Trouble at the Red Pueblo (10 page)

“The sand makes walking extra hard,” Karam said, puffing a bit.

“I think the footing will be better once we start uphill.”

That proved to be the case, and though they were ascending, the hard packed clay of the trail made walking easier. Halfway up, they took a water break, sitting on a large red-rock slab in the shade of an overhang. Spider scanned the dry creek bed looking for the Yugo and finally spied one orange rear fender. The rest was obscured by the height of the bank. To the left, he could see Jack’s place below them, and further on, loping through the sagebrush, the buckskin and the bay.

Spider pointed. “Laurie and Jack. They must be headed to the next canyon.”

Karam squinted. “I wonder why they did not come this way. Does this road not lead to the next canyon?”

“Maybe he doesn’t like roads.”

At that moment they heard the sound of a car coming from the direction of the spring. Spider turned to look, but they had rounded the flank of the hill, and he couldn’t see up the canyon.

The sound of the engine grew louder. Curious about who might be coming down the road, Spider leaned against the rock behind him and fixed his eyes on the sandy track below. Soon a burgundy SUV came into view.

“That is a Range Rover,” Karam said, untying his shoe.

“Couldn’t prove it by me, but I like the color.”

“My father has one, only it’s black, and not as new as that one.”

The Range Rover stopped a ways beyond Spider’s car, the driver hidden through the tinted windows. After a moment, the car pulled away and was shielded from view by the bank of the arroyo.

Spider stood. “You ready to push on?”

Karam had his shoe upside down, shaking sand out of it. “It is not the mountains ahead that you have to climb that wear you out, it is the pebble in your shoe,” he quoted.

“Is that from the Quran?”

Karam looked up from tying his shoe.“No. Muhammad Ali said it. He was an American boxer.”

“I know who Muhammad Ali is,” Spider said. “Well, come on. We should catch a breeze at the top.”

They followed the trail, scrambling over rectangular sandstone boulders that had fallen from the rocky mesa cap. At last they gained the top.

Spider stood a moment, breathing hard and looking around. Juniper trees dotted the landscape, their powder-blue berries contrasting with the deep green of their foliage. Rabbit brush and sage grew thickly, and here and there orange mallow added a spot of color. “Let’s head across,” he said. “I don’t think it will take very long to get to the other edge of the mesa.”

Weaving through the trees, they hiked steadily until, suddenly, another step would have been into thin air. Below, a wide canyon sloped off to the east. “I’ll bet this is Martin Taylor’s spread,” Spider said. “That green place up at the head is where the spring rises.”

“Look at the canyon wall on the other side,” Karam said.

“Yeah.” Spider examined the serpentine crevices and huge, knobby protrusions. “And look at the banding of colors. That’s quite a sight.”

“Mr. Taylor is a lucky man. If this was mine, I would build a house over there.” He pointed to an arched depression in the red rock wall across from them.

Spider nodded. “Good choice. From all the green in that crevice, I’d say there was a spring there, too.” He ran his eyes over the landscape, trying to see it as a developer would. With the slope of the canyon away from the spring, a water storage tank adjacent to the source at the head of the canyon would do the job. There’d be no need for pumps, as gravity would take care of everything if it were engineered right. He mentally divided the canyon into two-acre plots and began doing the math, based on what Martin Taylor had been offered for the property.

Karam interrupted his computation. “There’s Laurie’s horse.” He pointed to a place far below where the red, rocky scree gave way to soil and vegetation.

Spider sighted down the angle of Karam’s arm and found the buckskin. She seemed to be tethered to a juniper skeleton, and the bay was beside her. Spider’s eyes raked the surrounding country, looking for the riders.

“I wonder where Laurie—” Spider didn’t finish his sentence because at that moment, he spotted his wife, locked in the embrace of her fourth cousin, Jack.

KARAM WAS SAYING
something, but Spider’s mind, spinning with the image of his wife in another man’s arms, wouldn’t process the words.

Spider watched Karam’s mouth as he repeated the phrase, but he still couldn’t make sense of it. He shook his head as if that would erase the picture of Laurie in Jack’s embrace.

He turned and looked over the cliff again. His eyes found them instantly, walking to where their horses were tethered. Jack’s arm was around Laurie’s shoulders, her arm around his waist. They walked as one, as if they were glued together.

Spider turned away as saliva rushed into his mouth, and he felt the Braces beef he had for lunch rising in his gorge. He took a deep breath, forcing himself to regain control. Pulling the water bottle from his pocket, he poured the warm liquid inside the collar of his shirt and closed his eyes as he held out his arms to catch the cooling breeze.

“Do you think we should?” Karam’s voice sounded anxious.

Spider opened his eyes. “Should what?”

“Hurry down, so we can go help them.”

Spider dropped his arms. “Help them? Why?”

“I just told you. Something is wrong. Jack is in trouble.”

Spider turned back around and searched the area below. Maybe it was he, Spider, who was in trouble.

Jack was now on his horse, and Laurie stood on the ground beside him. Spider didn’t take his eyes off her, even when his companion spoke again.

“Do we need to go help them?” Karam asked again.

Spider held up his hand. “Wait a minute.”

Laurie finally walked to the buckskin. She mounted, and she and Jack started back down the canyon at a lope.

“He looks all right to me,” Spider said, “but we’d probably better head back to the house.” He began retracing the route they had taken across the mesa, striding through the scrubby trees. He heard a muffled exclamation from Karam and looked back to see that a branch he had pushed aside had swung back and hit him in the face. “Gotta look sharp,” he said.

They made it down the hill in a fraction of the time it took to climb it. Spider led all the way, jaw clenched, struggling to keep his mind an empty blackboard and doggedly erasing the recurring picture of Laurie and Jack together.

At the bottom of the hill, Spider paused to take a drink.

“I need to get a hat like yours,” Karam said wiping his brow. “The sun is really brutal.”

“Doesn’t it get this hot in Dubai?”

“Yes. Even hotter, but I work in an air conditioned building.”

“Huh.” Spider held his water bottle up to check the water level. “This might help,” he said and poured the rest of the contents over the head and shoulders of his companion.

“Hey!” Karam sputtered.

“As the water evaporates, it will cool you down.”

“You show your concern in interesting ways.” Karam wiped his eyes. “Actually, I knew that. A reminder would have sufficed.”

“Sorry. You ready to move on?”

Karam dried his hands on his pants. “Yes. Go on.”

As they crossed the expanse of sagebrush to the edge of the ravine where the Yugo was parked, Karam called, “Thank you. I’m feeling cooler.”

They climbed down the sandy bank into the creek bed, and Spider was pleased to note that the car was sitting in the shade. It was still like an oven when they got in, but he drove at a good clip down the gravel waterway to move air through before he rolled up the windows and tuned on the air conditioning.

“What made you think Jack was in trouble?” he asked.

“He was leaning on Laurie. You didn’t see it?”

“No,” Spider said, looking sidewise at Karam. He wondered about the cultural customs in his world, this young man who was to marry his cousin to make sure she had a good husband. He wondered how they felt about men and women displaying affection in public. Was Karam too naive to realize what had been going on down there? Or maybe he had it right. Maybe Spider had read too much into what he saw. “Huh,” he grunted, pressing a little harder on the accelerator, anxious to get back to Jack’s.

They drove the rest of the way in silence and pulled into the circular drive. Spider got out of the car, stretched and walked with Karam to the door.

Karam paused. “Do we knock or just walk in?”

“Knock.”

When no one answered, Spider gestured for Karam to open the door. From the entryway they could see Laurie on the patio, so they walked through the living room to the sliding door. Laurie smiled the minute Spider opened it.

“Hello,” she said, leaning forward and stretching out a hand.

Spider walked over and brushed her fingers. “Hi. Did you have a nice ride?”

“It was wonderful. I had forgotten what a sweet horse Taffy is.”

Spider accepted a cool drink from Laurie and watched the way her eyes rested on her cousin.

“We saw you from up on top of the mesa,” he said.

Laurie blinked, looking from Spider to Karam. “Really? How did you get up there?”

Karam answered. “We hiked. It was a hard climb, but the view was wonderful.”

“Yeah,” Spider took a sip of his limeade. “Sometimes you see things you never would have expected.”

“I’m glad you had a good time,” she said, her eyes flicking again to Jack.

Her cousin rose. “I’ve got to get back to the office, but you can stay as long as you like.”

“We’ve got things we need to do, too.” Spider held out his hand. “Thanks for lunch.”

“Don’t mention it.” Jack shook Spider’s hand and then clapped Karam on the shoulder. “Come any time.”

“Thank you.” Karam hesitated a moment and, as Spider opened the sliding door for their host, blurted out, “You are well?”

Jack paused halfway through, his eyes moving from Karam to Spider. He smiled, assumed his poetry stance, and began reciting.

Old age tracks my every move,

Has been for quite a span.

I’m slower, but I still do things

I did as a younger man
.

Jack winked at Laurie and stepped through to the living room. He traced invisible lines on the wall with outstretched fingers as he crossed to the entryway and opened the front door. Pausing, he waved to his guests. Then he was gone.

Spider turned to look at Laurie and found her still staring at the closed front door. “You ready to go?” he asked.

She stood. “You go on out. I’ll put the lemonade in the fridge and stick these glasses in the dishwasher.”

“We’ll help.” Spider handed the pitcher to Karam and picked up Jack’s empty tumbler. “Where’s Amy?”

Laurie pushed through the kitchen door and spoke over her shoulder. “Someone came by to see her, and they went into town.” She smiled. “A fellow. I think he’s sweet on her.”

Spider followed her in, blinking at the splendor of the kitchen which seemed to have acres of granite counters, stainless steel, and glossy wood. He opened the refrigerator door, so Karam could set the pitcher inside, and then he handed Laurie the two glasses he was carrying.

She put them in the dishwasher. “I think she’s in love.”

“Amy?”

“Yes. She ran out the door when his car pulled up, so I didn’t get to meet him. But he was driving a real nice car.”

“The true measure of a man,” Spider murmured.

Laurie poked him with a mixing spoon. “Let Karam put his glass in, and then you two can go out to the car. I’ll wipe down the counter and be right there.”

Karam dropped his tumbler in the rack and followed Spider outside. They got in the Yugo, and by the time Spider had started the engine and adjusted the air conditioning, Laurie was there.

“What a wonderful afternoon,” she said as she closed the door.

“Jack was very hospitable,” Karam said.

“Yeah.” Spider’s voice was dry. “Warm and embracing fellow, that one.”

Spider felt Laurie’s eyes on him, and though he kept his eyes on the road, he knew from her silence they were flinty.

Karam stepped into the breach, leaning forward and clearing his throat. “I am not sure I understand about the light-colored horse.”

“I used to own Taffy,” Laurie explained. “I raised her and trained her.”

“And then we had to sell her.” Spider’s comment had an edge, and he hadn’t meant it that way.

Laurie picked up the narrative. “A friend told Jack that we were selling our horse, and he bought her. That’s all.”

Nobody spoke as they rattled along the gravel road.

Laurie picked up the thread when they reached the highway, turning around to address Karam. “She has a deformed hoof.”

“Excuse me?” Karam looked puzzled.

“Taffy. My— Jack’s horse. The buckskin. She has a deformed hoof. The fellow who bred her was going to put her down.

“I do not understand. He was lifting the horse?”

“‘Put her down’ means he was going to kill her,” Spider said over his shoulder.

Karam’s mouth opened, and he turned dark eyes to Laurie. “He was going to kill your horse?”

Laurie nodded. “She was the second foal with that deformity out of the mare. He was going to get rid of both the mare and the filly— the baby.”