Love? Karp thought. Get me my shotgun; I'll shoot the sneaky bastard.
Marlene examined the crucifix. It was simple-the work of someone with only a pocketknife for a tool-yet the simplicity gave it grace and power, and it had obviously taken Ned many hours to carve.
"It's beautiful, Ned," she said and walked over to give him a kiss on the cheek.
Blushing, Ned said, "I thought something carved out of that tree might still have some luck left in it for you and your family."
There's something wrong with this kid, Karp thought. Nobody's this nice.
"Trees have spirits, too," Jojola noted as he emerged from the boys' bedroom with an armful of presents. There were two small bone-handled knives for the boys, who looked with puppy dog eyes at their father, who in turn rolled his but nodded. Jojola gave Lucy and Ned matching silver bracelets-"made by one of the best silversmiths in the pueblo"-and a beautifully woven rug to Marlene. "It's Navajo," he shrugged. "But they're okay people once you get to know them. A little full of themselves."
The last present Jojola handed to Karp in a small box. Inside was a stone carving of a bear. "It's a fetish," he explained. "We believe that every human being has a kinship with an animal spirit guide with whom they share personality characteristics. Mine is the eagle. Marlene's is the cougar."
"Figures," Karp said. "Something with claws that bites."
"Independent, courageous…a giver of life to its cubs, and a bringer of death, but only to feed or protect her family."
There was an awkward silence that followed the word death, so Jojola moved on quickly, "I asked the spirits to show me your totem. A bear appeared to me in my dreams and he spoke with your voice, saying something like, 'Wa a leak come salon.' I don't know what that means-it's not Tiwa, my people's language, but it's probably important."
"Wa alaikum salaam," Lucy corrected him. "It's Arabic and means 'And unto you peace.' It's a traditional response to the greeting 'A salaam alaikum," which means 'Peace be unto you.' I wonder where you would have picked that up."
"I don't know," Jojola said, "but when bears talk, I listen." He turned back to Karp. "The bear is a very special animal to most Native American tribes. He is the most powerful animal in the wild, but he doesn't rely on just brute strength. He is clever and will try to solve a puzzle before turning to force as a last resort. The bear is thought to be wise and contemplative because for four months of the year he hibernates and thinks deep thoughts before emerging in the spring to put those thoughts into action. Sometimes he appears to be moving so slow that you cannot imagine he has another speed, but if he charges, he can outrun a horse. Oh, and if someone is stupid enough to tangle with an angry bear, the bear usually wins."
Karp turned the fetish over in his hand. It was crudely chipped out of some sort of quartz or a similar mineral he couldn't identify. He liked the feel of the stone; as small as it was, the figure did seem to imply a creature of power. "Thank you, John," he said. "For the bear and the thought."
Marlene handed Jojola a box. He opened it and lifted out a strange-looking headset with what looked like small binoculars attached.
"Cool!" Zak shouted. "Night-vision goggles!"
"A Rigel 3250 with built-in infrared for illumination even in total darkness," explained Giancarlo, who'd helped his mother pick it out at the Sharper Image and knew all the details by heart. "It weighs less than a pound, which makes it one of the lightest on the market."
Karp thought that Jojola's bronze face looked sad for a moment-the lines around the eyes and mouth deeper, his brown eyes seeing something not in the room. But then the Indian smiled and said, "It is a wonderful gift."
Marlene started to reply, then choked up a little before finally shrugging as if she'd given him a pot holder. "You said that it's dark where you're going."
"What do you mean by that?" Karp asked.
"Yeah, where's John going?" Giancarlo wanted to know.
"He just got here," Zak complained.
"It's nothing," Jojola said. "I just have some business to attend to for a few days. I'll see you after that."
"Cool," Zak exclaimed. "Commando stuff like when you were in Vietnam?"
"Nah, nothin' like that…just looking around. We'll talk about it some other time. This is Christmas morning, and I think there's more presents under the tree."
Lucy and Ned then exchanged gifts. She'd bought him a new pair of boots and he gave her a silver heart-shaped locket with a photograph of his face inside. "So you never forget what I look like," he said and kissed her gently on the lips, a gesture that sent a spasm of pain clutching at Karp's frontal lobe.
When all the other gifts had been handed out, Karp gave Marlene a small box. She opened it and found a key. "What's this?" she asked.
"Why, it's the key to my heart," he replied.
"Oh, honey, that's so sweet… But come on, what is it really?"
"Can't tell you yet," Karp said. "You have to wait until after the New Year."
"I'm supposed to wait until after the first to learn what the mystery key for my Christmas present fits?" she said. "That's not fair. I'll go crazy wondering what it is."
"Sorry, can't tell."
The twins and Lucy all giggled. Marlene glared at them all, one at a time. "Okay, I get it. This is a conspiracy to drive me insane and lock me up in some looney bin so Karp can bring his little Trixie into my bed, and you kids can run amok with no parental supervision."
"Guilty as charged," Karp said.
"Can Ned and I take Gilgamesh back to New Mexico?" Lucy laughed.
"Who's Trixie?" asked the twins.
Marlene swore that she would catch them when they were alone "and yank fingernails until someone cracks." But no one seemed to be giving in to fear at the moment, so they moved on to a simple brunch of pastries and juices.
Afterward, Karp lay down on the couch, determined to have a little quality family time watching the twins play with their new toys. But the games had beeped, pinged, and chimed until he felt as if he'd been chained to the floor of a Las Vegas casino, right next to the nickel slots. Finally he couldn't take it anymore and demanded that all electronic "anythings" be banned from the living room for the rest of the day.
The boys complied and took the games back to their room. But then the little monsters returned with their nonelectronic plastic samurai swords and armor-a gift from Uncle Ray, whom Karp intended to beat over the head with a law book when he saw him again-and commenced to hack at each other and then feigned loud, protracted, yet heroic deaths by ritual seppuku.
When Ned mercifully offered to show the twins the Peacemaker, Karp didn't put up a fight. "Anything to keep them quiet for a few minutes," he moaned. "But no firing blanks. No shouting. And no death scenes."
There'd been a blissful hour of lying on the coach with an ice bag on his head, while the twins and Ned talked quietly and practiced their quick draws. But twelve-year-old boys cannot help but occasionally shriek with joy at the heft and feel of a real cowboy gun, so he'd finally given up any pretense of quality time with anyone and retreated to his bedroom.
A little while later, Marlene popped her head in long enough to say that she and the boys were going to her parents' house to drop off presents. "I'll give them your holiday wishes."
He must have slept because the next thing he knew, she was back opening the door again. She walked in and closed it behind her. Kicking off her shoes, she crawled up on the bed next to him and curled up against his chest.
"How'd it go?" he asked.
"Well, if you don't mind the woman who gave you life referring to you by your sister's name…or watching your father try not to cry as he watches his wife disappear inside of the shell of a woman he no longer knows…it went as well as can be expected."