If Roque had seen you, what would he have done to you? Ritz whispered.
The boy last night hadnt fit with the facts that went with him. Roque was Benny Blackstones oldest son, the bad son everybody said Benny didnt like too much. Hed flunked school last year. His mother was a Mexican, a real Mexican, who lived down in Mexico. She was a Spanish teacher and Bennys second ex-wife. She didnt let Roque come to Texas much. Only sometimes in the summer. His father only invited Roque because Caleb loved him so much.
Roque was supposed to be sulky and hateful whenever he did come. His own father hated him. Everybody said it was because hed nearly gotten Caleb killed that first visit when he raced with the bulls.
Caleb, the younger, golden brother, was everybodys favorite, especially his fathers. Calebs mother had been Bennys favorite wife, too.
Roque was bad with girls. So bad he got sent home early last summer for something he did with Natasha Thomas in the back seat of her car. Natasha was four years older than he was, and she worked in a bar. Worseshe was Chainsaw Hernandezs girl. Chainsaw was in prison on a drug charge.
Remember Natasha? Ritz added, her stomach quivering as she remembered that wild, haunting Spanish music and Roques deliberately provocative, sensual dance. Hed known she was there and had tried to lure her into the amber glow of firelight. What do you think Roque wouldve done to youif hed seen you?
Jet smiled so eagerly Ritz wanted to strike her. Hes so huge.
Well, itit must be awfully heavy. How does he stuff it into his jeans? How does he even walk?
If you go see, youll know for yourself how he stuffs it in, now wont you? But dont let him catch you, or he might stuff
Ritz cupped her fingers over her mouth. Youre lying. Hes not anywhere near that big. Youre just boy crazy.
You will be, too, when you grow up.
If you only knew
Jet was fifteen. She had curly black hair, blue eyes, and creamy pale skin. Maybe she wasnt boy crazy. Maybe it was like Jet saidboys were just crazy about her.
Who could blame them? She had flair and an exciting personality.
A flair for trouble, Mother said.
Ritz felt a fresh surge of jealousy along with a secret wish to be just like her friend.
Jet was developed. She had big breasts and a tiny waist and looked way better than any of those skinny models in the magazines. All the other girls at school were still as flat as pancakeslike Ritz. Most of them wore braces, same as Ritz, too. And glasses. Ritz hated her awful wirerimmed glasses.
Guess what else? Jet whispered. Yesterday I stole his clothes! I watched him run home naked, too!
It was still early June. Even so, the afternoon was swelteringly hot. Both girls were so sweaty, they smelled worse than Buttercup.
Id rather see Roque Blackstone naked than see that old captured puma, Jet said.
That was saying a lot, but Ritz understood. Still, the cat in its chain-link cage under the live oak tree behind the courthouse had really been something. Maybe not worth plodding twelve endless miles in pea soup humidity under a hot sun. Maybe not worth getting yourself burned purple so your nose would peel off and Mother would get really mad and tell Daddybut mighty exciting, nevertheless.
The cat had tricked Ritz into coming up real close. Its eyes had been slitted as if he were dozing. When Ritz had crept too near his chain-link cage, Jet had poked him with a stick. Hed lunged so hard hed flipped his cage over on top of Ritz. Shed screamed and hed snarled and yowled.
Ritz had clutched her silver St. Jude medal and yelped out a quick prayer. Sheriff Johnson had dropped his half-eaten doughnut in the scuffle to pull her away before the cat could claw her. But she wasnt ever going to forget those pointy gold ears pricking forward after he settled down on his haunches or those big beady eyes tracking her and staring straight through her.
Does he eat people? Jet had wanted to know.
Jet wasnt usually as interested in the natural world as Ritz, but the cat had been impressive, even to Jet.
Only skinny little girlslike your four-eyed friend hereor a fat, lazy horse, or a brat fool enough to poke him with a stick. The sheriffs laughter boomed when Buttercup whinnied. Ritz gulped the last of her cola and hid behind Jet.
Sheriff Johnson was a stocky man with heavy jowls and a permanently red, large, pie-flat face. Mother said he could mess up a uniform faster than any law officer shed ever seen but he shared his doughnuts. Once hed let Ritz wear his badge for a whole day.
Suddenly Johnson said, Dont you worry none. He only eats little girlsonly when he cant get a deer.
Jet heaved a deep, relieved sigh, for the ranch was well stocked with deer. But Ritz had felt sorry for the deer.
So, whats he doing here? Jet had asked. Howd you catch him?
Johnson had shoved his Stetson back and mopped his red brow. There were dark sweat stains under his sleeves. If its hot here, its hell down in Mexico. Those damn Mexicans have been burning off their crops down in the Yucatán, and the fires got out of control, so now all the animals are on the move. Pumas follow the rivers, you know.
What about creeks? Ritz asked in a trembling tone, pushing her glasses up her perspiring purple nose.
Keller Creek traced a meandering, north-south path through the Triple K when there was water in it.
Same thing as a river. Cats come out when the suns going down. They crouch low in tall grasses to stalk their prey.
Do they really eat horses?
Sure they do. He leaned down so his jowly face and bulging brown eyes were level with theirs. Cats are killers. They eat anything that moves. Theyll jump you from a tree. Had a horse a cougar jumped once. No man ever spread his legs across that mares back again.
Static buzzed on his walkie-talkie. Grabbing it, he barked, You girls better get. Youve got that long ride and Ive got work to do. Cattle rustlers. You be careful going home, you hear? Dont you get yourselves gobbled up by a cat, you hear!
Ritz had been watching the sun sink ever lower, wiping the sweat off her lenses, and on the lookout for cats ever since. Every time Buttercup pricked her ears back or snorted, Ritz imagined pointy ears in the high brown grasses. Every time they passed a hole animals had dug to burrow under Benny Blackstones high electric game fence, she wondered if a puma could slink under it.
The caged puma and the cool safety of the air-conditioned courthouse were nearly six miles behind them now. So were the frosty colas out of the courthouse soda pop machine. If Ritz didnt get a drink real soon, her tongue was going to swell and her throat was going to close.
It was really, really hot, hotter than it usually was even in the dead of summer. The grasses that had been fresh and green and sweet smelling in May were already seared brown around the edges. The last of the red and yellow wildflowers were wilted and dusty, and the air smelled a little smoky.
Ritz squinted up at the cloudless sky. A blindingly bright sun broiled them from above while the black asphalt steamed them from below. Their sleeveless, cotton blouses and cutoffs were so wet; they stuck to their bodies like glue. On Jet, the effect was so sexy, the sheriffs young deputy had eagerly rushed off to buy her a cola. Ritz had thrust out her flat chest and stared at him hopefully, but in the end shed had to dig in her pockets and plunk in her own quarters.
Ritzs sunburn made her feel feverish. Her temple throbbed. She was almost glad Jet had mentioned Roque. At least, thinking about his thingy had distracted her from being so scared of cats.
He mustve been something running home naked.
Roque was so dark and handsome and fierce. Even before shed snuck up on him last night, she hadnt been able to keep her eyes off him. Not that she got to see him much. There was the dumb old feud. He was a Blackstone, and she was a Keller. Their families avoided each other.
Last summer though, shed seen him once at the hardware store in town buying fencing. Shed stared at him, and hed taken off his aviator glasses and stared back so intently, shed grabbed a pair of pliers as if she was interested in them. Only she hadnt been able to pretend. It was like he smelled her fascination. That single glance before he shoved his glasses back in place had set her heart racing.
It had been weird, the way she hadnt even looked at those pliers. Just at him. Her hands had begun to shake, and shed dropped the pliers with a clatter. Hed dashed over, as silently as a cat, and shed stared at his weird silver-toed boots.
Then Daddy had yelled at her and shed run. Roque had laughed and thrown the pliers into the pile of stuff the Blackstones were buying.
His father beats him, Jet said out of the blue.
How come? Ritz asked, remembering the way Roque had swayed, bronzed and shirtless, before the fire.
Hes crazy. First time he came, the cowboys were working cattle, and he jumped in the pens with the bulls. He set off a string of firecrackers and nearly got himself trampled. Then Caleb jumped in, too. Only he fell. Even though Roque dived under a bull to save him, his daddy beat Roque and wouldve killed him if Pablo hadnt stopped him. Hes got scarseverywhere.
Ritz shivered, remembering the purple marks on his back. Just thinking about Roque getting beatings after saving his brother made Ritz feel sorry for him.
To their right, on Keller land, a patch of dense brush was thick with mesquite and live oak. Ahead, she could see their tall white, ranch house with its welcoming shady verandas shimmering in the heat waves. Soon they would be past the Blackstone gate and on their own private road.
On the left, a caliche road meandered from the Blackstone gate across open pasture vanishing into the distant trees.
Ritz shuddered. The gate gave her nightmares. Used to, it had never been locked. Used to, Blackstone Ranch had made up two divisions of the Triple K. Used to, Uncle Buster had been alive and married to Aunt Pam, and Ritzs cousins, Kate and Carol had lived there.
Benny Blackstone had married Aunt Pam just a month after Uncle Buster had died. Bad things had happened behind the gate ever since.
When the gate rattled, Buttercups forelegs skewered to the right.
Its just a silly old gate, girl, Ritz said even as she grabbed the mares neck and clung.
In Ritzs nightmares the ten-foot high electric fence that separated the Triple K and Blackstone Ranch had been cut, and the gate was swinging back and forth. Always she was running down the caliche road to find her cousins. Always, she ended up in Campo Santo, the ancient Keller cemetery, standing over two open graves.
Sometimes shed wake up screaming. Then shed remember Kate and Carol lived up in San Antonio now with Grandma Keller because Benny Blackstone didnt want them. He only wanted Aunt Pam, who was beautiful and famous. He only wanted his own boys, even Roque, the bad one he beat.
All of a sudden the lopsided shadow of the Blackstones massive gate slanted across the road, swallowing them whole as it did in her nightmare.
Ritz made a strangling sound. Clutching the reins and knotting fingers into Buttercups mane, she urged the mare faster.
Wings whooshed above them. Jet clenched Ritzs waist tighter and then pointed toward the gate. Whats that?
Shadows of black wings swept low along the grassy shoulder beside the game fence.
Buttercup pinned her ears back and jerked her head.
Easy. Easy, Ritz said as the big black bird made a crash landing on a thick gray stone post.
Its just a buzzard. Thats all, she said to Jet.
Not that dirty old buzzard, silly! Jet pointed at a bit of gold glitter beside the fence post. That! It looks likealock.
Then the wind played in the tops of oaks and rustled the brown grasses so that the bit of gold vanished.
Jet was about to jump down and run see what it was, when another wild gust of wind swung the gate away from the posts.
Why, its open, Ritz breathed.
Like in my nightmares.
The metal gate banged back into the loose chain hanging down from a stone pillar with a thud that made the chain rattle and the buzzard take off.
Not one for loud sounds, Buttercup snorted and shot forward. When she started bucking, the girls tumbled backward onto sizzling asphalt.
Jet screeched and sprang to her feet. Ritz, watch out!
Dark forelegs crashed dangerously near Ritzs head. Then the gate swung eerily and Buttercup wheeled away.
Ritz clapped her hands to get Buttercups attention before the gate slammed and really spooked her.
Come here, girl.
Buttercups nose was in the air, and her staring eyes that were ringed with black, rolled. Then the mare bolted straight for the gate. Dark mane flying, tail arched high and snapping like a flag, she went off at an angle. She was through the gate, galloping down the caliche road, stirring up puffs of white dust as she dashed toward the woods that concealed the pond and the forbidden Blackstone Ranch Headquarters.
Well never get her back now, Ritz said gloomily after she disappeared into the trees.
Oh, yes, you will.
Me?
You want to get the ranches back together, dont you? Hey! She glanced at her wristwatch. Its five oclock. Your horse just ran straight for the pond where Roque skinny-dips.
Ritz felt a pang of pure misery mix with wild fear as she watched the dust settle on the caliche road while Jet knelt down to search for the bit of gold shed seen. Ritzs gaze wandered from the road back to the ugly yellow signs Benny Blackstones cowboys had posted on his game fence.
Every time her daddy drove by them, the yellow signs made him madder than spit. He said they mocked him and herand everything Keller.
No trespassing.
Posted.
Keep Out.
Jet jumped up from the ground, dusting off an open, bronze, hasp lock. Its the lock! And a key, too! We can ride inside nowanytime we want to.
I dont want to. Not ever. Daddy would
Daddy doesnt have to know. What are you so afraid of anyway? Jet said. You used to get to play there, didnt you?
Every Sunday, Ritz admitted.
After church with your rich cousins.
Carol and Kate. We fished for guppies.
Right before Daddy and I moved here, Jet added, that odd, jealous note creeping into her voice.
Theyre not rich anymore, though, Ritz said softly, to mollify her.
Jet shrugged. I used to be rich, too. Daddy was famous
She was always bragging like that. Maybe because like a lot of people, she felt put down by the Keller name and ranch.
You told me. Lots of times.
We lived in a great big housebigger and newer than yours.