In the room full of lawyers and people, including Mark, Sam finally said, “These are your plans. What do you want to change Mister Holder?”
“We need an asphalt runway to wand airpwanes.”
Sam winced. “You’re shooting a western, not a war movie. Why in the he—I mean where will that be a part of the script?”
The lawyer, Sam Goldstein, quickly replied, his thick mustache wiggling up and down. “Our contract with the star requires—”
“Did we sign that one?” Sam asked in disbelief and his lawyer from Phoenix, who was so good looking he could’ve been in movies, shook his head.
“No, sir.”
“Good,” Sam said, leaning back. “An asphalt landing strip long enough for a two-engine private plane costs forty thousand dollars. I have three bids right here from airport contractors. The time they need to build it is nine months. The liability insurance for owning one is a policy that costs two thousand dollars a year if there are no wrecks out there. The contract for the movie set for nine months increases at three thousand dollars a month according to your contract. Now, Mister Holder, what do you wish to do?”
There was lot of whispering among lawyers and movie officials. Mark heard a portion of it.
Sounded to him like they would need to buy out the actor.
Holder rose. “Can we adjourn for thwee days?”
“Adjourn for whatever,” Sam said. “Your lease is signed, and the cost goes on.”
“Thank you.” Everyone shook hands. The movie people left, and all were frowning like the next strike was the bombing of Mesa, Arizona. He heard part of another comment going out, mentioning, “—these hicks.”
When the office was clear, the three gathered back at the coffee table. “Dear God, that was tewible.” Mark burst out laughing at Sam’s mockery.
When they all quieted down, Sam asked Mark if the meeting had gone to suit him and folded his hands on the polished table top.
“All but one thing. Those wool suit bastards referring to us as hicks.”
Their lawyer, Paul Thompson, laughed and Sam did too. Then he continued, “Who was dumb enough to sign a contract that required an asphalt runway, anyway?”
“Paul, what will they do next?” Mark asked. “For that much money I can take being called a hick. Guess it’s no worse than laughing at the way a man talks. But I just couldn’t help it.”
“Me either.” Thompson tapped on the table with a pen. “I imagine they’ll try to get out of it. They could even pay you the entire thirty thousand in their contract. But we could sue them for breach of contract and put a value on their nonuse, hurting our business by not using it.”
“How much would that be?” Sam asked.
“Triple damages.”
“I like that. What are our chances of winning that?”
“With a trial here in Maricopa County? Great. Who loves movie companies?”
Sam stretched and peered out at Main Street through the venetian blinds. “Partner, how is Julie?”
“Doing fine. When I left, she was running barrels on Thunder. We bought a Three-Bar colt. He needs lots of training, but he runs like Man of War.”
“She’s not made any plans to leave you, has she?”
Mark chuckled. “Not before I left out there.”
“The Ford dealer is getting in a dark blue Lincoln convertible next week. You want it as a present for her?”
“Why, Sam, they have a list a mile long—”
“I only asked if you wanted it.”
“Sure, but we won’t get it.”
“The hell we won’t. I’m on the head of that list and I can accept or refuse every new car that comes in.”
Mark swallowed. What did that place cost him? “It sure don’t hurt to have influential friends, does it? Yes, of course I’d like Julie to have that Lincoln. How much is it? I’ll get you a check.”
“No. It’s a company car, but she will have possession of it. That way, if she ever gets mad at you, I can call in the car. These new cars are getting lots looser.”
“I hope she never gets that mad, but I’m sure she’ll drive it. When will it be here?”
“Next week. Cleaned up, seat covers changed to real leather with tuck and roll. Oh, give them two weeks. They will want folks to drool over it a few days in the showroom.”
Mark smiled. “Let me know when it gets there. I’ll take her by and show her. Don’t let a word out.”
They shook Paul’s hand and thanked him. The lawyer looked Mark up and down. “You still ride wild horses?”
“Bucking horses? Yes, I do. I won a silver belt buckle down at Chandler two weeks ago.”
“He’s about to get electricity out to his place too,” Sam said. “Then we need a phone line strung out there, so I can call him.”
“My, I’d love to see your place.” Paul fastened his briefcase.
“Not much out there now, but in another few months we’ll have our new house finished. All but the pool, and it’ll take a few more. Then I’ll throw a party.”
“Save me an invite.”
“Me, too,” Sam said.
Mark aimed a pistol finger at them. “You two’ll be the first ones that I invite.”
“Maybe we should have a blowout for her car at my house,” Sam said, squeezing his chin. “Can I do that, Mark?”
“Hell, yes.”
“I sure like dealing with hicks.” Paul sounded amused. “They feed me so good.”
Mark left Sam’s office, picked up some things his wife and Rosita wanted, filled the car with gas at a Shell station, then headed home for Scottsdale and up the dusty road out into Paradise Valley. Past Camelback Mountain, he turned off on the yet-unnamed section line road that went out to his place.
Driving along beside the road in the mesquite, he must have spooked the big golden mare. Running along side her was the blue roan colt.
Damn they were pretty, free and running hard. It was time he and Jones got out there and ran them down.
There were reward posters for the both. He wasn’t sure who offered the reward and he didn’t care anything about it. How it had gotten started that they were out there he had no idea. But idiots were racing around all over the country after them. They were so spooked getting even close would be a chore.
Running like that right next to him was like God saying here’s your chance, but you’d better hurry, before someone else gets ’em. It reminded him how bad he wanted that blue roan, but he was getting too busy to think about doing it.
He eased off the gas pedal and the mare swung north into the saguaros, mesquite, greasewood, and bunch grass. Soon she was gone, the colt keeping up with her easily.
A true blue roan horse—or colt in this instance—was worth a lot, but it wasn’t the money he cared about. It was the rarity and beauty of it. There were several roans, but a blue was what one rarely saw. Take a strawberry roan or the black, which some folks tried to pawn off as a blue, and several other shades and colors which were pretty common. Giving Julie that blue roan colt would be far more than the equivalent of that fancy blue Lincoln. But he’d give her both in more than a heartbeat, he thought that much of her. Nothing would be worth what he felt for the beautiful woman. He’d never believed he could love anyone like he loved her.
Damn. All that reward did was make her wilder. Every drugstore cowboy had been out there chasing her. They didn’t know shit about catching wild horses. All they did was make her foxier than she would have been left alone.
Some maverick-chasing cowboys the ex-corporate giant hired tried for three weeks to trap her and no telling what they charged the man. But catching unbranded bovines was a damn sight easier than rounding up wild horses, especially the smart ones. He sat in the car seat and his mouth watered. What was he waiting for? He should’ve gone out the first time he spotted them, but so dang much was going on. The time was here.
Julie would be with him on this, he was certain. What was Dirty Shirt doing those days? They needed to go
visit him and see what he thought about catching a red dun mare and her six-month-old blue roan colt.
A brainstorm set in. What would a Hollywood producer give for the footage of the chase to later be spliced into a movie? The star could be added like he was in on the deal later.
Damn, he was getting like Sam. Been around him too much. He put the pickup back in gear. Judging by the sun, it was damn near lunchtime.
When he pulled up to the ranch, a flatbed ton-and-half Chevy farm truck sat in front of his house. Danged if he didn’t see his dad with his butt against the fender under a straw hat and wearing khakis roll himself a cigarette, light it, and let loose a mouth full of smoke. Dad only smoked when under pressure. He recalled how he went to smoking when his mom was in the Phoenix Hospital before she died.
He parked beside him. “What do you say, Dad?”
“Cotton may be a dollar a pound, but these farmers have six-row equipment now and need less farm help. I was told this was my last year two weeks ago. Oh, we can stay down there this year, we’ve got the ground ready to plant cotton when it gets warm enough. I could go work for the International dealer in Chandler, but I wondered if you had work out here.”
“I’ve got eighty acres of alfalfa, rodeo stock to haul and feed. I do some cattle hauling. What does he pay you?” Anxious to help out his father, Mark right quick mentally tallied a wage.
“Two fifty a month.”
That wouldn’t be hard to meet or beat. “I have a new partner. I need to talk to her. Come to the house and meet her. We got married at Christmas. Just small, didn’t invite anyone. Sorry I hadn’t been down since then. Let’s go in and talk to her about this deal.”
“That’s great, son. Congratulations. Say, I didn’t come in here to beg on you—”
“Hell, no. I need you.” He moved in and hugged his shoulder. “Did you tell her who you were?” He nodded toward the trailer.
Dad shook his head. “I didn’t want to bother her.”
Mark held the screen door open for his dad and followed him inside. Something smelled mighty good. That sweet wife of his was cooking up a good meal.
“Darling, this is my father, Carl. You ain’t met yet. Dad, this is Julie.”
She rushed over and hugged each man in turn. “Why didn’t you say so, instead of waiting outside?”
“He didn’t want to bother you. I told him you weren’t easily bothered.”
“Heavens no. Well, don’t ever do it again.” She wrinkled her nose. “I’ll forgive you this time. It’s almost lunchtime. Can I feed you both?”
“Sure. The way it smells, I’ll just bet you could.” Mark let his grin move from her to Dad. The old man nodded, looking pleased. He wished he’d been better about visiting them.
“Have a seat. I won’t be long. How did the meeting go this morning?”
“Sam stood our ground. They left mumbling about dealing with hicks.”
“Hicks?” Her face showed disbelief.
Dad looked puzzled but didn’t ask anything.
“Yeah, hicks. Made me mad, but our lawyer Paul said we’d sue them for triple damages if they messed with us anymore. Then they might refrain from calling us that.”
Everyone laughed.
She grilled them some strip steaks in the broiler oven, German fried potatoes with sweet onions, and some baking powder biscuits that had already been in the oven when they came in. They talked some about his father’s future. Julie was immediately enthusiastic about the family moving onto their ranch, even talked about building them something to live in.
“I guess the school bus would come out here.” Mark buttered his last biscuit.
“It comes way up Scottsdale Road. Oh, they would.” She looked at his dad. “Did you see we have electricity coming?”
“Well, you have the poles, anyway.”
“No, Sam talked to the main man. We are priority.” Then she laughed. “Way back yonder, Mark said you and Sam had words?”
“We almost had a fight. I about quit, but finished out the year on his place. Sam wanted me to stop cultivating the cotton way too soon and we’d spent all summer hoeing weeds, so he could save a few gallons of gas.”
Mark chuckled. “I always wondered what all that was about. Now I know.”
His dad shook his head. “He wanted me to stop using the tractor to cultivate and put you and your mother and me out there hoeing all summer in that heat. We weren’t a big family like some of his farmers. Her health wasn’t that good by then, either.”
“I always wondered about that.” Hard to believe about Sam, but business was business, at least with Sam.
“He bought the fuel and asked me to stay. But I had all I wanted of him.”
Julie served them some apple pie. “Don’t get me in any cotton hoeing projects, Mark Shaw. If I can’t do it from a horse, forget about me.”
“Son—” he used his fork to point at his pie “—this woman fixes some mighty good groceries on her table. I wouldn’t make her too mad.”
Mark winked at her. “I’ll try not to do that.”
After hugs and kisses and more talk about hiring him, Carl headed for home. She sent along a few frozen packages of meat from their locker that was in her new chest freezer.
“Lenore will love you.”
“I want to see all his brothers and sister too. She’s the baby, isn’t she?”
“Yeah, and growing fast. Come any time. We may have beans cooked, but we can feed you two.” Then he kissed her on the cheek and Mark took him to his truck.
When Mark came back in the house, he said, “Next time you see him, he won’t be smoking.”
“Why?”
“He only smokes when something upsets him.”
“And coming here upset him? That’s too bad.” She was in his arms kissing him. “We’ll fix them a house and job out here, won’t we?”
“Yes. You bet we’ll do that.” He rubbed her back. “I saw that red dun mare and her blue roan colt today. I want them, and I know you do too after laying eyes on them.”
“We need to do something about catching them. I want to be in on the chase.”
“I’m not a bit surprised. Bet your bottom dollar you will be. So now all we need to do is round up a claybank mare and her blue roan colt. It hadn’t ought to be too hard with the three of us experts going after them.”
She squeezed his face and kissed him, as excited as he was.
They had horses to catch was his last thought before going to sleep much later that night.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
MARK LOOKED AT A FORDILLAC at the dealership. Since cotton prices soared so high, many ranchers had bought Ford pickups, removed the engine and transmission, and dropped in a Cadillac V8 with a hydromatic transmission. They damn sure would pull her double horse trailer over the mountains.
The salesman said he could sell it to him for fifteen hundred. The light green truck had less than seven thousand miles on the speedometer. He bought it for delivery to the house after they had it cleaned up and added new custom leather seats in it.
Word was, they really were working on the Black Canyon Highway to Prescott. A super highway that eventually would go to Flag. It would be a much easier and faster way to go to the movie ranch. They’d pull their horses up there with his new purchase.
Mark had two meetings at Sam’s office with some serious moviemakers who were making a new series. He wasn’t sure they didn’t want partners to get the job done. Julie had gone shopping and had several bags from local downtown stores around her chair in the lobby when they came out.
“Saturday night at my house we are having a big western parry for some movie folks.” Sam squeezed her hands then hugged her. “You can come and be my hostess.”
“Wild horses couldn’t drag me away.”
“Now that is big talk. I know you love horses.”
“You are on that same list. Did he tell you he bought a new toy? One of those Cadillac pickups to haul my horses.”
“No.�
�� Sam slanted a look at Mark. Grinned. “That rascal, you’ll like that, all right.”
“What time is the party?”
“Oh, come early and be my hostess. Dress western.”
“What’s the menu?”
“Mesquite grilled steaks and all the trimmings. I have a Texas Swing band coming, too.”
“Sounds great.”
Mark took her to meet John in Scottsdale to go over his house plans. They were going to Los Olivos Restaurant for the best Mexican food in town and quesadillas, too.
“Those men you met today real?” She picked at a thread on her skirt.
“Yes, one is a real actor, Don Red Berry. They want to make a pilot for a new series.”
“I couldn’t recall his name. But I knew he was an actor when they came out. What does Sam think?”
“They’re looking for money.”
She smiled, and he parked at the restaurant. They had reserved a large table and John had the plans spread out, rooms drawn for both floors.
A waiter in red pants and a white blousy shirt took their drink order. Mark wanted to talk about the mare and her colt, but this was about the house. Wine arrived and a tall glass of tea for Mark along with a big platter of quesadillas for appetizers. Julie sipped red wine and nibbled from a wedge of the quesadilla made from large flour tortillas sandwiched around melted cheese.
She stopped beside Mark. “I know we could afford that hacienda style house, and it was beautiful. But the log ranch we settled on is beautiful. It’s more us.”
Mark studied the room plans John had laid out. Why was she still asking about the hacienda? The log structure was built. Designing the inner rooms was what this was about. Maybe she was having second thoughts. Lord, he hoped not. Women were that way sometimes. He tapped the huge master bedroom. “Closets, one for each of us so she can buy all the clothes she wants.”
John chuckled. “Yes, here. And a bath for two. Two of everything except the jacuzzi, but it’s big enough for two.”
“Is this what you want?” He took her hand, lying on the table.
Blue Roan Colt Page 17
