The Last Ranch (38 page)

“Yes, I am. You'd better hope someone finds you before the vultures or the coyotes discover your dead partner come sunup.”

“
¡Chinga tu madre!
”

Matt laughed harshly as he started back toward the lights of his truck on the highway. “Good luck, amigo.”

***

K
evin was ready to go. They scrambled into the truck, Matt behind the wheel, and drove away, hearts pounding, constantly shifting their gaze to the side mirrors expecting to see the flashing emergency lights of a police car coming up fast behind them. The border station was closed when they reached Palomas, and they crossed into New Mexico without incident. They passed through Columbus and on to Deming before stopping on the outskirts of town to give the ponies a breather from the trailer and feed them some oats.

“You're never going to mention one word of this to anybody
ever
,” Matt said grimly as they walked the horses across an empty cotton field under a rising half-moon. “Especially your mother.”

“No, sir, I won't,” Kevin promised somberly. “Did you mean to take Gramps's horse pistol into Mexico knowing it was against the law?”

“Mexico is a different world,” Matt said. “Anyone who goes there unarmed would be a complete fool.”

Kevin stopped walking Centavos and looked at his father. “Did you kill that other policeman? I didn't hear any shots.”

“I did not,” Matt replied. “That would have been murder, not
self-defense. I left him tied up in the back of the pickup. Hopefully, he'll be found.”

“And if not, he'll die.”

“That's possible,” Matt replied. “Are you upset that I had to shoot the
pistolero
?”

Kevin shook his head. “No, I'm glad you did. Otherwise we'd be dead.”

Matt clasped his hand on Kevin's shoulder. “That's right. Remember, not a word.”

Kevin nodded solemnly. “I promise.”

For weeks Kevin worried that the police would come to arrest him and his dad for murder. He kept waiting for a news story out of Mexico about one or two dead policemen, but there was nothing. His apprehension faded when he figured that if the other cop had survived, he wouldn't want to admit to any wrongdoing. Maybe he'd concocted a story about being ambushed by bandits. But reassuring himself didn't keep Kevin from having occasional nightmares about that night on the highway. The faces of the Mexicans were always ghostlike; only his father stood out clearly. Time and again, the horse pistol in his dad's hand spewed orange flames as the man fell dead on the side of the road in slow motion, his dad calm and expressionless as he pulled the trigger. Kevin wondered if he could ever shoot another human being without flinching or shaking. He doubted it.

After spring works, when the cattle had been gathered, the calves branded, and the herds thrown onto fresh pastures, ranchers traditionally took a breathing spell. To stimulate interest in his ponies, Matt took out ads in regional livestock and
agriculture trade magazines using the photographs he'd bought from Jeannie, inviting interested parties to visit and look over the 7-Bar-K cow ponies that would be sold at auction in March. The ad also contained photos of Petreo and Centavos, with captions detailing their bloodlines and offering stud services at reasonable rates.

At the auction, all the ponies sold and the two stallions brought in a sizable amount in negotiated stud fees, enough so that Matt recouped half of what he'd spent to buy them from Delfino Díaz.

That night with Al, Brenda, and Dale joining in at the supper table to celebrate the successful auction and partake of one of Mary's special beef casseroles, Matt raised his beer bottle high.

“We're on our way,” he predicted with a satisfied smile. “Along with the ranchers who bought, we sold to two pro rodeo cowboys who promised to come back again next year and bring their friends. That's a market that's only gonna get bigger for us.”

“Stop gloating and eat,” Mary said sweetly as she slid a plate heaped with beef casserole and green beans under his chin.

Matt's fork froze in midair as he grinned. “Is that what I'm doing?”

“He can't help himself,” Al replied between bites. Everybody laughed.

As a conspirator pledged to silence, Kevin marveled at how guilt-free about killing the Mexican his father seemed to be. Was it really so easy to shake off taking a life? Did war teach a person how to do that?

Matt met his questioning gaze with a smile. Kevin smiled back, wondering if they'd ever again talk about what happened in Mexico. He didn't think so.

***

A
s always, the annual all-state high school rodeo coincided with spring break and Kevin felt ready. Both families packed up and left for the host town of Deming in the cool of the morning. They drove the back way to Hillsboro, then south through lovely grassy hills past the ghost town of Lake Valley, once the site of the richest silver deposit in the country, and finally west along a little used highway that ended just north of Deming.

The chamber of commerce had put welcoming banners announcing the rodeo on the streets and a local country-and-western radio station was broadcasting live from a popular diner. The DJ was interviewing favored contestants who'd won at regional events. As team roping contenders, Kevin and Dale were scheduled to be interviewed later in the afternoon.

They pulled into the arena parking lot, listening to Todd Marks, the current all-around state champion, modestly discussing his chances of repeating. He mentioned a few cowboys who worried him some, but Kevin wasn't among them. Kevin didn't know if he should take offense at the omission or be happy to be overlooked. He decided the latter. If he was
that
underrated, maybe Todd wouldn't see him coming.

After unloading the ponies, Kevin's and Dale's parents took off for the motel while they stayed behind to walk, water, and feed their restless animals. At the registration table they lined up behind two pretty cowgirls to sign in and pay their entry fees. The taller of the two had long dark hair under her cowboy hat. Her high cheekbones and intelligent, smoky eyes reminded Kevin a little bit of the folksinger Joan Baez.

He leaned closer. “Are you barrel racing?”

The girl turned and looked him up and down. “No, I'm here to sign up for prom queen.”

Kevin blushed at the well-deserved sarcasm. “That was pretty stupid of me.”

Next to him, Dale chucked. So did the girl standing with his tormentor.

“Not stupid,” the girl replied. “Just inept.”

“He hasn't had a girlfriend in a while,” Dale explained.

Kevin dug an elbow in Dale's side, took a step back, and tipped his hat. “Sorry to have bothered you.”

“No bother. Will you be at the dance tonight?”

“What dance?”

“At the American Legion Hall. It's a fund-raiser for the state high school rodeo association, but free to all participants.”

“I reckon so, if you'll be there.”

“I might be.”

“Then I'll be there if you'll dance with me.”

“I might.”

“Would it be inept of me to ask your name?”

The girl shrugged. “Kim Ward.”

“And I'm Loretta,” Kim's companion said.

“I'm Kevin Kerney, and this here is Dale Jennings.”

Loretta gave Dale a sweet smile.

“I know who you are,” Kim Ward replied as she stepped up to the table. “If I don't see you tonight, good luck this weekend.”

“We'd better go dancing tonight, old boy,” Dale whispered in Kevin's ear as he dug an elbow in his side.

Kevin swatted his arm away.

***

I
nformed of the rodeo association fund-raising dance at the American Legion, both sets of parents decided to go as well. On
their way from the parking lot, Kevin hung back and asked his father why he'd never joined a veterans' organization.

“I never saw much sense to drinking and telling war stories, most of which are BS,” Matt replied.

“You never talk about any of your old army buddies.”

“My war was a short one,” Matt replied curtly. “I didn't have much time to make a lot of friends.”

Inside, Kevin looked around for Kim Ward but didn't see her. Dale had cornered Loretta, the girl who had been in line with Kim. Kevin asked where she was.

“She'll be here,” Loretta replied as Dale led her out on the dance floor.

The hall was festooned with bunting and banners put up by the rodeo association, and the band was playing two-step music that had the crowd filling the floor. The bar along a side wall was packed with men around Matt's age sipping longneck beers and watching the action.

Twenty minutes passed before Kim showed up, looking spectacular in a rose-red cowgirl shirt and tight jeans that showed off her firm, athletic figure.

“There you are,” Kevin said, intercepting her as she crossed the edge of the dance floor.

“Do you know how to dance?” Kim asked.

“I do,” Kevin replied, silently thanking Jeannie Hollister for teaching him how to move his feet.

“Let's see.” She took him by the hand and pulled him onto the floor. “You better not be lying to me, cowboy.”

As they danced, he learned she was from Deming, a senior about to graduate, and lived with her mom on twenty acres outside of town. When the band stopped for a break, they stepped outside to cool down.

“You're not too bad,” Kim said as they stood in the cool of the night.

“That's because you made me look good,” Kevin replied.

She stepped close and kissed him on the lips. “Want to go to a party?”

“Where?”

“Close by. Come on, I'm driving.”

“I'll get Dale and Loretta.”

“Just leave them be.”

“Okay. Let me tell my parents first.”

“I'll ask them,” Kim proposed. “Point them out to me.”

The band had started back up. Inside they found Kevin's parents dancing to an Elvis Presley ballad. With permission granted as long as Kevin didn't stay out too late, they piled into Kim's old Chevy. Five minutes later they stopped in front of a small farmhouse. One lonely lamplight shone behind the curtain of the front window.

“Where are we?”

“My house.” She reached over and caressed the erection that pressed hard against the fabric of his jeans. “We're the party. My mom's at work.” She nibbled his ear. “Come on.”

He saw no reason not to and had no desire to resist. Still he asked, as he tumbled out the passenger door with Kim sliding across the seat behind him, “Are you sure?”

“I'm on the pill.”

Later, when she deposited him at the motel-room door, he was no longer a virgin twice over. His parents were asleep in one of the double beds. Certain that he smelled of sex, he undressed quickly and got under the covers in the unoccupied bed, hoping it would go undiscovered. He fell asleep within minutes.

***

O
n Saturday, Kevin didn't see Kim until he'd completed the first rounds of team roping with Dale and saddle-bronc riding. Both events had been stellar, and if he kept it up he had a shot at leading the pack at the end of the day.

Barrel racing was about to begin when he approached Kim as she waited next to her pony.

“I've been looking for you. Good luck.”

She eyed him cautiously and then turned away to adjust a stirrup. “Thanks. You're doing well, I see.”

“So far, so good.”

“Do you think I'm a slut?” she asked tentatively, her back rigid.

“No. I don't know you well enough, but I'm thinking you're one of a kind.”

She turned and flashed a brilliant smile at him. “Perfect.”

“What?”

“Your answer was perfect. Will I see you later?”

“I'd like that.”

“No sex, though.”

“That's okay.”

“You're sure?”

Kevin hid his disappointment. “I'm sure.”

She threw a leg up over her pony and settled into the saddle. “Okay.”

She walked her pony away. When her turn came she took the lead in the first go-round and kept it.

At the end of his last event of the afternoon, Kevin stood tied with Todd Marks. He met Kim at the concession stand for a soda pop just as her mother was leaving for her job as the swing-shift supervisor at the telephone company. As she hurried away, Kevin
commented that they looked more like sisters than mother and daughter.

“We hear that all the time. She was only seventeen when she had me. What are we going to do tonight?”

“My parents want to take us to dinner.”

Kim's eyes lit up. “You mean it?”

“That's the plan.”

She snuggled close. “You just might be the real McCoy.”

***

O
n Sunday morning barrel racing was the opening event and Kevin cheered Kim on as she took the championship, running the cloverleaf flawlessly, her pony grazing only one barrel that teetered but didn't fall. When the final standings were announced, she whooped and threw her arms around Kevin before taking a victory lap on her pony. Her mother and a crowd of friends surrounded her after she returned and Kevin didn't see her again until he'd finished with a miserable run in the steer-wrestling event. With Todd Marks now clearly ahead, he tried not to sulk and look despondent.

He picked up some points in the all-around standing with another first with Dale in team roping, but didn't gain any ground in the saddle-bronc event. With calf roping, his last event, about to start, he was anxiously pacing behind the chutes when Kim found him.

“Are you going to write to me?” she asked.

Kevin stopped pacing. “Do you want me to?”

“Of course I do. After all, we'll both be at NMSU in the fall.”

“You didn't tell me that.”

Kim shrugged coyly. “Well, now I am.”

“I don't know if I can wait that long to see you again,” Kevin said with a grin.

Kim laughed. “Don't go and get all horny on me.”

“I can't help it.”

She leaned in and gave him a big kiss. From the corner of his eye he saw his dad at the arena railing trying to hide a grin.
He knows,
Kevin thought.

“Go get 'em, cowboy.”

Kevin climbed onto Two-Bits. After this go-round he'd have to watch Todd Marks take his turn. No matter how well he did, all Todd needed was a run-of-the-mill performance to claim the all-around title again.

Two-Bits made a clean break, the calf was cooperative, and Kevin's tie-down went smoothly. There was some consolation in a strong finish, he thought, as he joined his father at the railing to watch Todd take the title.

Up in the stands, Kim was sitting with Mary, Al, Brenda, and Dale. Kevin wondered if his mom also knew. He figured so. Sexiness just oozed out of her.

Todd made a good run, flanked his calf onto its side, tied three legs, signaled time, and went to remount just as the calf kicked loose and stood. It was a clear disqualification. Kevin had taken the all-around title. Stunned, he couldn't believe it.

Grinning ear to ear, Matt thumped him on the back. “You did it!”

It was all he could do to keep from jumping up and down like a six-year-old kid on Christmas morning.

Grim-faced, Todd rode over to the railing, slipped off his pony, and shook Kevin's hand. “Congratulations.”

“Thanks. I didn't think I had a chance.”

Todd forced a smile. “Neither did I.”

It took only a minute for the announcement to be made. The crowd in the stands roared when Kevin entered the arena to acknowledge their applause. He waved, doffed his hat, and smiled like a Cheshire cat. It was by far the best weekend of his life.