Roanhorse; G1

- This is a rather nice change. No manipulation needs to be done by us for our control families. We merely monitor them and track certain trends in the family and also keep full medical records. But it will be interesting to see what these families do with this "clean slate" they are being offered. -R.A.

Da go Te'. Hello! My name is Billy Roanhorse. I and my family are Apache. Which, if you think about it, is kinda funny that we move to a place named Cherokee Harbor. My wife's been dead a while, but I have a son and two daughters.

You can see them here. There's me, and my son Tommy, and Starling and Kelly.

And that's Tommy's woman, Weatherly, and their daughter, Jasmine. Weatherly's got funny ideas about names, but then you see what her folks named her.

To those who come after - we were living out on the res in Arizona. Things were looking kinda bleak, and my old bones were tired. But you know, Sky Father and Earth Mother provide. Tommy entered a contest for some big company that was building a town, and he won a house. A mighty fine looking house, too. So I am trying to look at this as a second chance for all of us. It will be good for Roanhorses to go to nice schools and have good jobs.

Folk seem friendly enough, here. Our first day we had some neighbors stop by. The woman there in the front of the picture is Kylie Kennard. But let me show you the rest of the family.

This is my daughter Starling. She's always thinking of ways to make money. Money, money, money. I don't understand her, sometimes, and I worry that she doesn't honor our traditions enough.

Here she is at the coffee shop in town, serving people coffee. I don't really approve of that, but , well... she earned enough money doing that to buy beds for all of us. That house is nice, but it wasn't furnished.

This is my other daughter, Kelly.

She's always talking to someone. She don't care who it is, really. If they listen, she talks.

Here's a picture of Weatherly and Tommy. Smart as Coyote, that one, and she loves my son. She's good people - Tommy did good to get her to marry him. 'Specially seeing how his main goal in life is to have a good time, seems like.

See - always playing. That's Melinda Warwick that just chucked a water balloon at him.

Kelly's surprised me since we've moved. She's constantly reading cookbooks now. She's got some idea about being a chef.

She's also been helping with Jasmine.

Not that I'm biased, but I do have some good lookin' kids and a good looking grand-baby.



"Tarleen, tell me story?"
"Ha, ha! Okay, Jasmine. What story do you want to hear?"
"Tell me 'bout Bat!"
"You sure you don't want to hear about how the birds selected a leader?"
"No! Bat!"
"Okay, okay. Come sit in my lap.

Once, long ago, Coyote thought he would take a wife, but did not know whom to choose.

"Why not take the wife of Hawk Chief?" Bat said, for Hawk Chief was missing, and had not been seen for many days.

But Hawk Chief returned and became angry with Bat for giving such ill-considered advice. He picked Bat up and slung him with full force into a juniper bush.

Bat hung upside down in the bush, caught by his long, pointy-toed moccasins. He twisted and he turned, but however much he struggled, he could not get free.

And from that time on bats hang upside down - even when they sleep."

"Hee hee. Silly Bat!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, looks like my girl does still remember she's Apache. I'm glad I caught her telling Jasmine folk-tales.

But time flies. It's already Jasmine's birthday. We didn't really have a party, but Starling's friend Elle came home with her after they got off work. They both work for the same fancy lawyer. Elle's good people, but spirits say the shadows are ridin' her hard.

And here's Jasmine after she finished her cake. She looks so serious.

Which is funny, because she's always playing.

And she loves to dance.

Especially with her daddy.

Speaking of daddies, Weatherly thinks she's pregnant again. She's got that "feelin'", she says. Seems like we need more kids about like we need a damned hole in the head. Everybody's excited, though, and well... heh. Nothin' wrong with more kids, I guess.

But yeah, it's official. And she's huge. This is her at the end of her second month, I think, and she looks like she's carryin' a buffalo around.

And you'd think, since she's done this before, she wouldn't be carryin' on so. Not that I'd tell her that. That's a good way for a man to get hurt.

But I guess it was worth it. Meet my grandson, Gavin. I guess that ain't so bad. We got another boy, now, to carry on the Roanhorse name.

And, er, a girl, too, Gabriel. Well. No wonder Weatherly was so big, and no wonder she had a bit of problems with the birth. That's my girl, though. Told ya she was a strong one.

Twins. Coyote's laughin' at me, I know it.

Kelly and Starling got to talking and have decided that with the house being full to bustin', now's probably a good time for them to set out on their own.

They're both good girls. They been savin' up money and Kelly got a townhouse a couple of miles from here, and Starling's just a couple of blocks over.


I think Weatherly is going to take it hard. She's used to havin' the other women folk in the house. I hope she ain't too lonely.

Well, that's about all I can write for now. My damned arthritis is actin' up again and makin' my knuckles hurt. I'll try to write more in a couple of weeks.