Blood of the Rainbow

by Shelia Chapman

  “Thanks!” Tom called back.

  “It must be in your blood!” Sara said, startled.

  Nadine laughed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  Sara drew in a deep breath of relief. “It’s all right. I guess I’ll have to get used to how easily y’all can sneak up on me.”

  Nadine laughed again. “Comes from years of practice Sara. Come on, let’s get those looms. We’ll take them out back before it gets too hot. When it does, we’ll move inside where it’s cool.”

  Nadine and Sara spent the rest of the morning working on beading, and weaving projects – mainly Nadine. Sara tried her hand at it, but most of the time she watched Nadine in awe. She could finish a bead pattern before Sara could even get her loom threaded.

  Nadine laughed, and gave Sara tips, gently introducing her to their way of life. Sara was thrilled when she finally finished a little wristband, which she later planned to give to Jared. Nadine finished three in the time it took Sara to create one. She’d also shed far less blood than Sara had. Sara was starting to think she might need a transfusion. Good thing her fiancée was a doctor.

  Sara started a blanket project, but her baying coyote looked more like a tall-eared rabbit. Nadine laughed. “It’s not bad for your first try. Just keep at it. You will get it Sara,” she said, and went back inside to start making lunch for Jared and Tom.

  Sara did another row before giving up, and going inside to help Nadine. She was slicing cold roast beef for sandwiches, when Sara walked in the kitchen. “What can I do?”

  “Do you know how to make lemonade?”

  Sara laughed. “Yeah, I do, but I’m better at iced-tea.”

  Nadine put the sandwiches together with practiced ease. “Tell you what, why don’t you make both? Jared likes tea, and Tom prefers the lemonade.”

  Sara smiled. “Ok.”

  “Lemons are in the fridge. If you’ll pop them in the microwave for thirty seconds, and then roll them on the counter a couple of times, you’ll get more juice out of them for the lemonade.”

  “Hey, that’s not a bad idea. Is that a traditional Navajo way for making lemonade?” Sara naively asked.

  Nadine chuckled and held up a small cookbook. “No, but it was Loretta Lynn’s way.”

  Sara laughed with her, and finished making the tea and lemonade, pouring it in two large thermoses, used for keeping things cold. They filled two more with fresh ice water, loaded everything in the back of their jeep, and headed for the barn. Nadine parked the jeep, took out her cell and called Tom.

  “Hi, it’s me…. Yeah, we’re here at the barn with your lunch. Do you want us to bring it up to you…? All right, we’ll setup here then. How’s it going – any sign of Satan…? That’s strange…. Maybe he’s gone over on the other ridge.” Nadine glanced at Sara. “You may have to saddle up a couple of the horses, go over to the other valley, and look there…. Yeah, I know. We need to try and find him before Myra gets home from college. I will…. love you too Tom…. See you in a few.” Nadine ended the call.

  Sara furrowed her brow. “That’s Myra’s horse - right?”

  “Yes. Tom said they hadn’t seen any sign of him. They’re coming back here, so let’s get the table setup. There are some chairs inside the barn in the door to the right, next to a fold up table. Can you get those, and put them under the shade tree over there?” Nadine pointed.

  ------------

  Sara heard the familiar rumble of the 4x4’s engine as it came bouncing along the dirt road, swerving from side to side as Jared avoided the potholes. He parked next to the jeep, and he and Tom got out.

  The perspiration on Jared’s bare-chest glistened in the sun like drops of dew. Although Sara doubted it was possible, it appeared as if the blazing sun had made his skin look even darker. Her heart flipped over just watching him, as he gracefully strolled up to her, put his arm around her, and kissed her. “Hi Angel,” he said in his low, sexy voice.

  Sara smiled. “Hi….”

  They sat down to eat. Nadine passed Tom a plastic cup of lemonade. “So, are you done for the day, or do you plan to work on the fence some more?”

  Tom took off his hat and tossed it on the ground next to his chair. “I don’t know about you Jared, but I think we’ve done enough for today. The sun is getting too hot. Maybe we could finish up tomorrow…?”

  Jared stuffed a third of his sandwich in his mouth. “Sure Dad. I think Sara, and I might saddle up a couple of the horses, and go over to the northern ridge. See if we can pick up Satan’s trail there. I have a feeling that’s the way he would have gone.”

  Nadine studied his eyes. “If you do, make sure you take these two canteens of water, and this one of tea with you. I’ll not have you drying up like a piece of jerky.”

  Jared grinned at Sara. “Actually, I’d planned on going back to the house, and getting some gear. We might not be back before nightfall, and I don’t want to wander around in the dark. If we see it’s going to be too late, we’ll make camp, and come home in the morning.”

  Tom gave Jared a suspicious look and raised his eyebrow. “In the morning?”

  Jared laughed. “Don’t worry Dad. I’ll be back in time to help you finish the fence, and the other chores.”

  Tom smiled. “Make sure you take your rifle. I saw a few tracks over on the ridge a few days ago. I didn’t see any mountain lions, but it doesn’t hurt to play it safe, just in case.”

  “Make sure you take your cell phones too,” Nadine added.

  Sara laughed imagining a Navajo brave, covered with war paint, riding bareback, with a cell phone in one hand, and the reins in the other. Modern technology had changed things for everybody.

  Jared grimaced and glanced at Sara. “I think we’ll take the bike instead. That way I won’t have to worry about Sara trying to pick another fight with a rattlesnake. She’s good at that, you know.” Jared grinned.

  “Well, if you hadn’t run off like that, I wouldn’t have had to climb the mountain or share the tiny ledge with your indigenous house pets,” Sara countered, and pushed his chair over. He hit the ground, and burst out laughing.

  Tom laughed. “Son, you’d better watch Sara. I think she might be harder to handle than the mountain lion.”

  Jared got up, and slapped the dust off his jeans with his hat, and sat back in the chair, backwards. He grinned mischievously and winked at Sara. “Oh, I can handle her. Make no mistake about it….”

  ------------

  Sara rode back to the house with Jared in his father’s 4x4. Tom drove the jeep back with Nadine riding shotgun.

  Jared and Sara took two canteens of water, and one of iced tea. Nadine made them some more roast beef sandwiches, and tucked in a package of coconut macaroons, when Jared wasn’t looking. “They’re his favorite,” Nadine whispered in Sara’s ear.

  Sara, Tom, and Nadine waited out front, while Jared went to the garage, and brought out his bike. Jared passed Sara her helmet and put his on. Sara crawled in behind him and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. Jared revved the engine a couple of times and looked back.

  “Have a safe trip!”

  “We will, Mother.”

  “Take care of Sara!”

  Jared turned round, lifted his and Sara’s visors, and kissed her, “With my last breath Mother. Don’t worry, Dad. I’ll be back in time to help with the chores. See you later,” he said and let out on the clutch. Sara waved back to Nadine and Tom, as they drove off.

  Chapter 25

  Jared took Sara where he and his father had been repairing the fence. There were still a few weak posts, so Jared said his father would probably keep the horses in the pasture closer to the barn instead of letting them in the northern range.

  They stopped on a high ridge. Jared scanned the desert with his binoculars. He sat back on his bike and passed them to Sara. “I don’t like this….”

  “Did you see anything?”

  “No, that’s what bothers me.” He scanned the country again with his natural e
ye. “I suppose Satan could have found a wild herd of mustangs, and ran off with them.” Jared turned to face Sara. “Did Myra tell you Satan was a wild mustang?”

  “She mentioned it, but she never told me the whole story.”

  Jared sighed. “Dad and Granddad were out, scouting for mountain lions, when they came across the half-eaten corpse of a horse. Lying next to it was a colt - couldn’t have been over two or three weeks old. They thought the colt was dead too, but when they checked it, they found he was still breathing.”

  Sara brought her hand to her mouth. “Oh dear.”

  “Granddad gave it some water from his canteen. Dad wanted to get it out of its misery, but Granddad wouldn’t let him. He cradled the colt in his arms, and they rode back to the house. Neither of them had much faith in the little guy. Mother put him on the back patio on one of Grandma’s woolen blankets. He was so dehydrated and weak, he wouldn’t even eat.”

  Jared smiled, remembering. “I came home from college, and when they told me about him, I tried to see if I could get him to drink, or eat something. Mother had taken some cornmeal mush, and thinned it out with warm cow’s milk, then put it in a huge bottle, used to feed calves. She hoped if the colt drank the liquid that the mush might give him a little strength since it was so near gone. Every time I tried to give him the bottle he just turned his head to the side, and laid it on his back. We all expected the colt to die. Even Granddad gave up hope. He said if the colt hadn’t improved by morning, he would get it out of its misery.

  Myra begged them to give the colt to her. She promised to take care of it, and nurse it back to health. Dad finally gave in, but made her promise if she kept it, she would be responsible for taking care of it, which included putting it down if necessary.”

  Jared rubbed his hands together to get rid of some of the dust. “I had decided, if the little guy had to be put down, I would do it. I knew it would be too much for her – despite the promise she’d made. The colt responded differently to Myra, almost as if he had been waiting for her, as though their paths had crossed for a reason.”

  Sara’s interest piqued. “So the colt ate for Myra, but, not for you or your grandfather?”

  “Yes. Myra started feeding, well, force feeding it fresh cow’s milk in the beginning. What little she was able to get him to drink gave him the scours. He wasn’t used to it, and he nearly died from that. Finally, Myra kept working with him, and he got better. He’s Angelstar’s Daddy, by the way. Angelstar is going to be a little horror. She’s got her father’s fiery spirit.”

  Jared kissed Sara. “Anyway, now you know the story of Satan.” He put his helmet back on. “Come on, we’ll go a little further out in the desert, closer to where the mustangs range, and see if we can find any tracks.”

  “If he is running with the wild mustangs, how will you be able to tell his tracks from theirs?”

  Jared smiled. “Easy. All our horses are shoed, the tracks will be different. Besides, Granddad taught me how to tell one horse’s tracks from another’s. The differences are subtle, but they’re there, if you know what to look for.”

  Sara couldn’t understand why, but she had a gut feeling this day would end in sorrow and tears, for Myra. There was a strange feeling hanging in the breeze. Jared hadn’t said, but Sara knew he felt it too. She could hear the sadness in his voice.

  ------------

  Ten or fifteen minutes later, Jared stopped on another high ridge and scanned the area again. He lowered his binoculars, handed them to Sara and sighed heavily. “Oh no….”

  “What is it?”

  “Hopefully not what I think it is. There’s a flock of vultures circling just over there.” He pointed below the ridge.

  Sara looked but couldn’t see anything. Maybe it was too far away for her to focus on, or she needed to have her eyes checked. She shielded them with her hand. “Where, Jared?”

  “We’re going down a rough area. Hang on.” The front of the bike dropped. Jared started weaving his way down a faded path to the bottom of the valley. When they were about twenty feet away from whatever the vultures were feasting on, Jared stopped the bike, took off his helmet and handed it to Sara. “Stay here. You don’t need to see this. If this is what I think it is, it won’t be pretty.”

  Jared took his rifle from his saddlebag, aimed it toward the sky, and fired off a few rounds. The gathering birds took flight, rising from the ground like a thick black cape. Sara sat patiently waiting. A few minutes later, Jared came back. His dark eyes were glossed with threatening tears, filled with pain and remorse. He swallowed hard. “It’s him….”

  Poor Myra. “What happened?”

  “I don’t know for sure, but Dad needs to see this. He jumped back on the bike, slipped on his helmet, and turned around, climbing back up the ridge, unlocking his cell. “Dad, it’s me. We’re about five miles west of the north ridge….. Yeah, we found him…. I want you to have a look first, but it looks like anthrax…. No, they were swarming overhead, and had just started to gather. I ran them off. We’ll stand guard, and make sure nothing gets to the carcass…. Dad, just in case it’s anthrax, don’t you think it might be an idea to get Leo…. Really…? All right, then, we’ll see you in a few…. Well, not entirely, but I’m pretty sure…. Right…. We will….. See you then.” Jared ended the call.

  Fear bolted through Sara. “Jared, I’ve heard anthrax is dangerously contagious in its airborne form!”

  Jared turned, reading the concern on her face. He circled his arm around Sara’s waist and pulled her close. “I was careful not to touch anything Sara. I’ve seen this before, but I’m not an expert, it may not be anthrax. We’ll have to wait. Dad is bringing our local vet, Leo, with him. Apparently Leo dropped by for a visit and they’d been having coffee.”

  Jared put his helmet on again. “We need to keep the vultures from picking at the carcass.”

  “They haven’t picked at it yet?” Sara would be surprised if they hadn’t already.

  “No, they were just getting ready to feast, talk about timing.”

  “If it’s anthrax, can’t it be spread by the vultures?”

  “No, but it can be by the other animals, especially coyotes. If they catch the scent of the decaying carcass, they’ll come searching for it. Coyotes are scavengers themselves, and unlike the vultures, their digestive system doesn’t destroy the anthrax bacteria. Once my father and Leo get here, we’ll destroy the carcass if that’s what it is.” He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Unfortunately, the rest of the herd will need to be tested. They may have to be… put down to keep it from spreading.”

  Sara gasped. “All of them?” That would mean they would lose the whole heard, including Jade and Angelstar!

  He swallowed hard, reading Sara’s mind. “Yes Sara. I’m afraid, if they test positive, the entire herd, including Jade and Angelstar. All of them would have to be destroyed.”

  Sara’s eyes filled with tears. “No!”

  Jared wrapped his arms around her, as silent tears slid down her cheeks. “I’m sorry Sara. I know how much you love Angelstar and Jade. And the fact that Satan is Angel’s sire will make it worse. If we lose her, we lose Satan’s bloodline. Let’s just hope it hasn’t spread to the herd.”

  They rode back down the ridge, closer to where the horse’s carcass lay, decaying and drying in the Arizona sun. Jared broke off some branches from a desert ironwood, and used them, together with some dry straw and made small fires, equal distances around the carcass. The fires would prevent the vultures from landing again.

  Jared drove the bike a safe distance away, parking in the shadow of a giant saguaro cactus. He told Sara because the cactus had so many side arms it was ancient. Apparently, saguaros can take up to seventy-five years to form a single side arm. This one had several, which meant it could be hundreds of years old.

  Sara didn’t care how old the cactus was. She was just glad it loaned them its silhouette against the unbearable heat. She could tell, by the prickling feeling on the ba
ck of her neck, she would soon be suffering severe sunburn, had it not been for the cactus.

  Since Jared and Sara had gone down trails the 4x4 wouldn’t be able to follow, it would take a while for his father to get to them, so they decided to eat their roast beef sandwiches, before they spoiled. Because of the heat, the sandwiches almost tasted as if they’d just been taken out of the microwave. The cold iced-tea made the sandwiches taste even better. It helped to wash down some of the desert dust their throats had been parched with.

  Jared saturated his bandana with water and handed it to Sara. “Wipe your face with this, it looks a little red. You’re not getting a headache or feeling dizzy, are you?”

  Sara smiled and squeezed the bandana above her head, relishing the water as it fell like raindrops on her face. Her skin absorbed them, almost as fast as the desert drank the excess water splattering on the sand. “No, I’m fine, but I‘ve got a mild headache, probably caused from the constant rumbling of the bike, I’m not used to that.”

  Jared touched the back of his hand to her forehead. “Are you sure?”

  Sara smiled, insistent. “Really. I’m fine Jared. I’m tougher than I look!”

  Jared sighed, subjugated. “All right, but if you start feeling dizzy, we’re going back, coyotes or no coyotes.”

  Sara smiled and nodded. She furrowed her brow, held her bottom lip between her teeth, glanced at Jared, and then looked away. She drew in a breath and sighed deeply. Jared watched her with curious eyes. “What’s on your mind Sara?”

  “On my mind – nothing,” she answered quickly. “Why?”

  “You look as if you wanted to ask me something.” He brushed the back of his fingers down the side of Sara’s face, smiling into her eyes. “You can ask me anything, and if it’s something I can tell you, I will tell you the truth.”

  Sara grinned, lowering her head, mildly embarrassed. “I’m curious. What exactly is a mirage? Are they real, or do they just happen in the movies?”

  Jared laughed. “Is that all?”

  Sara scoffed. “That’s exactly why I hadn’t said anything. I figured you would think I was being silly and laugh at me – forget it!” Sara turned away. Jared laughed again. “See, you’re still doing it,” she said, glancing over her shoulder and turning away again.