Plant Them Deep Read online

  “Whoever it is steals mostly our medicinal and ceremonial plants, so they have some knowledge not only of plants, but of our culture.” Rose crouched by a damaged plant, then snapped two photos of it and of the holes left by the entrenching tool. “He found some ‘plant with yellow root’ growing here, but he’s damaged this one, and since I can’t see any other plants I can only assume he took whatever else was here.”

  “Some of these wild plants are almost impossible to transplant,” he commented. “Curly leaf dock is a perennial and is pretty hardy, but still, unless the person gets all the roots and keeps them from drying out in transport, there are bound to be a lot of losses.”

  “That’s probably why he takes so many. But none of the Plant Watchers would ever take the last plant, particularly this year when the Plant People are so scarce because of several years of very harsh weather.”

  “Is it possible that someone is purposely trying to harvest certain plants to extinction?” he asked.

  “I don’t know, but he’s certainly making the rare ones even more scarce, at least at the usual sites.” She thought of Maria Poyer, but even if certain ceremonial and medicinal plants disappeared, it didn’t mean that the tribe would fund her experimental program. Rose took a deep breath. “There’s another site, It’s more remote, and only a few people know the way down from the bluff. That’s where we should go next.”

  Rose led him to a high cliff on the west side of the river farther south back in the direction of the town of Shiprock. They parked away from the edge, then went to look over the bluff. The channel below was swift, and anyone approaching from the opposite bank would have to swim across or take a shallow draft boat or raft, a risky operation. A marshy backwater lay at the bottom, and a higher, wide strip of isolated ground was well populated with plants.

  “How do we get down there?” Willie asked, looking in both directions. “The cliff extends at least a mile in each direction before there’s a way down, and that green spot down there is surrounded by water and vertical cliffs.”

  “We’ll have to leave the dog here, because the first part is too steep. But there is a way.” Rose smiled. “My son, the medicine man, showed me.”

  With Kenmore lying in the shade of the SUV and tethered with a nylon rope to the trailer hitch, Rose led Willie away from the cliff to a clump of sagebrush. There was a hole to one side of the brush. “We go down there, squeezing past the brush. That is, unless the path has crumbled away since I was here last.”

  “Are you sure?” Willie stood closer and looked down. “Wait, I see light below. Let me lead the way, just in case.”

  Rose smiled at his protective gesture. Herman would have done the same. Willie lowered himself down to a dirt platform five feet below the surface. “Cool! All you have to do is duck under a ledge, and there’s a narrow trail leading down the side of the cliff. You can’t even see this from the other side, I bet. There’s a ridge blocking the view of the trail. This place is excellent.”

  Rose laughed at his youthful enthusiasm, then slipped down onto the path. Five minutes later, after a steep but manageable descent, they were on a moist shelf that was covered with vegetation. The isolated area was only about fifty feet long and twenty feet wide, but contained many species of herbs and grasses, some waist high. Here, near two mature junipers, they found some “plant with yellow root” close to the cliff side.

  “Curly leaf dock,” he said with a nod. “It’s often found at higher elevations, so the river must have brought the seeds down from Colorado or, more likely, Utah.”

  Rose took photos of the plants, then wrote a few notes on their location and condition. Showing them to Willie, she added, “Will this be enough for you to specify where we found them and the condition? I’m not going to report the route needed to get down here. That’s a secret.”

  “Your notes are perfect. I’ll add the scientific information today on the computer, and keep a running list. As soon as you have the photos developed, just let me know and we’ll give the photo a numerical designation that will match up with this site.”

  Rose collected several leaves and a small cutting, placing them in a moistened paper towel, then in a plastic bag. Once she knew the plant cutting couldn’t dry out, she placed the bag into a leather pouch she’d fastened to her belt where it wouldn’t get crushed. “I’m sorry your dog couldn’t come with us,” Rose commented. “He seems very gentle for such a large animal.”

  “He is, but he can be riled. Once someone tried to break into my home. Kenmore didn’t like it, and went after him. According to a neighbor, the burglar took off running, Kenmore at his heels. I was told the man set a new land speed record,” he added with a chuckle.

  Rose laughed. It was too bad Lena didn’t have an animal this size guarding her herb garden every night. But then again, if an animal that size walked through the plants, or decided to start marking them …

  A few hours later, after a productive morning, Rose returned to Shiprock in her own pickup. Her first stop was the hospital. After getting directions to Lena’s room, Rose went down the long corridor, reading the room numbers as she passed. She hated hospitals. She’d been in this one herself for far too long after her accident, and the only good memory she had of that time was when she’d finally heard she could go home. Now the smells and the sounds combined to fill her with a strong sense of dread she couldn’t quite shake no matter how hard she tried.

  Rose finally found the right room, peeked inside to confirm Lena was there, and then, stepped through the doorway. The ashen color of her friend’s face was startling. From what she could see, Lena had gone downhill from yesterday.

  Rose looked around and took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. Lena’s lunch tray was still on the adjustable-shelf wheeled cart by her bed, and she obviously hadn’t touched her food.

  As Rose came up beside the bed, Lena’s eyes opened. Rose smiled. “I see they brought you lunch. Do you need some help eating?” Without waiting for an answer, Rose cut up a small piece of turkey and fed it to Lena.

  She took two mouthfuls, but then shook her head as Rose was cutting another piece. “No more,” she said softly.

  “You have to eat,” Rose pleaded. “How else can you get well enough to leave?”

  “Later. Just sit down and visit awhile.”

  “Has my son come by yet?” Rose asked, taking a chair and moving it over by the bed.

  “Yes, and we spoke for a bit. He said a prayer over me, but we both know that more is needed. He promised to be back with an herbal tea, but the doctors have to approve before I can drink it.”

  “He’ll see to it that they will,” Rose said confidently. Here, on the reservation, the hospital tried to cooperate with tribal hataaliis, having seen the positive results Navajo rituals often brought. “I’ve got some good news,” Rose said, determined to cheer Lena up. “The professor and I found some ‘plant with yellow root,’ and all the plants were in great condition.”

  Lena smiled for the first time. “That is good news.”

  Rose spent close to two hours with Lena. Trying to lift her spirits, she spoke of the past and of happier times.

  “The old days just don’t seem that long ago to me. You and I used to get into so much trouble at school. Do you remember Mrs. Franklin?”

  “Our high school English teacher, the one with the blue hair and square glasses who always smelled like bath powder. She was always after us. How could I ever forget?” Lena smiled slowly.

  “I was so angry with her that day for accusing us of stealing melons from the cafeteria!”

  “She saw us eating a slice between classes, and didn’t even bother asking where we got it,” Lena said. “I can just hear her now: There are no excuses for your irresponsible behavior.’ Everything that happened in that school, according to her, was our fault. But we balanced things out real good. We found harmony,” Lena said with a twinkle in her eye.

  Lena’s soft chuckle turned into a weak cough, but it was worth
it to Rose to see her smiling again. “We came up with the perfect plan to get even with her.”

  “What’s this ‘we’? You thought of it. Of course, I was the one who knew how to pop open the trunk on her old car because my uncle drove the same model.”

  “I remember carrying that box of rotten cantaloupes from the cafeteria to the trunk of her car. And you found the frozen shrimp in the same garbage can. What a stroke of genius! Once the ice melted, the smell just kept getting worse and worse. She thought it was something she’d run over, or that had crawled into the engine compartment and died. The car stunk up the entire faculty parking lot by the second day, and she didn’t find out what the problem was until the weekend. By then she was furious, but she couldn’t prove we’d done it, so there wasn’t anything she could say.”

  “But everyone knew. The entire senior class practically worshiped us after that,” Lena said with a smile.

  Rose laughed. “You and I sure got into a lot of trouble together, but we always stuck together and got each other through it. Remember that.”

  It was then that Gishii, Reva Benally, arrived.

  After Rose and Gishii arranged to meet at Reva’s home later that day to discuss the plant situation, Rose finally left. Lena seemed in better spirits now, so, commending herself for a job well done, Rose went down the hall.

  She had just passed the gift shop and was close to the side exit doors when she heard rapid footsteps coming up behind her. Turning her head, she saw her old friend Charlie Dodge. Charlie was several years older than she was, and one of the tribe’s most respected authorities on native plants. He seldom came into Shiprock, however, preferring to live on the Arizona side of the reservation near Teec Nos Pos.

  “I’m surprised to see you!” Rose greeted warmly. “And here of all places.”

  “I was in the area, heard about our Plant Watcher friend, and came to visit her.” Charlie was small in stature, but he had an undeniable presence about him. His weathered face and bright eyes commanded both respect and authority.

  “I’m glad you came. Our friend needs people around her now who’ll remind her that she’s loved.”

  They walked out to the waiting area in the lobby and sat down together for a brief visit. “What have you been doing lately?” Rose asked.

  “Mostly working on a new strain of plant that can provide us with a reliable, natural blue dye.”

  She nodded. “That particular color’s always been a problem. Sumac and pulverized blue clay are sometimes used, but it isn’t very good. And indigo dye just isn’t native to the Dinetah.”

  “I’ve developed a new strain of ‘blue pollen,’ more as a result of luck than anything else. I used the old, reliable, but slow method of selecting seeds only from the plants with the darkest blue flowers, and cultivating for color. This spring I was surprised to discover one of my new plants was a mutation that has bright incandescent blue flowers. It’s still not as dark a color as I would have liked for the blue dye I’m trying to develop, but I’m getting there.”

  “It sounds very promising.”

  “It is. I was even contacted by a pharmaceutical company that was interested in herbs that could be added to food as color enhancers. Apparently many people are allergic to the synthetic food colorings used now, and the trend is toward organics because they tend to be healthier.”

  “I’m glad good things are happening for you.”

  “They are, but you sound sad. Are you worried about our friend and her illness?”

  “Yes, but I’m also worried about the Plant People,” she said, and explained what had been happening.

  He expelled his breath in a hiss. “That explains what happened to me recently. Someone got into my own plant garden a few weeks ago. They took some ‘tenacious,’ digging the plants right out of the ground, roots and all. Even in the best years that plant is never easy to find, so I was pretty angry about it for a while.”

  Rose pulled out the list of endangered plants the council had given her. “That’s one of the plants I’m supposed to check on.”

  “When I went in search of seeds or seedlings to replant what had been taken, I saw someone had been digging up a lot more plants, not only ‘tenacious,’ but other medicinal plants as well. He devastated two of my collecting sites. I’m keeping my eyes open for this person. Maybe I can catch him and put a stop to this.”

  “Be careful. But if you do see the plant thief, send word to me. I’m very interested in finding out who he is.”

  “Sure. I’d be happy to do that,” he said.

  “Will you be going back home today?”

  “No, I’m camping out tonight down by the river just south of Hogback. Later, I’m meeting with one of the professors at the community college so we can discuss my new plant. Those petals are a blue you’ll never forget and the flowers smell almost like lavender.”

  “I’d love to see your plants sometime.”

  “Whenever I’m home, you’re welcome to stop by. I have them growing under special lights for now.”

  After saying good-bye to Charlie, Rose went to buy more film for the camera at a local grocery store, then drove to Gishii’s house. Her pickup was there, so Rose knew she’d already returned from the hospital. She hadn’t even finished parking when her friend came out and invited her with a wave to come inside.

  Rose handed her the cutting of curly leaf dock, still moist and in the sealed plastic bag, and Gishii accepted it gratefully. “I still can’t believe someone dug plants up right out of my garden. He’s lucky I didn’t catch him!”

  Rose told her about the raids on Charlie’s and Lena’s garden. “You’re not the only one who has had this kind of trouble lately.”

  “I’ve also heard that some of our medicine men have had to buy herbs from each other, or trade, because they also can’t find the plants they need.”

  Rose nodded slowly. “I think it’s time we pooled our resources. We need a list of every plant growing in the gardens kept by the Plant Watchers. As a group, we may be able to provide much of what they need.”

  “That’s a good idea, but since our group of friends all live in this area, there’ll be plants none of us can grow because they require the coolness of the mountains, or other soil conditions not present here. Of course, even if we have other Plant Watchers across the entire reservation cultivating the plants that are scarce and can’t be grown locally, the main problem will still exist.”

  “I don’t know what else we can do.”

  “Tomorrow, five of our better-known hataaliis, including your son, are meeting on the west side of Beautiful Mountain at Water From the Rocks at noon. They’re discussing what to do.”

  Rose nodded. “Our mountains are said to be the forked hogans of the gods. It’s a good place to talk about what’s threatening us now. I’ll go to Beautiful Mountain and see the hataaliis myself. I’ll present my plan to them and see if they think it will be useful.”

  “Maybe you should think about this plan some more. Our gardens are to provide for the needs of our own families and clans,” Gishii said. “Not all of us would share easily.”

  “We can’t allow ourselves to think selfishly. We are all Navajo, and in a time of crisis, we have to pull together.”

  By the time Rose headed back home, the sun was setting and the sky was a vivid orange-red color, a beautiful side benefit, she knew, from the dust in the air. It had been a long, tiring day, but she’d accomplished a lot of good. Now, she was looking forward to spending time with her family.

  Rose reached home within a half hour. As she came in the front door, scratching Two, her mutt, behind the ears, Dawn rushed up, her sneakers thumping across the thin carpet, and gave her a hug. But before Rose could even ask her about her day, Dawn wriggled away and ran back to the floor in front of the television. A nature show was showing on her favorite channel.

  Rose smiled. Sometimes her granddaughter amazed her. She was just like Ella at that age, with the same streak of independence that was r
are in children that young. Ella had loved her friends and her family, but like Dawn, Ella had been perfectly happy playing alone.

  To her surprise. Rose found Ella in the kitchen and, as she came in, smelled the mutton stew warming on the stove. Rose looked at her daughter quickly and tried not to cringe. If Ella had fixed the stew, experience told her it would be inedible. Ella had never taken any interest in cooking, and invariably got distracted in the middle of what she was doing. That often resulted in a forgotten ingredient, or a potful of food that set off the smoke alarm. Last time Ella had fixed supper, even Two had refused to go near it.

  “Did you …” Rose’s voice trailed off as she tried to figure out a way to gently phrase the question.

  “Relax, Mom. Boots fixed dinner. I’m just heating it up for you.”

  Rose smiled, but inwardly she was relieved. Boots was an exceptional cook. “Have you eaten already, daughter?”

  Ella nodded. “My daughter and I finished our meal about a half hour ago. I would have waited for you, but she was hungry and I took the opportunity to have dinner with her. I rarely get to do that with my random hours.”

  “That’s all right.” Going to the stove, Rose served herself a steaming bowl of stew, took three pieces of fry bread from a paper-towel-lined dish on the counter, and returned to the table. As she ate, she told Ella about her day.

  “The distinctive shovel marks and missing plants are pretty obvious, all right,” Ella commented. “Why do you think someone’s stealing our plants? What possible motive could they have?”

  “I’ve been thinking a lot about that. At first I saw it as malicious, but that may not be the case. It’s too much work for a troublemaker. The professor mentioned some good possibilities and it started me thinking. What if this person is actually trying to preserve our plants? Everyone knows that the Plant People are scarce because we’ve had several years of drought. Maybe someone is trying to save what’s left by digging them up and replanting them in a special garden someplace where they can make sure they survive.” Rose took several more bites. “But he or she’s obviously in a hurry, perhaps worried about being seen, and several plants have been so damaged they were just left to die. And then there was one chopped to pieces, like the person lost their temper.”