Authors: Violet Walker
“A team I put together found that on a dig near the old salt lake,” Mr. Yazzie said. Diana turned to look at him. He had stepped out from behind his desk and was walking over to where Diana stood.
“You were given permission to dig there?” she asked, impressed. Almost no one had been able to dig at the Zuni sacred sight though many archeologists and anthropologists had put in requests.
“It helps to be a tribal member,” Mr. Yazzie said with a smile that seemed, to Diana, a little cocky. She decided to try and take him down a notch.
“I’m sure the fact that you could pay more money than anyone else also helped,” she quipped. Though, she regretted it almost the moment she did. It was as though she had forgotten momentarily that this man was her boss and she was a temporary employee in the middle of her first day on the job.
She looked back at him to see whether or not he was offended. To her surprise, he chuckled and continued walking over to her.
“I guess you’re right, that did help,” he said, “Also, the elected tribe leader at the time was my Grandfather so, I had an in that way.”
“I’ve always wanted to dig there,” Diana confessed, “in school I was fascinated by the Pueblo tribes.”
“Do you know the legend about the Old Salt Lake?” Mr. Yazzie asked.
“I’ve heard different versions of it,” Diana said. “I know that’s where the Zuni people are said to have originated. It’s called the Old White Salt Woman.”
“Very good,” Mr. Yazzie said, “I’ve rarely met a non-tribal member who knew that. But, do you know how the Old Salt Woman is connected to the white cougar?”
Diana shook her head ‘no’.
“My Grandfather used to tell me the story,” Mr. Yazzie said. “When I was growing up on the reservation he would tell me where our people came from. We were born out of the salt in the lake, he used to say. And then, after we were born, we were nursed at the breast of the old salt woman in the form of a white cougar.”
“So, this cougar represents the Old Salt Woman?” Diana asked interested. She had never heard that part of the tale before.
“Yes,” Mr. Yazzie said, “when the first peoples displeased the Old Salt Woman, she banished them to the northern lands where we have lived ever since. But, my Grandfather used to say that, one day, she would return to us.”
“How would she return?” Diana asked.
“He believed that her spirit would be born into a woman not of our people,” he said, “a woman with the heart of a cougar.”
“Like...reincarnation?” Diana asked.
“Something like it, I guess. It's just a legend."
"It looks like the legend has been around for a while, though," Diana said stepping forward to take a closer look at the vase.
"Just from the surface, I would say...nearly one thousand years?" She had guessed and when she turned from the vase back to Mr. Yazzie to see if her estimation was anywhere near accurate, her breath caught in her chest.
He was standing much closer to her than she had thought he would be. So close, in fact, that she could feel his warm breath against her skin.
“Very good,” he said smiling down at her from his significantly higher vantage point. “My team dated it to about 1,000 A.D. We found a few older items but most of those were donated back to the tribe.”
She looked up at him and smiled into his dark swirling eyes for a moment. Then, she realized that, if she continued staring at him that might lead to some less than professional behavior on her part.
Giving him a closed lipped smile, she moved away to look at some of the other pots and utensils encased on the tops of book shelves around the room.
“Did all of these come from the Salt Lake?” she asked.
“No,” he answered following her with his hands behind his back, “some of them come from other digs around the reservation. Some of them I bought at auctions. A few of them were even handed down to me.”
“That’s amazing,” Diana said looking at a cup that also had a cougar, this one black, carved into a white background.
“I knew mountain lions were a large part of Zuni mythology, but I had no idea they were so prevalent,” Diana said.
“Grandfather says that the cougar is the heart of our people,” Mr. Yazzie replied. “It’s said that there are chosen members of our tribe born with the soul of cougars.”
“What does that mean?” Diana said turning back to Mr. Yazzie interested.
“It’s supposed to mean that...some Zuni tribe members can...after intensive training...turn into cougars at will,” he answered, almost hesitantly.
Diana didn’t blame him. The idea was insane. Though, she had to admit, there were crazier theories being floated around by conspiracy nuts. One only had to travel to Roswell to see that.
“That’s an interesting idea,” she said slowly. Hoping desperately that her skepticism didn’t offend him.
“It’s like the old salt woman,” he said quickly, “just a legend.”
The odd half smile he sent her as he said this, undercut his words. He looked down at the ground and began, for the first time, to look uncomfortable in his own office.
“Well,” Diana said, hoping to lighten the mood, “it’s more interesting than my parentage at least. I lose my family history at Ellis Island.”
“Have you ever tried to find out more about them?” Mr. Yazzie asked. Diana shook her head ‘no’.
“To tell the truth, I’ve never been all that interested in my own family history,” she admitted. “See, I think we already know enough about European history as it is and it’s not nearly as interesting as the history behind so many other cultures.”
“Like mine?” Mr. Yazzie asked.
“Well...yes,” Diana said, hoping again that this didn’t offend him. She knew a lot of Native Americans got upset when Europeans became interested in their culture. They called it appropriation and while Diana usually simply rolled her eyes at their criticism, she did not want to offend her boss. Especially not on the first day on the job.
Luckily, he smiled at her again. Looking at her once again as though he had never seen anything quite like her.
“Let me show you something,” he said suddenly. He beckoned her over to his desk. She followed hesitantly as she saw him pull a drawer open behind his desk.
“My Grandfather gave me this when I came of age,” he said. Diana moved closer as he pulled out a bright white marble trinket formed in the shape of a cougar hanging from a leather strap.
No longer hesitant, she moved quickly over to the desk to examine the artifact. She looked at the small trinket in Mr. Yazzie’s palm. It was exquisitely carved. The deep, cavernous eyes seemed to pull her in, exactly as Catahassa Yazzie’s had from the cover of that Forbes magazine. Indentations were made in the rest of the marble perfectly indicating the fur along the animal’s spine and tale.
It looked, oddly, like more than a talisman. It looked alive.
Diana reached out her hand slowly before looking up at Mr. Yazzie with hesitation.
“Do you mind if I…?” she began.
“Not at all,” Mr. Yazzie said holding the necklace out to her.
She put her finger tips along the marble edge and fancied that she could feel the long, soft fur and even hear the strong padding of the animal’s feet.
“This has been in my family for as long as anyone can remember,” he said.
“It’s beautiful,” Diana answered, “it looks almost as old as the vase.”
“It is,” Mr. Yazzie answered. “The white cougar represents the winds of the east. According to my Grandfather, that’s also supposed to be where the Old Salt Woman’s spirit will return from.”
Diana’s fingers still played along the marble and she could feel an awestruck little smile beginning to form along her lips.
“You like it?” Mr. Yazzie asked.
“I love it,” she answered. “I can see why you take such good care of it.”
“Well, now
you
can,” Mr. Yazzie said. “You can keep it.”
Diana took a step back and looked at him, shocked. This was a priceless item, not to mention a family heirloom. She knew that she would never give something so precious away. Especially not to a near complete stranger.
“I couldn’t,” Diana said definitely dropping the trinket and taking a step back.
“I insist,” Mr. Yazzie said taking a step closer to her, “consider it a welcoming gift.”
“Do you give priceless family heirlooms to all your new employees?” She asked with an awkward chuckle. Her heart began to thud in her chest as Mr. Yazzie continued to move towards her.
“No,” he answered. “You’re the first.”
Diana had no idea what to say to that. The closer Mr. Yazzie got to her, it became more and more difficult to say anything at all. She could barely remember how to breathe.
“Turn around,” he said to her. He was very close now. Hesitantly, she did as she was told.
When she turned around, she faced a mirror just to the right of the largest book case on the back wall.
She looked at herself for a moment with Mr. Yazzie standing behind her. They made a very odd couple. Yazzie with his tanned muscular frame, symmetrical face and deep eyes stood in great contrast to Diana’s pale skin and short lopsided figure.
Still, she saw Mr. Yazzie staring at her with a smile in the mirror as though she were some kind of miracle.
Slowly, he moved the necklace around to her front and tied the leather strap around her neck. It hung just above her shirt collar and stood out brightly against her chest.
“It suits you,” Mr. Yazzie said quietly.
“Thank you, Mr. Yazzie,” Diana said in a breathy voice. Not daring to turn around, not daring to take her eyes off the image in the mirror for fear that it would disappear the moment she did; like the faded memory of a dream.
“Call me Cat,” Mr. Yazzie said quietly.
Then Diana gasped as he leaned his head down to her neck and placed his lips gently on her skin just above the leather strap he had just tied on her.
Diana closed her eyes and savored the warm sensation for a moment before there was a knock at the office door.
Diana jumped and she felt Cat (whom she formerly knew literally a minute a go as Mr. Yazzie) move away from her. She could feel her face glowing red and she hoped her blush would not be obvious to anyone who stepped into the office.
“Come in,” Cat said.
The door creaked open and Amanda stepped confidently inside. She ignored Diana completely and turned her attention to Cat.
“Mr. Gomez just called,” she said, “He wanted you to know that he’ll be in tomorrow at ten am.”
“Good,” Cat said, “he’ll be able to meet Diana.”
Amanda, for the first time, turned her gaze to Diana. At first, she merely surveyed her with the cold disinterest she had always showed. Then, however, her eyes seemed to land on the necklace dangling near Diana’s chest.
Amanda’s eyes narrowed and her face contorted into an entirely different expression. Her cheeks burned as bright as Diana’s but Diana could tell this was not embarrassment that covered Amanda’s face. It was rage.
She saw Amanda take a deep breath and she seemed to struggle to regain her neutral, cold expression as she turned back to Cat.
“Are you finished interviewing Diana,
sir
?” she asked, “She does have work to do, after all.”
“Of course,” Cat said quickly to Amanda before turning to Diana, “thank you for your time Diana. I hope you’ll enjoy your work here.”
“I’m sure I will,” Diana said giving him a smile and bringing one hand to touch the small talisman he had given her.
Cat smiled at her in turn as they stared at each other for one more moment. They both jumped slightly when Amanda cleared her throat.
Diana turned to her as Amanda beckoned her out of the office. She reluctantly passed through the glass door.
Amanda glared at her once more as she passed and closed the door rather forcefully behind Diana while remaining in Cat’s office.
As Diana hurried out, she was sure she could hear a rather loud argument beginning between Amanda and Cat, but she didn’t dare stay to listen.
“
W
hat did the old bitch want?” Sandra asked as Diana returned to her seat.
Diana, not wanting to reveal what had happened in Mr. Yazzie’s office, thought quickly about her answer.
“She just wanted to let me know that Mr. Gomez would be in tomorrow,” Diana said, remembering the last thing that Amanda had said before she left the office. “She wanted to make sure I understood the tasks I was supposed to perform for him.”
Sandra rolled her eyes.
“Typical,” Sandra muttered, “she doesn’t think I can train anyone. She did the same thing with Olivia when she came on a few months ago.”
Diana gave Sandra a slight apologetic smile, and she silently thanked God that Sandra hadn’t noticed the new necklace swinging against Diana’s chest.
The rest of the day passed without incident. Sandra told Diana more about the troubles with her boyfriend and his various female “friends”. Diana continued to half listen as she attempted to answer email inquiries and post articles to facebook.
Soon enough, the clock above them ticked five and she was saying goodbye to Sandra and heading to her car.
She walked out of the door to the suite and through the large double doors out of the building. As she headed to her car, she thought about the extremely odd events of the day.
Diana didn’t know quite what she had been expecting when she agreed to work for Yazzie Properties, but it certainly had not been that.
Not even in her wildest dreams could she have imagined that Catahasa Yazzie would, not only take an interest in her, but be as fascinated with her as she was with him.
She lightly touched the small, marble cougar that hung against her chest as she neared her car.
Suddenly, the cool marble seemed to grow warm under her touch. It was a slight change that could have been explained by the heat from Diana’s body.
She would have explained it away completely if it hadn’t been for the niggling, frightened feeling that accompanied it.
She began to feel as though someone was following her.
Diana glanced around her for any signs that this was the case. There was no one else in the parking lot. Cars passed along the busy street in front of her. Diana could hear horns honking, police sirens, engines revving but as far as she could tell, there was not another person in sight.
Trying to put the uneasy feeling out of her mind, she slipped into her car and started towards her apartment building.
The uneasy feeling did not lessen on her drive home. The marble talisman continued to burn hotter against her chest. And this heat could not be explained away by either the August sun beating down or Diana’s body heat.
By the time she had reached her apartment building, about twenty miles away from Yazzie headquarters, her hands had begun to shake with fright.
As carefully as she could, she parked her car and stayed, motionless in the driver’s seat for a long while.
She knew she had to get out of the car. She knew she had to get to her locked apartment where, she hoped, she would be safe.
She took several deep breaths and closed her eyes.
“It’s just a feeling,” she told herself, “you’ve gotten them before. They never turn out to mean anything.”
Diana
had
gotten feelings like this before. Like she was being watched, like she was being followed. The strange feelings had started when she was very young. Once, when she was thirteen years old, the feeling had become so overwhelming that she had had a panic attack in gym class and had to be taken out of school for the day.
Her parents had called her paranoid and perhaps they were right.
All the same, she got out of her car as quickly as she could and rushed towards the door of her first floor apartment. She unlocked it quickly and rushed inside.
As soon as she got inside and closed the door, she slumped against it and closed her eyes, taking two deep steadying breaths.
She was even more unnerved when the uneasy feeling did not cease. Instead it became stronger. Like an insistent screaming inside her head. The marble cougar continued to burn against her skin. Eventually, it burned so hot that Diana cried out in pain.
As soon as she did, her eyes flew open and her breath caught in her chest.
Across from the door where she was standing, outside the glass that lead to her balcony, stood a large, black, menacing cougar.
Diana opened her mouth to scream again but no sound emerged. She told herself to turn towards the door. To run outside. But the animal
was
outside. And, something in the back of Diana’s mind told her that this cougar was after her.
She stood paralyzed with fear as she watched it pace back and forth for a moment, like an animal in a cage at the zoo.
A moment later, the large, black creature reared back on its hind legs and made a flying leap for the glass door.
The shattering glass was deafening as the animal broke through and bounded towards Diana.
Instinctively, Diana grabbed a lamp from the end table by her couch and swung it at the beast while it lunged for her. This had no effect.
Before Diana knew it, she was on the ground. Large claws dug into her shoulders causing streams of blood to flow from them. She screamed in pain as the cougar snarled at her revealing its sharp teeth.
She reached out for the lamp once more, raised it and brought it against the creature's head.
The cougar let out a yowl as it bounded off Diana. It took only a moment for the animal to shake off the attack however and before Diana could pull herself up from the ground, the cougar was digging its claws into her shoulders once more.
The animal seemed to smile at Diana. An evil, malicious smile as it bared its teeth and reached its head towards Diana’s throat.
Diana closed her eyes, bracing herself for the bite. It never came.
Instead, she heard the creature let out another yowl and this time, a second snarl sounded from the back of the room.
She opened her eyes, wincing against the pain in her shoulders. As she did, she lifted her head to see what looked like a huge yellow mountain lion squaring off with the black cougar.
She could not tell if this new cougar had been inside her apartment from the start or if it had come in after the black panther had attacked her. Either way, at the arrival of this new animal, the talisman on her chest began to cool, and she knew instinctively that this newcomer would not harm her.
Suddenly, the yellow cougar lunged at the large black animal. Through eyes that were growing more and more hazy, Diana could barely see the two animals locked jaw to jaw in a fierce battle.
Her head began to spin in quick circles as she watched the pair dance almost gracefully, jaws locked across her apartment floor.
Before long, the large, yellow mountain lion, with a loud snarl, pounced on the black cougar and pinned it to the ground.
The mountain lion looked up from the black cougar to meet Diana’s eyes. Its eyes were dark, deep, and fathomless. They seemed remarkably familiar.
This was Diana’s last thought before the world around her faded to black.
THE END