"This is why we're living in this world," the register lady says to me, while giving me the stink eye. I went to SAS to get cloth and ribbons for cat clothes and when I approached the register I knew I was going to get asked what I was making.
Background- when you run into an elder native, especially a Sanii (grandmother), you bet you'll get asked questions. To others it may seem odd, but as a Dine woman, I know better.
When I picked out the cloth for a summer project, I wasn't thinking of the foolishness of it all, let alone running into a Sanii in Tempe. I really did want to make summer dresses for Fuzz. I went to check out and then she asked me the question, "So what are you making?" My little brain couldn't come up with a little lie fast enough, so I blurted, "Cat clothes." She literally stopped what she was doing and lowered her eyes and sternly said, "What?"
Sheepishly I said, "I'm making a dress for my...cat." Wise one then says, "First it's talking animals on t.v., then it's clothes for animals......this is why we're living in this world." (She was referring to the Fourth World, or the Glittering World)
I wasn't even about to say I had reptiles (a huge no no for Dine). I kept my mouth shut because I didn't want to be turtle shamed for Chomper and Ren.
*Funny story, my mom let it slip to my grandmother that I had turtles and she said in Navajo, "Can I have their shells when they get bigger?"
:(
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