Untrusting (Troubled) (37 page)

Today the measuring, the taping,
the moving furniture and pictures is about all we can get done during business
hours.  We’ll be here to check on the boarders so we’ll paint tomorrow.

At home Miss Lili tells us Yolanda
has damaged lungs, like tuberculosis, but it isn’t that.  She has to go to
a nursing home for about six months to be monitored and treated.  She and
Glen are getting guardianship of Penny ‘til Yolanda’s back on her feet. 
I’m a little surprised, but it’s like Miss Lili to do this sorta thing. 
She adds that she’ll need Steve and me to sign the papers as back ups because
of their age.  Then moves on to say ground breaking for the two houses
will start Wednesday.

The woman is amazing.  Nothing
seems to phase her, or stop her.  I ask, “Miss Lili, have ya asked the
town citizens about the creek park?  How do they feel about the
decision?”  She hasn’t held a meeting, but she’s asked around about it and
it’s mostly favorable.  But the Mayor is going to address it at the next
town meeting.  She adds we need to be there.  There’ll be a report on
the grants for the animal shelter and the small office for welfare
benefits.  I guess it’s all going to happen just the way Miss Lili said it
would.  As I said before, she’s amazing.

After an early breakfast, I meet
Maria at the office and we start painting.  Then we have to break for
lunch and let the stripes dry.  Two hours later we come back the paint’s
dry, but it’s not cured enough to re-tape so we can paint the other
stripes.  Steve and Bob show up with Penny and Shay and with fans. 
We turn them on and go to look at the site of the new park.

Only the roads are cleared, but we
walk around the area.  Bob and Steve are making notes on a pad for
recommendations.  They take out waders so they can cross the creek to
check on the other side.  We sit and toss rocks into the water ‘til they
get back.  They come back saying the place will be beautiful with spring
flowers with no up keep necessary, if the clearing is done right.  They’re
going to recommend a landscaper get involved so that the good flowers and
bushes are saved.  There’s a lotta of cactus, too.  It’ll be very
colorful.  They don’t know how they missed this as kids.  They were
all over the area playing Cowboys and Indians.  Well, we need to check on
the paint so we leave.

We stop at the hardware store to
check the time for the paint to cure before we can put tape on it so we can
paint the other stripes.  They sell us some tape that will do the job on
new, dry paint.  We do back to finish the work.  When we’re through,
we go to the “Barn” for supper and meet Mom and Dad and Miss Lili and Glen.

“Thought we’d find ya here. 
What’d ya think about the new park area?  We just came from there and
think it’ll be nice.”  Miss Lili rarely beats around the bush, preferring
to walk right through it, figuratively speaking, of course.

The only pause in the conversation
about the park at dinner is when we order or we have our mouths full. 
Everyone likes the ideas that are explored there and the diners around us get
in on the conversation, too.  Soon we have a town meeting going on. 
The Mayor and his family are there for dinner and soon the word has spread ‘til
there’s standing room only.  Everyone loves the idea and has some
suggestions.  A playground for the kids is mentioned, but we’re not sure
there’s room for it on the stretch of creek that’s being considered, but it’ll
be looked into.  Soon the Mayor tells everyone to put the suggestions into
the box and where it’s located, so the “Barn” can close.  We’ve been here
a long time.

Steve and I go back to the clinic
and I show him around.  He likes the new paint.  We take the tape off
the walls and move the furniture back into the room.  We let the boarders
out and watch them.

Steve comes over to put his arms
around me.  “Yolanda went into the nursing home today.  Penny will be
sleeping in the room next to ours ‘til her mother’s better.  Miss Lili and
Glen want us to sign as alternates so they and we have guardianship of
Penny.  If we don’t she’ll go to a foster home.  What do ya think?”

I’m quiet for a few minutes, “I
guess we don’t have much choice.  I don’t want to see Penny put in a
foster home.  She’s already too mature for her age.  She needs some
time to be a kid.  I would like to see her put in a pre-school, just to
see what she needs in terms of education.”

Steve nods, turns me and kisses
me.  “What are ya doing New Year’s Eve?”

“I hope to be spending it with
someone I love, why?”

“You love me,” he says
grinning.  “Will ya spend it with me?”

“A little sure of yourself, aren’t
ya?  But I thought you’d never ask.”  We put the dogs away and go
home.

Penny doesn’t sleep well.  So
I spend most of the night in her room.  The next morning we talk to Miss
Lili about the nursing home.  Miss Lili says they’ll go see Yolanda today,
but because she’s so far away they can’t take Penny there everyday, but they’ll
go twice a week.  Penny’s upset, but she understands.  She can call
everyday if she wants to, Miss Lili says and she feels better.

When Penny goes upstairs, I tell
Miss Lili I’d like Penny to go to a pre-school for an evaluation and to learn
anything she doesn’t know.  Maybe, she’ll get away from being her mother’s
keeper, a bit.  Miss Lili looks at me like I don’t understand Penny’s
situation.  “Miss Lili, she’s four years old.  She can shop, cook,
clean and nurse her mother.  She can tell ya what her mother would like
better than she can tell ya what she would like.  It’s time things
lightened up on her and she became a kid again, don’t ya think?”  Miss
Lili nods.

The men come in and Miss Lili tells
them she and Glen are taking Penny to see her mother and the other things that
we’ve discussed.  They all nod and believe it’s a good course of
action.  Penny comes down ready to go, but Glen has to change clothes then
they’re gone.

I ask where Maria is and Bob says
she’s at the “station” letting the dogs out.  I leave to join her and the
guys follow.  We decide we’ll go riding and be back by five.  The
guys want to spend time with their horses.

Mom and Dad are glad to see
us.  Dad has some work to do in the pasture so we talk Mom into riding out
with us.  The ride is nice, but when Dad has work to do, it’s not a
leisurely ride.  The men finish repairing the hole in the fence and we,
women, get the stray cattle back on the right side of it.

Shay loves herding the cattle back
where they belong.  He’s hollering and whipping his hat over his
head.  He’s riding with Maria, who’s dodging the hat and holding the horse
from taking off from Shay’s kicking.  Bob comes over to take the big,
little, cowboy with him.  Bob’s going a little fast, but he’s hanging onto
Shay and Shay’s loving it.  Maria’s having a heart attack, but knows
Shay’s safe.  The rest of us are working the herd, too.  Mom’s almost
as bad as Shay is.  Mom hollers at Dad, there’s a calf in a ravine and
can’t get out, she’s goin’ after it.

I go with her to cover her. 
We’re herding the calf out when the howling starts right on our heels. 
The rest of them hear the howling and come running.  Shay’s handed off to
Maria and told to stay with the herd and keep them in check if she can. 
They’re getting skittish from the howls.  Bob doesn’t go into the ravine,
staying where he can see Maria.  Mom and I don’t leave the calf, but we
can’t get off to get the calf onto a horse to get outta there either.  Dad
and Steve come at us in full gallop and past us.  They’re swinging their
ropes to scatter the coyotes.  We still can’t get off our horses to get
the calf.  I lean over Izzie’s side to drop my rope loop over the calf’s
head to hurry it up and lead it out.  Dad and Steve are in danger and we
need to get outta here, the ravine is too narrow to move in.  I notice Bob
watching from the edge and holler at him to “catch.”  I throw him the rope
so he can get the calf out and we can ride faster and, hopefully, away from the
coyotes.  Bob catches the rope and starts hauling the calf up the side
while Mom and I kick our horses up to full gallop.  We’re out by the time
Bob gets the calf to the top.  He’s off his horse to get the calf across
his saddle, because the calf couldn’t breathe, the rope had tightened around its
neck during the trip up the side of the ditch.  Bob’s back on his horse in
record time and he hollers to get outta there.  He doesn’t leave ‘til Dad
and Steve are outta the ravine.

Mom and I have already joined Maria
to help her control the herd.  We look to see Dad and Steve shoot outta
the ditch, coyotes right behind them.  Mom and I kick the herd up and run
them into the fenced area, Maria and Shay staying with us.  Bob’s riding
across the pack of coyotes, whipping the end of my rope through them. 
Steve and Dad turn and do the same to give us time to get further away.

We hear yelps, growls and howls
behind us and once we’re inside the fence, we turn.  I grab Maria’s rope
and Mom has hers ready.  I tell Maria go to the middle of the herd and
stay with them.  Mom and I go back to help whip the coyotes back. 
When we have them running the other way we stand and watch.  You can’t
turn and run or they’ll be back on ya.

Bob takes the calf to the herd and
puts it down.  We join him and Maria.  Dad says the coyotes aren’t
gonna take the whipping lightly.  When we leave here we need to ride hard
for the house to be safe.  Bob takes Shay and we herd the cattle closer to
the house.  When we leave the herd we ride hard and fast, Maria, Bob and
Shay at the front and ropes ready.  We hear growls and bushes rustling as
we ride, but no attacks.

We get home and Dad stops at the
house first, to get his rifles and pistols.  If the coyotes followed us
home, he wants to be prepared.  He hands me, Mom and Steve a rifle, he and
Bob have his pistols.  Maria and Shay are sent to my house and we have to
rest a few minutes before we can tend the horses.

Brad, Dad’s foreman, comes running
out with a rifle.  “I heard you comin’.  The howlin’ was too close
for comfort.  Y’all okay?”

“Haven’t had a chance to find
out.  We’re gonna have to call a hunt.  The pack was about twenty
strong this time.  The cattle aren’t safe and neither is a human.  A
calf was being stalked and when Lucy went after it they objected.  We had
to fight them in a draw to get Lucy and Sher out.”

We start looking each other
over.  Steve, Dad and Bob have tears in their jeans around their
boots.  Mom and I have tears, too, but we aren’t wearing boots.  We
pull the pant leg up to find a few scratches.  We go in to clean them up and
put alcohol on them.  We don’t mention them to the guys yet.  They’re
busy watching for coyotes and talking about the hunt.  After half an hour
we decide we can disarm and go about our business.  As we come out of the
barn we hear a snarl and Dad turns to shoot a coyote.  There’s another one
coming around my house.  Steve gets it and Bob gets one coming down the
side of the barn.  Dad runs back into the barn he’s shutting the doors and
windows on it.  We hear a shot in the barn and Brad goes running in to see
Dad dragging a coyote out of a stall.  Bob runs for my house to check on
Maria and Shay.  A coyote meets him on the porch and Bob shoots it and
darts in the door.

As we walk passed my house I see
another one at the side of it and shoot it.  Mom and I are walking toward
her back door watching as we go.  Mom shoots one coming from her garden by
the barn.  We make it inside, but don’t go very far because Steve is still
in the open waiting for Dad and Brad.  Mom yells, “To your right.” 
Steve gets the one that was sneaking around the barn from Mom’s garden. 
Dad and Brad come out of the barn and the three of them walk back to back to
the house.

Once inside, Dad starts calling
neighbors to arrange the hunt.  In the next two hours we have ten trucks
and horse trailers in the yard.  We managed to get Maria, Shay and Bob
over from my house.  We’ve had dinner and now we’re making coffee as
quickly as we can.  Mom’s packing coffee, coffee pot, jerky and water into
bags to throw over the back of a horse for the hunt.

We hear the horses in the horse
trailers acting up and the guys go out the door slowly and shoot any eyes they
spot.  The coyotes are scouting the horse trailers.  They move toward
the trailers shooting when they need to.  A horse starts squealing and
kicking in a trailer.  A coyote has gotten into it and is attacking the
horse.  Steve’s closest so he shoots the coyote as soon as he can get a
clear shot.  I know the sound, and grab the first aid kit in the house,
but when I tried to get out the door, Mom and Maria stop me.  A few more
shots and the horses calm down.

When the men come back in they seem
to think the hunt isn’t necessary.  But they’ll wait here ‘til morning,
then ride out.  It’s dark and too dangerous to go out tonight.  We
leave the men to decide what they want to do.

Maria, Shay and I go up to bed,
Maria in the guest room and me in my room.  Shay’s been great about the
siege.  He was playing with Princess most of the time.  When Princess
wanted out, Mom put down a puppy pad for her.  Steve joins me a little
later.

Twice during the night the men were
roused to go out to protect the horses.  They decided then that at day
break they would start out, hoping to get the pack finished off before they get
too far away.  Mom wakes me and Maria to help with breakfast, before the
men go out hunting.

We hear sporadic gun fire for four
hours then nothing.  The men don’t come back ‘til lunch.  The count
was thirty five dead coyotes.  Steve takes me out to the horse that was
attacked by the coyote and I take a look at it.  It has a few deep bites
and scratches.  I take a look at the coyote, checking its mouth and its
build.  Its ribs are apparent.  The hunting must not be good enough
to support a pack that big.  I’m hoping it’s not diseased, but I can’t tell
‘til I get it to the clinic.  I can run some tests, but I have to send it
off to Waco to check for Rabies.  In the mean time, I need to treat the
horse for infection.