Nagi'ak, My Son

     Only that morning I had taken a cab home from the BIA Public Health Hospital in Bethel,  the largest Yu'pik community in Southwestern Alaska.  With me was my two day old son, Aaron.  We lived in a three room shack in Lousetown, across the slough from the main part of Bethel.  As teachers we could have opted for a fairly new mobile home with running water and real toilets behind the school.  But rather then being a part of " the gusik enclave", we chose to live like most of the residents of Bethel. 

Shortly after I arrived home, my older son, Gaelic, who was four at the time, asked why there might be an old Yu'pik woman sitting on our stoop.  I looked out the window and it was true...an old woman was crooning as she rocked back and forth.  I went to the door and asked if she might want to come in and visit, but she shook her head no and carried on with her song.  She stayed there most of the day.

The following day I  noticed once again the old woman was back, squatting in the same position, rocking back and forth.  Gaelic, who knew some Yu'pik, opened the door and said something to the woman in her language.  A big smile graced her face and she said, "I visit!"  I was in the big room trying to heat up the honey buckets frozen from being left outside.  It was "honey bucket day" on our side of the slough and the waste needed to be thawed so the men could more easily dump it into the large oil truck.  In the backround the baby was crying.  With silent steps, the old woman went quickly over and gathered the squalling infant.  She kissed him on both cheeks and called him Nagi'ak.  As she crooned, the infant fell asleep.  She gently placed him on the bed and silently left.

The following day there was a knock on the door and I had "doubled" my old ladies.  "We visit now?"  In my mind, I'm thinking to myself, "What's going on here? Now I have two ladies...what am I going to do with them?"  But just then Mrs. Charles, who spoke  English, introduced herself as well as her friend.  It seems  her friend's husband had died only minutes before Aaron had been born and therefore his spirit now resided in Aaron's body.  Aaron was her husband.  I'm trying to take this all in...and not be too possessive of my new baby...nor do I want to cause a cultural faux pas...so I smiled and said, "Of course, your friend can visit Nagi'ak her husband, anytime."

Later that evening before going to bed with my husband I smiled and started chuckling.  "Just think Bill...can you imagine what Nagi'ak thought after he was reborn and discovered he now had both a gusik (gusik is a term that refers to a white person) mother and father?"   

Spring turned to summer and Rose came often.  Sometimes she brought gifts for her husband...some new mukluks or a hand-sewed fur bag to carry him in outside.  She always brought dry fish for Gaelic and blueberries for us.   And then one day, we heard from Mrs. Charles, that Rose had died.  We grieved for her as we would for a family member.  Afterall, she was Aaron's wife!