One Step Over the Border (15 page)

They worked the southern fence line, then turned north along the western boundary by midafternoon. The sky hued a thin blue,
weakened by the constant heat rising off the ground. No breeze. The air tasted stale, used… like that above a dance floor
after the crowd has gone home. As far as they could see, there wasn’t another person or animal on the prairie.

Most of the repairs could be handled by one man. Where two were needed, Annamarie dismounted to walk Sara and stretch out
her stiffness. The boxer constantly tugged at the leash as she ran to investigate one bush after another.

Hap set the wire puller. “You don’t think Sara would get along out here on her own? You don’t have to cradle her all day.”

Laramie spliced in a short section of wire. “Don’t go telling someone else how to raise their dog.”

“I’ve been thinking about it.” Annamarie squatted and stroked the panting dog’s head. “It does seem a little weird to bring
Sara out here, then force her to ride in my lap. But she’s such a house dog. She even acts nervous in Mother’s fenced backyard.
She’s never had this kind of freedom. I don’t know how she’d do and I’m a little scared to find out.”

“That’s exactly what Big Jim Mayes said.”

“Hap, that is not a fair comparison.”

“What isn’t fair?” she pressed.

“We rode with Big Jim one year in Nevada. After that he up and got married. Now that surprised us, since Big Jim was… well,
he didn’t seem like the marryin’ type. Anyway, this short little gal from Korea who didn’t know any English showed up in town.
They got the mayor to do the service and he took her out to the ranch. No one saw her again for months. He never let her off
the place.”

“Oh, my,” Annamarie said.

“I saw Big Jim in at the feed store one day and I said, ‘You need to let that new wife of yours out the door. Don’t you think
she can get along on her own?’ He said somethin’ to the effect that she has never had that kind of freedom. He didn’t know
how she’d do and he was a little scared to find out.”

“So, what happened?”

“He let Kimmie out from under his thumb… and sure enough, she ran off.”

“Oh, dear, I had hoped for a better answer.”

“But she came back the next day and didn’t run away again. They have four kids now, so I reckon things worked themselves out.”

The rest of the afternoon, Sara dashed ahead of the horses. But she never let Annamarie out of sight as she explored every
clump of grass, rock, and mesquite.

Laramie and Hap mounted up after driving wire staples into a railroad tie post. Annamarie led her horse.

“You give up ridin’?” Hap asked.

“My heart wants to ride, but other body parts need a break,” she admitted.

A little after 6:00 P.M., they crested a rise and spotted a row of four stunted poplar trees along a dry sandy creek-bed.

“Looks like camp.” Laramie stepped down and took Annamarie’s reins. “I’ll tend to the horses. Hap will unpack the mule and
set up camp.”

“What can I do? So far, I’ve just walked the dog and sat on the saddle. I haven’t been much help.”

“That’s not true. Having you along made it a good day,” Laramie said.

“How’s that?”

“Well, for me and Hap good days are measured by two factors. How much work did we get done? How fast did the time fly? We
covered over one-third of the fence line… that’s quite a bit. And having you to visit with made the hours hum. So, it’s been
a great day.”

“I take it you don’t often work a crew with a woman along?”

Laramie slipped the bit out of the paint mare’s mouth. “Other than the boss’s wife cooking chuck from time to time, we’ve
never had a gal on the crew.”

“That ain’t entirely true.” Hap eased the cook sack to the ground. “We did take along that red-haired girl you befriended
in Douglas.”

“I wouldn’t call her a member of the crew,” Laramie sputtered.

“What would you call her?” Annamarie asked.

Laramie scowled at Hap. “A hitchhiker.”

Annamarie rolled up her long sleeves. “Can Sara and I gather some firewood down there?” She pointed to a brush-lined draw
that dropped off to the east.

“Oh, no,” Hap protested. “Firewood is my detail. As soon as I get the mule unpacked, I’ll head down there myself.”

“No, you won’t,” she insisted. “Those aren’t just bushes. That’s the ladies room.”

“Eh, yes, ma’am. Like we said, we ain’t used to a gal on the crew.”

Luke seemed at home grazing on tall dry grass alongside the paint mare and the mule. But Tully, as usual, preferred to eat
by himself, and Laramie picketed him on the other side of camp. The rise of the prairie to the south cut off the line of sight
of farms and town. The place had a feel of total isolation.

Laramie dug through his saddlebag while Hap blew on the fire.

“What are you lookin’ for?” Hap asked.

“I wish I’d remembered to bring some clean shirts.” Laramie tossed down the saddlebags.

Thick smoke made Hap’s eyes tear up and he wiped them on his shirt. “I reckon you’d like a shave, haircut, and your nose hair
trimmed, too. Have you got a date tonight?”

“I just want to look my best.”

Hap shoved a couple more dry sticks in the fire. “You ain’t known her any time at all.”

“Are you jealous?” Laramie poured water into his hands and splashed his face. “You know, partner, there are times that I’m
glad you have your Juanita to chase. It cuts down the competition.”

“And there are times I start considerin’ the stupidity of it all. A gal like Annamarie can make a man change his plans. You
got good taste, partner.”

“Isn’t she something? Polite. Smart. A beautiful nurse who can ride.”

“But don’t it seem a little foolish of her to ride off with a couple of rounders who she barely knows? I mean, we could be
a couple of perverts who drift around the country kidnappin’ beautiful women. Makes you question her wisdom.”

Laramie’s grin was soft and easy, like a man with a cool, crisp slice of sweet watermelon. “She’s a good judge of character.”

Hap brushed back his mustache. “But can she cook?”

“Does it matter?”

Hap studied the limber, olive-skinned woman as she sauntered with the boxer toward them. “Oooweee. No, sir. It don’t matter
at all.”

“Look at what Sara found down there.” She held up a bright green object. “It’s one of those neon colored jelly thong sandals
that just came out last May. I almost bought myself a pair.”

Laramie peered around. “Then someone’s been down here since May.”

“Doesn’t this land seem too rugged to be wearing light sandals?” she asked.

Hap fingered the thong. “I figure the invasion of flip-flops is a terrorist plot to weaken the morals of American women. Maybe
this is where they cross the border into the States.”

Annamarie burst out laughing, then slapped her hand over her mouth. “He was joking, wasn’t he?”

“Don’t get him started talking politics,” Laramie cautioned. “It’s not a pretty sight.”

She grabbed the flip-flop. “Maybe a coyote dragged it back here from the road and just gave up on eating it.” Annamarie held
it up to her foot. “I wish I’d found two of them.”

The ground heat lessened with the coming of darkness. When the fire flickered out, the three reclined in the shadows as the
sky turned from blanched blue, to charcoal gray, to black. Smoke still hung in the air, but the bugs seemed to retire.

Annamarie huddled between Laramie and Hap, an arm’s length apart.

Laramie picked his teeth with a stiff weed straw. “Well, the beans were fairly tasteless, but the Twinkies stayed fresh. It
was nice of your mamma to send them along.”

“Mother believes Twinkies will solve any problem.”

Hap brushed crumbs off his thick, black mustache. “She might be right.”

“Do you have a list or journal of all the Juanitas you’ve known?” Annamarie asked.

Hap chuckled. “Nope. But me havin’ such a photographic memory, I can remember ever’ one.”

“Okay, which is your favorite? You must have found some you liked better than others.”

“Are you sure these stories ain’t borin’ you?”

“No, this has been a hoot. I usually run on pure caffeine and adrenaline. It’s one crisis after another. I love helping people,
but it’s one hundred percent stress the whole time. Now, here I am, out in the wilds on a warm summer night and I feel no
stress at all.”

“Well, my favorite is Juanita DeCampos. A couple of years ago, I got this packet in the mail. A pal in Colorado we call Two
Lip got to blabbin’…”

“Why did you call him Tulip?”

“T-w-o L-i-p… I reckon it had to do with his looks. Anyway, he talked up my hunt for Juanita and I get a brown manila envelope
in the mail from a girl named Juanita DeCampos. She had heard about the Juanita search and wanted to apply.”

“Apply?”

“She had some professional photos and a six-page dossier all about herself.”

“Wow, she was serious. Did you like what you saw and read?”

“Laramie claims she’s the most perfect Juanita he ever met.”

“Oh, yeah…” Laramie added. “I mean to tell you this gal was a winner. Smart, cute, talented, aggressive, polite, hard-working.
I told Hap she only had one flaw that I could see.”

Annamarie pulled the rubber band from her ponytail and swished her hair loose. “Wow, one-flaw girls are difficult to find.”

“Yes, ma’am, they are.” Laramie stared at her through the shadows, trying to imagine her one flaw.

“So, what was it?” she pressed. “What was the defect?”

“Her age. She was thirteen years old,” Hap said.

“Yes,” Laramie hooted, “but she said that people often mistake her for seventeen or eighteen.”

“She was a cutie,” Hap replied.

“I suppose you broke her heart.”

“I tried to convince her to wait a few years, that she could do a whole lot better than me.” Hap caressed the sleeping dog.
“Sara’s tuckered out. All that freedom drained her.” He unrolled his sleeping bag and tugged off his boots. “The two of you
can keep guard. I’m goin’ to sleep.”

“What threat shall we look for?” Annamarie said.

Hap yawned. “International terrorists sneakin’ into the country totin’ hand-held nuclear weapons or lead buckets brim full
of biological plagues.”

“Oh, my, anything else?”

“Guard the grub box.”

“I can’t imagine someone wanting to steal that.”

“Twinkie theft is a real problem in rural America.”