The Governor's wife

by Mark Gimenez

  "Governor."

  John Ed greeted Bode Bonner with a big smile and a strong handshake as soon as he got out of the Hummer his host had sent to pick them up at the airstrip.

  "Damn, John Ed, you're still strong enough to break a halfback in two."

  "Those were the days."

  John Ed had led his team in tackles, sacks, and opponents' broken bones. He could have gone pro, but the pay back then didn't merit his time. He had majored in oil: how to find it, drill it, produce it, sell it, and get rich off it. For the last fifty years, he had done exactly that. He slapped Bode on the back but his eyes went to Mandy.

  "And who's this little gal?"

  Mandy stuck out her manicured hand and offered her perky professional pose.

  "Mandy Morgan, the governor's aide."

  "And what exactly do you aid him with?"

  "Whatever he requires."

  "I like the sound of that."

  John Ed greeted Jim Bob and Ranger Hank then led them into the lodge. John Edward Johnson's hunting lodge was not a rustic cabin with Spartan accommodations. It was a twenty-room log structure with an indoor hot tub, swimming pool, sauna, billiards room, bowling alley, tennis court, skeet range, concierge, private chef, and Hummer driver.

  Oil had been good to John Ed Johnson.

  "This here's Pedro," John Ed said by way of introducing the middle-aged Latino who greeted them at the front door. "Anything you need, Governor, you tell Pedro, he'll take care of it."

  "Lunch is served, Senor John Ed," Pedro said.

  "Hope you folks are hungry," John Ed said. "Rosita's cooked up a mess of Mexican food special for the governor of Texas."

  They followed John Ed through the foyer and into a great room with a two-story wall of windows offering a majestic view of the Davis Mountains. The room featured a manly aroma from the wood and leather and animal heads on the wall and a full-grown grizzly bear stuffed and standing there as if about to pounce on its prey.

  "Shot that big bastard up in Montana," John Ed said. "Right between the eyes."

  The Johnson ranch comprised twenty-five square miles, the entire perimeter of which was surrounded by a twenty-foot-tall game fence. Inside the fence exotic game roamed freely. Outside the fence Mexicans tended to the grounds, cleaned the lodge, and cooked the food.

  "Here's the menu," John Ed said.

  They sat at a dining table made of mesquite and set for lunch. Bode scanned the menu expecting to read his choice of entrees and desserts. Instead, he read "Alpine Ibex?" Mandy said. "For twenty thousand dollars? That's an expensive lunch."

  John Ed threw his head back and laughed.

  "Where'd you find this gal, Bode? I like her." He turned to Mandy. "Honey, that ain't the lunch menu-that's the hunting menu." John Ed read from the menu. "Addax Antelope, six thousand… Dama Gazelle, ten thousand… Roan, twenty thousand… Bongo, thirty-five thousand… Cape Buffalo, fifty thousand…"

  Bode scanned down the menu: American Bison, Arabian Oryx, Nubian Ibex, Sable, West Cauasian Tur, Wildebeest.

  "You raised your price on the wildebeest since I bagged mine," Bode said.

  "Yep," John Ed said. "Course, it didn't cost you nothing then, and it ain't gonna cost you nothing now."

  "Appreciate that, John Ed."

  "Least I can do for good government."

  Jim Bob held up his iPhone.

  "John Ed, you still don't have cell phone coverage out here?"

  "Hell, Professor, there ain't no cell towers from here to El Paso."

  Hank's eyes lit up when a pretty young Latina wearing a colorful peasant dress and carrying a serving tray entered through swinging double doors. She placed platters of beef-and-cheese enchiladas, refried beans, tortillas, and guacamole on the table then returned with cold bottles of Dos Equis beer. When she leaned over the table, John Ed swatted her bottom. Bode caught her grimacing on the way out, and a disturbing thought shot through his mind: Did Mandy grimace when he wasn't looking? But he quickly drowned that thought with a long drink of the Dos Equis.

  "Rosita, she's a fine little cook," John Ed said. "Found her down in Lajitas, working in a little cantina. Figured she was too pretty to waste away there, so I brought her up here. She's a cute little gal, just turned twenty-one." He lowered his voice and leaned into Bode. "She'll even do room service."

  He winked.

  The thought of a seventy-one-year-old man with a twenty-one-year-old mistress made Bode a bit nauseous. Then he thought of himself, a forty-seven-year-old man with a twenty-seven-year-old mistress. Was the only difference between John Ed Johnson and Bode Bonner twenty-four years and five billion dollars?

  Four hundred miles down the border, Lindsay Bonner cradled the newborn child. She had given birth once and assisted in many emergency childbirths and had never ceased to be amazed by the miracle of life.

  "?Esperanza es americana? " Alma the mother said.

  "Yes, she is an American citizen," the doctor said in Spanish. "I will sign the birth certificate to prove it."

  Alma smiled through her pain.

  "You did a wonderful job, Doctor," Lindsay said.

  He wiped sweat from his face.

  "I could not have done it without you, Mrs. Bonner."

  They regarded each other a long moment, until the clinic door burst open, and three brown and armed men entered. One was bald; they were dressed in black outfits, like soldiers. Their expressions were hard.

  "Turn away, quickly," the doctor whispered, "so they do not see your face."

  She sat on the stool next to the examining table and faced the wall. In the mirror, she saw another man enter the clinic. His expression was not hard. He carried himself in a manner that combined elegance and personal authority; from the way the others regarded him, he was an important person here on the border, perhaps a politician. He was tall and handsome with a goatee and jet-black hair even though he appeared middle-aged. He wore a loose shirt and slacks that draped like silk. His cologne scented the clinic. He recoiled at the sight of the blood on the doctor's lab coat and gloves.

  "What happened?" he asked in Spanish.

  "Breech birth."

  The doctor apparently knew the man, but he kept his distance. He removed the latex gloves and tossed them into the trash basket.

  "Are they okay, mother and child?" the man asked.

  "Yes."

  " Bueno. I have a girl and two boys. Born in the USA. Houston. The poor gringos, they come south to Mexico because they cannot afford American doctors. Rich Mexicanos, we go north to America for better healthcare. Odd, is it not?" He seemed to have amused himself. "So, Dr. Rincon, I have heard much about you. It is an honor to finally meet you. You went to Harvard?"

  "Yes."

  "Go Crimson." He smiled; his teeth were perfect and white. "I grew up poor and dreamed of escaping poverty by playing American beisbol, but I could not hit the curveball. So I went to Harvard on a minority scholarship. I am no longer poor."

  "What brings you to my clinic?"

  "To thank you."

  "For what?"

  "For saving my son's life."

  "Your son? " The doctor frowned. "The boy? A month ago, with the gunshot?"

  " Si. My first-born, Jesus." He shrugged. "The boy was careless."

  "How is he?"

  "Oh, he is fine. I sent him away." He gestured to the north. "To Tejas. To become a man."

  "No complications?"

  "No. I had nurses with him twenty-four/seven. He is a strong boy. He recovered quickly. I have been shot three times myself. We are a hardy breed, Mexicanos."

  "Then what do you need from me?"

  " Nada. It is what you need from me."

  "And what is that?"

  The man held a hand out to his men; the bald soldier slapped an envelope into his hand, which he then held out to the doctor. He took the envelope, opened it, and removed a stack of green bills.

  "One hundred thousand dollars," the man said. "Is that a fair compensation?"


  The doctor stared at the money, then sighed and handed it back to the man.

  "You know I cannot take your money."

  The man's expression seemed pained, almost as if his feelings had been hurt.

  "I understand, Doctor. Perhaps you will accept these gifts."

  He snapped his fingers. The armed men went back outside and returned moments later with their arms full of large boxes. They stacked the boxes on the floor and returned for more. After several trips, a dozen boxes sat on the floor of the clinic.

  "What is all this?" the doctor asked.

  The important man pulled a switchblade from his back pocket and released the blade. He cut the tape sealing a box and opened the top. The doctor looked inside then reached in and held up a stethoscope.

  "Supplies, surgical instruments…"

  "Medicine."

  The man sliced open more boxes. The doctor pulled out cartons of medicine.

  "Penicillin, amoxicillin, tetracycline… Botox? "

  The man shrugged.

  "How did you acquire all this?" the doctor said.

  "That is of no concern, Doctor. This is payment for my son's life. Gracias. "

  In the mirror, Lindsay saw him turn to her. She ducked her head.

  "And thank you, Nurse. Jesus said you treated him with much kindness. I will not forget."

  She did not acknowledge him. But she looked into the mirror in time to catch the man winking at the doctor. He lowered his voice.

  "I like the red hair on a woman, too."

  He snapped his fingers again, and he and his men headed to the door; but the man turned back.

  " Hasta la vista. "

  Until we meet again. He disappeared through the door. Lindsay stood and carried the child over to the doctor.

  "Who was that?"

  The doctor hesitated a moment before he said, "That was El Diablo."

  "You devil."

  Mandy was in a naughty mood. Two girlie drinks and that gal turned randy. She performed a little striptease, dropping her thong and flinging it across the room with her foot, then stepped down into the hot tub holding her pina colada aloft. The warm water made her skin flush pink, which rendered her even more attractive. She slid over to Bode and sat on his lap then kissed him. She tasted of coconut and rum and smelled of his teenage years. She sipped her drink with one hand and reached down with her other hand and stroked him. It was too late to shoot anything that day, so he had swallowed a Viagra pill with his third Dos Equis. Now, between Mandy's skilled hands and the little blue pill, Bode Bonner had a pretty fair erection working when someone knocked on the door.

  " Senor gobernador? "

  Pedro.

  "Yes?"

  Pedro cracked the door and spoke without entering the room.

  "A phone call has come for you. Ranger Roy? He is on line five."

  Bode searched the room and found the phone on a small table between a chair and a towel shelf.

  " Gracias. "

  Pedro shut the door. Bode climbed out of the hot tub and walked the few paces to the phone. The lodge was too isolated for cell phone service, so it was either land lines or satellite phones. Bode grabbed a towel and wiped sweat from his face then put the receiver to his ear and punched the blinking light.

  "Yeah, Roy?"

  "Uh, Governor, we, uh… we can't find your wife."

  "The hell you mean, you can't find my wife?"

  "She took off in your Suburban soon as you took off in the Gulfstream. We haven't seen her since. It's almost dark. We can't get her on her cell phone."

  "Aw, hell, she's probably down at the homeless shelter."

  "We checked."

  "Food bank?"

  "Nope."

  "AIDS clinic?"

  " Nada."

  "Oh, I know-she's probably at that elementary school in East Austin."

  "It's closed."

  "Goddamnit, Roy, you're supposed to be her fucking bodyguard!"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Which requires that you know her whereabouts at all times, in order to guard her body."

  "Governor, you know I'd never let nothing bad happen to Mrs. Bonner. They'd have to kill me first."

  His voice cracked. Bode sighed.

  "I know, Roy."

  "But don't worry, Governor, we're pretty sure she wasn't kidnapped."

  " Kidnapped? Why the hell would you think she's been kidnapped?"

  "We don't."

  "Then why'd you bring it up?"

  "Uh, in case you were thinking it."

  "I wasn't. But I am now."

  "Oh."

  "Find her, Roy."

  Bode hung up and looked down. He wasn't really worried about his wife being kidnapped, but he had lost his erection just the same.

  Lindsay Bonner felt terrible. No doubt Ranger Roy was frantic by now, the governor's wife disappearing without a trace. He had probably already called the governor. That would have been a difficult call for Roy. She'd call him later that night when she returned to Laredo. There was no phone service in the colonias.

  "We would celebrate with a caramel macchiato," the doctor said, "but there is no Starbucks here in the colonias. Can you believe that?"

  The doctor smiled at his own joke. He poured her a cup of the coffee he had brewed at home and brought to the clinic in a tall thermos.

  "When the helicopter took the boy away that day, I knew he was special. But El Diablo's son? I would never have dreamed that."

  "Would you have saved him if you had known?"

  "Of course."

  "Will you keep all the medicine and supplies?"

  "Of course. I did not make a deal with the devil, Mrs. Bonner. The devil simply made a gift-and not to me. To the people in the colonias."

  "The congressman said he gives away a billion dollars every year."

  "Yes, that is what they say."

  "So you didn't know him before today?"

  "Everyone on the border knows of El Diablo. But I had never met him or even seen him. The Justice Department put a bounty on his head, so he does not often venture to this side of the river."

  He sat back and studied her. She knew the question he wanted to ask.

  "Well, Mrs. Bonner, if you have come back for the census forms, Inez has helped over one thousand residents fill out the forms, but I have already mailed them in."

  "I didn't come back for the census forms."

  "Then for what?"

  Now she studied him.

  "Did you always want to be a doctor?"

  He sipped his coffee.

  "Yes. My uncle raised me in Nuevo Laredo. When I turned sixteen, he secured my admission to the Jesuit School in Houston. He told them I would make a good priest. But I wanted to be a doctor."

  "I wanted to be a nurse."

  "You are a fine nurse."

  "No. I'm the governor's wife."

  "Yes. You are indeed."

  "But I want to be a nurse again. Your nurse."

  " My nurse? Here, in the colonias? "

  "Yes."

  "Why not in Austin?"

  "Because in Austin, I'm the governor's wife. Everywhere in Texas, I'm the governor's wife. Everywhere except here."

  "You want to work here in the colonia? The governor's wife?"

  "No one knows me here, and no one will know me."

  "I will know."

  "But only you. No one else will know. Not even your assistant."

  "Inez seems never to be here anyway. But your red hair-Mrs. Bonner, everyone in Texas knows the beautiful governor's wife with the red hair."

  She tried not to blush.

  "What if El Diablo had recognized you just now?"

  "I'll cut my hair short and hide it under a scarf. I won't wear make-up."

  "But one day, someone will recognize your name if not your face."

  "I won't be Lindsay Bonner. I'll be Lindsay Byrne. My maiden name. An Irish nurse from Boston. I'll even speak with an accent."

  "You were born in Boston? How d
id you end up in Texas?"

  "My father was a doctor at the VA hospital in San Antonio."

  "And is he still?"

  "No. My parents are both gone now."

  "I am sorry. I am also broke. I cannot afford to pay you."

  "I have money. I need a purpose. Doctor, I can help you."

  He drank his coffee and considered her plan. He frowned.

  "Have you had your shots?"

  "Yes… I think."

  "Mrs. Bonner, a life on the border is a harsh life indeed. Have you truly thought this through?"

  "I have."

  "And where will you live?"

  "Oh. I hadn't thought about that."

  "If you go to a hotel in Laredo, you will have to show your ID, give them your credit card. Word will get out fast that you are living here on the border. If you rent a house or apartment, someone will recognize you. You cannot live here in the colonia, it is not safe."

  "You live here."

  "No. I live on the other side of Laredo, on fifty acres overlooking the river. My uncle had no children, so he left that land to me, and the small houses on it."

  "Houses?"

  "The main house and a guesthouse."

  "Is anyone living in the guesthouse?"

  "No, but-"

  "Would you like a tenant?"

  "The governor's wife, living in my guesthouse?"

  "No. Your nurse."

  She had been certain he would readily agree to her plan, but he did not. He stared at her, and she knew he was asking himself if she was just a rich woman running away from her boring life.

  "Doctor, I'm not running away from my life. I'm trying to have a life."

  "In the colonias? "

  He stood and wandered about the clinic. He dug into one of the boxes El Diablo had brought and raised up with a carton of scalpels. He placed the carton on an empty shelf. He then went over and opened the front door and stood in the doorway.

  Jesse Rincon gazed out upon Colonia Angeles. Six thousand patients. One doctor. A nurse would be a godsend for the patients. And for the doctor.

  The governor's wife had come back.

  But for how long? How long could she tolerate the harsh life of the colonias? How long before the wind and the dirt and the death and the hopelessness crushed her spirit like that empty beer can lying in the dirt road? How long before "I can help" became "I can't take it anymore"? How long before she called it quits and ran home to her old life in the Governor's Mansion? To the governor?