One of the things that happened there at the Indian School
a lot of times--
a young couple might meet, and later on, they
went-- get married.
So there's a lot of meeting other tribes there.
One of the things that we used to do--
have these after-school activities,
like in high school, and when that would happen you'd
have to call someone from the Indian School
to come pick us up, and this government car
would come and take us back.
That was a gray--
so this is a poem about that time.
And this is called "Sometimes Those Pueblo Men Can Sure
Be Coyotes."
"Sometimes those Pueblo men can sure
be coyotes, like the time Rena and I stayed late after school.
We telephoned the Indian School to send someone to pick us up.
This time, Mister Kayate drove up in the gray
'G-car,' the government car, that's what we called it.
And we had to call the men mister, and the women missus.
But we students had other names for them, because, you know,
Navajos easily make up names for people.
So Rena and I got in the back.
We were secretly pleased, because we
had the best looking Pueblo man chauffeuring us.
At first, we sat quietly, catching
glimpses of his dark eyes in the rear view mirror.
We had just pulled onto Central Avenue, when one of us said,
Éí hastiin ayóo baa dzólní'.
This man is very handsome.
Éí laa'.
I agree.
Then, we were making all kinds of comments about him in Diné.
Our enthusiasm running away with us saying those things
adolescent girls say.
[SPEAKING DINÉ BIZAAD]
I wonder if he's married.
Of course, these handsome men always have a woman.
How old do you think he is?
Do you think he has children?
And on and on, we did this all the way back to the Indian
School, never thinking he might understand us
until we got back.
Ahéhee' at'ééke, he said, thank you, girls.
As we half stumbled out of the car, our homework dropping
on the sidewalk.
That was the time a Pueblo coyote chauffeured us
in the 'G-car.'"
We didn't know that some of the tribes-- because they
intermarried, also learned to speak the language.