One Step Over the Border (35 page)

“Whose idea was that?”

“Eh… mine.”

“Hap, you know how snuffy Tully can be at times.”

“You said he was a saint at the funeral.”

“Then he blew up afterward.”

“Well, Lukey can shepherd them. Besides, Heather is just learning to run the barrels and I promised we’d give her a few pointers.”

“What do we know about barrel racing?”

“Laramie, we’ve been studyin’ barrel racin’ for years.”

“If I recall, we’ve been most impressed by long hair flagging in the wind when they raced to the finish line.”

“Well, you tell them how to wear their hair and I’ll show ’em how to make a tight turn without flippin’ a barrel over. I know
it sounds borin’, but you like borin’.”

“I didn’t say boring, I said peaceful. And somehow, a birthday party for twelve-year-old girls sounds neither peaceful nor
routine.”

Heather McKay was riding the brown quarterhorse at a lope in the cloverleaf pattern around the three fifty-five-gallon drums
when Laramie and Hap pulled up next to Del Norte Arena. A huge white awning stretched over the tables and chairs where several
adults attempted to keep paper tablecloths from drifting in the desert breeze.

They had just stepped out of the truck when a lady with short blonde hair and sunglasses scooted up to them. She wore khaki
shorts, a crisp yellow short-sleeved blouse, and a very large diamond wedding ring.

She stuck her hand out at Laramie. “I’m Toni McKay, Rosa’s cousin. You must be her Hap.”

“No, ma’am, I’m Laramie. The cowboy with the cheap black mustache is Rosa’s Hap.”

She shook both of their hands. “I’m so grateful you came. When we started to plan this, we had no idea everyone would want
to ride horses.”

Hap grinned. “Kids like horses, all right.”

“Well, none will be as thrilled as this group. Say, do either of you know anything about repairing propane barbecue grills?
The one we rented doesn’t work right.”

“Hap’s the propane expert,” Laramie said. “Would you like me to saddle the horses and take them into the arena?”

“Thank you. We would be happy to pay you, but Rosa said you would refuse.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Hap tipped his hat. “Seems we do our best work for free. Now, I’ll get my sledgehammer and fix the grill.” He
sauntered toward the toolbox in the back of the Dodge truck.

“He was joking about the sledgehammer, wasn’t he?” Toni asked.

“No, Hap fixes everything with barbed wire, baling string, and a sledgehammer.”

Within fifteen minutes Laramie had Luke and Tully saddled. He led them to the one-hundred- by three-hundredfoot open air arena.
The four-rail fence boasted a fresh coat of white paint. Two tall cottonwood trees provided shade in the northeast corner
near the aluminum stock tank. Heat vibrated from the loose dirt of the arena floor, but a few high clouds defused the sun’s
piercing glare.

Laramie shut the gate behind him, then dropped Luke’s reins to the dirt. The black gelding took that as a sign and closed
his eyes as if anticipating a long nap. Laramie swung up in the saddle on Tully and patted the horse’s neck.

“I know you’ll only tolerate little girls if I tire you out first. You don’t get the luxury of pitching a fit today.”

The girl on the brown horse rode over to him. She pulled off her riding helmet and shaded her eyes with her hand. “Hi, I’m
Heather and today is my birthday.”

“Pleased to meet you, Miss Heather. I’m Laramie.” He reached over and shook her hand.

Her straight black hair hung just past her ears. Her bangs framed her small, round face. She wore a bright pink T-shirt that
read
Rodeo Queen
and black jeans that looked like corduroy.

She turned her head. “Do you like my new earrings?”

Laramie studied the sparkling studs. “Very nice.”

“Daddy bought me diamonds.”

“They’re beautiful, Heather.”

“Thank you. Are you the rodeo stars that are friends of my mom’s cousin?”

Laramie laughed. “Honey, we’re a couple of cowboys from Wyoming who enter roping at rodeos ever’ once in a while. But we’re
not rodeo stars.”

“Did you ever win money at a rodeo?”

“Yes, we have.”

“Many times?”

“Lots of times.”

“That’s my goal,” Heather said. “I want to win a check at a real rodeo. Just one check. I don’t even care how much money.”

“That sounds like a reasonable goal. You get a good horse and you keep practicing and you’ll do it, I’m sure.”

She jammed her hat back on. “That would be so totally cool. Me… winning money at a rodeo.”

“Sometimes the most important ingredient is having the heart to do it. Sounds to me like you have a heart to win.”

“Oh, my heart is fine.” Heather grinned. “It’s the rest of me that needs improvement.”

Loud clanging from the direction of the white awning drew their attention toward the others.

“What’s going on over there?” she inquired.

“I believe Hap is fixing the barbecue. How about you and me walking our horses around the barrels. You can tell me what you
know about each turn.”

“Oh, yes. I do fairly well on the sprints, but the turns kind of scare me.”

“If you train your horse good enough, all you have do is hang on and know when to give him his head.”

He watched her ride up to the first barrel, tug the reins to the left, and circle the large, dark blue barrel.

“That was good, Heather. Now, watch me. Tully, here, isn’t a barrel horse, but he follows orders most of the time.”

Laramie dropped the reins around the saddle horn, then rode Tully forward. He circled tight around the barrel and back. Heather
clapped when he rode over to her.

“You did all of that without holding the reins.”

“When you have your horse at a gallop, you keep ahold of the reins, but I did that to illustrate a point. You want to train
your horse to follow knee commands so you aren’t tugging on his mouth when you turn him.”

“Knee commands?”

“I’ve got Tully trained that when I put pressure with my knee, he turns. That’s the best way to do it.”

He saw her neck stiffen, her cheeks swell, her eyes tear. “But I could never learn that,” she sobbed.

“Honey, it just takes time. Anyone can learn.”

“No, I can’t. Don’t you understand?”

“Understand what?”

“My legs are paralyzed.”

Laramie stared at her jeans. “What?”

“I was in a boat accident five years ago. I’ll never walk and I’ll never give knee commands,” she wailed.

“But… but you ride so well. How do you stay in the saddle?”

“Velcro. Mother and Daddy sewed Velcro on my jeans, and Velcro on the stirrup leathers.” She patted her black pants. “I can’t
fall off. It takes two of them to pull me loose.”

Laramie straightened and rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, you aren’t going to let a little thing like that keep you from
winning that rodeo check, are you?”

A wide smile broke across her face as she wiped her tears. “No, I’m not.”’

“Good, let’s do it again. We’ll work on head commands.”

Laramie and Heather rode the pattern a dozen times before the first guests arrived. Then it was time to give kids rides and
demonstrate roping. After an hour in the arena, all the kids and the parents retired to the awning.

At dark, the guests left.

Laramie and Hap sprawled on rented white plastic chairs with Heather’s parents, while she rode her horse around the barrels
at a trot.

Toni McKay smiled at them. “I can’t believe how great you two get along with twelve physically challenged girls.”

“They’re amazin’ little troupers,” Hap said.

“You know the most natural horsewoman of the bunch?” Laramie said.

“Seanna?” Toni replied.

Laramie swirled an ice cube in the bottom of his plastic cup. “Her mother said she’s been blind since birth. Tully loved her.
He pouted when she left.”

“Seanna’s an inspiration to all the girls,” Toni reported. “We love having her come over. They dote on her and forget their
own limitations.”

“Watching these girls laugh and giggle and act like ordinary preteen girls gives us perspective,” Laramie offered. “I’m sure
the rest of us whine and complain way too much.”

Brandon McKay’s butch haircut and broad shoulders gave him an NFL linebacker look, but his blue-flowered Hawaiian shirt softened
his appearance. “Guys, I’ve got to head to town and return some things to the rental company.” He shook both their hands.
“Your acts of compassion toward our family will never be forgotten. Today was a huge success due to Toni’s planning and your
graciousness. But agreeing to the trail ride is a legendary act of kindness.”

“Trail ride?” Laramie asked.

“Look, guys, I’m going to pay you five hundred dollars apiece for that. I insist you take the money or it’s no deal. You can
donate it to charity, or give it away, or go buy new boots, but I have to pay you.”

“Trail ride?” Laramie repeated.

Hap cleared his throat. “I forgot to tell you, partner. While you was puttin’ up the horses, Toni, Brandon, me, and some of
the parents decided it would be a wonderful thing to take this bunch on a trail ride.”

“You mean, overnight?”

“Three nights, actually,” Brandon added.

“But we will have at least one adult for every child,” Toni explained. “We’ll need a few days to prepare, so you’ll stay with
us, of course. We’ll take off on Friday and be back by Monday. Hap said you had the time.”

“Shoot, partner, it won’t be too tough. We just have to wrangle the horse string, supervise things on the trail, and lead
singin’ around the campfire at night.”

“Singing?” Laramie choked. “I don’t sing in public, you know that.”

“Now, quit worryin’,” Hap replied. “We’ll do it together. It will be a duet.”

W
hen the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620, Europeans already dwelled in the northern New Mexico town of La Villa Real
de Santa Fe. In fact, Santa Fe was the region’s second capital. Don Juan de Oñate brought his caballeros to the confluence
of the Rio Chama and the Rio Grande on July 11, 1598. There he founded the settlement of San Gabriel de los Españoles that
overlooked what was then called Rio del Norte.

There are times when, indeed, the river looks
grande
… huge. Other times its most important attribute is the direction of its source… in the mountains to the north. Hap figured
it was one of those times.

He chewed on a tough breakfast burrito, but kept a hand on the steering wheel. The windows rolled up, his black cowboy hat
pushed back, the sleeves on his black shirt rolled halfway to the elbow, his left foot tapped away in time with a phantom
tune that floated across the background of his mind. They crossed the border into New Mexico at Anthony. He glanced at the
1–10 freeway sign. “As I was sayin’, it was a very emotional experience for me.”

Laramie tried to sip on the minimart cup of coffee that was a tad too hot to hold, let alone drink. He brushed breakfast biscuit
crumbs off his chin. “Hap, this highway is full of people going through the same thing every day. It’s no big deal.”

“I know, I know. I can’t count how many times I’ve done it before. But this one was different. Couldn’t you tell?”

Laramie repositioned himself in the cab of the truck. “I’ll have to be honest. It was pretty much the same as before.”

Hap jammed the rest of the burrito in his mouth and felt the hot sauce squirt between his cheek and gum. “You’re wrong there,
partner. I could feel it in my bones at the very second that I did it. Something in my body, soul, and spirit wanted to shout,
‘Yes!’”

Laramie dug in the white paper sack and yanked out a couple of napkins. He shoved them at Hap. “You make it sound like a religious
experience.”

Hap wiped his chin, then picked at his teeth with his fingernail. “Maybe it was.”

“Hap, I’m glad you’re feeling good. I’m happy you’re headed in the right direction. But to tell you the truth, I don’t feel
any different than I did before.”

“It don’t matter how you feel. I’m not leavin’ you behind. You’ve been my partner for over ten years. We’ve spent day and
night together for months on end. You just hold on. Don’t lose sight of where I am and I’ll take you with me, O ye of little
faith.”