“Come to see me or the show?” Alex moved to sit in a rocking chair and crossed one leg over the other.
“Both.” Norm leaned forward, studying the marionette.
“I heard there's been some excitement around my grandmother's place.” Alex rocked back.
“Them boys that run you down. Well, they won't be botherin' nobody else, Alex.” Norm took off his tan cowboy hat, revealing the scar along his forehead. He looked out the window at the rain.
“That's good to know.”
“I saw âem do it, you know.” Norm hooked the cap over his right knee and looked at Alex.
“What?” Alex stopped rocking.
“Saw âem run you down like a dog. Saw âem from the edge of the trees. Watched âem drive by. Recognized the four of âem.”
Alex stood up. “How come you never told anyone?”
Norm pointed at his chest. “Who's gonna believe
me? Besides, when I went to Eva's she was cryin', Aidan was cryin', and I was cryin'. Alex, the words just wouldn't come out.”
“Did you get the license?” Alex asked.
“Can't read. You know that. But I knew who it was. That's why.” He looked out the window.
“Why?” Aidan looked away from her marionettes.
“Why I kept planting those trees for you.” Norm looked at the floor. “My mom told me to look after you.”
“Thank you, Norm,” Alex said.
“You were good to me, Alex. Did what I could. Yep. Did what I should to be good right back.” Norm looked off to the right.
“What did you do, Norm?” Alex asked.
“Planted them trees for you.”
“What's that mean?” Alex looked over his shoulder and up at Aidan.
“You planted a tree every year. And after you died ⦔ Norm pointed a finger at his chest. “⦠I kept that up for you. It's what Mother woulda wanted.”
SATURDAY, JULY 13
“You're treating Roz like she's a doll. She hates that!” Matt's voice carried from the deck to the kitchen where Arthur and Lane sat drinking coffee. Lane got up and peered through a clear diamond in the back-door window. Christine hugged Roz and glared at Matt. Roz
displayed nearly all of her teeth in a decidedly unfriendly smile as she licked her lips.
“Do you really think we should go? I mean those two have been at it since they got up.” Arthur sounded worried.
Lane sat down. “There's more room for them to argue at the rodeo. It's better than having them around the house and fighting. So my vote is we go. We've promised Glenn we'll be there, and Harper will be a little less uncomfortable if we're there.”
The argument between Christine and Matt got louder.
“What have you got against me anyway?” Christine said.
“Nothin',” Matt said. “That's no answer. You've been mad at me since I got here!”
Lane and Arthur couldn't help but listen.
“You've still got a mom and you left her! Mine's dead, and my father doesn't want me anymore! You leave your mom and come here just when it's starting to feel like home for me!” Matt's voice choked off the last word.
Christine started off in a matter-of-fact tone. “My mom didn't want me. She wouldn't talk to me for a month before I left. Most of the people there wouldn't talk to me. Those who did only talked to me when no one else was around! My mom didn't want me around any more. I was an embarrassment.”
Matt sniffed before he spoke. “How could you think that? Mothers aren't like that!”
“Maybe your mother wasn't, but mine was. Look at me! I was an embarrassment. Look!” There was a
pause before Christine said, “All of Paradise was white. I was the only one whose skin was a different colour. Nobody said anything, but after a while you could just tell. They didn't want me there. And after a while, my mother started to act the same way. She kept telling me to wear a hat in the summer so I wouldn't get a tan. She was ashamed of my skin! Like it was my choice!”
Arthur and Lane had to listen closely when Matt spoke. The boy's voice was low, almost a whisper.
Matt cleared his throat. “My dad never went anywhere with me. Never went to one of my games. Never went to my school for interviews. He always found an excuse for not being there. I embarrassed him.”
“How did you know?” Christine asked.
“I just knew like you knew about your mom and the people in Paradise. Some things you just know.”
Christine asked, “So why are you here?”
“Uncle Arthur and Uncle Lane like having me around. And I can tell, they feel the same way about you. I guess I'm jealous.”
No one dared speak.
The quiet stretched out until Arthur went to the back door and said, “Come on you two, it's time to go.” He held the door open until Christine and Matt came inside.
An angry rumble shook the windows.
“What was that?” Arthur asked.
“Thunder,” Matt said.
“Come on. It's time to load up the Jeep,” Lane said.
They travelled in rain and silence for the half hour it took to drive north and east along the top edge of the
city past houses, malls, and a couple of golf courses. They turned north and the city ended. Less than five minutes later, they eased through the gates of Symon's Valley Ranch. They parked on the grass behind one of the washrooms.
Christine opened her door. “Looks like the rain's finished.”
The sky to the west was blue and clear. The trailing edge of the storm moved east.
Arthur smiled. “The infield will be muddy. This should be lots of fun.”
They carried lawn chairs and dodged puddles as they walked past trailers and motor homes on their way to the infield. Lane thought of the right thing to say to Christine and Matt before deciding to say nothing.
“What's that?” Christine pointed at a tiny corral with balloons and blowup love dolls leaning up against rough-sawn fence boards.
Arthur read the sign. “Heavy petting zoo.”
“It's a bar, I think,” Lane said too quickly.
They found a spot on the sloped grass at the southeast corner, in front of the stands, in behind the steel fence and to one side of the bleachers. The sun shone on a muddy infield. Its soil had taken on the consistency of canned soup.
Two pairs of contestants ran from the far side to near the fence in front of Lane, Arthur, and the kids. Each pair headed for a tethered goat. One man grabbed and lifted the hind end of the goat so his partner could guide the goat's back legs through a pair of white panties. The other goat managed to evade the competitors. One man tripped over the
rope and fell face first into the mud. Laughter washed over the infield.
Christine looked at the infield and the crowd. Couples and groups wore cowboy hats and ball caps. She looked at Lane. He held out a twenty dollar bill. “Just in case you want to get something to eat or drink.”
“Thanks,” Christine said.
Arthur handed another twenty to Matt.
“There you are!”
They turned to see Erinn carrying Jessica, followed by Harper and Glenn who were weighed down with chairs and bags stuffed to overflowing with baby supplies.
“We miss anything?” Glenn asked as he unfolded two chairs and sat next to Matt.
“No. They're still trying to put panties on the goats,” Matt smiled.
“Hi Christine. Ready for some fun?” Erinn sat down with Jessica in the chair next to Christine.
“I think so,” Christine said.
“I know how you feel. Last year was my first at the rodeo. Lane and Arthur brought me. I sat around feeling like a minority. You know, a breeder in a strange land.” Erinn smiled at Lane, Harper and Matt.
“A breeder?” Christine asked.
“I'm a breeder. You know, a straight married woman with children.” Erinn smiled. “It helps to know the lingo. What's going on here? All these long faces!”
“Christine and I were fighting,” Matt said.
“So? What family doesn't?” Erinn said.
The announcer said, “There'll be a short intermission while we prepare for our next event.”
“Should be the drag queens,” Arthur said.
“We're just in time, then,” Erinn said.
Glenn walked over to Christine. “Come on. Let's go take a look around.”
“I don't know,” Christine said.
Glenn pulled her up and out of the chair. “You too, Matt.”
“What's new?” Harper sat down next to Arthur after the kids left.
Jessica began to cry.
Harper stood up and picked up his daughter. Erinn smiled as Harper walked back and forth behind them, rocking their daughter. He said, “How's my Jessica?” She gradually stopped crying.
“Daddy's girl.” Erinn looked at Lane. “Well?”
Lane said, “Matt's been rejected by his dad and Christine by her mom. Now they're living with us and fighting with each other.”
“Did you talk with them?” Erinn asked.
Lane and Arthur looked at each other. “About what?” they said in stereo.
“I don't know. The future?” Erinn rolled her eyes. “They've got nowhere to go and have been rejected by people who shouldn't ever reject them. You two know anything about rejection?” Erinn tried to keep a straight face.
Lane thought,
Oh, shit
.
Arthur said, “You've got to be kidding?”
“Glenn figured it was only a matter of time before we rejected him.” Harper sat down. Jessica started to cry. He got up and started to walk with her.
“So, what did you do?” Arthur asked.
“We talked.” Erinn looked left as the corral gate opened. “Told him that we wanted him around. After a while, he believed us.”
The announcer said, “For our next event ⦔ His voice was drowned by the roar of cheers and applause from the spectators.
Three drag queens waved at the crowd. They all wore metallic-blue beehive hair. Each wore a sequined blue dress, black pantyhose, and white rubber boots. And all three wore conical bras that came to sharp points. Each of the queens was followed by attendants in coveralls dyed different shades of the rainbow.
“Wow!” Erinn said.
“We're back!” Glenn sat down with a brown paper shopping bag filled with popcorn.
“What's this?” Christine pointed at the corral.
No one answered as the three stars waded through the infield's ankle-deep mud. The buzzer sounded. One calf was let out of an enclosure. Two attendants grabbed for the rope around the calf's neck. The calf struggled as they dragged and pushed it over to the first queen. He revealed red satin panties as he straddled the calf. The crowd cheered while the attendants pushed and pulled the calf and queen across a line on the far side of the corral.
“Well, that looked easy!” the announcer said.
The next pair of attendants got ready. The gate opened. The calf launched itself. The first attendant was knocked flat by the calf. The second grabbed for the rope and missed. The drag queen high-stepped his way closer to the calf, managed to grab the rope, and was dragged across the infield. The queen's paired V
cups acted as hydroplanes, cutting parallel wakes in the mud. The queen hung on. Mud coated his face, hair, and mustache. He let go, slid to a stop, and rolled onto his back. The crowd cheered and clapped as the queen stood. He tried to flick the mud off his hands before righting his hair.
“I've never seen anything like this,” Christine said.
“It's only getting started,” Glenn said.
They watched various events for another hour while the sun gradually dried out the infield. The final event was bull riding. Riders in flack jackets rode bulls while the clown picked cowpokes out of the mud after they dismounted or were thrown.
After the last event, Matt asked, “Are we going out for supper?”
Jessica started to cry.
“We've got tickets for dinner here. We'll just wait for Jessica,” Arthur said.
Erinn pulled a blanket over her shoulders and began to breastfeed.
Christine looked uneasily at the crowd. One cowboy kissed another. Two cowgirls held muddy hands.
“Don't worry, it's not a disease you catch.” Glenn put his hand on Christine's shoulder.
Christine looked back at him, shocked that he'd read her mind.
The announcer said, “Dinner's on! Don't miss the best beef and bison you're gonna find anywhere. It's at the Wagon Wheel Hall. There are still a few tickets left, so hurry up. And for your added pleasure we've got a
show called
Wingin' It
. This is the debut of an incredibly talented local puppeteer and artist.”
“Go on ahead,” Erinn said. “We'll wait.” Arthur turned to Matt and Christine. “You know we want both of you to stay with us.” Arthur pulled Lane closer.
Lane heard the sudden and complete silence surrounding them as Christine and Matt watched their uncles.
Lane thought,
Say something! Say the right thing!
“We do. I think of us as family now. I know we're not your real parents, but we're here and we want you both around. Permanently.”
Matt looked at the ground.
Erinn sniffed.
Glenn smiled.
Christine moved to Lane and hugged him around the neck before turning to Arthur and wiping the back of her hand across his cheek.
For a full minute all Lane could hear was the sound of Jessica sucking on Erinn's breast.
Forty minutes later, they stood in line out front of the Wagon Wheel Hall.
Harper patted Jessica's back to work out any gas. The baby rewarded him with a satisfied belch.
Matt closed his eyes. “Man, that smells good.”
Jessica farted.
Matt looked at Harper and smiled. “I meant the food.”
They stood behind one of the cowgirls who was covered in drying mud.
As they entered the open-air eating area with its
picnic tables, there was an unusual quiet. Lane looked at the woman on stage who was dressed in red cowboy boots, blue jeans, and a blue satin shirt. Lane stared at the white-hatted marionette who was dressed exactly like the puppeteer working the strings.