Wesley was inundated with requests from nearly every department about Natalynn Winningway's second ultrasound...had it been done yet...when would it be done...had she had an amniocentisus....was she scheduled for one.....

WHAT THE HELL WAS GOING ON ??????

what did someone know she didn't know ???

"Dr Shambala" she said as Queenie rushed in looking slightly disleveled and breathless...."i've got a lot of request here that don't make sense to me".....and she pushed them all across the desk in a pile toward her boss

Queenie picked them up and ruffled thru them...the look on her face became more and more serious....Wesley heard her mumble something under her breath....then Queenie said...

"we got that the 2nd ultrasound done right" ???

"i scheduled her" Wesley said

"but did she show" ???

"i can't believe she didn't....Natalynn is very conciencious about her care....but let me check".....

a brief phone call later answered that question....

"isn't she 22 weeks now Wesley"

"yes' said Wesley

and Queenie was off like a bullet out to her 4 wheeler to drive to the tribal summer retreat in the canyon.....

Wesley had never seen Queenie so anxious before....there was always some tension with these births....the kind Queenie attended....but this seemed different....Wesley had a feeling she hadn't had since the first Gene Cleaned birth....a feeling she never thought she's have again with the sucess rate they'd had on the Rez....

if there were any anomaolies SHE hadn't heard about them... but she wouldn't would she....the medical wall of silence would go up so fast it would make her head spin......

something was up.... something she had no business knowing about..... and she offered a little prayer up that this would all be a tempest in a teapot.... but that teapot had been on the boil too long to change the outcome now.....

Natalynns son Michael had aready become multicultural he was as well versed in Plains Indian lore as he was in his own he rode horses with abandon and had learned all their dancing and drumming songs
he was eager to wear the costumes and take part in the Pow Wows both on the Rez and off

he let his hair grow long to covered the flatness of his Makah forehead altho he could do nothing about the underbite of his jawline

this kind of assimilation hadn't been easy but not as hard as their grandfathers had been they were taken away from their parents sent to "white" schools not allowed to speak their own language
yes this was easier

but was it better ??????

the old women of the tribe believe in new beginning

they had held the truth of agelessness in their heart and want more for themselves and their grandchildren

they encouraged the young men to have the gene cleaning done

and waited thru the generation to see the medical procedure had done for the Makah nation

Michael was a perfect example of the success of the procedures, born from a family of diabetes and alcoholism he showed no traits for those diseases

all the grandmothers wanted to know was when would the family be able to leave the trails and come home

more then 60 years had gone by with just 3 times a year visits

it was time for them to come home to Neah Bay..they needed them come home