The Fourth World: Authors Definitive Edition

  Mister Benally crouched down beside him, looking him in the eye. “Whatever the pain,” he said. “You are part of our family now. You no longer have to be alone in your pain.”

  Fintan nodded.

  “Clear your tears my friend,” said Bob. “It’s almost time to run.”

  At that moment there was a scream, a bloodcurdling cry, and Nizhoni began running away from the Hogan, eastwards. Everyone cried and ran with her, both young and old, but all followed her, none overtaking.

  Bob grabbed Fintan’s arm and pulled him along. Fintan, at first half running, and half being dragged by the giant man, shook himself free and followed her. It felt good to run.

  ***

  Having finished the run, Mister Benally went into his house and returned with several shovels. He handed one to Bob, and another to Fintan.

  “Now,” he said. “We dig.”

  They spend some time digging in the hard ground. It might be desert, but it got cold in the winter and the ground was icy. Bob carved out a perimeter using the length of a shovel, and instructed Fintan to dig about as deep as his elbow.

  It was hard work, but it gave them a chance to talk as they dug. Nizhoni’s relatives looked approvingly as the sweat stains on Fintan’s shirt as he worked.

  “They like you,” said Bob.

  Then, out of the blue, Mister Benally said. “Did you know that my daughter was once abducted by aliens?”

  ***

  Fintan was stunned. He knew from Nizhoni that the Navajo knew about the city, and figured that they knew about the aliens there, but from the tone in Mister Benally’s voice it seemed that he didn’t know anything about them. He looked to Bob, but couldn’t read the older man’s gaze.

  “I can tell from the expression on your face,” said Mister Benally “that you know something about it.”

  “So do you,” he said to Bob.

  Bob said nothing. Mister Benally looked back to Fintan.

  “I long suspected that your school is somehow connected with this. Why else would they take so many Navajo into it?”

  He looked into Fintan’s eyes, holding his gaze for a long time. Fintan didn’t know what to say.

  “I’ll take your silence as guilt,” he said evenly.

  “No,” said Bob, putting his hand on his friends shoulder. “He didn’t know.”

  Mister Benally looked back to Bob.

  “I’m sorry,” said Bob “that I didn’t tell you sooner.”

  “No,” said Mister Benally. “It’s okay. We Navajo are trustworthy, right, so we can’t tell everybody everything. We have to compartmentalize, so the secret doesn’t get out.”

  His words were neutral, but his tone was bitter.

  “I will tell you everything when I can,” said Bob. “Rest assured, your daughter is in no danger.”

  “She is close to those things that took her before, how can you say that?” said Mister Benally.

  “I don’t believe that they are the ones that took her,” said Bob

  “Oh, so there’s two breeds of alien?” said Mister Benally.

  “I don’t know,” said Bob. “I do know my brother is not there, and he was the one that was taken and not returned.”

  The big man’s voice was starting to break.

  Mister Benally looked down and continued digging. He looked up again.

  “I am sorry,” he said, “seeing my daughter like this brings back those memories. I am sorry I got angry at you.” He looked to Fintan. “Both of you.”

  They finished digging in silence.

  ***

  When the hole was complete, they filled it with wood and set fire to it. “To bake the edges of the hole,” said Bob. “Nizhoni is making a cake that we will bake here. If we seal the hole with fire first, it will not collapse nor leak sand into the batter.”

  Mister Benally returned to the house, and Fintan sat with Bob as they stoked the fire.

  “Six years ago,” said Bob. “My brother. My twin brother went missing. At the same time some children vanished too, including Nizhoni.”

  He paused before continuing. “Three days later, the children were found, wandering in the desert, distressed and crying. They had no memory of who there were and where they had been. My brother was never heard of again. There were stories that he did it, that he took them, and then suddenly got guilty and left them, while he ran and hid. It brought shame on my family.”

  He breathed deep. “My brother would never do anything like that.”

  Mister Benally had joined them; they didn’t hear him walking up with the crackling of the fire. He was carrying a ragged notepad.

  “In the days after that,” he said, “the children started getting their memory back, with Nizhoni more slowly than the others.”

  He placed his hand on Bob’s shoulder and sat beside him. There was a clear and close bond between the two men, one that would not be broken by a secret or a disagreement.

  “Nizhoni would dream at night,” said Mister Benally. “Crazy dreams, nightmares that would make her scream. She would scream that the ‘insect people’ had come for her.”

  “The insect people are from our ancient beliefs,” said Bob. “It is said that they came from other worlds to this one. On each of the other worlds they did something wrong or evil and were kicked out. They settled on this world, and blended into the human race. They are our ancestors.”

  ***

  “She would wake up in a cold sweat,” said Mister Benally “terrified from what she had seen. I would stand by her at night to be there when she woke. I listened to her talking in her dreams.”

  He lifted the notepad and flipped through it. He had a lot of notes. He showed Fintan one of the pages; something was circled on it several times.

  “It’s written in Navajo,” said Fintan. “I can’t read it.”

  “Then I’ll read it for you,” he said. “It appeared to be a name, but not one that I had ever heard before.” He ran his finger under the characters as he read them out. “It says, ‘Fintan’.”

  Chapter 24. Christmas

  The Kinaalda was due to go on for four days, ending on Christmas morning. Each morning and afternoon, Nizhoni would take a run to the East, each one longer and faster than before. On the afternoon of the third day, Christmas Eve, the women emerged from the Hogan, carrying buckets of batter and circular sheets sown from cornhusks.

  The women lined the hole with one of the cornhusks and Nizhoni continued to pour the batter into the hole. When she was done, a basket with corn flour was passed around, and each person sprinkled some on the cake, while muttering a blessing.

  Nizhoni offered some to Fintan and he took it and murmured ‘I wish you the best, you deserve it’ as he sprinkled it onto the cake. When all was done, Nizhoni uttered her blessing and they placed another cornhusk sheet on top of the cake.

  Night was falling, so the men quickly laid wood over the cake and lit it. “The heat will bake the cake,” said Mister Benally. “Someone must watch over it to make sure that it doesn’t burn too hot, or it doesn’t go out while we pray.”

  It was an all-night prayer, so Fintan took responsibility for the fire. They handed him a shovel and entered the Hogan.

  ***

  All night, Fintan could hear the prayers coming out the door of the Hogan. Occasionally the fire would begin to die, so he piled more wood on it. If it looked to be too hot, he would spread the wood around with his shovel.

  He thought he might have trouble staying awake, but that didn’t turn out to be the case. There was so much to think about. There were so many unanswered questions.

  Aliens had abducted Nizhoni, or so Mister Benally thought.

  When she returned she had had nightmares about the ‘insect people.’

  When Trichallik had visited him in hospital, Fintan had had a panic attack. Her eyes were like those of an insect.

  In her dreams she called out his name. His name wasn’t common, even in Ireland.

  When he first met
Nizhoni, he knew that she was Navajo, but how?

  He came to realize that she knew that she had said his name in her dreams all those years ago. That would explain her interest in his dreams. That would explain her interest in him. It was more than curiosity. There was a genuine affection in everything that she did. How could he forget her Kinaalda blessing for him?

  Beyond all that, how did this fit in with the school? Why were they really hiding under the Nevada desert in Area 51? What was the point? He heard the story about not wanting to cause mass panic due to the presence of the aliens, but was that the truth? Was something else going on? How was it connected? Was it connected?

  “Lost in thought young Reilly,” came a voice.

  Fintan looked up to see Nizhoni’s grandfather, the medicine man. “I thought you were praying,” he said.

  The old man smiled and chuckled a little. “Need to pee,” he said and went into the house.

  ***

  As dawn approached, Fintan was beginning to feel a bit sleepy, but he had come this far, he wasn’t going to pass out now. Of course, the closer it came, the further away it seemed, and the harder it was to stay awake.

  So it was a blessed relief as other relatives started to filter in for the last morning of Nizhoni’s Kinaalda.

  Fintan was so tired he could barely lift the shovel. An uncle took it off him with a kind smile and started moving around the near extinguished logs.

  Mercifully the sun made an appearance over the horizon. The flap opened on the Hogan, and Nizhoni emerged running. She passed Fintan with a smile and a ‘Hi’ and Fintan suddenly woke up. He leapt up and ran after her along with the rest of her family.

  After the run, it was time to go back into the Hogan to eat the cake. Fintan sat with Nizhoni’s family who she served last. They each took a bite from the cake, and it was delicious.

  “I’m not a child anymore,” said Nizhoni. “Now I’m a woman.”

  She smiled and touched Fintan lightly on the arm before going to talk with the rest of her relatives.

  I’m family now thought Fintan. These people have made me one of them.

  ***

  They slept in for the rest of the morning, and Nanabah, who never seemed to sleep, woke Fintan in the afternoon.

  “We’re opening presents,” she said excitedly. “Come!”

  Fintan felt cheap thinking about the Christmas that he had always celebrated. He felt disappointed in himself when thinking of Christmas being all about the presents. With this family, presents were almost an afterthought. A hearty dinner was waiting on the table as he came down, and a sleepy Nizhoni was waiting for him.

  There was no Christmas tree, but in the center of the room on a small plastic table, a nativity scene had been set. To Fintan’s surprise Mister Benally told the Christmas story, with sincerity and more feeling and heart than he had ever heard it told.

  “We’re not Christian,” said Nizhoni’s mother. “But we understand a story of sacrifice for the greater good, and the hope that it brings. So we like this story.”

  When he had finished the story, it was time for presents. Again, Fintan felt ashamed at his previous Christmases where the focus was on tearing presents open and screaming at whatever toy was within.

  Nizhoni’s family took it slowly, enjoying the moment. First they gave a gift to Nanabah who opened it and hugged her parents when she saw a new pair of shoes. “Now my feet won’t be cold in the winter when I walk to school,” Fintan heard her say.

  Nizhoni received a new blouse. She held it up against herself modeling it. “Red is your color,” said Mister Benally. “Watch out for the boys in your school when you wear it!” He winked at Fintan, and now it was Nizhoni’s turn to blush as bright as the red in her blouse.

  They then handed a package to Fintan. “You don’t have to,” he protested.

  “We do,” they said. Fintan opened it. It was a silver bracelet, with a turquoise stone in its center. “This is too much,” he said. A pang of guilt hit him. This was a much bigger present than what they had bought for their own children. Again he was humbled by the Navajo way.

  It was his turn now. He handed the package containing the wallet to Mister Benally who took it and unwrapped it with glee. “Wow!” he said. “It’s amazing. Thank you!”

  Fintan noticed him take his old wallet, which was beaten and torn, and take the very little he had in it to put into the new wallet. Most treasured were pictures of Nizhoni, Nanabah and Mrs. Benally. He passed it around the family, and all admired it. Fintan felt embarrassed that he had bought such a small and cheap gift.

  Next he gave the glass charm to Mrs. Benally. She unwrapped it, and ran to a window in the far corner of the room. She lifted the dusty shade, and he saw how the sunlight came through the window, throwing a spectrum of light through the charm.

  Nanabah cheered and clapped. Mrs. Benally hugged Fintan and kissed him on the head. He blushed again.

  “You white guys blush a lot, don’t you?” said Nizhoni.

  Nanabah was next, and she gasped in delight at the bracelet. Fintan was right. It did suit her.

  Finally it was time for Nizhoni. Fintan’s stomach fluttered as she opened it. Her eyes lit up when she saw the necklace, and she smiled broadly. Mrs. Benally took it in her hands and examined the handiwork. “Beautiful,” she said. “Such quality.”

  She took it and closed the chain behind Nizhoni’s head. The feather hung down around her neck, catching the light.

  “Thank you Fintan,” she said. “I’m never going to take it off.”

  Without a doubt Fintan thought it was the best Christmas ever.

  Chapter 25. Tryouts

  Bob was returning to the city a couple of days after Christmas, so Fintan decided to join him. Nizhoni would return early in the New Year with the rest of the kids.

  Bob arrived after dinner to pick Fintan up. He was surprised how emotional he was at leaving. Nizhoni’s father shook his hand and clapped him on the shoulder. Her mother gave him an enormous hug, and even Nanabah embraced him.

  Nizhoni hugged him too, shyly at first, but then more tightly. “I’ll see you in January,” she said.

  They left, and the drive back to where they had hidden the saucers seemed much further than it had when they were arriving. They drove mostly in silence, but not long before arrival, Bob slapped himself on the forehead.

  “Oh I forgot!” he said. “Thanks for the wonderful pen. I have something for you too!”

  He handled Fintan a ragged bundle. Fintan unwrapped it to see a beat up pair of binoculars.

  “Sure, they’re old,” said Bob. “But, they’re really good. I don’t think they make them like this anymore.”

  Fintan used them to look through the front of the car. Bob was right. They were good.

  “Bob,” said Fintan. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

  “Sure,” said Bob. “Anything.”

  “Did you teach Nizhoni how to fight?”

  “Yes. She’s a good learner.”

  “I want to learn how to fight. Can you teach me?”

  “Are you sure?” asked Bob, curiously.

  “Yes,” said Fintan. “Back home I was constantly bullied. If you do anything that makes you stand out, you get picked on. If you’re smart, dumb, short, tall, fat, skinny, whatever.”

  Bob said nothing.

  “I got bullied a lot,” said Fintan. “A lot.”

  “They call us savages,” said Bob. “Yes, my friend, of course I will teach you to fight.”

  ***

  They flew back to the city under cover of darkness, with Bob towing Nizhoni’s ship. Fintan memorized the map so he could figure out where Bob’s ‘secret’ entrance to the city was located. They landed and Fintan took the train back to the school, alone.

  It was strange walking back into the dormitory alone, but it was also good to have the place to himself for a while. He had some thinking to do.

  The days passed quicker than Fintan exp
ected. Between working on the unsolved questions that kept peppering him, and his afternoon sessions with Bob that both invigorated and exhausted him, the time flew by.

  One evening there was a clattering at the door of his dorm. He had been used to having things quiet when Zack poked his head around the door.

  “Yo,” said Zack. “Did you miss me?”

  ***

  It was great to start getting back into the swing of things. That evening Ayako turned up, and then later so did Nizhoni. The first thing Ayako noticed was her new necklace that she greatly admired, embarrassing Nizhoni a little.

  Zack, noticing this, decided to admire it loudly too and continue her discomfort. He kept looking sidelong at Fintan as he made a fuss over her necklace, an action that made Fintan uncomfortable too.

  “Okay, that’s enough!” said Fintan, irritated.

  “A-ha!” said Zack. “I knew it, you bought it for her didn’t you?” he laughed.

  “He did?” asked Ayako

  Nizhoni nodded.

  Ayako turned to Fintan with a big smile and a thumbs-up. Zack started making kissing motions, but quickly stopped when he was hit from three sides.

  Things were back to normal.

  ***

  The highlight of the first couple of weeks of school for everyone, regardless of their year was the tryout for Starball. In the first game of the season, the team had to make up its shortcomings with a draft, and it could only play the players that it had, with no reserves or backups.

  Now, there were a number of spots up for grabs. Simon made it clear that despite their performance in the first game, Nizhoni and Fintan would have to try out if they wanted to get on the team.

  “You’ve got it easy,” Fintan told her. “There’s no way he’s going to turn you down, you can fly rings around most of us.”

  “You’ll be fine too,” she told him, but he wasn’t sure that he agreed.

  “So what do you think he’ll be looking for in the tryouts?” asked Zack. “I’d give my back teeth to get on the team. Of course, that’s a good deal for me as my back teeth are rotten. Look!”

  He opened his mouth and stretched it with his fingers to say, ‘Aaah’ to let them see.