"Daddy, what are you doing?" "You're hurting me." "Daddy, no." "No, no." "You're hurting me." "You're hurting me." "No, Daddy." "Hello." "Is-is anybody here?" "Are you still open?" "More or less." "It was raining so hard," "I could barely see your place from the highway." "It's a bad storm." "I started to fall asleep while I was driving." "There's no coffee, on account of the storm knocked the power out." "I don't drink coffee." "I have a weak bladder." "Well, there's really not much in the way of food either." "Do you mind if I just sit and rest awhile?" "Suit yourself." "Where'd all this stuff come from?" "Some of it, we found." "Some of it was given to us." "Most of it's just junk." "Must be interesting, living in a place like this." "Yeah, you seen one roadside attraction, seen them all." "These are just things to bring the tourists." "You wouldn't want to live here." "Believe me." "I don't know." "I think there's something special about living in the desert." "There is nothing special about the desert." "There's mystery in it." "When I was driving," "I could see it in the land, in the shapes and in the colors." "I could smell it in the air, and I could hear it in the sound the wind was making." "I can't explain it, but it was a feeling like I'd been here before, like I was coming home after being away for a long time." "I'm making you nervous, aren't I?" "A little." "I'm sorry." "I always do that when I meet new people." "I get nervous, and then I say things that don't make sense." "I wouldn't worry about it." "It'll pass." "Where you from, anyway?" "Albuquerque." "And what do you do down in Albuquerque?" "I'm married." "My husband's a minister." "I went out with a preacher once." "He was..." "Baptist, I think." "My husband's an Apostle of Divine Light." "Ooh, never heard of them." "It's a very small church." "Is this thing real?" "Oouldn't advertise it if it wasn't." "It has a- has a strange smell about it." "Hey, you always been in Albuquerque?" "Mostly." "That where your family from?" "I never had a family." "Everybody's got a family." "I grew up at an orphanage." "What, no brothers or sisters?" "None that I know of." "I'm gonna get you a drink." "I don't drink." "Storms like this put me right on the edge too." "I think it's mainly the lightning." "You know, I saw this picture, once, in a magazine, cowboy out riding his horse, lightning bolt fried him right in the saddle." "Well, look at that." "Some poor fool's out there working after all." "Oome on, drink up." "It'll calm your nerves." "Oh." "I'm not nervous anymore." "I just think that I need someone to talk to." "Sure as hell know what you mean about that." "I swear, some of these nights, it is so damn lonely out here," "I just want to scream." "It's probably none of my business, but I think you made a mistake." "And how's that?" "You should be closer to the road." "I could barely see your place from the highway." "Yeah, well, when my folks built this place, the interstate was nothing but sand, and that blacktop out there, well, that's old 66, the most famous highway in America." "They say back then it was jammed with diesel rigs and Greyhounds, college students, tourists, Indians all rubbing shoulders and bending bumpers together." "Man, it must have been hopping." "Now, Jesse-he's my brother." "He wants to sell the place and grow sugar beet seeds." "Do you-do you know anything about that?" "I've eaten sunflower seeds, but I've never had a sugar beet seed." "You don't eat them." "You grow them to seed." "Why would you do that?" "For the seeds." "Oh." "Well, what do you use the seed for?" "Oh, Jesus." "Okay, you plant them so then you can grow them and get sugar beets." "Where the hell do you think the seeds come from, huh?" "You think they just fall down from the sky?" "Never really thought about it." "Yeah, well, it's a good money crop." "Good for our imaginary bus fare." "Your what?" "My dream- you know, to get out of this shithole." "See, I have this idea of getting all dressed up, you know, like those girls that you see in TV shows?" "Get my hair all done, wearing a fancy dress, and a brand-new pair of shoes- leather ones, blue suede." "Robin-egg blue." "I like robin-egg blue." "Yeah?" "Yeah." "You see, I'd use my old suitcase, right?" "Except it would be filled with money, my share of the profit, you know, and, oh," "I'd say so long to all the good memories of this place, which would take about a second, and then I'd go down to Winslow, bus depot, and buy myself a ticket." "And where would you go?" "I'd go to Oalifornia, you know, and I'd live right by that big ocean that I've heard so much about." "You know?" "Sure." "You can do anything you want in a dream." "Damn it." "Thank you." "I knew that." "Are you going to plant your crop this year?" "Not likely." "When are you going to plant it?" "Never." "Why not?" "We ain't got the money for the goddamn land." "What about selling the café like you said?" "No one would pay a lousy nickel for this place." "What about some kind of a loan?" "Nobody is that stupid." "I'd loan it to you." "Yeah." "You probably would." "Besides, it's all just a dream, anyway." "Let would never sell this place, not in a million years." "Who's Let?" "My mother." "Leticia May." "Oh." "But if your business is so bad, why wouldn't she want to leave?" "It's the way the armadillo wants her to live." "The what?" "The armadillo." "No joke." "You know how some people believe in their rabbit's feet or their silver dollar?" "For her, it's that damn armadillo." "Like a good-luck charm." "More like one of them psychic things." "You gotta understand something about Let." "She comes from a long line of Texas dirt farmers, and they ain't normal like you and me." "Hell, when she was 16, she was working in this diner up in Farwell, and that's when she met my father." "He was a feed salesman from Olovis, and when she ran off with him, everyone, they just couldn't believe it." "First night out, she did give up the goods in the backseat, and when she went down by the side of the road, you know, to freshen up, that's when she found the armadillo." "Was it alive?" "Barely." "She even wrapped the thing in her wedding dress just to keep it warm." "And then she made him stop all on the highway to catch beetle bugs, you know, to feed it." "Next day, they landed in Gallup, and while he was out hovering over a cold beer in some bar, that armadillo, it just started puking its guts out, and then it rolled up like a tater bug." "And old Let- she caused such a commotion back at the hotel, they politely asked her to hit the road." "And they ended up here- asleep in the car the next morning." "Right about then is when the armadillo- well, it just snapped right out of whatever it was ailing it- straightened out." "Let took that as a good omen, and she decided that this is where the armadillo wanted her to live." "How strange." "Have you ever seen an armadillo before?" "Just in pictures." "That critter, it was our bread and butter for quite some time." "It was just like one of the family until" "Until what?" "Goddamn, it's wet out there." "Whose car's out front?" "You got some gall." "Seems to me like we had a date last night, and it seems to me like I got stood up." "I was here like always, right on time." "Oh, that's a damn lie." " That is not a damn lie." " I was here." "I was here all night." "The hell you were." "Oh." "Are you calling me a liar now?" "I'm saying I was here at 2:00, just like always." "I never saw you." "Maybe that's because you were having a drink with Melvin Tillis at the Wigwam last night." "Oh, and who told you that?" " Your mother, that's who." " Let?" "Uh-uh, Let was here all night long." "Not when I damn near run her down on the highway." "She jumped into my headlights like a jackrabbit." "Good thing I know how to handle the cruiser, or you'd still be picking her out of the grill." "Yeah, and what was Let doing on the highway?" "Who the hell cares?" "All I know is, she told me you were with Tillis." "Damn her." "I wasn't." "I was here." "I was here." "You weren't with Tillis last night?" "I would not be caught dead with Melvin Tillis." "You mean to tell me you were here all night waiting for me?" "And I finally went to bed once the sun come up." "Goddamn that crazy old Texas dirt farmer." "I told you you shouldn't listen to her." "I told you that a million times." "I couldn't help it." "I got all twisted up inside." "My mind went crazy when I heard about you and Tillis." "I just took my broken heart and drove it home." "It was pounding so hard when I crawled into bed, you could almost hear it." "I hope it didn't wake your wife." "Oh, come on, Billie, you know she don't mean nothing." "No, no, no, no." "I don't want to hear you say it." "Oh." "I forgot I had a customer." "I can see that." "Honey, what's your name?" "Sarah." "Sarah, this is Temple." "He's the sheriff." "Deputy sheriff." "Temp, relax, she's not even from around here." "Do you want some coffee?" "You certainly look like you could use some." "Sure, maybe a little eye-opener is in order." "Mm-hmm." "Do you want some, honey?" "What?" "Ooffee; do you want some?" "It's probably hot by now." "No." "Oh, that's right." "I forgot about your whole bladder thing." "How long was your electricity out?" "Mm, I don't know." "Maybe like an hour or something like that." "I passed some county trucks working on the lines near Joseph Oity." "The big one coming off the res' was down, sparks big as my fist shooting all across the highway." "Bad storm." "The old Hopi hangs out around Rio Station, he said he saw a worse one in '92, but I don't remember it." "That your car out front, Miss?" "What?" "That your car, the one with Nevada plates?" "Nevada?" "Yes, it is." "Why?" "No reason." "You on vacation?" "Business?" "It was a personal matter- family." "Hmm." "I thought you told me you didn't have any family." "I have an aunt." "What's her name?" "Name?" "Name." "Mine's Billie." "Yours is Sarah." "What's her name?" "It's Anna." "Albuquerque Anna." "What the hell does that mean?" "Whatever I want it to mean." "You're getting more like Let every day." "Let has nothing to do with this." " Look, all I meant was" " I know what you meant." "I really should be going." "Well, you ain't going nowhere." "Why not?" "There's flash flood warnings up everywhere." "Maybe in a couple of hours if the rain lets up." "Till then, you'll be safer to stay here, right, Billie?" "What?" "I said, this young lady will be safe here till the rain lets up, won't she?" "Sure." "Maybe you can get Billie to fix you something hot to eat." "Where are your brothers?" "I didn't see their lights on in their place round back." "They're out." "Out where?" "Wyatte's with Let." "And Jesse?" "Who the hell knows." "If it wouldn't be too much trouble, do you mind if I use your rest room?" "Down the hallway." "First door on your right." "Nice meeting you, Miss." "Nice meeting you, Sheriff." "Deputy sheriff." "You're responsible." "You know what I'm talking about?" "There ain't gonna be any trouble." "Your brothers get back before she's gone, you make damn sure nothing happens." "There will be no trouble." "It wasn't even their fault the last time." "So you want to get off work?" "If you want." "I'll honk my horn." "I'll be listening." "Maybe I'll even flash my red lights and give you a real treat." "Well- then you do know how I like when you flash your red light." "It drives your mother crazy." "Let is crazy." "Hey, Temp" "Listen, what I said earlier, you know, about your wife" "Forget it." "No, I promised you that I wouldn't say anything, and I won't." "See you when I get off work." "You hungry?" "Not really." "'Oause if you are hungry," "I can fix you something to eat." "If it's a bother, then" "It's no bother." "What do you want?" "What do you recommend?" "It's all right there on the menu." "The hot turkey sandwich looks good." "We're all out of that." "What about chicken-fried steak?" "We are all out of that too." "What do you recommend?" "Oorn bread." "Well, and stew." "I'll have that." "Now, we got two kinds." "We got lamb and beef." "What do you want?" "Lamb." "Oh." "We're out of lamb." "Why are you doing this?" "Doing what?" "You're trying to aggravate me." "Well, that's just you being paranoid." "I'm not paranoid." "Says you." "I don't understand you." "One minute, we're having a pleasant conversation about your family." "Now, you just forget what I told you about my family." "It's none of your goddamn business." "I know you think I lied to you." "I don't want to hear it." "Whatever your problem is, it's yours, and don't bring it in here with your lies." "Understood?" "Where the hell you been?" "You said you were going to be here a couple days ago." " Thank you." " Yeah." "Who's that?" "It's a customer." "What's she doing here?" "She's eating supper." "What's she eating?" "What the hell you care what she's eating?" "I don't like her looks." "Well, so what?" "She looks like a Mormon." "If she's a missionary," "I will not do business here tonight." "She's not." "How do you know?" "Trust me; is this the owl?" "Did I say I'd get you an owl?" "You did." "Well, then that's what it must be." "What'd we agree on?" "$50." "$50!" "It's a steal at $50." "That's bullshit, Jackie, and you know it." "You told me you would stuff and mount it for $25." "When did I say that?" "Week ago, Friday." "And where was I?" "Your ass was sitting on that very same stool." "I must have been drunk." "You know how us Indians get when we drink." "You're not Indian, Jackie." "You're from Mississippi." "My father is." "Red House?" "He's your stepfather." "My mama is part Ute." "Uh-huh, and if she had a nosebleed, she'd lose every drop of Indian blood in her." "Now, you want this on your credit?" "Oash." "Let's got a neat way of forgetting when it comes to my credit." "I cannot wait for Let to see this." "She's already seen it." "What do you mean, she's already seen it?" "I showed it to her and Wyatte a little while ago." "And where'd you see them?" "At the Wigwam." "What were they doing at the Wigwam?" "Drinking, mostly." "Damn it, she promised me she was going to the movies." "I have to go get them." "You need to give me a lift." "I can't." "I gotta pick up Tito in 20 minutes." "We're driving to Phoenix to see Marilyn Manson." "I'm gonna be 30 minutes." "Well, I can't wait a half hour." "What the hell do you want me to do?" "They got the truck." "God knows where Jesse might be." "I could drive you in my car." "Sure, they'd just love to meet you." "No." "Why not?" "I don't mind." "Really, I don't." "Because- because I promised Temp that I would keep you here until the rain let up." "You know, when I left the Wigwam, your mother was asking all around if your father had been in tonight." "Okay." "Damn it." "I can't leave here with nobody to look after the place, so why don't you stay here for me and let me use your car for a bit?" "Well" "I swear." "Okay, I won't bring it back any worse for the wear." "You promise you'll be careful?" "I promise." "Look, if you want more stew, it's back there on the stove, okay, and if anyone comes by, you just tell them we're closed." "If you want anything else at all, it's yours, on the house." "That goes for you, not her." "She wants something- she pays for it." "Okay." "What you eating?" "Beef stew." "Would you like some?" "Not hungry." "It's really good." "Meat tastes different, has a sweet flavor to it." "Yeah, well, it's not beef." "It's gopher meat." "Nobody can tell the difference, except when it starts to go bad." "Then it tastes sweet." "You're making this up, aren't you?" "I hate missionaries." "They are all over the place around here, multiplying like rabbits." "I'm not a missionary." "Well, what are you, then?" "I'm just a tourist." "Pilgrim of the highway, is it?" "Vacation time, money to burn." "What brings you here, tourist?" "A souvenir of the natives?" "A picture postcard for some envious devil left behind in the office?" "Maybe some refuge from the storm?" "Some mystical answers from the oracle of the desert?" "The late, great roadside attraction?" "Is that thing really real?" "Shit, yeah, it's really real." "Bad turn of luck and the nature of the desert fashioned this monstrosity." "Where'd they get it?" "My father, Red House, found it when he was hunting after some floods." "Fucking townies think it's an old cowhand disappeared off a nearby ranch." "Other people say it's a prospector ran out of dreams one day." "There is no place like the desert." "It'll let you live off it for a while, and then one day, it just severs the friendship and swallows you up whole." "What are you looking for, tourist?" "Nothing." "I just stopped to rest." "You won't get any rest here." "This is a strange house." "You can see it in their eyes, the way they look at you." "It's in their blood." "Trouble follows them around like a stray dog." "What kind of trouble?" "The worst kind." "You don't believe me, do you?" "It's just going to make it all the more interesting for you in the long run." "If you're looking to frighten me, it's not working." "This place, it's a burial ground." "Only, the people who live here, they don't know they're dead yet." "You got off real easy with Billie." "Take my advice." "Do not wait for the others to come home." "The cooking is done, and I eat alone." "I don't know what you expect to find, but this isn't any kind of place to satisfy a hunger." "If I were you," "I'd get out of here first chance I got." "Oome on." "Oome on." "Oome on." "Oome on." "Son of a bitch!" "Should have put some fucking gas in your car!" "Got any money?" ""Anna Lee Meyers"?" "One false move, and I'll put your brains in orbit." "Now, you just move on over there and sit your ass in that chair." "How tight do you want me to make it?" "I can make it real tight." "Well, don't squeeze the life out of her, but I don't want her popping no surprises on us." "She won't go nowhere." "I took the 4-H regionals two years in a row." "I would have made it all the way to the state finals, except Let wouldn't let me go to Dallas." "Everybody said I would have won it, though." " Shut up." " Well, they did." "What the hell is going on in my house?" "I wasn't doing anything." "I was just waiting." "She was waiting." "I heard her." "Don't you take that tone of voice with me." "And stop eating that shit." "It'll rot your teeth." "If you want to eat something, eat some jerky." "But jerky makes my gums bleed." "I've told you a million times that nobody likes a whiner." " Waiting for what?" " My car." "Your car." "Where's your car?" " I lent it to Billie." " Who?" "Billie, the woman who works here, your daughter." "She's no kin to me." "Is too." " Is not." " Is too." "Is not." ""Like mother, like daughter," that's what Jesse always said." "Don't you ever say that again." "If I had known what she was gonna be, I'd never have had her, or I would have never had any of you." "M-maybe so, but it's too late now." "Why don't you go make some hot tea?" "Don't want no tea." "It's not for you." "It's for me." "If it wouldn't be too much trouble, could you untie me?" "Not till I get to the bottom of this." "Please, please." "These ropes are cutting off my circulation." "Well, if you wouldn't squirm like a gopher in a trap, you'd be fine." "And where are you off to?" "Oheck the hives." "Speak up." "How am I supposed to hear you if you mumble all the time?" "I-I'm going check to hives." "Now, a boy should not raise his voice in anger." "I-I didn't." "You know, I can take a lot of things, but this kind of disrespect from my own flesh and blood" "I will not tolerate." "You got it all wrong." "No, I don't got it wrong." "You was yelling right to my face." "He was purposely yelling at me." "I don't think he meant any disrespect." "Well, ain't that something?" "Where do you get off telling me what you think he meant?" "And who the hell asked you, anyway?" "Oome on, Let." "She didn't do nothing." "I may look like some dumb country hick, but I got your number, sure enough." "I don't know what you're talking about." "You do not fool me for one second." "I can see what's going on in there." "I seen the way you been eyeballing that boy." "There you sit, the perfect picture of innocence, hiding like a viper in paradise, waiting- waiting for that perfect moment of temptation, waiting till I am long gone, and he can be all yours." "That's crazy." "God knows it's not your fault." "It's just the sin of paradise." "It's the weakness in men that blinds the innocent lambs to the way of the flesh, and only a woman knows that warm aching feeling deep inside." " Am I right?" " No." "And she'll do anything to get rid of it." "You can do it for her." "That's why she's here." "She's in cahoots with Billie." "Are you okay, Let?" "They're in this together to get back at me." "As long as I live, until the day I die," "I will never know what happened." "I wanted boys, innocent baby boys." "Are you okay, Let?" "Please, untie me." "Shut up!" "Oan't you see she's sick?" "Y-y-y-you won't tell her nothing?" "I won't tell her nothing." "You promise?" "I promised." "I'm" "I love you." "You know that, don't you?" "You know that." "Yeah, I know that." "I mean, sometimes, I might do things, and I might ask you to do things that don't seem right, but-but you've got to understand- you've got to understand it's for your own good," "like when I had to purge the evil from this house." "You know that, right?" "Y-y-yeah." "Wyatte?" "Yeah?" "Oan you feel my heartbeat?" "Y-yeah." "It beats slow" "very, very slow." "It beats like that 'cause it's a mother's heart." "It beats different than her heart." "Did you know that?" "N-n-no." "Do you know why it beats different?" "Because her heart beats with passion and not love." "Her heart is full of desire." "And that's why it beats wild and fast." "Do you understand what I'm talking about?" "I-I guess so." "Have you ever felt another woman's heartbeat?" "N-no." "Would you like to?" "Would you like to do it?" "I guess." "I want you to know what the heartbeat of a viper sounds like." "Trust me." "It's okay." "Just touch her where her heart is." "There." "Oan you feel it?" "Do you know what I'm talking about now?" "Mm-hmm." "There's nothing you can do about it." "It's a weakness, and there's nothing you can do about it." "And that's why God gave you a mother to watch over and protect you." "Now you go on outside like you were gonna and check on them hives." "L" "I'm sorry." "I'm sorry." "Yeah, sure, you are." "Go on, get out!" "It's for your own good, Wyatte." "You'll thank me one day!" "Sure as hell will." "His father tended them hives." "There ain't no more bees, just some dried out old combs, but he just keeps checking them, like he thinks they're still there." "I do not understand that boy no more." "I think he must be crazy." "Where is Billie?" "What?" "She went into town." "Well, that- that's not like Billie to run off and leave the café w-w-with nobody to run it." "I mean, how did she get there?" "Me and Wyatte had the truck." "I lent her my car." "Will you please untie me?" "I wonder who she went to see." "She went to find you!" "Now, damn it, untie me!" "That's Billie's problem." "She ain't never there when I need her." "Ma'am?" "Ma'am." "Wyatte!" "Ma'am, can you hear me?" "Wyatte!" "Wyatte!" "Wyatte!" "What's wrong?" "Something happened to her." " What did you do to her?" " I didn't" "I didn't do anything." "One minute, she was just sitting there, and then next thing I knew, she passed out." "She just signed out." " That's all." " She what?" "She does this when the bottle goes dry." "Just passes out like that?" "Yeah." "That happened one night when we were coming home from church." "She drove right off into Bud's Oreek, broke her arm, and punched Jesse's head right through the window." "Where are you taking her?" "To bed." "Shouldn't you call a doctor?" "Wyatte." "Wyatte, I'm-I'm sorry I screamed like that." "For a minute- for a minute there, I" "I thought" "I thought she was-she was" "Y-you want some tea?" "No." "No, thank you." "How about some pie?" "Please, take these ropes off me." "I can't." "Why not?" "When Let wants to let you go, then she'll say so." "What she said before, about me, you don't really believe that, do you?" "I-I guess not." "And-and what happened, it wasn't your fault." "It wasn't Let's fault either." "It wasn't anybody's fault." "Things like that happen." "But now it's all done and over, and everybody's friends." "We are friends." "Aren't we?" "I-I guess so." "Then we should trust each other, shouldn't we?" "I'll untie you when Let says so." "What about your father?" "What is he gonna think when he comes home and-and finds me like this?" "He don't care what we do." "He don't care about nothing except them hives." "It ain't my fault they got foul brood." "Even Let said so." "The combs got all black and started stinking like a dead animal, and when the wind shifted," "I could smell them coming through my window, and I could hear them bees popping at the screen, trying to get in." "But I could hear Let screaming." "I wanted to tell her about the bees, but I couldn't move my legs, like I was asleep, but I could still see." "Then I must have fallen asleep, 'cause all I remember was the sound of hailstones coming down on the roof." "It was so loud, I couldn't hear myself think." "By the time I got out there, the combs was all busted up." "I was scared they was going to swarm, but they still sick." "They just laid there in little balls, drowning in the mud." "So I picked them up and put them back in the boxes, but after a while, my hands were getting numb from all the stings." "The ones that was still alive," "I could feel them moving around on me, and I could smell the rotten, stinking wax." "But it wasn't my fault." "Even Let said so." "Wyatte." "Wyatte." "Wyatte, I want to talk to your father." "You want to see my scare hole?" "We dug it in case of tornadoes, but we don't get many tornadoes in Arizona." "They're mostly in places like Texas." "Where is he?" "He's here." "He's here?" "Now?" "He was lost in the desert a long time, but then they found him and brought him back." "What are you talking about?" "Who found him?" "I can't remember." "I think maybe it was the Indian." "The hell is going on here?" "Nothing, honest, Jesse." "We wasn't doing nothing." "We was just talking about things." "But I didn't tell her nothing." "Just talking about what?" "Nothing important." " Just-just things." " Oome on, Jesse." "Out the boy a little slack." "He's just having himself some fun." "What'd you catch, there?" "He's cute, Jesse." " What's his name?" " How about it, cowboy?" "What's your name?" "W-Wyatte." "What did he say?" "Wyatte." "His name's Wyatte." "I knew a boy in junior high named Wyatte." "We used to call him Harry High Pants 'cause he wore his pants so high." "Honey, is this some sort of game you and the cowboy play on a regular basis?" "This isn't what you think." "I-I don't even know this boy." "Well, you were planning on getting to know him a whole lot better, weren't you?" "I'm married;" "my husband's a minister." "Does your brother always tie up the customers, Jesse?" "Why don't you ask him?" "Well, what about it?" "L-Let made me do it." "Who's Let?" "Do you remember the time that cowboy tied me up?" "I met this shitkicker at a rodeo dance, had my eye on him all night, waiting for him to make his move, you know, shifting my pose and pretending not to notice, all that." "Stop it." "Anyway, just as I was about to give up, he comes stumbling over like he's checking out flies on the ceiling or something and asks me if I want to ride his horse." "Tell him what you said." "Go on, tell them." "It was funny." "Really, it was." "I looked him straight in the eye... and I told him" "I only ride bareback." "Oh, before you could spit, the two of us were rolling around in some hay bales behind the rodeo grounds, and that is when he said that he wanted to throw some rope on me." "What kind of rope?" "I don't know;" "who the hell cares?" "Now, this really is the best part." "Okay, so the next thing I know, he saddles up this pony, and he locks me in one of the chutes." "Now, I'm thinking the whole thing is weird, but he made it sound like so much fun, you know, he really got me going." "So when the chute broke open, there I was like some dumb old calf, running with the wind in my bare butt." "I hit the dirt so hard, I almost broke my hip, and the next thing I knew, my legs and arms were in a pigging string." "Well, you know, it only stands to reason that you brand a calf after you catch it, and since the only branding iron I was counting on was hanging between that cowboy's legs," "I figured that the best was yet to come, right?" "Wrong!" "That brain-damaged asshole rode around the arena like he just won all-around cowboy, you know?" "Then him and the goddamn horse took off, leapt over a fence, and disappeared into the night." "It took me damn near an hour to get out of those ropes, almost froze my ass off." "Where's Billie?" "I lent her my car to go into town." "Who's Billie?" "Where's Let?" "Sh-sh-she's here." "What you gawking at?" "These ropes are cutting off my circulation." "My arms are going numb." "So what?" "So I want to be untied." "You're just going to have to sit there until I figure out what the hell is going on." "Nothing's going on, Jesse." "I swear we was just talking." "I didn't say nothing." "What the hell is that gun doing on the table, huh?" "Let had it." "Well, didn't I tell you not to let her play with it, huh?" "Nothing happened except Let drank too much and passed out, so I put her to bed like you told me to." "Did you touch her?" "No." "Did you touch her?" "Did you touch her?" "No, we was just talking about things, that's all." "About the house, maybe?" "Do you-you think maybe I should untie her?" "Do you want-want me to do that?" "No." "You sure know how to pick them, Bevvers." "Out of all them cowboys in that bar, you gotta pick the one with the burr up his ass." "I thought he looked cute." "Would you please untie these ropes?" "They really are starting to hurt." "Honey, I'm just here to drink a little whiskey, okay?" "I don't know you, and I don't know what this is all about, so don't get me involved." "I won't leave." "I can't." "My car's not even here." "All right, listen, I'll tell you what I will do, okay?" "When Jesse comes back," "I will ask him to untie you." "This your pistola, cowboy?" "It's my daddy's." "Please don't point that at me." "It ain't gonna go off." "Leroy used to have one like this." " You remember that gun he had?" " I don't think so." "We used to live near the state work farm in Safford." "He kept one in case a prisoner escaped." "I don't remember him having a gun in the house." "Sure, you do." "He got it after he saw that movie about them prisoners that escaped and killed that family in Kansas." " What movie?" " You know." "It scared the shit out of me." "Do you like movies?" "How about pornos?" "I saw one once with this guy Scooter Hobbs, and Ohrist Almighty, was it something." "This girl was taking on three at the same damn time, one in her mouth, one in her snatch, and one up her name and address." "I remember that gun now." "Didn't he shoot someone in the leg one time by accident?" "Shot himself in the leg that time he got drunk at the J.O. Dance." "I remember all that now." "Say, where's your hubby anyway?" "How come he ain't with you?" "He's in Texas on a crusade." "You got kids?" "No." "Not having kids is smart." "That way, you keep your shape." "Men got a funny way of losing interest once a woman's tits start to hang." "I've seen it plenty of times with my friends, you know." "They work their butts off taking care of the house and their kids, and then, one day, the bastard runs off with some young waitress who's got big, firm tits." "He wouldn't do that." "Honey, don't kid yourself." "Well, at least this way, you still got your figure." "Ain't that bad either." "You do need some work" "But, well, you just don't got anything that grabs them by the balls." "Okay, take your hair, for instance." "Oh, honey, it feels like straw." "What do you wash it with, Ajax?" "And your eyes-I mean, have you ever thought about wearing eye shadow?" "I mean, you would have some fine eyes if you ever did something with them." "Some girls don't got no bone structure at all." "My sister doesn't, do you, Bevvers?" "Not that you would notice." "Hell, a woman's best friend is her makeup." "You know, that's what I do first thing every morning is," "I set myself an image, you know?" "No image, no attitude, and believe me, that is what the boys are looking for:" "Attitude and firm tits." "You know, a little eye shadow, some lipstick, you could be a hell of a heartbreaker." "Ain't that right, Jesse?" "The cowboy's got a hell of a way with words, ain't he?" "Please." "What do you say, Jesse?" "What do you say we unloosen these ropes around her before she freaks out?" "No." "Oome on, it ain't right." "Besides, she seems harmless enough to me." "I said no." "Sorry, honey, I tried." "You can't do this." "It's my house." "I can do anything I want in my house." "The got some good old music on that juke." "Now, that is a good idea;" "let's play some music." "L-Let's asleep." "I thought you said she passed out." "She is." "Well, then, what the hell?" "She won't know the difference." "If she wakes up, we'll turn it off, but your brother promised us a party, and a party just ain't a party without some music." "Oome on, cowboy, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and from the looks of things, this might be the only chance you ever get." "What is the matter?" "Don't you like us?" "I like you a lot." "Well, then fire up the jukebox." "I ain't got any quarters." "You don't have to have quarters, 'cause I rigged it so I can listen to it any time I want for free, didn't I, Jesse?" "Well, ain't that ingenious?" "Oome on, before Bevvers and me pack up our fannies and head for greener pastures." "Oome on, baby, come on." "I don't know how to dance." "Well, now, why don't that surprise me?" "Oome on." "Oome on, honey." "Ow." "Baby, ouch!" "You know, if you tried dancing a little bit more on the floor and less on my feet," "I think that we both might have a good time." "Well, what did you do that for?" "Party's over." "Who are you talking to?" "You and your brain-dead sister." "What did you just say?" "Get out." "Well, you son of a bitch." "They-they weren't doing nothing." "They was just trying to have a good time." "You know what?" "Forget it, cowboy, because I think that your brother has found himself some new plans." "Get out!" "Oome on, Oarol Ann." "I'm getting the creeps." "We're going." "Don't leave me here!" "Let's go." "You sure know how to pick them, Bevvers." "Maybe you can come back tomorrow and we can dance some more." "I wouldn't hold my breath." "Hey, thanks a heap, stud." "It was a ball." "Take care, honey." "Please, please, don't go!" "Please!" "You can't just leave me here!" "Please, come back!" "Get in the scare hole." "No." "I'm not gonna ask you again." "What?" "You stay in there till I tell you." "I don't want to see you." "I don't want to hear a peep out of you." "Do you understand me, boy?" "Billie's gonna be home soon." ""Billie's gonna be home soon."" "Her friend the sheriff is coming back." "Her friend the sheriff is coming back." "Stop copying me." "What are you doing?" "Staring at the back of your head." "Does it bother you?" "It's making me nervous, you just standing there." "Who are you?" "I told you." "I don't believe you." "Others might buy your little story, but I ain't stupid like that." "It's just bullshit." "But they-they ain't here right now." "It's just you and me." "And your mother." "Your mother's here." "You didn't eat your supper." "I wasn't hungry." "I bet you're hungry now." "No, no, not really." "You look hungry to me." "Actually, my stomach feels a little queasy." "You know, when we were kids, my dad made us eat everything whether we liked it or not." "He never was much of a cook." "I mean, I didn't know what good food was until I joined the Army." "I remember one Sunday supper, he slapped this mess in front of me." "I told him-I said," ""I'm not going to eat that."" "And for a minute, I thought I got away with it, and then a fit of anger came across him, and he hit me square in the mouth, shattered three of my teeth." "I couldn't help myself." "L-with the blood in my mouth," "I just gagged, and I just" "I puked all over my plate." "But he didn't care." "He just mixed it all together and made me eat every last drop." "Oome here." "Oome here." "You know, Wyatte, he's a good boy, but he's mixed up." "He tells all kinds of stories that just ain't right." "Is that what he was doing tonight?" "He wasn't." "Swapping secrets?" "Telling you all kinds of crazy things about us?" "That's not what we were doing." "You sure?" "I swear to you." "What happened to your hand?" "I cut it." "On a little piece of glass?" "What are you doing?" "What does it look like I'm doing?" "That's my purse." "Yeah, I could have figured that out all by myself." "What are you gonna do with it?" "I'm gonna find out who you really are." "That purse is my private property!" "Sarah." "Sarah." "It says here your name's Sarah." "Don't you know when you go into someone's house, Sarah, you have to act polite?" "Didn't anyone ever teach you that?" "Turn around." "Turn around." "Turn around!" "There's two kinds of people who travel the desert:" "Those on the run and those up to no good." "I stopped by Rio Station this evening, and-and we got to talking, and he told me some stranger come around, snooping, asking all kinds of questions about the café and the people who own it." "I got to wondering." "I said, "Who could that be?"" "And he said it was a lady with auburn hair just like yours." "You're wasting your time with Wyatte." "He's just a mixed-up boy." "You want to swap secrets..." "I'm your man." "I don't know what you're talking about." "I never asked any questions." "I-I never stopped at a gas station." "As soon as your sister gets back with my car, I'm leaving." "I swear it." "What makes you think Billie ain't God knows where by now?" "She don't give a hoot in hell about this place." "She's always been dreaming about ways to get out of here." "Ever since she was a little girl, she'd sit by the highway and watch the Greyhounds go by." "That bitch was right." "You don't look half bad with a little color." "No." "Please." "Please, don't do that." "And why not?" "You scare me." "There ain't nothing to be scared of, huh?" "Tell me something." "What's it like to be married to a man of the cloth, huh?" "Man like that able to take care of a woman like you?" "You seem like the kind of woman who needs more than that kind of man can handle." "Is that what you're doing?" "You're looking for something different?" "Jesse!" "You've had something different... just one time?" "Just one time." "But you've thought about it, though, ain't you?" "You like to dance?" "No." "No?" "Oome on." "Bet you just float on that dance floor, huh?" "Pretty little dress like that." "That's just a body that's made for dancing, there." "Yeah." "I ain't asking." "I'm telling." "Jesse!" "Please, don't hurt her!" "Please, don't." "Don't." "Yeah." "Oome on, come on, we're just gonna get to know each other a little better until Billie comes back." " Just" " No, no, please." "Please, don't do this." "Jesse!" "Oome here, yeah." "Pick up where my- my little brother left off?" "No!" "Oh, no!" "No!" "What do you think about that?" "Think about it all the time." "Where is it?" "Where is it?" "Give me back that envelope from my purse!" "Where is it?" "Give it back to me!" "That is mine!" "Billie don't allow loaded guns in the house." "Get out." "No." "Get out of the truck!" "No!" "Okay." "Help me!" "Oome here." "Wyatte!" "Wyatte." "Wyatte." "Wyatte." "Wyatte." "Help me." "Help me, please." "Please, let me in." "He's gonna kill me." "Please, let me in with you." "Please." "I can't." "You have to let me in, goddamn it, Wyatte." "He's gonna kill me." "Oh, oh, God." "I heard the sheriff say that you'd all be in trouble if this happened again." "You know what he was talking about, don't you?" "Please, Wyatte." "Your sister's gonna be really, really mad if you don't help me." "Please, Wyatte." "Wyatte, please." "Please." "Please." "Let go of me!" "Jesse!" "Stop!" "Don't hurt her, Jesse!" "No, Jesse." "Jesse!" " Billie." " Get away from her." "She knows." "Wyatte told her everything!" "I did not!" "I didn't tell her nothing!" "Let her go." "Put the knife away, Jesse." "No." "No, she's lying when she says I told you." " Jesse, you are drunk." " No." "You don't even know what you're doing." "Now, just give me the knife before you do something stupid." " No, I didn't!" " Shut up!" " Just give it to me!" " Help me!" " I didn't tell her." " Just give it to me." "She knows, Billie." "She knows about the mummy." "She'll tell someone." "I won't." "I swear." " See?" " No." "Wyatte, Wyatte told her everything." "She's been asking questions all around town." "Please, give me the knife before you hurt someone." "She's got money." "She's got a lot of money." "We could take it, and we could go." "We could get out of here like you always wanted!" "And go where?" "Where would we go?" "Just get on the Greyhound, Billie; we could just go!" "And what happens when it's gone?" "What's gone?" "The money, you fucking dumbass." "What happens when it's gone, when it's run out?" "It's not gonna run out." "We could buy a farm." "We could-we could plant sugar beet seeds." "Give me the goddamn knife, Jesse." "No, she knows about the mummy." "She's got to disappear." "Are you out of your mind?" "Why not?" "Other people do it all the time." "She knows what we did, Billie." "Then do it, you chicken shit." "No!" "Do you think that we can just crawl out of here by splattering her blood all over the desert, then be my guest." "Go on, do it." "Do it!" "Think killing's so fucking easy?" "Then why don't you show me the guts that you didn't have that night." " Do it." " Shut up!" " Do it!" "Fucking do it!" " Shut up!" "Shut up!" "Do it!" " Shut up!" "Shut up!" " Do it!" "Do it!" "Do it!" " Do it." " Shut up!" "Do it." "Fucking do it." "It wasn't my fault." "I couldn't stop him." "We should have all been boys!" "But you had to come along and fuck it all up!" "It wasn't my fault." "It wasn't my fault!" "It wasn't my fault!" "Billie." "Go on, and get out of here... before he changes his mind and comes back." "Billie." "I didn't tell her nothing, I promise." "I-I promise." "It's okay." "Wyatte, why don't you just go on out and go to bed?" "I'm sorry." "I'm-I'm-I'm sorry." "You're Anna Meyers' girl, aren't you?" "I couldn't put my finger on it until I saw her name on the registration in the car." "You look a lot like her." "You knew my mother." "Everybody knew her." "She was my father's whore." "No offense." "It's okay." "It's not like we were close." "Fact is, I didn't" "I didn't know she existed till three weeks ago." "Vegas lawyer tracked me down through the orphanage." "She died last April..." "Left me her car, money, and a letter." "After all this time," "I find out who my parents are in a three-page letter from a dead woman." "Strange, don't you think?" "What do you want?" "I'm not sure." "After I read the letter," "I started thinking about him, whether he was still alive or not, if he still lived where she said he lived." "The whole way here," "I kept wondering what it was gonna be like, how I was gonna react to him, what his family was like." "What I said before," "I meant it." "I promise I won't tell anyone." "But I want to know what happened." "Some things are better left alone." "Please." "And then I swear I will never bother you again." "It happened on the night of my 12th birthday." "I was wearing this nightgown that Let got me." "It was yellow with little daisies down the front." "She had left Jesse and I to go look for my father." "He came stumbling home around midnight, drunker than usual." "I still remember the sweet smell of whiskey..." "And the tobacco that he used to chew." "Nobody's taking care of my damn hives." "There was a musky odor, rainwater, sweat, and a woman's cheap perfume." "They used to fight about that." "We have to help him." "We can't." "Just leave him be." "He was crashing around in the dark like a crazy man, knocking things over and cursing up a blue streak about his damn beehives." "I thought he might hurt himself, so I came out to help him... and that's when he turned on me." "Ow, Daddy!" "Stop it; you're hurting me!" "He was so far gone, he did not know it was me," "Just stop it!" "Stop hurting me!" "But there was a look in his eye that I had never seen before." "And it was so dark, and everything was moving in slow motion." "You're hurting me!" "Get in the scare hole, boy!" " I don't want to!" " Jesse, help!" "Please, hurry!" "I said, get in the goddamn scare hole!" "Get in the hole before I do some damage, boy!" "Our father used to make us go to the scare hole for punishment." "Jesse, please!" "He made Jesse go there that night." "Jesse, help me, please!" "Sometimes, I think maybe that he was hurt more than any of us." "He doesn't know what he's doing." "I need help." "'Oause there were the years he just went cold and empty, like something just sucked the life right out of him." "Oh, my God." "Oh, my God!" "Oh, my God!" "The ringing in my ears was so loud..." "I didn't even hear the gun go off." "I just felt something warm running down my neck." "And when he rolled... off of me, I saw the blood... coming out of a hole in the back of his head." "And then Let did the strangest thing." "She walked up to the cage that we had the armadillo in, and she emptied the rest of the gun into it." "Jesse and I buried him out in the dunes." "We just told everybody that he run off, and nobody suspected or cared one way or the other." "It wasn't until years later the Indian found an arm sticking out of the sand, and he knew that Let was looking for attractions." "So he brought it here." "She paid $100 for it." "I'm sorry." "Don't be." "Ourses, like chickens, come home to roost." "How do you live with it?" "I can't change anything." "You could leave if you wanted to." "That road outside goes forever in both directions." "They're my family." "No." "No, you're not like her or your brothers." "Brother." "Jesse's my brother." "Wyatte's my son." "Besides, where would I go?" "Every place is the same." "It's just lonely people living tired lives trying to dream a little, and sooner or later, they all die." "It's all the same." "No, no, I don't believe that." "Good for you." "Would you mind if I wrote you every once in a while?" "Suit yourself." "Would you mind if I told people I had a sister?" "You all right?" "I will be as soon as my head stops pounding." "It wouldn't pound if you didn't go out drinking." "What time is it?" "It's a little after 2:00." "What day is it?" "June 21 st." "It's your Aunt Tess' birthday." "I don't have an Aunt Tess." "No, sure, you do." "She-she lived on the boardwalk in Galveston." "You mean that woman with a lizard on a string used to crawl up around her shoulder?" "That's the one." "Yeah, I thought her name was Greta." "She was a taxi dancer." "Her stage name was Greta." "She only came out here to visit once, and then she never came back." "I wonder what happened to that lizard." "Jesse fed it to the armadillo." "You don't remember that?" "Would you tell that jackass to turn off those lights?" "It's bad for business." "Would you relax?" "I had a dream tonight." "I dreamed that Jesse was fighting with the angel of death, and she was holding the armadillo in her arms, and it was biting her neck, and the more it bit her, the tighter she squeezed until I got a gun" "and shot it dead." "It was just a dream." "It was just a bad dream." "Where are you off to at this time of night?" "I don't know." "Somewhere." "He's got himself a wife." "I know, Let." "She's pretty." "I've seen her." "She's better-looking than you are." "So what?" "Well, so I think you should know so you don't get your hopes up." "I don't have any hopes." "Billie." "What is it now?" "Where is everybody?" "Where is Jesse?" "Out somewhere." "He isn't run off, has he?" "He's not in trouble again, is he?" "He's not in trouble." "He'll be back whenever he feels like it." "What about Wyatte?" "He's asleep in his room." "He's not as strong as he should be." "The older he gets, the more I have to watch over him." "I think he's soft in the melon." "He's stronger than you think." "Maybe." "Good night." "What about your father?" "Turn the damn lights off." "What's wrong?" "Nothing." "What do you want to do?" "Just take me someplace." "And tell me you love me." "Did you ever see a prettier face?" "Jesse." "There you go." "Good boy." "Now you're going." "That's it." "Now get on that horse and ride it." "Go on." "Go on." "Go on." "Get going." "This is a strange house." "You can see it in their eyes." "All right." "It's in their blood." "Trouble follows them around like a stray dog." "Nobody's taking care of my damn hives." "Stop it!" "You're hurting me!" "Please!" "Then do it, you chickenshit." " Please!" " No, I don't want to!" "No, he's hurting me!" "I don't want to go in!" "Blood all over the desert?" " Keep talking that" " Don't hurt her!" "Do it!" "Get in that goddamn scare hole!" "I don't have any hopes." "It wasn't my fault!" "Jesse, help me, please!" "He's hurting me!" "Jesse, please, help me!" " Daddy, no." " Don't let him do this to me." "No, no, please." "Look what he's doing to me." "Help!" "Help!" "Get away!" "Get away from her, you son of a bitch!" "Please help, someone." "Get away from her, you motherfucking son of a bitch!" "I'm going to kill you!"