Chapter Eight
Matt was about a quarter of a mile from the house on the ranch road when he topped a little rise and spotted the strange pickup sitting in the yard. As soon as he dropped off the rise, he stopped the car and sat there thinking. In a short time he started out again, slowly so as not to raise dust. About a hundred yards along the road was an arroyo. When it rained up in the hills this arroyo would contain a raging current of water, mud and debris that would pick up and carry with it anything it encountered along its way. Three quarters of a mile more of twists and turns and it would dump its sweepings into the Pecos. The river’s usual green hue and lazy current would become a muddy boiling cauldron. However, right now, the arroyo was dry and the flat bed made it almost as good as the ranch road that is except for the rocks and washouts. Matt would have been a lot happier with his old four-wheel drive pickup or even the tractor.
He pulled the Toyota into the arroyo. Driving very slow to avoid raising dust and to avoid the deep ruts and rocks scattered along the bottom of the arroyo. Matt followed it around to where it passed behind the barn. When he had the barn between him and the house, he got out, closed the door as quiet as possible and carefully crawled up the steep clay bank. Just as he reached flat land, Toby came around the barn, happy to see him and barking a greeting. Matt grabbed him, got him quiet and headed for the barn holding on to his collar.
“What was that?”
“How am I supposed to know? Sounds like Toby found a jackrabbit.
Matt peeked around the corner of the house just as someone stepped out on the porch carrying a rifle and looked around the yard. Matt ducked back behind the barn and said, “Shit!” under his breath. It was obvious that someone had found out about the ball and was there to get it. He waited a bit and then took another peek. Whoever it was had gone back inside. There was a service door on the other side of the barn that couldn’t be seen from the house. Matt went around the barn, opened the door and put Toby inside. He admonished him to be quiet and closed the door.
Matt carefully looked around the corner of the barn. He thought if the gunman’s not in the living room I might be in trouble. He took a breath and sprinted for the back porch. He didn’t bother with stealth since there was no cover between the barn and the house. He just concentrated on speed. When he got to the porch he waited a moment, not hearing anything he sat down on steps and took off his boots. He crept up the steps and looked through the window of the kitchen door. There was no one in sight so he carefully opened the screen door. It squeaked slightly causing Matt to hold his breath. When nothing happened, he turned the doorknob and pushed the inner door open. Once inside he let the screen close softly, but didn’t bother closing the inside door. He could hear angry voices coming from the living room as he crossed the kitchen. He stopped by the living room door and peeked into the room. The gunman wasn’t looking his way but he was all the way across the room by the front door. There was no way he could get anywhere near him before being seen. He had to get him to come in the kitchen.
Matt flattened himself against the wall by the door, picked up a glass from the counter and threw it across the room into the sink. It had the desired effect. The gunman came through the door rifle first. When the rifle came through the door, Matt grabbed it with both hands and yanked as hard as he could. The result was that the rife went off sending a bullet through the wall of the kitchen next to the back door. Sean flew across the room legs wind milling, trying to catch his balance and slammed head first into the opposite wall. Sean sprawled on the floor with blood running from his nose and dripping off his chin. While Sean was trying to get his bearings, Matt turned the rifle around and pointed it at him. Sean struggled to his feet and glared at Matt. In addition to a bloody nose, he had two-inch gash in his forehead where he had made contact with the wainscoting on the kitchen wall. As he stood glaring at Matt and trying to stop the blood from running in his eyes, Matt realized that he was dealing with a young boy.
Matt looked at Etty and John, they both started talking at the same time. Matt said, “Just a minute! Etty what’s going on?”
“I think we better go in and sit down. This is going to take awhile.”
“Fine, John there’s a ball of twine in that cupboard over the kitchen sink. Get it and tie this idiots hands behind his back. Make sure it’s tight.”
Matt went outside, retrieved his boots and then made sure John did a good job of tying Sean. When they finished that, they all went back in the living room. Matt tied Sean to a kitchen chair and Etty started explaining what happened. Sean started to say something but Matt told him that if he knew what was good for him he would keep his mouth shut. Sean took one look at him and decided he might be right.
When Etty was done she said, “I can’t believe this. I’ve known this boy most of his life. If you hadn’t got here I don’t know what he’d have done.”
Matt looked at John and said, “I’m deeply disappointed in you John. I thought you had more sense.”
John looked at his feet and said nothing. Matt said, “John let’s you and me go get Toby out of the barn and go for a ride. Etty, if you feel like it you can wipe the blood off that jerk and bandage his forehead, but only if you feel like it.”
Toby bounded out of the barn and followed Matt and John toward the arroyo.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
When they got to the arroyo, Matt told John how had seen the truck and followed the arroyo here. They all got in the car and started up the arroyo Matt explained, “We’ll have to go till we find a spot wide enough to turn around.”
On the way to getting this done Matt explained to John the predicament he had them in.
“We have to leave here, very soon and we can’t ever come back. There’s no way to keep Sean from talking short of killing him and I don’t quite have the stomach for that.”
“What about your ranch?”
“The ranch is gone. There’s nothing I can do about that.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You’re not half as sorry as I am. But it’s done and no way to change it.”
Matt knew he would have lost the ranch regardless. This had only sped things up a little, but he wasn’t about to let John in on that. He figured if he let John stew over his folly, that he might be a little more cautious in the future.
On the way back to the ranch, John explained the situation with Sean. He told Matt about the riding accident and how Sean felt responsible.
“Matt if we have to leave here anyway couldn’t we use the ball to help Molly before we go.”
Matt said, “John if we just turn Sean loose and disappear it’s just a mystery, a mystery that will eventually be forgotten. The reason it will be forgotten is that very few people, if any will believe him. If we heal his sister people just might believe him, especially with his sister to back him up. The ones that do believe him may come looking for us and they may not be as inept as your friend. You saw what happened when you told Sean and he’s you’re best friend. There are some very wealthy people in the world that would spend every penny they have to get their hands on this thing. It is very seldom that people manage to disappear for any length of time if someone with resources really wants to find them, but we are going to have to try.”
By the time they got back to the house John was feeling bluer than blue. He felt like sitting down and bawling. He felt that he had let his best friend down; he had lost Matt his ranch and forced his mother into exile. He went inside and straight to his room. Matt went to Sean’s pickup and looked inside. The keys were there. Matt started it up and drove out to the barn. He backed Etty’s car out, put Sean’s pickup in and put Etty’s car in behind it.
When Matt got back inside, Etty was fixing supper. It was very quiet at the supper table that night and after dinner, Matt went out to sit on the porch. When he finally came in, Etty said, “I’m afraid that John’s in your bed, but I’m willing to share.” She looked at him shyly and said, “I really don’t want to be alone.”
Matt pulled Sean up out of the kitchen chair. He asked him if he needed to use the bathroom and he said he did. Matt untied him and told him to use the bathroom but to hurry it up. When he got out Matt took him to the living room. He retied his hands put him on the couch and tied his legs. He told him he was a light sleeper and went to the bathroom himself.
When he walked in the bedroom, Etty was lying on the bed with a sheet up to her chin. The sheet was old, and thin from numerous washings over many years. It not only molded itself to her body but also was transparent enough that Matt could see the darkness of the mound at the base of her stomach. It was obvious that she was aroused by the way her erect nipples pressed against the fabric of the sheet. Matt walked around to her side of the bed and stood for a moment looking down at her. He then reached down and pulled back the sheet. She didn’t object. While Matt was trying to get his shirt unbuttoned, Etty sat up and unbuckled his belt, unzipped his jeans and pulled both his jeans and his jockeys down at the same time. She watched his erection leap free and while matt was trying to get his pants the rest of the way off she leaned over and took him in her mouth. Matt let out a groan, tripped over his tangled pants and fell on top of her.
They were finally tired enough to go to sleep around three in the morning.
Matt awoke an hour later than normal and only then because Etty was cradling his testicles in her hand while kissing the head of his very hard erection. It started all over.