by Alan Black
He couldn’t help but remember how no one had ever told him to help himself to the dessert lines in the galleys. Tasso walked over to Ndubuka’s wife, gently took her elbow and guided her into a chair. He set the plate of fruit in front of her and said, “You start with that.” He wrapped an arm over Ndubuka’s shoulders, realizing his touch was much like Captain Rojo’s hug to him. “Ndubuka, old buddy, let’s get ourselves something to nibble on.” He guided the young man to the sideboard, almost forcing a plate into his hands.
Tasso caught Ndubuka trying to look at his father for approval. He deliberately stood between the two men as he filled his plate with fruit, cheese, and a few meats for variety sake. Ndubuka hesitated to put anything on his plate, so Tasso filled it for him with a stack of pastries and fruit. He guided the man back to the table and almost had to force the man to take a seat before his father would.
Tasso said, “Eat up, you two.”
Okpara’s daughter had backed away from the table and stood with her head down. She had the look of a wild animal, startled, frightened, and about ready to bolt. Tasso could have laughed, understanding her feelings all too well. No matter where Tasso stood, she wouldn’t look at him. He wasn’t about to give up on her. Grabbing her hand, he pulled her toward the refreshments. Her hand was dry and rough, and spoke of hard work, not at all like Anisa’s hand. The young woman tried to pull away, but Tasso’s hands were strong from work as well. He hung on until he managed to force a plate into her other hand and began filling it with whatever was in reach.
She didn’t try to pull away when he tugged at her hand and led her back to the table. He seated her next to Ndubuka’s wife. The two women spoke in such soft whispers that Tasso, sitting on the other side of Ndubuka, couldn’t hear them. He could see all three of the younger generation glancing at the plates of food, but they hadn’t dared touch them.
He peeled a banana and munched on it contentedly, encouraging Ndubuka to taste the banana on his plate. When the man did, his eyes lit up and he stuffed half the banana into his mouth before breaking off a piece to stuff into his wife’s mouth. Okpara’s daughter tentatively picked up a small strawberry and took a tiny nibble. She squealed in delight and covered her mouth in embarrassment, but when Tasso and Ndubuka laughed, she grinned and popped the whole thing in her mouth with a sigh.
“Tasso Menzies!” Captain Rojo shouted. Her voice startled everyone. “Why is it I get reports on your conduct with such disturbing frequency?”
Tasso clamped his jaw shut. He assumed she’d received the security report of the incident with Flacco and the other man. The security officer said he wasn’t going to do the paperwork on it, but something had generated some kind of report.
Rojo snapped. “This doesn’t mention you by name, but I have two crewmen in medical and a report of an incident in a corridor that appears to not be covered by La Dueña Dunstan, yet covered by her at the same time. This has your fingerprints all over it.”
Tasso wanted to deny it, but he’d been more than peripherally involved. “It wasn’t my fault, Captain. They—”
“I know that,” she interrupted. “But you must be some kind of magnet for ‘it’s not my fault’ incidents.”
Tasso was worried he was in trouble once again.
Captain Rojo smiled and winked at him. “Consider yourself properly chastised.” She sipped her tea and turned to Mr. Okpara. “Young Mr. Menzies showed me a mud brick you’d given him. Do you make them?”
Okpara nodded, “It was a common block. I do not see why he wanted such a thing. They lay about so much that we have to stack them up to keep them out of the way. I have my cowboys make them when the cattle are fed and resting in the fields. That way they are busy and do not become lazy.”
Ndubuka, emboldened by a full stomach, spoke up. “My father is being modest. He pays his help to do busy work so he will not have to lay them off in the slow season. If he laid them off, their families would starve.”
Okpara waved his hands as if it was nothing. “We do what we do, do we not? You have people you are responsible for, Captain Rojo?”
The captain nodded. “Mr. Okpara, we may be able to buy some of your excess bricks if we can come to an agreement on pricing and delivery. Do you have any bricks you might sell us now?”
“I have about ten thousand bricks we were going to use to build some fences, but we really already have more fences than we need. How many of the ten thousand bricks would you want?”
Bill Rojo shook his head. “Ten thousand? Well, if we can get the price down to fifty bricks per credit we would like two million bricks for the first order.”
The Rojos and Okparas came to terms for those two million bricks, settling on a price of one credit per twenty bricks. One million bricks were to be ready for delivery when the Araña Rojo returned in eight months. The second million were to be completed and ready for delivery when the Escorpión Rojo returned to Kaduna in sixteen months. They would take all available ten thousand now, as soon as the cattle were off-loaded.
Mr. Okpara thought they were all crazy to pay so much for mud, but when Captain Rojo paid him a cash deposit, he actually danced. The captain danced with him.
Based on test data, Bill already had commitments to sell both shipments to rain-soaked Murphy’s Rest at five times what they paid. Bill said they could sell ten times the two million mark without even getting close to Murphy’s Rest requirements. That was without searching for other markets. He told Mr. Okpara they would keep him busy making mud bricks year round.
Tasso finally tired of listening to the negotiations when they started discussing Okpara’s purchase of tools he needed to increase the volume of bricks and the purchase of two used sleds to help move adobe bricks to the spaceport. “Excuse me, Captain,” Tasso said. “While you nail down a few final details, may I escort Mr. Okpara’s family up to the promenade? I’m sure Mrs. Okpara would like to visit Cherry’s shop, where her dresses will be offered for sale.”
The captain and Mr. Okpara nodded their consent and turned back to discussing how much of a down payment Okpara needed for a couple of used trucks. She glanced up as Ndubuka hobbled past. She held up a finger, holding Tasso in place. “Oh, Tasso, why don’t you take my shuttle cart. Have my driver send it back when you’re done. And before you go, give me one moment, please.”
The captain tapped her dataport, “Doctora Valenzuela, please meet Tasso Menzies on the promenade at Cherry’s.”
The doctor’s voice growled back. “I’m already on the promenade, Lil. Come on! It’s my day off. There are other medical staff on duty. And Menzies broke …?”
Captain Rojo rolled her eyes at the hanging sentence. “Never mind who he broke. He’s fine. Just do it as a favor to me, Erendira. He’ll explain when you see him.” She glanced at Tasso and raised one eyebrow in question.
He grinned, glad to be involved in a conspiracy, knowing exactly what she wanted.
CHAPTER 28
KENDRA WAS THE CAPTAIN’S shuttle cart driver. The young woman delighted in the squeals of the Okpara women as she slid the cart around corners, screeching the tires and wailing for people to get out of the way. Everyone, including Tasso, hung onto the seat rails with white knuckled grips. He imagined riding with her was like trying to ride a jack-o’-lantern, and an angry jack at that. Everyone hung on, except Kendra, who laughed and reveled in the wind blowing through her hair.
“Cherry’s Lingerie Shop. Everybody out. You best hurry, since she’s already been open for an hour or so.” Kendra sang. She grabbed Tasso by the front of his coveralls and kissed him on the cheek. She held up her wrist with the wooden bracelet Tasso had bought from Ndubuka. “I love this and I’m glad I got it in town. It would have been too late if I’d waited until now to get it.”
Tasso started to ask what she meant, but she waved and raced off toward a freight elevator, speeding back to her designated spot to sit and wait for the captain to need her again. He shook his head. Kendra was a beautiful girl, but she ac
ted odd in a strange sort of way most of the time.
Cherry rushed out to meet them and ushered them back into her shop. People, most wearing Araña Rojo colors, packed the little store. “I’m sorry I don’t have much time right now. We’re really busy and I only have a few moments to spare.”
Mrs. Okpara stared open-mouthed with unabashed curiosity. “I imagined a rich shop, but I did not imagine big enough. This is all yours?”
Cherry nodded and said, “This is mine and my business partner.” She pointed at Ain waiting on a customer at the counter.
“Ayeee! Two such women with pale hair. How can this be? You must make your man very wealthy and very happy indeed.”
Cherry laughed. “I haven’t found a man yet who could throw his lasso around me. Ain and I don’t have husbands.”
“Who takes your profits and advises you on how to run your store? Is Tasso Menzies the man in charge?”
Tasso replied, “Mrs. Okpara, Cherry is the boss. She tells me what to do and I do it.”
“This is so?” Mrs. Okpara didn’t look convinced.
Tasso realized that even if she wasn’t convinced, her daughter and daughter-in-law got the picture. “Can we show Mrs. Okpara and Ndubuka where their inventory will be displayed?”
Cherry shook her head, “Nope. They are—”
A woman wearing Araña colors interrupted. “These are the women who sewed those Kaduna dresses? Dang it! I got here just past too late. The Araña Rojo is my ship. We’ll be back here in about eight months. Your shop is in town, right? Well, you can count on me to stop by.” The woman breezed out of the store without waiting for Mrs. Okpara to answer any of her questions.
Cherry said, “Nothing I bought from your inventory lasted longer than an hour. I could’ve sold ten times what I bought from you. I’ve even had to fight off people trying to buy those carvings you bought, Tasso. I’ll take them off your hands if you want. If you have other plans, you best get them sold or you’re going to start a riot. And don’t take too long, we need you back here as quick as you can.”
Before Tasso could answer, a warm soft hand sliding into his startled him. “Hi, handsome.” He turned to see Anisa. “Hi. Do you remember the Okparas?”
“Of course, silly, that’s why I’m here. Part of my duties is to act as a guide to visitors. The captain asked me to look after the Okparas and show them around.”
“Great.” Tasso squeezed her hand and was pleased when she squeezed back. “Ndubuka and I need to take his carvings down to The Big Barn Saddle and Tackle Shop. Do you think they’ll want to buy them for resale?”
Anisa laughed. “If they don’t, you report them to the medical center for brain scans. And where would you ladies like to go?”
Tasso left Anisa to take charge of the Okpara women. He and Ndubuka stepped back into the promenade’s wide corridor. They almost bumped into the doctor.
“What are you up to, Menzies?” she asked.
“Doctor Valenzuela, I’m showing a guest, Mr. Ndubuka Okpara, around our ship. Ndubuka, this is our doctor. It’s nice to see you, Doctor. Perhaps we can talk later.”
She looked puzzled when they walked away, but understanding dawned on her while watching Ndubuka’s hobbling gait while he and Tasso grabbed a pallet jack stacked with boxes of carvings and ambled through the crowd of people. Tasso looked behind him. Sure enough, the doctor was following closely behind them with a scanner pointed in Ndubuka’s direction. He also noticed a small crowd of men following behind them. He shook his head. One fight was enough for the day. He didn’t recognize any of these men, but they were obviously intent on following him.
The Big Barn Saddle and Tackle Shop was jammed with cowboys, but Tasso bulled his way through to the counter. The owner grinned at him and wrapped him up in a bear hug. It startled him, because other than providing the man with a few specialty items from the extruder, they weren’t really friendly. Well, not hugging friendly.
“Menzies, I hope you can get me more goods before the day is half over. I’m barely keeping up.”
Tasso set a box on the counter. He pulled out carvings of a Kaduna bull and a Texas longhorn. He pulled out the tai carving to get at a couple of horses. The bird glittered in the lights, but Tasso put it back in the box. The spectacular carving was his and he didn’t plan to sell it.
“Sir, do you think your customer’s might be willing to buy these?”
A man shouted from the group of men who followed him from Cherry’s. “Son, I didn’t follow you down here from that foo-foo shop just cuz you’re pretty. You name your price. I want one of each of those carvings.”
The storeowner guided Tasso and Ndubuka over to the side, out of earshot of the customers. “How much you need for them? Mind you, I can’t pay too much, but if we got a deal, I’ll buy them all.” The man leaned over and pushed a stack of saddle blankets to the floor. “I’ll set them on display right here.”
With no haggling at all, he paid Tasso twice what Tasso owed Okpara’s son. He promised, with reasonably good grace, not to charge more than double what he paid Tasso. Ndubuka cried when Tasso handed him the credits to match the agreed price. The owner of the saddle shop cried when Tasso wouldn’t sell him the carved tai. The last man in the line cried when the carvings sold out before Tasso and Ndubuka got out of the store and before he got to the front of the line.
Tasso and Ndubuka found Anisa taking the Okpara women on a shopping spree around the promenade. They were working hard to put a dent in their newfound wealth. They bought thread, needles, buttons, zippers, buckles, and dozens of bolts of cloth for dressmaking. They bought all of the ribbon from Cherry they could carry. They bought new chairs and small tables for work. Every promenade shop made a sale to the Okpara clan, each place promising delivery by the end of the day. The Kadunian family tried something at every restaurant and nibbled on everything they could get their hands on. A set of woodworking tools in the hobby shop fascinated Ndubuka. He refused to use the family money to buy the whole set or even to accept it as a gift from Tasso. He paid his own credits to buy a few knives and a specialty chisel. He cradled them as if they were precious, showing them to his wife with pride. His wife smiled and caressed the tools as if they were as precious to her as to her husband.
Kendra hit the brakes and the shuttle cart screeched to a halt next to the Okparas. The goods purchased by the Okparas filled her cart. She grinned at Tasso and punched Anisa in the arm in good-natured friendship.
Anisa squealed in fake pain. “Hey! I thought the captain took you off driver duty as too dangerous to pedestrians?”
Kendra laughed, “Yeah, but she couldn’t find a better driver for our special guests, so I got drafted back. This sure beats working in equine waste management, again.”
Doctor Valenzuela and Otto pulled up in a second cart. Otto jumped out, grabbed Ndubuka, and set him on the back of the cart. The man struggled to get up, but Otto just laughed and held him down with one big bear-like paw. The doctor laid a heavy, circuit-filled blanket over Ndubuka’s leg and plugged it into a medical scanner. She muttered something about backcountry witch doctors and yanked the blanket off her unwilling patient.
Tasso put a hand on Ndubuka’s shoulder. “She only sounds mean. She really is a good doctor.”
Valenzuela said, “Shut up, Menzies. You’re going to ruin my reputation.” She grabbed the Okpara’s daughter by her arm and said, “Ndubuka, is this your wife? No? I didn’t think so.” She jabbed an injector into the girl’s arm. “Your stomach cramps should go away soon. That shot will cure those parasites you picked up from god-knows-where.” She pointed at Ndubuka’s wife. “Are you with him?”
The woman nodded.
“I thought so,” she grabbed Ndubuka by the chin and yanked his head around to look him in the eyes. “I can fix your leg. It won’t hurt more than a little bit, but it’ll take a week or so to get you fixed up right. Do you want to go for a ride in a spaceship? Besides, we need to get your wife on a regular course of prenatal vi
tamins so you can have a healthy baby. Oh? Didn’t know that news, did ya? Okay? Good. Otto get them into the cabin we have set up by medical.”
Otto was gone with Ndubuka and his wife before anyone could protest.
Mrs. Okpara was stunned. Tasso knew it’d happened almost too fast to follow, but Valenzuela and her team worked that way. He’d been trapped in their clutches more than once. The ship’s medical staff was uncomfortable to be around when you were in their clutches, but he had to admit, he never felt better in his life.
Mrs. Okpara said, “What do I tell Ndubuka’s father?”
Valenzuela laughed. “You tell him we’ll be back here in about a year plus a few months. We’ll give him back his son and throw in a new grandson to boot.”
Tasso turned Mrs. Okpara and her daughter over to Anisa and Kendra. He spent the rest of the day making custom orders for the clusters of Red Spider’s crew shopping on the Red Scorpion’s promenade. Anisa dropped by in the afternoon to check on him. He took a break and bought her a cold Sola Cola while she showed him what she had bought on the Red Spider’s promenade. He blushed bright red when she gave him a brightly colored shirt made in the Texican style. He tried to protest because he hadn’t gotten her a gift, but she wiggled the wooden bracelet from Kaduna at him. Grabbing his chin, steadying his face between both hands, she kissed him on the lips, long and slow. It’d been in front of everyone. He didn’t know what to do, so he sat and blushed until his break was over and he went back to work.
He kissed her again a dozen times on Sunday during the rodeo. The rodeo still confused him. He’d been concerned about how they treated the animals, but after awhile it seemed the animals won more times than they lost. The only creatures getting hurt were the cowboys. He decided if that is what cowboys did for a living, he didn’t want to have anything to do with it.