Hannah Alexander - Double Blind

Sheila nodded, fingering the cross at her throat. “She gave me this.” She glanced toward the serving line, where Betsy was greeting incoming diners with a quick word or nod.

“That necklace?” Canaan bent forward and examined it more closely. “Did she make it?”

“No, her husband made it for her a few years before he died. She gave it to me after my mother died.”

“It’s skillfully made. Do you wear it often?”

Sheila nodded. “Almost all the time when I was growing up. Every time I touched it, I could remember that someone loved me enough to give me something that meant a lot to her. She told me that she had worn it constantly after her husband’s death, until her fear of life went away and she no longer felt alone.”

“Do you still feel alone?”

She gave him a wry look. “I’m thirty-four years old, I have plenty of friends in Hideaway, my father is whole and healthy and Preston…” She smiled.

“Yes? Preston…?”

“A good friend.”

“Is that a euphemism for a person of consequence in your life?” Canaan asked.

“Let’s just say my life is full and very interesting at the moment.”

“Because of Preston?”

Though Canaan watched her intently, she didn’t elaborate. Best not to get into a discussion about other difficulties in her life right now.

Obviously curbing his curiosity, Canaan gestured toward the teachers and dorm parents who were making their way to a long table set apart from the children. “Most of the staff are warmhearted, good people. There will always be a certain percentage of people who have trouble accepting newcomers, no matter who they are, or what color.”

“I’m no newcomer to Kai Begay,” Sheila reminded him. “He knew me when I was a child, and I don’t remember any resentment from him then. I don’t remember the problem being so prevalent here before.”

“You were a child then.”

“Children can sense things, and I would have sensed that brand of prejudice.”

“But Kai is not antagonistic with children,” Canaan said. “He loves them, which is why he’s remained here all these years. This is his life.”

“Did he treat my parents the way he’s treating me now?”

Canaan pulled off a section of his fry bread and set it on her plate. He drizzled honey from a plastic container on the table on the other piece. “Kai has always been outspoken, but he loves the children.”

Sheila watched him take a big bite of the bread. “You didn’t answer my question, and you’re just repeating yourself. Does he pass his prejudice along to the children?”

Canaan chewed and swallowed, chewed and swallowed, giving her a disgruntled look. “You never broke that habit, did you?”

“Of what?”

“Asking me a question as soon as I put food in my mouth.”

“You’re doing better, though. Now, at least, you don’t talk with your mouth full.”

Canaan gave his sweetened bread a loving look, then set it back onto his plate. “Kai eats with the kids and spends a lot of his free time with them. What do you think?”

“It’s a shame he feels the way he does. The children need to learn to get along with people of every race if they’re to function in the world outside the reservation.”

Canaan nodded, picking up his bread again. “You’re right. Absolutely. Now let me eat.”

Sheila sighed and picked up her fork, faking an appetite, though she didn’t expect to fool Canaan. He seemed to remember a lot of things about her, and his memories intrigued her.

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