Nativia

An Ivy League man meets a costumed-beauty at a Pow-Wow and shares a life-time together but must discover her 'deep' secret.

An offbeat experience-tale inspired by "The Green Ribbon" from In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories. Oh, who doesn't love Halloween? 

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"What's your name?" Amlan asked the gorgeous tan-skinned woman at the Pow-Wow in Native-dress.

"Nativia," she softly replied.

Amlan was taken by this amazing woman, dressed as a Native-American (Mohican) dancer at an Ivy League 'Pow-Wow' event, which saw various members of multiple Native nations/peoples (e.g., Mohican, Shawnee, Osage, Lakota) gather for social/public presentations of outstanding Native-American dance, food, craftsmanship, political dialogue, and social activities for people of all age groups, all sponsored by the Ivy League college (Dartmouth!). Amlan was hypnotized by this gorgeous Mohican-woman 'Nativia' but didn't know if she's actually Mohican (by birth/right/heritage) or Mohican by costume/dress, hired as a 'stage-performing' section of the Pow-Wow event benefiting the various nations including the Mohicans. All Amlan knew was the name she told him which she claimed was hers --- Nativia.

We find our two protagonists still together, 10 years later, now in their 30s. Amlan has graduated from Dartmouth obviously by now, and he married Nativia, his Pow-Wow sweetheart. Amlan is an Algerian-American US citizen, with family-heritage ties to various revolutionary members of the FLN movement in Algeria against French colonial rule in the 20th Century. He'd developed special literary/academic interests in the sociological study of the history of various political hotbed subjects/areas including Native-America, Northern Ireland, and India/Algeria. It's why he decided to attend the Ivy Leauge (Dartmouth!) Pow-Wow and it's when he met his now-wife Nativia. However, Amlan/Nativia share a marriage vow-secret --- he's never disclosed to Amlan if she's actually Mohican/Native by birth/right/heritage or simply a 'foreign-born' mystic-woman/artist with an 'ornamental interest' in Mohican life/creativity!

"I shall never probe into this matter, lest you disclose what you wish to me, darling!" Amlan tells his wife, Nativia.

"Your patience is so loving, Amlan, which is why I might reveal my 'secret' to you someday in our life," she softly replied.

Finally, the day of Nativia's revelation-disclosure came. Yes, the two had been married now for over 60 years, and Nativia was in her 80s and on her death-bed, stricken by an incurable new strain of mysterious/unknown Pneumonia, as they'd lived together in a charming New England snowy-cottage. They'd had 3 children, all grown now and married and living professional/domestic lives somewhere in the USA and writing home to their aging/caring parents --- Amlan/Nativia. Amlan bent over Nativia's bed-ridden body and comforted her and washed her hair that morning, and that's when Nativia told her equally-aged husband (Amlan!) the revelation of her heritage-secret. Amlan would never have expected 'such' an answer.

"Whatever you tell me, Nativia, you'll still be my wife!" Amlan says to his dying beloved wife.

"The secret is, dear, that I'm the ghost of a real Mohican woman who died in the 1700s" she eerily told him, right before dying (again).

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"Money is everything" (Ecclesiastes)

{NATIVIA - Dartmouth Pow-Wow}