Jim Kane - J P S Brown (52 page)

"
I don't hit women," the boy said
haughtily.

Kane realized that Adelita Piedras was standing
larger than life right in front of him. Her hair was parted in the
middle and hung in thick waves on her shoulders. She wore
wedge-heeled, hand-carved, sandals, not manure-encrusted knee boots.
Her knees shone under her tight skin as she knelt by Juan Vogel's
son.

The girl's eye fell on Kane as she calmed her nephew.
She looked softly and briefly at Kane, looking with shy care for his
approval. The men rose and she shook hands with each of them before
she sat down with them at the table. During the supper the girl's
voice was very clear to Kane. Her eyes were very clear. They seemed
darker now and did not have the tawny, speculative, animal gaze in
them.

When the supper was over Kane and the Lion excused
themselves, saying they had business to attend to at the corrals of
Chavarin before dark. They went outside and got in the car. The girl
came after them and stopped them before they drove away.

"
Are you coming to the ranch tomorrow, Sunday,
for the
colas
, Senor
Kane?" she asked him. She was standing above the car on the high
curb. She was wearing worn golden bracelets on her fine wrist.

"Are you having a tailing competition tomorrow?"
Kane asked.

"
Yes. I invite you and the Lion," she said.

"
¿Cómo no?
Count on
us to be there," the Lion said.

"
Come at noon for the barbecue. The tailing will
begin at three in the afternoon," the girl said.

"
We'll be there. Thank you," Kane said.

"
Heh, heh, heh," the Lion said in a low,
leering growl when he had driven away from the girl.

"
What are you so smug about? What are you
thinking?" Kane asked him.

"Nothing. Just nothing. They call you tontito,
little dumb one, no? You don't know what the girl wants from you, no?
You are just a
tontito
,
no?"

"
I admit she is a beautiful girl."

"
Ah, you admit it, eh? But of course you do
nothing about it. A fine, young
gringuito
like you."

"
Forget it."

"
Heh, heh, heh," the Lion said. "I
will but you should not." He turned a corner and they met
sixteen bulls trotting down the street three blocks from Chavarin's
corral.

"
Your cattle!" the Lion exclaimed, stopping
the car. He jumped out of the car and waved his arms and stopped the
cattle in the middle of the street.

"
Now what are you going to do with them?"
Kane asked him.

"
You go on to the corral and see if all the
cattle got out. Bring someone back to help me and we'll put these
back in," the Lion said.

Kane drove on to the corral. Chavarin, bareheaded,
barefooted, his shirt open down the front, his shirttail out, was
driving cattle back into the corral. He had probably been taking a
bath or a nap when the cattle had gotten out. The cattle were gaunt
and hungry-eyed. Chavarin's nephews were helping him. Kane got out of
the car and greeted him.

Chavarin bent down to pick something off the sole of
his foot and didn't answer the greeting. Kane went into the corral
and counted the cattle. Thirty-three head were in the corral. Kane
loaded the two nephews in the car and drove back to help the Lion.
Chavarin was not in sight when the Lion penned his cattle. The Lion
was counting the cattle when Chavarin came back buttoning his shirt
and wearing a new pair of boots and a new palmetto hat.

"
Bueno. One is missing," the Lion stated.

"
One is missing?" Chavarin asked, stepping
into the corral and counting the cattle. He counted twice. "True.
One is missing," he stated. He did not seem to know more than
that.

"
Yes. One is missing," the Lion said. "The
biggest one. The big black-and-white."

"
What do you mean the b1ack-and-white? Isn't
that the black-and-white standing there? Of course that is the
black-and-white standing there."

"
No, I don't mean that one. I mean the one I
bought from Gonzalo Gomez. He was forty kilos heavier than any other
bull in this corral."

"
This is the only black-and-white I've ever seen
in this bunch."

"
You mean you don't remember the big
torete
I bought from Gomez? The one Gomez brought here in his
truck the day you gave the party for your nephews?" the Lion
demanded.

"
Yes, I do. This is him," Chavarin said,
grabbing one horn of the gentle black-and-white bull. The bull backed
away from him.

The Lion walked over to the car and got a bundle of
inspection papers out of the glove compartment. He found the Gonzalo
Gomez papers. He went back to the corral and compared the brand on
the paper with the brand on the black-and-white bull. He showed the
paper to Chavarin.

"
Does that look like the same brand that is on
this
torete
?" the
Lion asked Chavarin.

"You had better ask Gomez to correct the
guía
on this bull. He put the wrong brand on the
guía
,"
Chavarin said, bending over and trying to tie two pieces of barbed
wire together with his bare hands to patch a hole in the fence. Kane
found his gloves in the back of the car and went over to help
Chavarin.

"
Here, let me tie the wire. I have gloves,"
Kane said.

"
I'll tie it. I don't care about my hands. They
are accustomed to work," Chavarin said sulkily.

"I don't care about your hands either,"
Kane said goodnaturedly.

"
Oh!" said Chavarin, exasperated. "This
is good
por mientras
,
for the time being." Kane saw that his splice would not last
five minutes. The two ends of the wire sprang apart when Kane touched
the splice.

"
Por mientras, mierda
,"
said Kane. "Too much of this corral is already made
por
mientras
," and he made a strong splice
with his gloved hands.

"
You have no right to stand here on my place and
accuse me. If you were ever around here to attend to the needs of the
cattle you would know that I take good care of them," Chavarin
said.

"The reason I haven't been here is because I've
been paying you," the Lion said. "Didn't I pay you wages
for the week yesterday at Teresita's."

"
That is why I work. To get paid. Do you think I
would work like a slave if I didn't need the money?"

The new palmetto hat was now cocked rakehellishly
over one eye and he looked down at the new boots to see if dust and
manure had altered their sheen. Satisfied all was cared for properly
now by him, he walked gracefully, like a gentleman, to the fence.

"You had better get me some more feed for these
cattle this evening or my fence won't hold them tonight," he
said.

"
You'd better get on the trail of that
black-and-white bull tonight," the Lion said.

"
I'll tell you. I'm not going after that bull
tonight or any other time. That is not my job. I am not a slave. I'll
keep these cattle one more week while you decide what to do with them
and then I want them out of here. I need the corral for some cattle
I'm buying, " Chavarin said.

"
Are you going to start your dairy business
again?" Kane asked him. I

"
Perhaps."

"
In that case you don't need to wait for your
corral another week," Kane said. "I know you are a busy
man. We'll be back tonight for the cattle."

"Well, you aren't satisfied with me anymore,"
Chavarin whined. "I don't want to be in the way of anyone who is
not satisfied with my work. For my part, I have enjoyed our
association up to now. And, Señor Kane, I would be happy to keep the
cattle here as long as you wish under a new agreement."

"
No, thank you. We'll have them out of here
tonight," Kane said..

"
Be sure you bring your accounts. I will have
mine ready also. We must settle our accounts. These cattle do not go
out until we have put our accounts in order," Chavarin said.
This was a threat, as though he was saying, "Now you are going
to have to pay the hardworking
peón
whom you have wronged but who is smart enough to stand up for his
rights." This attitude of the wronged
peón
he made clear by his words, but the expensive white palmetto and the
new boots made a liar of him.

Kane and the Lion found trucks for the cattle and
sent them to the corral. They bought another truckload of hay and
sent it to Juan Vogel's corrals near the Alamos river on the edge of
town where the cattle would be penned. When they got back to
Chavarin's after dark the cattle had not been loaded. The truck
drivers were standing at the chutes. One truck was backed to the
chutes ready to load. Chavarin was in the corral with the cattle. He
walked up to the fence, leaned casually on the top wire, and handed
the Lion an old piece of wrapping paper.

"
What is this?" the Lion asked.

'`This is my claim for what is owed me,"
Chavarin said.

"
I'm not going to try to read it in the dark.
How much is it?" the Lion asked.

"
Among other things, you owe me four hundred
pesos for the money I put out for these cattle, not including other
money I spent out of my own pocket for.

"
No, no, no, no. It is of no import to me how
you sacrificed yourself for us out of the goodness of your heart or
any such
mierda
. How
much is the total of what you say we owe you?"

"
Four hundred pesos for the money I spent, it is
all there on the paper, fifty pesos for the day I worked today,
twenty-five pesos for . .

"
Why fifty pesos for today? I have never paid
you more than thirty pesos a day, and that is more than you are
worth."

"
Thirty pesos for me and ten pesos apiece for my
nephews. They helped me today."

"
Ah, yes. The nephews earned it doing your work
for you. Pardon me. Now how much is the total of the account?"

"
Give me back the paper, please," Chavarin
said. He smoothed the paper, lit a match so he could see his figures,
and said, "One thousand and three hundred pesos and that is all
that is owed me after the years of serving you and that is not
including money I . . ."

"
Did you find the bull, the black-and-white you
lost?" the Lion asked him.

"
It is my belief the bull you mention has never
been in my corral," Chavarin said.

"
I don't believe I would have to look very far
to prove you sold that bull," the Lion said. "Load the
cattle," the Lion shouted to the truckers. Kane got himself into
the corral and separated fifteen head in the darkness and he and the
truckers loaded them. The Lion helped them load the second and third
trucks. After the trucks were gone, the Lion walked up to Chavarin.

"
Where is my saddle, my nylon rope, my spurs and
chaparreras, and the bridles?" he asked. Chavarin went to the
hay barn and brought back the spurs, the chaps, bridles, and two
ropes.

"
Where is the saddle?" the Lion asked.

"
I sent it to get it repaired for you,"
Chavarin said, offering the equipment.

"
When did you send it?"

"
Last week."

"
A lie! The saddle was in the barn this
afternoon."

"
Listen, Lion! If you continue to accuse me I am
going to turn the matter over to my uncle. I don't have to listen to
your accusations. My uncle, the Ministerio P
ú
blico,
will settle this for us."

"The saddle needed repairs, I guess," the
Lion said. "When you get it back from the shop, sound and whole,
stick it in your ass. Also keep the rope I gave you. I never take
back a gift."

"
No?
¿Para qué?
What do I need it for now?" Chavarin said
plaintively. He put the gear in the back of Kane's car. Kane and the
Lion went back to Teresita's. The Lion reached into the back seat for
the gear. He stepped out of the car and looked at it. He got back
into the car and turned on the dome light and searched the back seat
for something. He l separated the gear on the seat, looking it over
again.

"
¡Cabrón!
" he
said.

"
What's wrong?" Kane asked.

"
The
cabrón
kept both nylon ropes," the Lion said.

In Teresita's kitchen Kane and the Lion figured the
Lion's expenses and commission on the 49 head and Kane paid him $100.
Then Kane remembered how short of money he was himself.

"
Lion, do you think you can loan me about five
hundred dollars for expenses of shipping this bunch and expenses. I
am bound to have on the Chihuahua cattle?" Kane asked.