yada, yada. See you guys later.”

  “But ... what time are you going to be home tonight?” Ben sounded a bit worried all of a sudden.

  “No idea. I’m not going to keep an eye on my watch the whole time. That’s not really my idea of a relaxing, peaceful afternoon.”

  “Do come back before nightfall.” Josh unexpectedly put his hand on her shoulder.

  “Oh. Okay,” she stammered. So he did care about her after all. “Will do.”

  She waved at the two guys and turned around. As she started the car and drove away, she could still feel the spot on her
skin where Josh had touched her.

  Twenty minutes later, Hannah had found herself a nice spot on the beach of Lake Powell, a bottle of water in the one hand. She breathed deeply in and out, letting the beauty and tranquility of her surroundings sink in. The longer she sat at the lakeside, the more she became aware of how much sound there was all around her. Nature rustled and moved without pause. A soft wind tousled her hair, a small bird hopped around on a branch tweeting, the leaves of the trees whispered in the breeze. She spotted a beautiful, dark-blue beetle crawling past her feet, making its way toward the rock next to her.

  So this is what young Navajo men learned to listen for during their vision quests. They’d go off into the wilderness for days without food or water, learning how to be in sync with nature. They’d find edible plants, learn to listen for subterranean springs, train themselves to hear animals coming from miles away.

  Maybe that was why Josh seemed so mature. He was so much closer to nature than anyone she knew, and he seemed so much more human for it. He was so different from her other friends.

  Hannah closed her eyes and leaned her head against the rock behind her. She’d planned to spend some alone time, but now that she was alone, she couldn’t stop mulling over things that niggled at her mind. Plus, her backside felt sore from sitting in the sand, and the little flies buzzing in and out of the shrubs had all apparently decided to crawl into her ears. No vision quest for her today, then.

  Grumpily, she snatched her backpack from the rock behind her and pulled out her book. If she couldn’t sit still and enjoy the view, she could at least try and read a few chapters. Hannah threw a soggy sandwich in the sand next to her to lure away the flies. Any bug in its right mind would prefer peanut butter to her earwax.

  Fortunately, it didn’t take long for her to get into the story. By the time she finally looked up again, the sun was already setting. She’d better go home.

  Quickly, she packed up and climbed the hill separating the shoreline from the gravel road running alongside the lake. In a few minutes she was back at her car.

  Opening the trunk to get a cardigan, her eyes drifted to the gas tank hatch. It was ajar. That was weird. How could it be open? And why?

  Hannah slammed the trunk shut and put on her cardie, bending over to take a closer look at the hatch to see if it was broken.

  Nope. Nothing wrong. She’d pop down to a garage tomorrow and have it checked out just to be sure.

  Hannah got in and turned the key. A cold sweat broke out when she suddenly noticed the fuel gauge on the dashboard.

  It was below the red line. The engine didn’t sound too good, either.

  “What the freak?” Hannah banged her fists on the steering wheel, cut the ignition and got out again. She stamped to the side of the car and took another look at the gas tank hatch. Her eyes drifted to the gravel road beneath it.

  There were footprints there. And was that spilled liquid? Shaking her head in disbelief, she crouched down and picked up some dirt. It smelled like gas. Oh, this could not be happening! Someone had stolen her fuel. If she ever got her hands on the asshole who’d done this...

  Cursing under her breath, she sat down behind the wheel again. What was she supposed to do now? There was no gas station around here. The closest one was the station where she’d bumped into Josh, and she was never going to make that on the few drops of fuel left in the tank.

  With a desperate groan, she got out her phone and called Ben. He had to pick up. If he didn’t hear his phone, she had no idea what to do.

  Fortunately, Ben answered on the third ring. “Hey, Han! Whereabouts are you?”

  “You’re not going to believe this. I got myself stranded somewhere along Lake Powell. Some idiot drained my tank. They stole my fuel. I can’t go anywhere.”

  Ben was silent for a moment. “We’ll meet you there,” he said. “Where are you exactly?”

  “Close to that tiny beach where we used to go for picnics with mom.”

  “We’ll be there in twenty. First we have to pick up a jerry can of gas.”

  “Wait, Ben. Don’t ... don’t hang up yet. Can you keep talking to me?” A shiver ran through Hannah. This whole situation was unsafe. The sun had nearly set, it was getting dark, and she had no idea what kind of people were around. Apparently, not every passer-by was someone she would want to run into. Least of all her gas thief.

  “Sis? I’m stepping into the car. I’ll give the phone to Josh, because I have to drive.”

  Hannah swallowed. “Hey,” she heard Josh on the other end of the line. “Are you okay there?” He sounded worried. Of course Ben hadn’t told him what was going on yet.

  “No, I’m not. I am out of fuel. Someone stole my gas, and now I’m stranded here all by myself, and it’s getting dark. I don’t know what to do.”

  “First of all, get into the car and lock the doors. And stay on the phone until Ben and I get there.”

  Hannah did what Josh told her.

  “Did you have a nice afternoon before this all happened?” he went on.

  “Yeah, sure. I was sitting by the lake and enjoying the view. I also brought a book.”

  “Good. We picked up a ton of brochures at the visitor’s center, and we made tacos for dinner. I bet they’ll still taste nice when we get home.”

  Hannah’s lips curled up in a smile. “Sounds good. I wish I was home right now.”

  “Yeah, I understand. Well, it won’t take long. Ben is driving like a maniac.”

  In the background, Hannah could hear Ben let out a cackling laugh, and she grinned. “Are you sure you still feel safe yourself with him behind the wheel?” she said.

  “Of course. I drive like that, too.”

  “Oh, how nice of you to tell me. I’ll never get into a car that you’re driving, then.”

  “Too bad. And I just planned all kinds of nice trips for us with that pile of brochures as my guiding light. Don’t you want to join me?”

  She blushed. Good that he’d dropped the stand-offish attitude of a few hours ago, but it made her nervous. “By the way,” she rattled on, “I was wondering this afternoon about that school you said you wanted to found on the rez. How are you going to set that up?”

  Josh started telling her about his plans to start a native secondary school in the vicinity of Naabi’aani, and Hannah shared a few ‘teacher-fresh-out-of-college’ stories with him.

  “Sounds like teaching isn’t that easy,” Josh concluded after listening to one of Hannah’s anecdotes about the freshman group that had given her nightmares.

  “Oh, you’ll do fine. You seem sort of strict.”

  “Of course I am. Pupils will tremble as I enter the classroom.”

  Hannah rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that sounds very pedagogical.”

  “Oh, we’re at the gas station, by the way.”

  “Hmmm. Ben really drives like a maniac.”

  “Yeah, he’ll only be a minute, there’s no one here. Everything will be fine. Don’t worry, okay?”

  Her gaze drifted to the road ahead of her. Oh, crap. In the darkness, she could see three guys were approaching her car. They looked drunk. One of them was carrying a half-empty case of beer, and the other two were shouting at each other in unsteady voices.

  “Shoot.” She couldn’t help whispering into the phone. “Josh. There’s a bunch of drunks walking in my direction. They’ve seen my car.” One of the guys was pointing at her Datsun right at that moment. “Oh, damn.”

  “Are your doors still locked?”

  “Yes,” she quivered.

  “So just ignore them. They can’t bother you when they can’t get in.”

  She chuckled nervously. “You’re right.” Despite his words, her heart was beating in her throat.

  In the meantime, one of the guys had stopped next to her window. He bent over to look at her through the glass. “Are you okay in there?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” Hannah swallowed hard. “My car broke down, but help is on the way.”

/>   “Would you like a drink?” the second one asked, holding up a beer bottle.

  “No, thanks.”

  “Can’t we sit in your car for a while?” the guy next to her asked in a velvety voice. The third one plonked down on the hood of the Datsun, staring at her through the windshield without saying a word. The look in his eyes was downright creepy and intimidating.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Her voice was getting shaky. “I don’t know you guys, and I’m all alone. No offense.”

  Her eyes were following the movement of the three intruders. The way they moved was odd. It was like their bodies responded to one another, reminding her of a documentary she’d recently watched about packs of wolves and their group behavior. Goosebumps spread all over her arms.

  “Come on, don’t be a party-pooper.” The guy on the other side of her door tried the door handle and discovered the car was locked. He violently pulled the handle again, a few times. The sound echoed in Hannah’s ears like it was coming from far away.

  Oh my God, she had to do something before this got out of hand. Say something. Scare them off. “Keep your dirty paws off my car,” she barked, as snippy as she could manage. “If I’m not mistaken, I just told you to stay out of my car. Are you deaf?”

  She fixed the guy with an angry stare. He wasn’t even that much older than the pupils she taught. She could do this outside the classroom, too. Make clear where her boundaries were.

  The guy on the car hood crawled closer and tapped a finger on the glass, leering at her. “Or maybe you’re blind,” he replied. “I don’t think you’ve missed that there’s three of us and one of you. You really think we can’t force you out of that old car if we want to?”