Clint Faraday Mysteries Collection B :This Job is Murder Collector's Edition (8 page)

There were very few on the dock that early. A
couple of men were sitting on the end. One man and a teenage boy
were throwing hand lines for fish. A man and woman were walking
past toward downtown. Clint had a talent for seeing everything
about a place. It had been a handy talent to have in some of his
cases.

Everyone in their party were in the boat and
they were pulling out into the bay. Mike said, “The adventure
begins! I think I like this place more than any of the places we
ever went – and we’ve gone to a lot of places!”

“
A four hour climb riding horses to a
mountaintop where you can see the Caribbean and Pacific by just
turning around? I think it’ll be fantastic!” Mark
agreed.

“
I like this kind of thing,” Cori
agreed. “I get awfully sick of hanging around a hotel.”

“
There won’t be phones and boomboxes
out there,” Ann warned.

“
Thank god! We can get away from salsa
and regatón for awhile!”

On the Comarca

“
We will be to Obilio’s by three
thirty,”
A
Luis decided. “I
will call him to say we are coming so Lila can have the rooms
ready. He has two and the bodega, so the men will sleep in his room
and the women in the other and the ones who can’t decide which they
are can sleep with whoever. Whoever wants to can sleep in the
bodega. (Clint almost let a grin escape at the subtle joke.) I will
return the horses to Manuel’s finca almost three quarters of the
way there and will return with the horses when you wish to go.
Clint knows how to put the flag to tell me to come and how many
horses will be needed..

“
Obilio was saying a few days ago that
he would like to see Clint again. He will be very pleased that you
are coming.”

“
You have phone service out here?” Matt
asked.

“
Only on the top. If he’s in the house
he will receive. If not we will not be able to tell him that we
have already decided on all the arrangements.” (Clint was the only
one who got the joke – except maybe Judi. She had an amused look on
her face.)

“
I have a lot of food so we’d better be
able to pack the horses where it won’t be in the way and won’t get
tangled in the shrubs,” Judi suggested. “I know from the pictures
Clint showed me from his last trip here that it gets very close in
places.”

“
I am bringing another horse to carry a
lot of things,” Luis said. “You have enough food for the Policia
National here! Will you be staying for the year?”

They all laughed, then Mike looked confused
for a few seconds and let a small additional laugh escape. “Ann
insisted,” Judi said. “I’ve met Obilio, but none of the Campbells
have so it’s proper that they bring food in the states.”

It would be slightly insulting for a friend
who was only occasionally there to bring food. This would make it
an acceptable and even a thoughtful thing for them to bring extra
food. Strangers, new people who were friends of friends or people
who came often brought food. Occasional close friends did not.

Judi had insisted on practicality. No steaks
or spoilables that couldn’t be kept for three days.

“
The food is fresh and in good state,”
Luis decided with perfect innocence. Mike slapped him on the back
and laughed, which made the rest catch the joke. That brought the
problem that Obilio grew yuca, yampi, most fruits, coffee and most
of what they ate right there. Rice, onions, potatoes, pasta, flour,
dried beans of types that Obilio wouldn’t grow (Those that grew at
altitude he had in excess. He traded some things with neighbors who
lived lower) and such. Ann had insisted that they take four times
as much as Judi suggested. She said Obilio’s wife would surely know
people who would use it if it was too much for them. Cori said that
crowd could out-eat the policia any day.

Hard to argue. Clint was impressed that these
people who he was warned were not what they seemed were actually
very considerate people.

A man brought another horse to leave with
Luis, who began to place the extra food and bags on it. Judi and
Ann were talking with a few of the native women, Mike, Cori and
Mark checked over the saddles and gear, Clint and Matt helped pack
the riding horses. Pablo and Maria were off to one side. They were
mostly very quiet and seemed to be studying the passersby. Some of
the Indio women were in colorful traditional garb. There were few
strangers around the almacen this far from socalled
“civilization.”

They soon were ready. They headed along the
road for half a kilometer, then took a path to the side through a
log gate and started up the mountain. They would go around this one
partway up, then cross a high valley to the mountain Obilio
occupied. Other than their party there were only Indios here for
kilometers in any direction. The scenery was magnificent and
humbling. It was quiet, except for a few birds and insects. They
even talked quietly. At times when Luis heard someone working
across the valley he would call the “Oye!” the people here used to
greet each other from a distance. He was always answered. Cori
wanted to learn how to call the greeting, but Luis explained that
the women didn’t use that call. He managed to ride close to Cori
when he could. They exchanged a lot of jokes. All of the Campbells
spoke excellent Spanish. Cori was learning some of the Indio
dialect from Luis. At one point Clint got Matt aside and asked if
Cori knew how to handle a proposition. She was good-looking and 16
was past the legal age in the comarcas. Matt assured him there
would be no problem. No offense would be taken. Cori could handle
things very well. She wasn’t raised like most gringas. She was as
independent as anyone you would meet.

Luis was in his early twenties. Clint was
perfectly well aware that he would come on to Cori. Matt told Ann
about it and she laughed. Cori could handle herself. Luis was a
very handsome man. Too bad he didn’t come on to her!

Matt laughed and said the Indian women were
very sexy and that long thick black hair was one hell of a turn-on.
They joked a bit about it. Mark came over and was told about the
joke. He said Cori probably was no virgin, but the family was on
the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” bus. They all knew how important
protection was today and what kind of situations not to allow to
develop. It was an individual decision as to what and with whom you
decided to do. Mike, who was the most talkative of the family,
talked to Clint a lot of the way. He explained that their father
always taught them that the fact they were so fortunate meant they
owed others some thought. The result was that they went all over
the Americas and made friends, for the most part. Others they had
met traveling were exactly what many people thought gringos were.
Overbearing, arrogant and totally selfish. He really liked people
like Luis who could make little jokes about anything. People with
good senses of humor were generally good people to be around. Cori
had some experience and might even take Luis up on it. It was her
decision.

Clint said he’d met enough of the asshole
type. There were places where gringos congregated, communities, and
a lot of them were exactly like that. Pains in the ass. Mike said
it right. “And all gringos have to live with what those few
are.”

Pablo was riding silently beside them where
the trail was wide enough. He said some gringos were worse than the
curses from the brujas. He should know! Many of the ones who came
to the Dominican Republic thought all natives were slaves to be
ordered around. They were very deeply resented. Then the Campbells
came and showed them all gringos were not alike.

They passed two younger Indios (early
twenties) going down the mountain and stopped to chat. One of them
was wearing a wig and make-up. He was introduced as Rigo, better
known as Lola. He was going to David for a transvestite show at the
Texas. Clint didn’t know how the Campbells would take that, but
they seemed merely slightly interested. Ann even showed Rigo how to
use eyeliner and shade in a way that made him attractive without
making him look like a cheap whore.

He said that was the object. Look like a
cheap whore or a movie star.

“
But who you attract as an attractive
girl is not the same as when you look like a puta,” she pointed
out. “Of course, I don’t know if you want to attract a certain
type.”

“
I’d like to attract someone who looks
like either of those!” he replied, pointing to Mike and
Mark.

Mike grinned and said, “Yo, Mom! I think I
don’t care for all this mountain stuff so maybe I could go to David
with these guys!”

“
When you’re eighteen. You can’t go as
a minor. You have to wait until they get back and you can stay at
their house here. Use protection. I’ve warned you about AIDS and
herpes.” She giggled and smirked.

“
Then I don’t think I’ll go to David!”
Rigo cried.

Pablo and Maria (who seldom said a word,
anyway) were the only ones who seemed uneasy or in any way bothered
by them. They moved away and waited, looking at some of the many
bromeliads and orchids in the trees by the trail.

They joked a bit more, then went onward and
upward. Mike said he had gay friends and that they were just
people. Who anyone slept with was their own personal business –
which is the Indio philosophy.

“
It is not natural,” Pablo protested.
“They are cursed!”

“
Oh, bullshit,” Mike said. “They aren’t
any different than anyone else. You’ll get all preachy about what’s
natural, then brag about screwing some whore in the ass or getting
a blow job.

“
Got news for you! That isn’t anymore
natural than the gay people.”

“
Rigo is a handsome kid. That’s the sad
thing. He won’t have kids to pass it along,” Mark said.

“
Oh, he’ll do the drag queen thing for
a year or two, then get married – as much as they do – and have a
couple of kids,” Judi said. “They seem to do that. The Indios like
sex and don’t pretend otherwise. We’re the ones with the taboos and
inhibitions.”

“
He’s so openly gay, yet a girl will
marry him?” Matt asked. Pablo snorted.

“
They think nothing of it. It’s sort of
a stage that some of them go through. They’re genetically bisexual
to one degree or another,” Clint said. “They don’t think it’s even
a little unusual. Some people like yuca, some don’t. Some people
like fish, some don’t. That’s what life is like.”

“
Oh?” Mike asked innocently. “Do you
sleep with many of them?”

“
Only when I’m in the mountains and in
their culture,” Clint replied, leaving them all uncertain of how to
react, so they changed the subject. They didn’t know if he was
putting them on or serious. Pablo seemed actually shocked. He
dropped back a bit. Matt asked if it was natural to make everything
center around sex out there. He had seen that in several
places.

Clint had slept with a few of them, but sleep
was all they did. They slept wrapped up in each other in the
mountains. It got cold at night and they usually didn’t have but
one blanket. If something developed from that closeness, it
happened. Clint had wondered what was going to happen at times. He
agreed that it was pleasant to sleep close to someone.

So far as talking about sex a lot, what else
was there to do for recreation in these mountains? They were sexy
people, so they talked and joked about sex. It was a thing they
were comfortable with. Almost everyone thought of sex a lot, so why
not talk about it? Gringos bragged and lied about it, Indios simply
made it part of their conversations and jokes. They didn’t have a
need to try to impress anyone with the fact they were no different
than other people – except for the honesty part.

They stopped several times to take pictures
and to just enjoy the view. They passed across a valley from a
waterfall that dropped more than a hundred meters. The sun was at
just the right angle to have a very bright rainbow at the bottom.
Judi stopped several times to take pictures of various plants.
Orchids worth thousands in the states were as much as weeds
here.

They finally reached the house. It was down
in the trees about a hundred meters from the top. The convection
winds would make being on the top extremely uncomfortable at times.
Obilio ran out to embrace Clint and welcome him. He embraced Judi
and shook hands with all the Campbells and the Garzas. Ann said she
brought some food because that’s what you did in the states. Where
to put it? Lila came out to embrace Clint and to meet the
others.

Obilio is in his seventies. He thinks nothing
of walking four hours up the mountain to his house. The Campbells,
on horses, were as much as exhausted. Pablo seemed a little tired.
Maria didn’t seem affected one way or another.

Lila showed them the men’s room and the
women’s room and pointed to the creek a little down the mountain.
The Indios are clean to almost an extreme. The water is ice cold,
but they bathe at least once a day. Obilio had a small outhouse
built over the ravine the creek fell into.

Lila served a drink she made from corn that
was delicious and refreshing. They all knew about the chicha, how
it was corn fermented very slightly in water and sugar, then milk
was added. Ann was allergic to it, but the rest would like a glass.
Ann preferred water, anyhow.

Lila, Judi, Cori and Ann hit it off quickly
and became pals. Cori, unlike a lot of gringas her age, pitched
right in around the house. That impressed Lila and Obilio. The few
gringas and Latinas her age they knew were little princesses who
would be insulted if anyone expected them to do anything.