Page 32 of Sunset Cove
“Don’t be. It’s easily done,” she said. “I’m glad that we can get to know each other now.”
Chip nodded. “Me too.”
After they placed their orders, Claire set her gaze on him again. “I was hoping you could tell me more about your family, and about Lummi history?”
He smiled. “Of course. I brought a book about the history of Orcas Island for you, but I have other books about the tribes of the area, too.”
“I would loveto read them.”
It seemed like she meant it. If she was willing to clean toilets all day for a week, then she likely was being genuine about reading a book.
“All right, where to start?” He paused. “Like I told Ken, my grandmother was a member of the Lummi tribe. She grew up on the reservation.”
“Is it on the island?”
“No, it’s on the mainland, near Bellingham.”
Claire nodded and Chip kept talking. “She ended up having to go to public school, and that’s where she met my grandfather. He wasn’t native. He was an Irish Catholic boy. Her parents didn’t approve, but what can you do? They were in love, and no one could stop them.”
“How romantic,” Claire said.
Chip smiled. “Yeah, they were two of the best people I’ve ever known.”
“Do you still have family living on the reservation?”
He shook his head. “No. I haven’t been back in years, but when I was growing up, my grandma thought it was important to teach us our heritage – me and my brother. He was never really into it. He was older, you know, and wanted to live his own life, but I would go up to the reservation with her and visit her old friends. I learned a lot in those years.”
Their drinks arrived, and Claire’s stare remained unbroken. “That is so cool.”
Chip shifted in his chair. After his grandmother had passed away, he’d made no effort to keep the connection, to keep going back and learning. He was ashamed of that, and it made him feel like he had no right to talk about his heritage.
Yet Claire seemed so enthralled that the guilt temporarily lifted.
“I read a bit about the history of Orcas Island,” Claire said, “but there wasn’t much about the native people. I thought that was so strange. The most they said was settlers brought diseases that killed a lot of the people here.”
Chip nodded. “That’s true, but there were still people and many tribes.”
“Of course.” Claire took a sip of her drink. “Did the Lummi live on Orcas Island?”
“Not all the time, no,” he said. “Before the colonists arrived, tribe members migrated all over the coast. They came to the islands seasonally, following the salmon, and to pick fruit.”
“Fruit again!” Claire said. “We should have something at the Fruit Festival about the native tribes.”
He hadn’t thought of that. “That would be nice.”
“Did you know,” she said, smiling broadly, “that Orcas Island wasn’t named after the Orcas that live in the waters here?”
Of course he knew that, but she looked so excited that he hated to kill her fun. “Really?”
A broad smile crossed her face. “I’m sure you’ve heard this.”
He shrugged, and she went on. “Okay, so, it was actually named after a Spanish military officer who explored the islands.”
He tried to look surprised. “Oh yeah?”
“Yes, Juan Vicente de Güemes Padilla Horcasitas.”
Now he was surprised. That wasn’t an easy name to remember. “Wow.”
