One Step Over the Border

by Stephen Bly

  “It does somewhat dampen the thrill of it all.” Laramie finished toweling his horse, then checked his hooves.

  “You don’t figure it’s your destiny to get Laramie bits scattered across a west Texas desert?”

  “I’d rather die an old man surrounded by a loving wife, kids, and grandkids.”

  “Which, at the moment, don’t appear too likely.”

  “There’s a certain nurse who gives me renewed hope.” Laramie tightened the cinch, remounted, and handed the towel back to Hap.

  “Oh my, Laramie’s pinin’ after Annamarie Buchett again.”

  “Some dreams are too sweet to let go.”

  “Don’t I know it? But at some point you try to turn loose of the dream and realize the dream won’t turn loose of you.”

  Although the clouds stacked up all afternoon, the late August thundershower didn’t hit until Laramie and Hap had the remuda penned in the brush corral near the highway. They tried to rub down Luke and Tully in the rain, but finally trailered them grained and unsaddled.

  Hap jumped in the truck and started the engine.

  Laramie slid into the passenger’s side. “We aren’t leaving before the major gets here, are we?”

  “Nope, but it’s raining too hard to roll down the window and way too hot not to have the air-conditioner on.”

  “After a week of sleepin’ on the ground in a bombing range, I didn’t know you were that particular.”

  “I reckon I’m gettin’ soft in my old age.”

  “Well, I won’t mind a shower and a motel bed tonight.”

  “I need to phone Rosa and see what she found out from her aunt Paula.”

  “Hap, I don’t think there are many gals like Rosa who would help you find your Juanita.”

  “I was ponderin’ that this afternoon when we was pushin’ that cavvy of wild horses. If a man gets one truly good friend in his life, it’s a blessing. That’s you, partner. Your loyalty is legendary. And now, Rosa comes along and offers a similar kind of friendship.”

  “Yeah, but she’s cuter than me.”

  Hap laughed. “That’s true, but you’re taller. About a foot taller. Anyway, it just seems a privilege to have three good friends I can count on.”

  “Three?”

  “Ol’ Lukey, of course. A man’s horse is about as close a friend as he can have.”

  “Luke’s a pal… but my Tully’s an adversary. Every day is a contest to come out on top. But I know what you mean.”

  As heavy drops of rain slammed the pickup, Laramie thought about the day he had bought Tully for four hundred dollars. He hadn’t intended to buy a horse. He stopped by the sale yard to sell six feeder calves for Mr. Averill. But when he witnessed a drunken cowboy bust a two-by-four over the blaze-faced bay’s nose, he knew he had to do something. He bought the horse on the spot and shoved the bills in the man’s hand before the two-by-four dropped to the dirt. It took him months to gain Tully’s confidence and a year to train him to yield to commands. He proved to be a tall, proud, stubborn, independent horse with memories of pain and grief. In some ways, Laramie figured he and Tully were a lot alike.

  When the thunderstorm blew over, Hap killed the engine and rolled down the windows. “I reckon that’s as long as we can go cooped up with each other without a shower.”

  “The sun’s about down. How long will we sit here waiting for the major?”

  “Since we don’t get paid until he shows up, I reckon as long as it takes.”

  With headlight beams on high, neither Laramie nor Hap could tell who occupied the car that pulled up next to them.

  “You think that’s the major?” Hap asked as he pushed open the door.

  “I don’t think he drives a white Oldsmobile sedan.”

  “Hey… it’s Rosa!”

  Wearing jeans, tennies, and a purple T-shirt, Rosa moseyed over to the truck. “Hi, guys… I hoped I’d find you here.”

  “Is somethin’ wrong?” Hap asked.

  “No, but there’s a change in plans.” She flipped her wavy black bangs off her forehead.

  Hap piled out of the rig. “Did your aunt Paula get back from Lordsburg?”

  “She decided to stay there a few more days. I’m at her house with my cousin, but that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” She glanced at Laramie and raised her eyebrows.

  “Hey, you probably don’t need to talk to me,” he replied. “I, eh… I’m going to go check on the horses. We put them up wet and they might need to be toweled down again.”

  Rosa squeezed his elbow. “Thanks, Laramie. You’re a pal.”

  “So I hear.” Laramie sauntered to the back of the trailer as Hap and Rosa leaned against the hood of the Oldsmobile. He led the two horses out of the trailer and tied the lead ropes to the tall, chainlink fence that surrounded the bombing range. Luke stood quietly, like a trail horse for toddlers, as Laramie wiped off the remnants of sweat and rain.

  “Now, Luke, I know I’m not Hap. But your compadre is up there talking about Juanitas with the nicest gal he’s ever met. Don’t ask me to explain it. Like you, I just came along for the ride. Even Hap doesn’t understand why he does what he does. But I can tell you one thing… he’s the only person on the planet, besides my mother, who would take a bullet for me.” He patted the black gelding’s neck. “And he’d take one for you, too… but I know you’d do the same for him.”

  Laramie ambled to the back of the trailer and in the evening shadows reached in for a handful of whole oats. Then he lounged by the fence while Luke’s slobbery lips and tongue lapped up each one of the treats.

  Tully stretched around and tried to bite his shoulder when he stepped over to towel down the bay horse. Laramie threw both arms around the gelding’s neck and hugged him tight until the long-legged horse gave up the protest.

  “A little jealous, are you? I know, I know… that was a love bite. You’re a mess, big boy. If you were human, you’d be on a psychologist’s couch three times a week.”

  Tully shuffled his hooves and snorted.

  “Yeah, you’re right. If I was a horse, I’d be as neurotic as you. What a team.”

  When he finished rubbing him down, Laramie retrieved another handful of oats. Tully bit at his fingers and palm until all the oats were consumed or fell to the ground.

  In the dark, Laramie could still hear Hap’s and Rosa’s low voices, even after he loaded the horses. He shuffled over to the brush corral to scan the band of nervous, milling wild mustangs, each apprehensive about what would happen next. The buckskin stallion charged at him, then held up and snorted.

  “I know how you feel, big guy… that’s the way I’ve started many days… penned in, and waiting for something bad to happen.”

  He was wandering back toward the rigs when he heard the Oldsmobile start up and saw the headlights flip on. The ten-foot chainlink and barbed-wire fence that surrounded the bombing range was supposed to be secure enough to keep people from entering. But Laramie had seen several foot trails across the military reserve and wondered how many illegal aliens had hiked across it to jobs in El Paso. To him, it spoke volumes that for many the dangerous journey merited the risk, considering the rewards up ahead. The thought occurred to him that life itself was like hiking through a mine field. Now, with images of Annamarie Buchett, he felt he had a purpose that made such risks worthwhile. But like the illegals who trekked through the bombing range, he knew there was a good chance he’d never reach that goal.

  Laramie had pulled on clean jeans and dried his hair on a white towel before Hap popped back into the motel room. “The front desk said they didn’t have the funds to cash these checks. But Rosa’s got some relatives that run a dry cleaner’s on the other side of town. She figures they might have the cash. We got to go over that direction anyway. There’s a Juanita she wants me to meet.”

  “Give me the plan again. I couldn’t hear everything from the shower.”

  “We’re goin’ out to supper at some trendy restaurant that a college roommate of
Rosa’s operates.”

  “You and me in a trendy club?” Laramie tossed the towel on the white-tiled bathroom floor.

  “Yeah, we’ll probably be as out of place as a salmon at a grizzly bear convention. You ready to go eat?”

  Laramie looped his thumbs in his jeans. “I’m kind of tired tonight. Can you do this without me?”

  “You ain’t feelin’ shoved aside, are you? Hey, we’re still in this thing together.”

  “I’m feeling relieved. You’ve got someone to meet this Juanita with you and I get a chance to catch up on some sleep.”

  “You got to have supper.”

  “I’ll call in a pizza.”

  Hap jammed on his hat. “You realize this will be the first Juanita I’ve met that has that mark under her ear.”

  “What does Rosa say she looks like?”

  “Like a skinny twelve-year-old girl.”

  “You checking on kids now?”

  “No, but that’s how Rosa remembers her. ‘Course she hasn’t seen her cousin in almost eighteen years.” Hap paused at the door. “It don’t seem right leavin’ you here.”

  “Geez, Hap, leave. You’re actin’ like you’re afraid to be alone with Rosa.”

  “You may be closer to the truth than I’m willin’ to admit. See you later, partner.”

  Laramie settled on a preseason football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Seattle Seahawks on the muted TV and a slice of Canadian bacon, Italian sausage, and El Paso bell pepper pizza. He didn’t watch much television, but he stared at the beige telephone while he munched.

  He opened the sliding door and scooted onto the tiny motel room balcony that overlooked the swimming pool and a busy El Paso street. The early evening thundershower had cleaned the air. Even in the neon night of a busy city street, he could see bright desert stars.

  In the lighted blue pool two little boys with floaties secured around their arms braved the steps of the shallow end, a few feet from their mother’s careful gaze. She kept guard between the boys and deeper water in her black, one-piece bathing suit with short ruffled skirt.

  She had wide hips, fleshy arms, and a round face, but it was her eyes that caught Laramie’s attention. From the balcony he couldn’t tell their color or even their expression. But he could see that they followed the boys’ every move. While he couldn’t discern her words, the tone that filtered upstairs was one of encouragement and love.

  Slowly, each of the boys braved another step deeper… almost to mother’s hand. She slid back gradually so they had to keep venturing out.

  A shiny black Hummer rolled into the motel entrance, but Laramie couldn’t take his eyes off the mamma and her boys. They reached the step where they could no longer stand with their heads above water. The youngest looked about three. He giggled when he started to float on his own. His older brother, no more than five, followed. Soon both floated, laughed, and splashed their way across the shallow end of the pool, mother within arm’s length, but not interfering.

  Laramie wondered if the boys would remember twenty-five years from now when their mother taught them not to be afraid of the water. He figured the mother would remember. He knew he would, too. Some images merit saving.

  Feeling like an intruder when the mother glanced up at him, he pulled back inside the room and slid the door behind him. It was a nice room. Clean tan carpet. Two queen-size beds. Flowered bedspreads. A recliner, a computer table, large television, closet, double-sink bathroom. It felt cramped.

  Pulling the note out of the pocket of his shirt, which had been tossed across the back of the chair, he flopped on the bed and read the words again. Then he plucked up the receiver and punched information. He took a deep breath before he reached the number of Riverview Hospital in Laredo. The front desk transferred him to the emergency room.

  “Hi, I’d like to speak to Annamarie Buchett, please.”

  “She’s not here,” the female voice replied.

  “Could you tell me which shift she’s working, so I could phone her?”

  “She doesn’t work any shifts.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She’s in California.”

  “No, she was in California visiting relatives. She came back.”

  “She came back and quit. She moved.”

  “Moved?”

  “Look, this is an emergency room. Do you want to talk to someone else?”

  “No… if she calls in, tell her Laramie—”

  “Wait, you’re Annamarie’s Laramie?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m Tina, Annamarie’s friend. She said you might call.”

  “Why didn’t she…”

  “She didn’t have any idea how to reach you. She called around, but couldn’t track you down.”

  “We’ve been rounding up wild horses. What’s this about her moving?”

  “She said she needed a fresh start somewhere.”

  “Away from me?”

  “Away from Texas. It’s been a rough three years for her, Laramie. She’s trying to sort everything out in her head. Give her time, okay?”

  “Do you think it would be acceptable if I called her out in California?”

  “That’s up to you.”

  “What would you do if you were me?”

  “I’d elope with her, the first chance I got. She’s a great gal, Laramie. But I think you know that. Do you want her mother’s phone number?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  He jotted down the digits, thanked Tina, then hung up.

  Laramie stalked over to the pizza box, plucked up a slice, then tossed it down. He marched back to the phone and dialed the California number.

  A man with an accent answered the phone.

  “I’d like to speak to Sam, please.”

  “My name is Sam. Which Sam do you want?”

  “Eh… the other one,” Laramie stammered.

  After a pause, a boy’s voice said, “Yeah?”

  “Is this Sam?”

  “Yeah, who are you?”

  “I need to speak to a lady named Sam who recently moved there from Laredo, Texas, where she ran a minimart.”

  “Oh, you want Aunt Ducky.”

  He plopped back on the bed with the phone still to his ear.

  “Hello?”

  “Sam, this is Laramie…”

  “Annamarie’s Laramie?”

  “Yes, is she there?”

  “Sorry, she went to Malibu.”

  “She went to the beach at night?”

  “Not the beach. She enjoys a drive up the Pacific Coast Highway to Malibu, gets a latte and a hot dog for Sara, then drives back. You know how she likes the wind in her hair. Do you want her to call you back?”

  “That would be nice.”

  After giving Sam the motel phone number, he hung up and strolled back out to the balcony. The swimming pool was empty.

  Daylight filtered around the heavy flowered curtain as Laramie tried to stretch out his stiff legs. He tugged on his jeans, then opened the curtain. The sun lifted his mood some as he soaked in its soothing rays.

  Hap sprawled on top of the bedspread of the other bed, fully clothed, face buried in a pillow. His hat lay, crown down, on top of the TV.

  As Laramie trudged toward the bathroom, Hap rolled over. “I ain’t asleep.”

  “You just get in?”

  “I was home by midnight, partner. You was sleepin’ good for a change. I didn’t want to wake you. I sat on the balcony a while, then conked out in that white plastic chair.”

  “How’d your evening go?” Laramie asked.

  “The part with Rosa was nice. Hey, I got our government checks cashed.”

  “Good. You didn’t spend the money yet, did you? Or give it away?”

  Hap sat up and grinned. “I deserve that. Nope, it’s all right there.” He pointed to his wallet, next to keys and a watch.

  “No luck with the Juanita?”

  “No… she was a rail-thin vegetarian with the personality of an eggplan
t. At least, that’s Rosa’s description afterward. How about you? Did you miss me?”

  “It was a quiet evening, if that’s what you mean. I did line us up with some work today.”

  “Today?” Hap shot back. “I can’t work today. I’ve promised Rosa we’d go visit some more of her relatives.”

  “More Juanitas?”

  “She’s not sure of the cousin’s name, but she has the mark under her ear.”

  “Can it wait until tomorrow?”

  “No, Rosa wants to drive over to Lordsburg this afternoon. Her Aunt Paula’s lookin’ after her sick sister. Rosa’s going to go get a list of Rodríguez Juanitas from her aunt and meet us up the river someplace. What’s this job deal?”

  “The major called last night.”

  “Did the horses break out?”

  “No. A real close friend of his, a retired colonel who lived in Florida, passed away. The funeral’s today and since the man was an El Paso native, they flew him back here to be buried. The major put together all the military procedure… you know… twenty-one-gun salute, flyover, folding the flag, Taps… everything. When the widow flew in from Florida last night, she was in tears… she had forgotten to tell the major that her husband was proud of his west Texas roots. He had made her promise to have a horse and empty saddle at the grave. The major didn’t know who else he could call on such a short notice. I promised him we’d be there.”

  “He’d pay us?”

  “Two hundred dollars each.”

  “What did you say to that?”

  “That we’d do it for free or we wouldn’t do it at all.”

  “Good,” Hap declared.

  “Sorry to ruin your plans with Rosa.”

  “Listen, one horse has to be riderless, right? So you ride Tully and lead Luke up to the grave. You don’t need me. Rosa’s got her aunt’s car, so you take the truck, pick up the trailer and horses at the stables, and we’ll rendezvous back here this afternoon.”

  As far as Laramie could see, no oaks graced Golden Oaks Cemetery. But there were poplars, elm, box elder, ash, and plenty of shade in the older section of the grounds. The raised tombstones faced east. A canopy spread over a site on the crest of the hill. Artificial flowers marked most graves, with fresh wreaths scattered in a few locations.