The Grey Man: -Vignettes-

by JL Curtis

  Shaking his head, he put the picture back on the shelf. Bouncing the piece of bracelet in his palm, he commented, “This is the last bracelet they made for me, and I wore it for about three years until I was directed to take it off. It’s elephant hair, so it’ll never wear out for all practical purposes. That was kinda a clue to folks where you were or had been too. I went back the last time in 71-72 as an advisor, hell there wasn’t much to advise… Most of the ARVN were on the run or just going home, and we got the shit shot out of us a few times. I came home from that and did a couple of other short detachments in various places and got out in ’75 after my dad died.”

  Matt pointed to the plaques shoved in the back of the shelf. “Those are quite a collection. Are they from the dets?”

  The old man sat back down, grabbed his coffee and drained it. “Nah, I joined the sheriff’s department here in ’76, since we’d sold off the cows and there wasn’t much to do here. I did a two-year second to the DEA and in ‘83 the department sent me to the FBI National Academy, that’s the picture with the NA on it. The rest are from some things I’ve gotten for being loaned out here and there. I kinda know a little bit about smuggling.”

  Matt and the old man compared notes on the differences between the Army and Marines and combat in Vietnam versus Afghanistan and Iraq. By the time dinner was called, they’d established a mutual respect that crossed both the age and service boundaries.

  After dinner, Matt pleading a full stomach and being tired from the drive, headed for a shower and bed. The old man and Francisco helped Juanita clean up the kitchen and wash the dishes that didn’t fit in the dishwasher; and Francisco and Juanita headed over to their house. Jesse and Aaron had disappeared, and the old man just smiled. He ruffled Rex’s head and walked back into the office and worked a few emails before going to bed.

  12 Fandango

  The next morning everyone made it to breakfast, although Jesse and Aaron looked strangely tired and blushed a lot, much to the amusement of everyone else. After breakfast Juanita handed out assignments, freely drafting Matt and Aaron into the working parties necessary to set up for the hundred or more people that were expected.

  With Francisco driving the tractor and trailer, tables and chairs were brought out of storage, washed down and set up between the old house and new house. The old man was summarily sent to the store for coolers full of ice, Matt and Aaron drafted into helping the arriving ladies unload various trunks, back seats, and generally carrying things that needed hauled.

  The ladies took the measure of Aaron and numerous comments in Spanish and English flew around the kitchen and the yard as the ladies bustled around setting up the tables, serving and cooking areas.

  Francisco, Matt and Aaron strung lights plugging them in and replacing the bulbs that had blown out and did a general cleanup of the area.

  Aaron was almost to the point of a permanent blush until Jesse rescued him and Matt and sent them to the store for heavy-duty plates, silverware, packages of napkins and drink cups. After driving the horses all into the corral and securing the gate, Toby brought the tractor over and mowed about a third of the pasture and picked up the hay.

  After Matt and Aaron returned, Francisco drafted them to help drive stakes to mark parking areas in the field and to help take the gate off the hinges and set it to the side of the cattle guard. Their next assignment was to move all the ladies cars over to the pasture, which became rather interesting, since most of the ladies were nowhere near as tall as Matt or Aaron, and hilarity ensued when Aaron tried to drive a Miata to the pasture without moving the seat back.

  The old man finally returned with the ice and the sheriff in tow. Once the ice had been distributed, the men were finally allowed to go out on the front porch with a pitcher of iced tea.

  After introducing everyone, the old man plopped down in one of the rockers. “Now, I remember why we don’t do this very often. God, what a pain in the ass!”

  Matt just shook his head saying, “Damn, Juanita could get a job tomorrow as a sergeant major in the Marine Corps, that lady has her act together!”

  Aaron chimed in, “Hell, I think she could teach some of the sergeant majors I’ve seen some things. And I really wish I knew Spanish so I could figure out what they were saying.”

  The old man and sheriff both chuckled, and the sheriff replied, “No, son, you really don’t. Those ladies in there are all basically farm girls, so they cut straight to the meat or bone depending. But it does look like they approve of you, so you’re really in trouble now. They’ll be planning the wedding before the night’s over.”

  Aaron looked like he’d been hit with a two by four , while everyone else laughed. “Wedding, what damn wedding!?! I… er…”

  More laughter ensued with the old man adding, “Well, you’re a helluva lot better than the last one she was seeing. And most of those biddies in there think Jesse should be married with kids by now. So, all I can say is I hope to hell your intentions are honorable, otherwise they’ll gut you like a fish, and hang your hide over the corral fence!”

  Matt looked over at Aaron. “You’re on your own now, buddy. I’m outta this one!”

  Aaron was saved by Jesse walking out with a new pitcher of iced tea and the decree that the men needed to clean up and get presentable, but the bathrooms in the main house were off limits, since the women needed to freshen up and they’d laid claim to them. The men could use the bathroom in the old house, and step on it, people would start showing up in an hour.

  Grumbling and claiming the homeowner’s right, the old man went in grabbed his clothes and a towel and headed to the old house. Matt and Aaron decided to wear khakis and their red Marine polo shirts, figuring in for a penny, in for a pound. Francisco disappeared to his house, and left the sheriff sitting on the porch when Jesse returned to pick up the pitchers.

  Jesse plopped into a chair sighing. “My feet are killing me already, and we haven’t even started dancing yet.”

  The sheriff laughed. “Well, Jesse, y’all decided to do this, not us so you’re getting no sympathy from me. And you do remember you’re on the schedule for a patrol shift tomorrow don’t you?”

  “Oh shit… I forgot all about that. Ummm, if I take the shift can Aaron ride along? I mean it should be fairly quiet.”

  The sheriff rocked back in the chair and looked at Jesse. “If I say yes, you still have to do the patrol and you will have to pay attention. Can you do that?”

  “Yes sir, I will. It’s not like Aaron doesn’t know about patrolling, I mean… he’s done it in combat, so I don’t think there will be a problem.”

  “Okay, but come see me before you go out tomorrow. Holmes is out sick with a stomach bug, so I’ll be in the office tomorrow.”

  Forty-five minutes later, the men were all back on the front porch, when Juanita came out and inspected them and brought a round of Shiners for them. “Y’all cleanup pretty good, and here’s your reward, y’all get one now and one with dinner, no more just in case anybody gets stupid.”

  Aaron picked up the bottle and looked at it curiously, “Shiner Bock?”

  The old man laughed. “It’s a Texas beer, and about the only damn thing you’ll see around here. We don’t go in for those fancy beers, much less that import crap like Corona.”

  A chorus of “Yes, sirs” were followed by the old man’s toast. “Once more into the breach dear friends, and absent comrades!” They all touched bottles and sipped appreciatively.

  Shortly thereafter, cars started arriving and Francisco and Toby managed the parking as the old man played host. Matt and Aaron did their best to stay out of the way and help out where they could, ferrying food from the kitchen and coolers from the barn for the drinks. Finally, the old man and Jesse walked to the front of the tables. “Well, I think about everybody that’s coming is here, so let’s have a quick prayer and get to eating.”

  Everyone bowed their heads, and Jesse said a short prayer thanking God for his guidance. The line moved quickly as the Ramos
brothers filled plates with the barbecue of folks’ choice, and they moved to the next table with all the trimmings. Matt and Jesse hung back and waited for the old man, Francisco and Toby. Juanita came over, flushed and smiling and looked over the crowd. “I think we done good boss, what say you?”

  “Yep, y’all done good, and Jose, thanks for coming out and putting the barbecue on for us! Remember we need to set aside some plates for the folks on duty, and having said that, I’m hungry, let’s eat!”

  Jose nodded. “We’ve already prepped twenty-five plates and set them aside, we did twelve beef, twelve of pork, and one veggie so that should make ‘em happy.”

  Juanita chimed in, “We’ll load the trimmings on later, and the sheriff says he’ll take them in when he leaves, so we’ve got a couple of hours. Now go, I’m hungry too!”

  The old man told Matt to try both the beef and pork, so both Matt and Aaron took a little of each. There were barbecue beans and refried beans, potato salad, fresh-cut French fries, salad, tortillas, rice, fresh jalapenos, pickles and white bread to choose from. Jesse laughed as Aaron tried to figure out how to fit everything on one plate, telling him, “You can come back you know, it’s not like there isn’t going to be anything left.”

  Aaron ducked his head, blushed and let Jesse lead him over to a table on the side of the area where a number of younger folks sat. Toby had saved them two places together so they put the food down and Aaron went for drinks. Jesse introduced Aaron to everyone and after the “hi’s” and “howareya’s” were done, everybody got serious about eating. Aaron was amazed at the different taste and said so to Jesse, who just laughed. “Well, this is real Texas barbecue, not like that stuff we got in West Virginia. And they just don’t know how to do real good brisket back there.”

  Matt sat with the old man, Francisco and Juanita and the sheriff. He realized this was really the first time he’d seen the old man even close to relaxed, but he was still sitting where he could see the doors and the drive into the yard. Matt wondered if the old man was carrying, and it hit Matt that he was probably the only one at the table that wasn’t carrying. He’d noticed even Juanita with her apron on, probably either had a pistol in the pocket or behind it.

  And she wasn’t the only one, probably most of the people at the other tables were carrying too! Remembering the guns in the gunracks of the trucks in the field, there were some serious shooters in this bunch. Matt just shook his head in amazement, definitely not the kind of crowd he was used to seeing.

  It also seemed most of the people were at least bi-lingual as the conversations flowed freely between Spanish and English depending on what was being said. The other thing he realized was all these folks were equals, regardless of their heritage. Definitely not what the media reported, but then again he reminded himself that he knew better than to listen to and believe the media after what they’d done to the Corps. He also noticed there were some pretty Spanish ladies here in their blouses and colorful skirts.

  After finishing his plate, he turned to the old man. “Okay, I’ll admit this is some damn good barbecue, and I don’t think I’ve ever had better brisket anywhere. And I’ll admit this is better than most of the Carolina barbecue, too.”

  The old man laughed. “Accepted, and now for the dessert. I’ll explain what we’ve got over there.”

  Getting up and moving between tables, the old man greeted folks and introduced Matt as they went. Finally arriving at the dessert table, he pointed out the flan, tres leches, churros, chili-chocolate cake; blackberry, peach, and apple cobblers, and cakes and pies. At the end of the table were churns of home-made ice cream in at least three different flavors.

  “Choose your poison, Marine, there’s more where this came from,” he said with a smile.

  Matt groaned. “Now, you tell me all this is here, if I’d known this, I wouldn’t have gone back for a second helping on the barbecue.”

  As they made their choices, Jesse dragged Aaron over to the patio and suddenly the music got cranked up to a ‘dancing’ level. Folks started getting up and moving toward the patio as Jesse and Aaron stood off to the side apparently disagreeing over something. Matt pointed, “Oops, looks like the first fight is in progress, and I’m betting it’s over dancing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Aaron on a dance floor anywhere.”

  The old man chuckled. “Can’t say I blame him, but Jesse’s a dancing fool. Just watch! She’ll embarrass him to the point he’ll get up there. “God Bless Texas” by Alan Jackson came on and the line dancing was on. Some of the Hispanic folks disappeared to their cars and Matt asked, “Are they leaving?”

  “Nah,” the old man replied. “They’re after their instruments. We’ll have a pretty good little Mariachi band here in a bit. Once that happens, they’ll alternate back and forth for a few hours or until I throw ‘em all out.”

  Jesse was up leading the line dance and teasing Aaron anytime she came close. Matt and the old man sat back and just watched and enjoyed it. Getting up to get another cup of coffee, Matt stood by the table for a few minutes and realized there was a woman standing near him. He nodded to her. She smiled and walked over. “Hello, my name is Felicia and I’ve been keeping an eye on ya, you don’t dance?”

  Matt realized she was a very attractive lady and probably close to his age, mid- 30s, and not wearing a ring. He looked out at the dance floor and answered, “I’m Matt, and, well, I don’t know how to line dance, and I’m not much good for anything but slow dancing. I’m one of those WASPs with no rhythm…”

  Felicia cocked her head. “WASP? What is that?”

  Matt chuckled. “Sorry, White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, it means I’m a lousy dancer. Besides I’ve got big feet.”

  Felicia looked up at Matt and said, “Well, you are a big man, and I think a hard man, but inside I think you’ve got a big heart. Of course, there’s always the saying about the size of a man’s feet….”, she said with a small smile. ”

  Matt wasn’t sure how to respond, so he excused himself, grabbed a second cup of coffee and headed back to the table with the old man. Handing him a cup, he looked back to see Felicia step onto the dance floor by herself and slot seamlessly into the line dance. The old man leaned over. “Why didn’t you dance with her?”

  Matt shrugged. “Hell, I’m too damn big and clumsy for dancing. Besides, she’s just a little bitty thing!”

  The old man just laughed.

  A few minutes later the stereo went down and the Mexicans tuned up for a few minutes, and then swung into a salsa beat. The dancers changed out, some sitting and others jumping up to dance. Jesse was grabbed by a young Mexican and they swung into an excellent salsa that showed they’d danced together before. Aaron got disgusted and walked back over to the table and sat down. “I don’t believe this, not a single damn song I can actually dance to, and I’m not about to make a fool out of myself!”

  Finally Jesse came over, smiling and laughing, wiping her face with a napkin as she plopped next to Aaron. “They’re going to play a slow dance in a couple of songs, and I want to dance with you, okay?”

  Aaron nodded and perked up a little bit.

  “Hon, I’m not trying to embarrass you but I like to dance, and besides it’s good exercise!”

  Two songs later, as Jesse and Aaron got up, Matt also got up and walked over to Felicia. Holding out his hand he said, “I’m willing to try this if you are.”

  Felicia laughed, put her hand in Matts and led him to the dance floor as she whispered to him, “My, such a smooth talker you are.” When they got on the floor, Matt realized how little Felicia really was; she barely came up to his shoulder, and felt light as a feather. Still trying to figure out what she meant by her comment and in an attempt to be polite he asked, “Are you from here too? I guess you know we’re just here for a couple of days.”

  Felicia looked up at him smiling. “Originally, I was, but now I live in California and work as a translator for Customs and Border Patrol. I just happened to be back on vacation and got to
come along tonight. I remember Senor John from when I was a little girl, my padre worked for him during roundups.”

  Matt’s heart did a little flip, but he was afraid to ask where in California she lived. The dance ended way too soon for Matt, and he escorted her back to the table she was sharing with family. Thanking her for the dance, he grabbed another cup of coffee and headed back to their table. Francisco and Juanita were just sitting down and taking a break, too. Juanita glanced over at Matt. “Thank you for dancing with Felicia, her mother was afraid no one would dance with her.”

  “Why? She’s a good dancer, and a pretty lady!”

  Juanita answered, “Well, she doesn’t live here anymore, and she’s now a widow; her husband died a year ago in a construction accident. So any man she dances with here would be in trouble with his wife or family, especially if they danced with her because they feel sorry for her. I was afraid I was going to have to ask John to dance with her!”

  “Well, I didn’t mind it,” he said. “And I don’t think she did either.”