Nunescadi Nunescahdi’ our word for Navajo tortillas. My grandmother and mom were sitting in the front room of my grandmother’s two room house. We were sitting at the table, the wooden top having the marks of many meals served on it, my mom was sitting looking East out the screen door. Go get some water in from the drums she said. I took the pitcher and dipper and ran out by the little coal shack to the water barrels and dipped out cool water and slowly walked back to the house. We had just gotten back from checking the mail at the trading post and it was still morning. Grandma stood at the porch and was looking through her glasses at the Navajo Times, her glasses were on her nose halfway down as she looked at the paper. Mom was at the table, dipping out cupfuls of flower into a large white pan, porcelain with a strip of red around the rim. There was a small chip on the rim showing the black metal underneath. Mary Jumbo was at the trading post just a while ago. She was one of the oldest ladies around, she lived North of the Toadlena Trading Post about a ½ mile on the side of the mountain. She lived alone and her hair was all white, it looked like if a strong wind came along she would blow over, but she made her way every once in a while to the trading post for the mail just like us. The old folks took their time to get there, you see the trading post sits on the side of a hill so you have to walk up the hill, king of steep at the last part to get to it. If you went early to get the mail, you would find the old folks like to sit outside and watch the comings and goings of the place. They would sit there and talk and visit for a little bit. There weren’t many secrets there in that place, cuz most people all knew what you were doing sometimes before you did it. Mary Jumbo wore herwhite hair in a traditional bun, with a long dress and old velveteen shirt that has a few missing buttons. She always had an easy manner and for a smile every time I saw her. Mom was putting in the baking powder and slowly mixing the four, her hands were now coated, all white. Grandma sat down. Get your Grandma, a cup of coffee, Sonny. I put a cup in front her as she looked at the page for pictures. My mom said, Mary Jumbo’s daughter, Ella is coming back from California, her and her kids are coming back sometime in the nest two weeks, dahtsii-(maybe, I guess) . They are going to move in with her up on the hill. She poured in the water and started to mix the flour, it was all soft and gooey. She worked that dough like she had so many times before. She said, Nellie Theodore is going to the clinic today over the Shiprock, she is not feeling good. Her son is coming from Farmington today, supposed to be her, so she’s gonna make him take her. Nellie Theodore was one of my relations, I don’t know how, but she was family and I had to listen to her when she got after us for running around the trading post. The dough was getting round and my mom used her hands to knead that dough over and over. Grandma said, Maybe we should go see Nellie, over to her place to check on her. Nellie’s kids were all living away in Farmington and only came on the weekends. I knew before I heard it, Sonny, you better go see her in a little while, I said, ok, Grandma had used the wood stove to heat water for washing dishes and took some pieces of wood and lifted the round top of the stove and put the wood in their and then put the heavy iron pan on. She reached into the cupboard, covered with curtain and took out the butter and put a little in . My mom was flipping the small balls of bread between her hands flattening them out, this one was ready and she put it in the pan. She then took another one and started to flatten it and make it round so she could flip it back and forth. That Mr. Stock, the trader at Two Grey Hills is moving from there, they said. Grandma looked up at the paper. Mr Stock had been there for ages and everyone knew him. He must have gotten tired of the place, no civilization out here. We lived far from town. I thought he is getting pretty old and maybe wanted to live in town. He would give us kids a sucker every once in a while. Grandma said we better go see him before he leaves and see how he is doing. Before long the Nun nes dah di’ was done, the smell filled the house. There was a pile on the table, all warm and tasty looking. They are not flat like Mexican tortillas, these had weight and were thick. I got the butter and jam and my Grandma gave me one. It was good. She then put some in a pan and told me, go over and see Nellie Theodore and take this to her, she covered it with a cloth and I took off out the door. I could see Grandpa coming back with the sheep, he saw me leaving and waved from far off. He could see I was carrying a pan of something so he knew there was something good to ear for lunch. He was following the sheep back in. I looked inside the pan and there was hot Nun nes dah di there, Nellie would be glad to see them. As I was walking I was thinking I don’t she needs to eat all of them by herself, it might get her sick. Yeah, just to make sure I think I’ll just have one on the way…… rustywire
Posted on: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 07:08:45 +0000
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