Once there was a young man and a young woman who loved each other so much that they conceived a child outside the sanctity of marriage. They were overjoyed with their child and named him Albert. He was a beautiful child who was born with a deformity. He had no right hand. This did not matter to the young couple who loved Albert and treated him as if he were whole.The young couple had to work hard to make ends meet and because they begantheir family earlier than most it was more difficult. This did not bother them as they knew their love and confidence in their future would see them through the difficult times.
And slowly but surely they began to accumulate small comforts and join the middle class of their community. Albert was not aware of the problems his early arrival had caused because it did not matter to his mother and father who spent their free time together as a family.
As Albert grew he learned to love dancing because it made him feel whole. At night before bed his Mother and Father would watch him dance and laugh and applaud as he twirled and jumped in front of them. He truly loved the way it felt to spin and balance his body first on one foot and then another. He loved the beat of the music andthe way his body felt as it throbbed inside him.
When he started to school other kids would stare at his missing hand and sometimes they would make remarks that were not very nice. Albert knew he was different and didnʼt care what they thought about his hand. It didnʼt keep him from dancing and that was what mattered to him. But, as he grew older the other kids beganto notice that he didnʼt play sports and when music was playing Albert would spin andtwirl around. The other boys called him a girl with no hand and laughed at him. Albert ignored their laughing and teasing and when he was at home his mother and father loved him and he knew he was whole.
Then one day when Albert was in the fifth grade he was called out of class to see the principal. There in the principalʼs office sat his father who looked very sad and had tears in his eyes. He told Albert that they needed to go home and when they were in the car he told Albert his mother had been in an automobile accident and was on her
way to heaven. Albert did not know what to think could only look straight ahead and think about his mother and how much she loved his dancing and how much he would miss her.
As time went by and Albert and his father learned how to live without the love of their lives. At first Albert could not dance through his sadness, but his father reminded him how much his mother loved his dancing and how sad she would be if he stopped dancing. So, he began to dance again and found that it eased the pain of missing his
Mother and made him feel whole again.
After a while Albert realized his father was dating. At first he was hurt, mostly because his Father spent less time with him, but he was growing older and understood his father needed to have other people in his life. Albert had some friends and he still loved to dance. He was becoming very good at dancing and in his dance classes he
was the only boy. The boys in school still teased him and called him a girl with no hand but, he loved dancing so much that it still did not matter to him what they said. When he
was dancing he was a whole Albert.
When Albert was in eigth grade his father remarried. Albertʼs stepmother had two boys of her own who were one year and two years older than him. They called Albert a girl with no hand and teased him like the other kids at school. Now home was no longer a safe place for Albert. Not only did his Dad remarry, his new wife wanted a bigger house, a newer car and more expensive things in the house. So, Albertʼs Father took a
job as a traveling salesman. Now he was gone all the time. Albertʼs stepmother and stepbrothers did not pay any attention to him and his home was no longer filled with love. Albert no longer felt whole.
He began going for long walks in the desert outside his community. He would watch the sunset, imagine music in his head, and dance. He would stand on a hill overlooking the Rio Puerco and twirl and jump until the sun was gone. Then he would feel whole. When he got home he went straight to his bedroom to stay away from the
people who lived in his house. He began to look for a way to leave home and began to apply to dance schools. Even though he wasnʼt yet old enough to drive, he wished thathe could leave home and feel whole.
One evening while he was twirling and jumping to the sunset he heard a mournful howl, as if an animal was in pain. When he began looking around he came to a deep arroyo full of cactus and saw a coyote who had tried to run between cactus that were too close together. The coyote was trapped so that when he moved it caused him
to howl in pain. Albert walked right down to the coyote and not even thinking the coyote might be dangerous he began pulling the cactus away from the coyote. This caused his fingers and stump to bleed but he persisted until the coyote was free.
The coyote jumped away from the cactus and turned to look at Albert. He said, “You are the dancing boy with one hand. You have given us much joy with your sunset performances.” Albert was dumfounded that the coyote could talk, he could only nod his head in agreement. The coyote looked him in the eye and continued, “You are a very brave boy to set me free in this manner. I am so grateful that I will give you a wish.”
Albert thought the only thing he truly wanted was to have his house be full of love and figured that if his step mom got some money this would make her happy and then they would all be happy. So he said, “Let me have some money to make my stepmother happy.” The coyote turned around and ran away and at Albertʼs feet was a fat wallet. He picked it up and put it in his pocket then ran home to give it to his stepmother. When he got home he handed her the wallet and explained what had happened. Instead of being happy she looked in the wallet and said, “There is only $1000 in here. How could this make me happy. This is nothing. Certainly that coyoteʼs freedom is worth more than a measly thousand dollars. Go back to the arroyo and ask him for more, tell him I want $10,000.”
Albert was not sure he could find the coyote and he was certain his request would not make the coyote happy. He knew how unhappy he would be if he didnʼt at least try to do what his stepmother asked. He returned to the Arroyo and in the fullness of the moon he called for the coyote. He called and called and to his surprise he heard, “What do you want Albert?” There was the coyote standing right in front of him his eyes reflecting the moonlight. Albert explained his predicament and told the coyote what his stepmother had said. “Tsk, Tsk”, said the coyote. “You must be living in a terrible home, why donʼt you ask something for yourself?”
Albert explained that all he wanted was a happy home and the freedom to dance. If his stepmother was happy he would be happy. The coyote ran away and there at Albertʼs feet was a big fat wallet stuffed with money.
He ran home as quickly as he could and gave his stepmother the money. This time she looked at the money carefully and was quiet for some time. The she looked at Albert and said, “If he gave you $10,000 he will give you more. Go back and tell him you want as much as he can give you.”
This did not make Albert happy, but he walked back to the Arroyo and called for the coyote one more time. When the coyote appeared this time he was not very happy, his eyes were now pools of darkness. “What is it this time?”, he asked in a very annoyed tone of voice.
Albert told him that his stepmother wanted all that he would give. The coyote looked at him and went, “tsk, tsk.” Then the coyote ran away and this time there was no wallet just an envelope at Albertʼs feet. When Albert picked it up he saw that it was from the dance school he was wished to attend. He opened the envelope and there was
letter telling him to come immediately. AHis tuition, room, board, spending money, and a plane ticket would all be covered by a scholarship.
His joy was unbounded, he ran home and entered the home. His stepmother asked what had happened and he told her that nothing had happened there was not another wallet and there was no money. She began cursing and screaming at him and soon her sons had joined in the fray.
Albert did not care, he went to his room packed his bag and left the home that nolonger contained any love. He never returned and became renowned as the dancerwith one hand. When he had child he taught him to dance and filled his home with love.
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