Chapter 20 On to Houston
Musical theme: Barracuda by Heart
She got on the highway. There was no shortage of bleak winter landscape.
“You still need to watch for ice. Be wary. It will make you tired sooner, so expect to have me drive pretty soon.” He lay down in the sleeper.
“I’m not a real trucker, because I have my trainer with me.”
“You’re pretty new. But even so, there would be no point in you going out with the truck without me when all we want is to be together.”
“Is that all we want?”
“Well, most of what I want, anyway.”
“It’s all I want, Dave. I like having the money to buy groceries. But I need my mathematician.”
“You will always have your mathematician.”
She took an exit and stopped off the pavement of the on ramp. She came back and jumped on Dave, and burrowed in. “I’d better. Because I need him so much.” She held him with all her strength.
“Your mathematician needs you, too.”
“You could live without me.”
He put his shoes on, and got in the driver’s seat. “I might be able to exist without you.” He put the truck on the highway, rolling his hand around the gearshift.
“You don’t need to show off your shifting.”
“I didn’t mean to. Just fiddling with the gearshift.”
“And why are you doing that?”
“Nervous. Worrying about you.”
“It’s me who should worry.”
“How have you determined that?”
“It’s pretty obvious.”
“You’re acting upset, so I’m worried. I think that was what set me off, anyway. Since I only notice the esoteric, and never the obvious, why should you worry, and not me.?”
She went into the sleeper, and came back out a minute later. She was wearing a lavender knit body stocking, a white satin skirt and vest, and white suede boots. She had her hair under a white satin scarf except at the back, where it went to a pony tail. She got in the passenger seat and buckled up.
“Wow.”
“You have full poking privileges, as you know. This has a way to unbutton it at a strategic point, so I can have my way with you on short notice.”
“Something might happen.”
“It might.”
“You’re done with the worrying issue?”
“I am. When a Princess declares a subject closed, that’s it. I’m sure you know where it says that.”
“I’m pretty sure it says that somewhere.”
She kissed him on the cheek. “You’re very reasonable, which is great because it means I can be twice as unreasonable. I’m sure you know where it says that.”
“There is a kind of zero sum on unreasonableness, and you’re keeping it all on your side of the equation?”
“Right.”
“So you’re in a good mood?”
“I’m in a great mood.” She loosened her belt and put her head on his lap.
“Don’t hold onto my hand, in case I need to grab the wheel or the shifter.”
“OK, if that means I’m getting some attention.”
“It does.” He stroked her hair, and her cheek and neck, and down to the neckline.
“Can I move your hand if I don’t hold it too tight, in case you need to do something fast?”
“Yeah.”
She unbuttoned her vest, and put his hand on her breast. She pushed against the door with her feet to get further over. She put her hands on top of his, gently. “Do you like them?”
“You know I do.”
“Are they the best you’ve ever seen?”
“Close.”
“That’s better than if you said ‘yes’ because I know they can’t be. But you’re being honest, and that is a real compliment.”
“I don’t see why you should be the least bit insecure about your looks. You’re real cute, and it seems to me you just keep getting cuter.”
“You just say that because you love me.”
“I may think that because I love you, but I say it because it’s what I think.”
“I’m really lucky to have this. All I do is walk and stuff, and not eat too much, and I’m cute.”
“You’re lucky, but you work to keep things up.”
“I don’t have to exercise much.”
“You work to keep the ranch up. Money has not spoiled you. I’m sure you will keep up with your exercise, and you’ll look great when you are 60.”
“I’m going to look as good as I can as long as I have my mathematician.”
“And whoever comes after him. I’m older than you, and I’m a man. Someday, I will be gone. You will still be a wonderful woman, and I want you to find someone else then.”
“Don’t say that! Don’t ever say that! I am not going to have to go on without you. I don’t want to hear it.” She put her hands over her ears.
He stroked her hair, but she pushed his hand away.
They made the turn at Billings, and headed south on I-90 to I-25 headed for Denver. Dave pulled into a truck stop a way down from Billings. They went in. She took Dave’s hand and stayed very close. “Promise me that you will always be there.”
“I..”
“Just tell me that, all right?”
“I will always be there.”
They went into the truck stop, and peed, and got a big cup of coffee. Dave went to the KFC in the truck stop and bought some chicken. If you have a refrigerator and microwave in the truck, chicken is a pretty good thing to have. They sat down and ate some of it. “If we had a cat, I’d save these bones. Did you know most cats can eat a chicken leg bone?”
“I wish we had a cat, Dave.”
The waitress stopped. “We have a cat who needs a home. She belonged to a trucker who got sick, and left her with us. But he died. Now poor Tabs has nobody.”
“Can we meet her?”
“Sure.” She took them back to the manager’s office. The manager, Ed, pointed to the corner of the office, where a tortoiseshell tabby sat in a basket, curled up. “I’m not supposed to have animals here because we serve food. But she’s a great cat, so until she finds a truck, she stays.”
“She has to have a truck?”
“She’s an over the road cat. She goes to the door and wants out to do her business, and then she runs back so the truck stop won’t leave without her.”
“We would like to have her,” she said, taking Tabs out of the basket. She held Tabs against her, and Tabs purred in her ear.
“We have a truck. The Princess Baby Doll.”
“Oh, the Volvo with the Sterling car hauler.”
“That’s us.”
“Nice looking rig. I like the artwork, too, but it really doesn’t do you justice.”
Dave could feel her basking. “Ed, do you know a vet we could have implant a microchip and tattoo her ear in case she gets lost?”
Ed picked up the phone and speed dialed. “Rick, can you do a microchip on a cat and tattoo her ear so if she gets lost? $120. Truckers might want to see you in a few minutes.”
“He can, and he can do it now.”
“We’re on the way. Where is he?”
Ed hit the computer, and gave them a Map quest sheet showing the way to the vet’s clinic. Dave took it, and Jainie took Tabs, put her in the basket, and took the basket by the handle. Tabs curled up. They went out to the Baby and got in, Dave taking the wheel, and Jainie taking Tabs to the sleeper and fussing over her.
They found the clinic easily, and the vet, Dr. Haswell, implanted the chip, and tattooed the ear. Tabs was very compliant and calm. Dr. Haswell put the ranch phone number on, and the Texas number, as well as their cells, and the phone at Marcie’s. “they will be less prominent when the swelling goes down and the hair grows back, but people will be able to see them. There is a GPS locator coming out that I can put under her skin. It will work for at least 6 years. It might be kind of spendy, like $300, but it would make it possible to find her anywhere on the planet. With a handheld locator, you could find her from a mile or two.”
“We might want one. We’ll think about it. Uh, $120 seems kind of light for what you have done for us.” He laid $300 on the table, and picked up the basket, which already had Tabs in it.
“Thanks, Dave.”
They went out to the truck, and Dave put Tabs’ basket into the sleeper, and took the wheel. He took off down the road to the highway. “We, I don’t think, want a locator in our cat.”
“No.”
“If it was a secure system, it would be great to have.”
“A cat locator made for spies.”
“You could put one in a trained shrew, have it sneak into the opposition’s headquarters.”
“GUS will probably like that idea when they get around to listening to the tapes.”
“It probably will.”
“We have a great cat.” She said.
“I forgot to ask about booster shots.”
“He did them.”
“You asked.”
“No, but I saw him do it. I know what they look like. I’m a rancher, you know.”
“Just at a glance?”
“How long would it take you to recognize the equation for a line integral?”
“Not long.”
“The labels on veterinary medicines are not made to be hard to recognize.”
“I guess not.”
“You guess right.”
“We’ll be in Sheridan pretty soon.” He said.
“They will thank us not to stop, uh?”
“I think.”
“Well, let’s just roll on through, then.”
“There is a truck stop about 20 miles south that is kind of neat. It’s Ron’s.”
“How do you know truck stops in my backyard that I do not? Oh. Right.”
The Bighorn Mountains were far off to their right, snow covered. The ground rose and fell here, but not much.
“Wyoming is a lot prettier than North Dakota.”
“It is.”
He looked out at the mountains in the distance. “Just looking at them makes you want to climb them.”
“You and Hillary. Not me.”
He looked at them again.
“Switch seats. You can look at the mountains and I’ll drive to Ron’s.”
He put the cruise on, and she put her hand on the wheel. He slid out under her, and she hopped into the driver’s seat, leaving it on cruise. Dave looked at the mountains.
“I don’t stare at them, I just blow the fucking things up.”
They laughed. “These are real pretty, though.”
“They are. But of course that’s why I have the prettiest ranch in North America.”
“What was the name before it was the Princess Baby Doll?”
“The double D lazy K bar V double W rocking R, since you asked.”
“A lot of ranches with that kind of name. I guess the respectable people of Wyoming don’t much care for ‘Princess Baby Doll’.”
“You guessed right. In the churches, I’m probably being called a godless brazen hussy.”
“You disagree?”
“No. Whatever they say. If He is all knowing, God has my phone number. I’m sure he could afford to call. If I’m doing something seriously wrong, I’ll understand and repent, and stop doing it. Unless loving you is wrong, in which case He can fuck off.”
“I imagine a lot of people think you’re cool.”
“I suppose, yeah.”
“Probably the worst thing in the establishment’s eyes is paying the hands too much. When they find out you’re sending them to college and buying the laptop computers, that will really light them up.”
“The sheriff likes me.”
“What did you do for him?”
“He probably would like that. Nothing much. The county cut funds for repairs once, and he didn’t have enough cars. I told him I would as soon have his deputies beat the shit out of some of my pickups as the boys doing it.”
“Did he use them?”
“Oh, yeah. I might still have one with the hole the police radio was in. And they did beat them up, too. But I don’t mind. They pay these guys not very much at all, and they have to cover all these square miles of snow covered land day and night, and meet all the lousy people in the state. Of course, sometimes they do bad things, and I’m not for that, but overall, they are heroes.”
“You said once you didn’t like cops.”
“I will thank you to forget that night up until the ambush, of which I am not ashamed. I don’t like cops in principle. But the actual deputies, I like them all right, and I like our sheriff, because he is an honest guy who tries to do the right thing.”
Dave was looking at the mountains. “There is something about them that makes you want to do something, but I don’t know what it is.”
“Sir Edmond and Tensing Norgay knew what they thought it was.”
“You don’t think they did?”
“Idiotic nobility. They didn’t conquer a mountain. I did.”
“When you see a mountain, should you want to get up on top of it or blow it up?”
“You should just see a mountain.” She backed off. “I see ice.” She lost as much speed as she could, and then went power neutral through the glittering mess. She came out onto good road, but still let her speed fall, and downshifted. “Southwest shade from that hill.”
“I should have seen it.”
“I was driving.”
“You drove it well.”
“But I should have seen it sooner.”
“We’re never good enough.”
“Is it far to Ron’s?”
“No.”
“Do they have showers?”
“Yes.”
* * *
They parked at Ron’s in the fuel aisle. Jillian went in, wearing overalls and a duster, and Dave fueled the truck. She came out and went to the sleeper to dress. Dave parked the truck. Jillian sat in the passenger seat, looking a thousand yards away. He went in and took a shower, and came back out and got dressed again.
“Do you want to go in and eat?”
“Yes. Just waiting for you.” She was wearing black boots with gold buckles, linen pants stuffed into them, and a fuzzy sweater. Over it all was a long faux leopard coat that came to her knees. They went inside. He held her hand. As they came in, he heard someone say ‘Trophy wife’. Jillian heard it too, and gripped his hand a little tighter, and pulled him on into the diner. A waitress seated them in a booth by the wall, Dave looking out. Nobody was looking at them.
They ordered the buffet, and got up and got some food. The chicken looked pretty good. Dave made a salad, and Jillian did, too. He got some French fries and put cheese sauce on them. They went back to the table, and ate their salads. They ate chicken and such. They went back and got dessert. After that, they walked around the store. It was an old wood frame building that had been remodeled to death. Small rooms had been converted to retail. You could step into an alcove and look at used books, clothing, or handcrafts. There were quilts hanging on the walls. Rough wood shelves held tumbled stones and pottery. There was a handmade sweater made of unbleached wool. A close look told Dave it was hand spun yarn.
“Try this on, Jillian.”
She took off the coat. She faced the wall. She put the sweater on. It fit perfectly. She took it off, and put her coat back on.
“Why are you carrying?”
“I felt threatened. I went out and got it while you were in the bathroom. I have a Wyoming carry permit, and we are in Wyoming.”
“You want the sweater?”
“Yes. Someone went to a lot of work to make it. I’ll pay $300.”
“Keep your Smith in the holster?”
“Unless.”
“Let’s look at the rest of the store.”
They wandered around the store, going up and down little stairways that accommodated the grade that would have been expensive to change when it was built. She found a nice silk scarf that complimented her hair. They looked at some shirts, but nothing looked like it belonged on Dave, who had enough shirts anyway. They looked over some lathe work.
“Can you make a pipe like this, Dave?”
“Not fast enough for it to pay.”
“These bowls are neat.”
“You could make them like that, but it is a lot of work, and in the end, you only have a bowl that you can’t get wet.”
“The beads are neat.”
“You can make some when we get to Texas.”
They went into another room, and looked at hand blown glass.
Dave pointed out a horned toad. “Texas guy here.”
“Look at his birds.”
“Good work. But what can you do with it but dust it?”
“There is that.”
“These bowls would be good if you did fancy parties and all.”
“They’re very pretty.”
“We could put one in the ranch house for pistachio nuts. Maybe another for the hulls.”
“I usually eat them on the porch and throw the hulls on the ground.”
They went into a room full of quilts. “I don’t hardly see the point of these. I would like to have one of those bulky down comforters for the real cold weather, but these are a lot like an ordinary blanket, but so hard to make.”
“Not this. She pulled out an extra large down comforter. It was about two feet larger than king sized. On the bottom it was thick wool fleece. On top, it was heavy linen with embroidery all over it. A small woman with black hair cut much shorter than Dave would have advised came over.
“I’m Margie. Can I put this comforter over the things over there, and get you a good look at it?”
“I would like that.”
Margie gave Dave a little look. She put the comforter over the stuff on the shelves. It looked much better spread out. “She wants $1200 for it. I know that is a lot, but she spent almost two years making it.”
“She is local?”
“Oh, just a mile down the road.”
“Call her, ask her to come down and see what kind of deal we can do.”
“Sure.”
She left, and came right back. “She is coming.”
A few minutes later, a small woman in her 40’s came up to them. “I’m Elaine, the seller.”
“Will you take a thousand for the comforter?”
Elaine looked down. “Yes.”
“Margie, ring that up, and the sweater here.”
“Dave, do we have 30 bills?”
Dave counted out 30 $100 bills. He handed them to Elaine. “This is a tip.”
“I can’t take that.”
Dave took the money back. “Let me show you how it’s done.” He folded the bills, and then pushed them into her pocket.
“Do you have a business card, Elaine?”
“No.”
“Did you make that sweater?”
“Uh huh.”
“I want one like it. But much larger, of course. Does the store have a measuring tape?”
Elaine tried to open her purse with shaking hands. “I do.”
“I’m not a gangster, Elaine. We run the Princess Baby Doll ranch.”
Elaine took out her tape. She measured Dave carefully. Dave held his hand down below the inseam of his overalls, and she measured the length to there.
“I want it real thick, this same hand spun wool.”
“OK”
“And I won’t go a dime over a thousand dollars for it.”
“I don’t usually…”
“Get paid what your work is worth. Ship it when it’s done, we will send a check by return mail.”
He pulled out his cell, and advised Kevin on the deal, to send a check right away if the sweater came when he was gone.
They started out to the truck, and they heard “Trophy wife” again.
Jainie turned and identified the speaker. “We’ve heard enough. Unless you want to fuck with a marine.”
“Oh, so he’s a marine, huh?”
“No, I am. Captain Candice Allison USMC. Are you looking for trouble?”
He looked at her eyes. “No, ma’am.”
She turned and went out the door. “Come on, Paul. Don’t do that.”
Dave followed her out. He looked back, but the guy was going the other way.
They went to the truck, threw the comforter into the sleeper, and Jainie got behind the wheel. She put the sweater into the sleeper. She drove out of the truck stop and got on the highway. She put the .44 and holster under her seat.
“I would say it was well acted, except you really wanted to kill that guy.”
“Get some sleep, Dave.”
He got in the sleeper, and folded up the comforter, putting it behind the driver’s seat. He took his shoes off, and put them on the floor. He put the belt restraints on the sleeper, and lay down. He fell asleep with Tabs lying beside him.
“Dave, wake up.”
“Huh?”
“We’re at a truck stop.”
He put his shoes on. He opened the door to the truck, and got out. Tabs got out, went under the truck to do her business, then came out, and went back to her basket. Jainie came out, wearing black boots, black stretch pants, and a white satin blouse with a little black leather vest, and her new scarf on her head.
Dave put his arm around her. “I thought so.”
“We’re still in Wyoming, and I have a carry permit for Colorado, too.”
“That vest doesn’t hide it very well.”
“Maybe I should get an automatic. What’s the best .45?”
“Well, the 1911 Colt Officer’s model would be a classic choice. Glock probably the best for the money. Kimber makes some nice ones. Ruger is good but bulky. Sig is probably the best, but overpriced. But I would go with .40 S&W. More power in a slightly smaller round. Sig would be my first choice.”
She took out her phone and speed dialed her gun dealer in Wyoming. “Danny, I want you to order me in a Sig in .40 S&W. Oh, stainless would be good.” She turned to Dave. “You want one?”
He shrugged.
“Danny, we want two. I’m not sure when I will be in to pick them up, but I will pay now if you like.” She read off a credit card number. “See ya when I see ya if you don’t see me first. Bye.”
“You thought I had a gun, but you don’t know what it is.”
She winked. “A 4” Smith L frame round butt, Hogue grip. Stainless. Probably chambered for .44 mag.”
“Well, I guess you do know what it is.”
“Let’s go get something to eat.”
She looked at the clear sky. “Is it safe to load all six?”
“Yeah. The old single action Colts, the hammer could be hit, and discharge the revolver. Not true of modern revolvers. The latchwork of a Smith will not permit the hammer to go down without the trigger being pulled.”
“Is that so for the other brands?”
“Well, Ruger has a big piece of steel that gets in the way. Colts, I think it is in the latchwork. Rossi is a Smith knockoff. Dan Wesson, of course is fine. If there are revolvers being sold today that don’t protect against that, they are cheap crap you would never buy anyway.”
They went into the truck stop. They got seats at the drivers’ table. They ordered cheeseburgers. At the end of the table, an old guy was talking about the merits of different types of tire chains. Dave knew it was a chance to learn something, but he didn’t feel like tire chains right now, and he was out of the ice heading south anyway.
A lady on the other side of the table looked at Jainie. “Traveling with your man?”
Dave answered stiffly. “She has a Class A CDL too.”
“When my husband was alive, we drove team. One truck payment, and two incomes. It works out pretty well. Now, though, I’m lonely on the road, but what else can I do?”
“Maybe you could get a cat. We just got given one from a truck stop. Tabs. She lives in a basket.”
“I remember Tabs. A tortoiseshell tabby? Belonged to Eric Anderson?”
“I think that was the name.”
Their burgers came, with