One Step Over the Border (5 page)

Little was said on the return trip to Cody. The silence broken only after they circled Juanita’s house.

“No one’s at home except the pooch on the porch,” Hap reported. “And the Harley’s gone.”

They slipped through the night shadows back to the pickup.

Hap opened the driver’s side door. “Do you reckon he’s out chasin’ her down somewhere?”

“What worries me is that we’re going to hear of her murder in the morning. I don’t know if I can live with that.”

Hap leaned up against the door. “There ain’t nothin’ we can do. She has to file a complaint against him. What’s the plan now?”

“We wait for him.”

“You think he’ll be back?”

“It’s his house.”

“Without Juanita and the baby, what is there to come home to?” Hap insisted.

“Then there’s nothing for us to worry about.”

“I ain’t leavin’ my truck here. We need one rig with tires. Let’s park near the trailer park out at the highway. We can hike
back down here.” Hap flipped a U in the wide, treeless street and drove north.

“This is a long way to run if we need a quick exit,” Laramie said.

“Why will we need to run? You’re plannin’ on whippin’ him, ain’t you? If you intend to lose the fight, let me know right now,
so I can call an ambulance on standby.”

“I don’t know what will happen,” Laramie admitted.

“On the other hand, if you’d like to just keep on goin’, I can head this rig to Greybull or Worland right now.”

Laramie motioned toward yard lights. “Pull in next to the blue one with tires on the roof.”

After jerking the keys, Hap fumbled around behind the seat. “I expect we’ll need a couple ropes.”

“I’m not using ropes or a bowling ball this time.”

“Well, in that case…” Hap yanked out a lever-action carbine. “Think I’ll tote my .30–30.”

Laramie and Hap prowled south along the street without lights. The breeze from the west hovered between mild and cool.

“What do you plan on doing with the gun?” Laramie asked.

“I’m goin’ to try to keep him from killin’ you.”

“I appreciate that.”

“And if that’s not a possibility, I can at least put you out of your misery quick.”

“That’s a real comfort to know.”

When they reached the darkened house, they tramped over to the VW perched on cinder blocks. They sat on the cracked, but still
warm, asphalt and leaned against an abandoned chest freezer with the door removed. Both men kept their eyes on the street.

“You got a girlfriend, Laramie? I told you about my search for Juanita. What about you?”

“There was a gal at college last year. I thought maybe she was the one.”

“You went to college?”

Laramie rubbed on his clenched fist. “Junior college. I was an agriculture major. I thought about going on, but just couldn’t
get motivated.”

“What was her name?”

“Shelby. She’s one of those types that’s so dadgum beautiful, you’re embarrassed to talk to her. But she started talking to
me after class… then one thing led to another and…”

“Wait, wait, wait…” Hap interrupted. “We might have a very long night here. There’s no reason to skip over one thing leadin’
to another. What was the one thing and what did it lead to? Fill in the details, partner.”

“We got chummy.”

“How chummy?”

“Real chummy,” Laramie said.

“Oh, well, that makes a difference. Real chummy as opposed to slightly chummy… or unreal chummy.”

“The point is, I thought she was the one. Since she majored in elementary education, I even considered ag education.”

“And Mr. and Mrs. School Teacher would live happily ever after?”

“Something like that. We had a great time over Thanksgiving and for the next couple of weeks. Then she went home to Baltimore
for Christmas break.”

“She was from the East Coast? Was she sort of snotty in a good sense with a little upturned nose and bangs that jiggle in
time with… with the rest of her parts that jiggle?”

“Yeah… why did you say that?”

“That’s the way all the college girls from the East look,” Hap said. “What happened over Christmas break?”

“She didn’t come back for spring term. After a week of shock and wonder, I went over to her old dorm and asked around. No
one would talk to me.”

“Was she pregnant?”

“We weren’t that chummy. A friend’s roommate worked maintenance at her dorm. He brought me the news that Shelby had gotten
married on Christmas Eve.”

“She dumped you and married another guy?”

“It seems she was engaged all fall. From what I finally found out, she was worried that maybe she had been in a hurry to get
married. She dated me just to make sure she had made the right choice.”

Hap whistled. “You kiddin’ me?” He plucked up a piece of gravel and chucked it against the VW bus. “I’ve dated a Juanita or
two just like that.”

“That’s when I decided college wasn’t for me. So, to answer your question, no I don’t have a girl… and I guess I’m not looking
too hard for one right now. At least, nothing complicated.”

Clouds stacked up against the Bighorn Mountains and blocked the stars in the eastern side of the night sky. Hap rubbed out
a cramp in his thigh. He looped his hat over his knee and leaned his head back against the empty freezer. “Laramie, I started
this day in Lander. New cologne and a clean shirt. This was going to be huge. Court Juanita… find happiness… settle down.
Now look at me. Sittin’ in the dark with a carbine on my lap. Seems I took a wrong turn sometime today and I can’t go back.”

Laramie watched the dark clouds roll over the stars. When he rubbed his shirt-covered arm, he could feel goosebumps. “You
notice that’s the way life is? You never get to go back.”

“Well, if I could do it over, I’d never have come to Cody. Shoot, I don’t think I would have dated that Juanita from Colorado,
neither. I learned to stay away from girls more obsessive than I am. If I could go back, I’d spend more time with my dad.
He died when I was thirteen. A massive heart attack at forty-two years old. That’s way too young. I always figured he had
a lot to teach me and we just never got around to it. Kinda sad, ain’t it? How about you? If you had a chance to go back…
where would it be?”

“Are you getting philosophical on me?”

“Just tryin’ to stay awake. Don’t you have a time you’d like to go back to?”

“New Year’s Day, 1985.”

“Now, that’s specific. What about it?”

“I’d have clobbered my old man with a baseball bat, instead of letting him take it away from me.”

Hap traced his finger along the cold, hard walnut carbine buttstock. “Did he get mean when he was drunk?”

Laramie waved his arm to the east. “Did you see that lightning over in the Bighorns?”

“You need to change the subject?” Hap pressed.

When Laramie closed his eyes, he saw the streaks of blood mixed with tears on his mother’s face. “Yeah, I’m changing the subject.
At least for now. Maybe someday, Hap. Is that fair enough?”

“Partner, I’ll listen to anything you want to tell me. But I won’t hound you.”

“And I’ll do the same for you.” Laramie cleared his throat. “Do we have a storm headed this way?”

“Looks like it. You should have worn your hat,” Hap said.

“I never wear a hat. Except in the arena and that’s because they make me.”

“You’re a cowboy, but you don’t wear a hat? What’s the deal?”

“Some guys can wear a hat; some can’t. I look funny in a hat.”

“Who told you that?”

“Molli Peters, when I was twelve.”

“Do you mean to tell me what some girl said when you were twelve still controls your life?”

“How old were you when you started looking for your Juanita?” Laramie quizzed.

“Twelve, but it’s completely different.”

“Oh?”

“Look, that night after I met her, when I was twelve, I prayed. I said, ‘Lord, I’m never goin’ to ask you for another thing
as long as I live. I just want to marry my Juanita someday when I grow up.’”

“So prayer makes your situation different?”

“It’s in the Lord’s hands.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Laramie murmured.

Hap raised the carbine and pointed it at the brightest star. “You do believe in God, don’t you?”

“I suppose most everyone does. But that doesn’t mean I understand his ways.”

“What are you thinkin’ of?” Hap asked.

“Philippe.”

“Juanita’s baby?”

“Yeah, Juanita and good old Francis. That little guy hardly has a chance in life. What kind of world is this that he’s growin’
up in? He’s got violence and filth and constant tension. How can he make it?”

“You blame God for that?” Hap asked.

“Not exactly, but I truly don’t understand. I have a sister, Diana. She’s about three years older. She married Barry right
out of high school. He got into computers and made so much money they can’t find enough ways of spending it.”

“That’s a nice problem.”

“They’ve got a big house near Seattle. Diana doesn’t need to work. So all she wants is to have kids.”

“But they can’t?”

Laramie sighed. “Nope. It’s not Barry; it’s her. She can’t bear children. My sis is a saint. She’s the sweetest, kindest,
smartest lady I know. If I ever find one like my sis, I’ll marry her. But for the life of me, I don’t get why God above prevents
her from having kids… and little Philippe is born in a home like this. There’s a whole lot of things like that I don’t comprehend.”

“Here comes a rig,” Hap said.

Laramie crouched forward. “Two headlights. It’s not a motorcycle.”

“Maybe someone’s lost.” Hap sat cross-legged, carbine across his lap. “I think they’re turnin’ in here. Duck down.”

“Is that a Harley in the back of the pickup?” Laramie whispered.

A red bandanna do-rag around his head, Francis climbed out of the passenger side. He carried a sleeping Philippe.

Juanita bounced out on the driver’s side, keys spinning on her fingers. “Honey, do you think we should tape some cardboard
over that hole in the front window to keep the bugs out?”

“Just pull the curtains, babe,” Francis replied. “I’ll repair it tomorrow. You might want to bring in the commode lid, though.
I’ll put the baby to bed. He’s tired. He’s had a long day.”

“We’ve all had a long day.”

“Did you get it out of your system?” Francis asked.

“Running away? Yeah… I think I did. How about you? Did you get your anger out?”

“Nothin’ like slicin’ tires to relieve stress.”

Hap prodded Laramie with the carbine. “Now’s your chance. You want the gun?”

Laramie waved him away.

Juanita and Francis paused in front of the busted screen door. Francis leaned down. Juanita threw her arm around him and kissed
him on the lips. Then the three, and the black dog, disappeared into the house.

Neither said much on the drive back to Greybull until they hit the thundershowers.

“If it rains hard, they’ll wish they had that window fixed,” Hap finally offered.

“I sat there most of the night thinking of all the things I was going to do to the guy, but I didn’t count on that.”

“It’s a tough one to figure out.”

“It’s still a mess. I don’t know how they can make it.”

“Yeah, but it’s not our mess. I hope you learned a lesson from all of this.”

“I learned that slashing tires relieves stress.”

“You didn’t exactly slash them.”

“Letting the air out and tossing away the valve cores was the best I could do. I should have carried my pocketknife,” Laramie
said.

“You should have let me blast the tires.”

“I didn’t want to wake up the baby. But I’m glad I let the air out of the Harley, too.”

Hap pushed his hat back. “What do you say, cowboy? We make a good team. You ready to rodeo?”

“After today, I’m braced for anything.” Laramie rubbed the back of his neck. “Besides, I figure it can only get better from
here.”

Matamoros, Mexico, June 2006

F
or almost twelve hundred miles the Rio Grande separates the state of Texas from Mexico, the country of arduous paths and tumultuous
fortunes. But the nearer one gets to the river, the less separates the cultures. Laramie and Hap knew they sat close to the
river. In a way, they were no more than one step over the border.