Dec 15

December 15, 2006

To the rescue again! Hi, ho Silver away! With his trusty partner, Sister Charlton. Wait. That wasn’t in the show! Where’s Tonto when we need him?

Simpson Early, one of our many alcoholic friends, ended up in the hospital this morning. We are becoming intimately acquainted with the hospital and all the staff. Simpson’s mother, Manuelita, called this morning frantic about Simpson because he had a seizure and had to be taken by ambulance to the hospital. She was worried that when they released him he would try to hitchhike back to Cibecue and who knows what might have happened to him then. Since our badges read “Welfare Services” it was hard to decline just because we wanted to stay home and do our thing and because we hate Whiteriver. We’re not that fond of drunks, either, but the Lord seems to want us to hang with them lately. After multiple phone calls to the hospital trying to arrange any transportation other than us, we gave in and agreed to go to Whiteriver to get him. We picked up his mother and spent the next 4 hours making the ever familiar Whiteriver/hospital rescue route.

We met an executive member of the tribal council this morning and his wife. They came by to leave some bags of Christmas treats for us to hand out to people in our Branch. He was a lovely person, quite sober, with his own truck no less. Wow! We were impressed. No wonder he’s a leader among the Apache.

Simpson told us when we first met him that he had lived in Sugar City on the placement program. He said he lived with Grant and Dorothy Ashcraft. Tonight Robert called them and talked to them about Simpson. He asked if they would be willing to call or write him, as we felt like it might be good for him if someone he respects shows some interest. Robert talked to Dorothy and she said she remembered both of us from the school. Her name is familiar but we can’t place them. More importantly she remembered Simpson and was very sweet and said she would be happy to contact him.

We’re now safely ensconced in our humble home and Robert is fixing bread and milk for our supper (just kidding…milk is way too expensive). We plan to pop some popcorn and watch “The Gods Must Be Crazy”, as it seems the most appropriate movie title we could possibly choose at this point in our lives.