Wings

by Sandra R Neeley

  “Hi! How are you today?” she greeted.

  “It’s hot, honey. How are you?” came the answer from the elderly lady selling peaches and strawberries.

  “I’m good. I’m Ruby. Just got into town and decided to drive around a bit and see what all I can see.”

  “Well, this is about it. I’m Ms. Patty. From Peach Patty Pies, you might have heard of them?” the lady asked hopefully.

  “Not exactly, but I’m from the other side of the country.”

  “Oh. Well, yeah, then that explains it.”

  Ruby could tell the woman was a bit disappointed, so she asked for more information. “So, Peach Patty Pies, huh? Are they any good?”

  “Oh, my goodness, yes! They are the best, if I do say so myself. Here, try one.” Patty held out a small hand pie for her to take.

  “Peach?” Ruby asked, sniffing it.

  “Absolutely, best peaches in the state. I make the pies myself, and I have strawberry, too, if you prefer.”

  Ruby took a bite, sinking her teeth through the tender, sweet peaches and glaze inside an unbelievably flaky crust that had been dunked into a glaze similar to that used on a donut. She closed her eyes, chewing and making sounds of blissful appreciation. “Oh, my gosh! I need a dozen. And let me have six of the strawberry, too.”

  Patty chuckled while bagging up the pies. “Everybody loves them. All they have to do is taste them and they’re hooked.”

  Ruby nodded along to everything Patty said, unable to answer because she was busy eating the pie as quickly as she could. Ruby was handed a bag filled with pies. She immediately dug into the bag and pulled out another pie, tore the wrapper open and took another bite.

  “Can I have some fresh peaches, too?” Ruby asked.

  “Yes, ma’am. I’ll fix you right up,” Ms. Patty answered, grinning.

  “How often are you here, Ms. Patty?”

  “I’m usually here in the late afternoons. If I’m not, I’ll be here earlier the next day. Except Sundays. Sunday I go to church and rest some.”

  “Good to know. I will be seeing you again. Often.” Ruby walked away, taking another bite. “These are so good!” she mumbled again, looking at the pie in her hand.

  “Come see me anytime, Ruby!” Patty called after her.

  Forty minutes later Ruby drove away with a Jeep full of fresh fruit, a bag of fresh purple hull peas, homemade pies, five potted flowering plants, a dozen hot tamales and two questionable pounds of shrimp. It wasn’t that she needed all these things; it was that these people were all just trying to make a living. And Ruby respected that. And she had the money to buy the things they were selling, so she bought them. And the pies were to die for, so she’d have bought them anyway. Every vendor with a booth in the little farmers’ market waved and wished her a good day and invited her to come back, by name, when she finally drove away. Ruby had that way about her. She could make you feel like you were the most important person in the universe, well, her universe. And she treated everyone with respect. Until someone made her mad, then the rumors of red-heads having bad tempers would come to life, and people would duck for cover. It took a lot to drive her there, but once someone did, there was no going back.

  Ruby stopped her Jeep again in front of the old court house and took her time walking in and out of the shops up and down main street. She bought a large straw hat in the clothing store, and stopped in the hair salon to make an appointment for the next day to have her hair washed and blow dried. She didn’t need it, but the ladies of the salon seemed glad to see her. She even took time to get a manicure in the nail salon. While there she managed to give away the shrimp she had in her Jeep.

  Hours after she first arrived in the little town, she emerged from the nail salon, her nails a pretty iced pink, with sparkles glued on top. She’d managed to make a friend of everyone she met. She reached into her backpack and pulled her sun hat out, reaching up to plop it on her head. The sun was dropping behind the buildings she’d just come out of, preparing to set a little later that evening, and it was time for her to pick a place to watch for her beloved bats.

  She made her way over to her Jeep and pointed it out of town. She drove past the little farmers’ market and continued on out of town, stopping at the gas station and buying a small ice chest to fill with ice and water and plenty of her very favorite guilty pleasure — bottles of iced coffee — vanilla frappe’ to be exact. Sure that she had everything she needed and most of what she didn’t, she headed out again, traveling away from the little town that would be her home base for a while. She watched the horizon around her, on both sides of the road and up ahead as far as she could see. Eventually she spied what looked like a perfect place to wait for her bats to take flight. There was an outcropping of rocks, not too far off the highway. It looked to be no more than a couple of miles in the distance to the west. It was high and jagged, with lots of tiny shaded areas between the craggy points lifting up out of the ground. In her experience, the shady places usually meant small caves the tiny winged creatures could seek shelter in. She pulled her Jeep off the road and switched it to four-wheel drive, heading as close to the rocky structure as she’d dare. She didn’t want to get too close, she didn’t want to scare them. She just wanted to be close enough to watch unimpeded.

  She came to a stop and looked behind her. She was halfway between the highway and the rocks. Just where she wanted to be. She shut off her Jeep and got out. She wanted to look around and check for evidence of bats living nearby before it got dark. She tucked her pistol into her waistband, pushed her hat down tighter on her head, and started out. She never went far from the Jeep, always keeping it in sight. She wasn’t equipped for survival if she should get turned around. And she wasn’t sure how far back the caves went and didn’t want to interrupt the bats’ natural nocturnal wanderings — she was just scouting a bit.

  Satisfied that she was in the right place for the evening, she went back to her Jeep, took out her tamales and her ice chest, her phone, and a soft old Mexican blanket she kept in the Jeep just for this reason, and spread it out on the hood of her Jeep. She climbed up on it and laid back against her windshield, nibbling on a tamale while she waited for the dusky light to turn dark.

  <<<<<<<>>>>>>>

  Jaime pulled his truck into the old gas station. He left his truck at a pump and headed inside to pay for his gas.

  “You going out to watch the bats tonight?” Andy asked him.

  “Thinking about it. You?” Jaime responded.

  “Nah. Nothing I care to be a part of. Why you still go out there? They don’t want you.”

  “And I don’t want them. It’s mutual. Besides, I’m not watching them, don’t give a damn about them. I’m watching the wild ones. The ones nature meant to live here.”

  “Well, tonight you’ll have company. Pretty little redhead out there hoping to catch sight of them tonight,” Andy said, grinning.

  “You’re kidding me.”

  “Nope. She stopped by right before sunset. Gassed up, watered up, bought every damn bottle of vanilla coffee I had in the cooler and told me she was going bat watching. I’m gonna have to restock the coffees before I go home tonight. I kinda think she’s got a problem with the coffee, though.”

  “Perfect. Fucking perfect.”

  “At least she won’t have a problem with falling asleep out there. She’s looking for the big eared bats, doing a study on the life cycle. Hoping to find a new species, so’s she can make a name for herself in the science of it.”

  “Yeah, I know. Did you steer her clear of the rocks?” Jaime asked.

  “No. Why would I? She ain’t no danger. Take a few pictures, make a few notes and she’ll be gone.”

  “You could have sent her to the other side of town! Tell her to go look there!” Jaime shouted.

  “I don’t see what the problem is. Lots of people come to town to watch the bats. Why’s she any different?”

  Jaime put his hands on his hips and looked back out of the windows to wh
ere his truck sat at the gas pump. “Because she’s different, Andy. She’s not like anybody else.”

  “Different how?”

  “Forget it. Look, if she wanders far enough behind the damned rocks, she could find the caves. She finds the caves, it may be the last thing she finds!” Jaime yelled.

  “She ain’t gonna find the caves. Nobody does, unless the caves want to be found.”

  Jaime glared at Andy. “She comes back, you tell her the bats migrated early this year. You send her away,” Jaime demanded.

  “She ain’t gonna believe me. She knows bats. She’s not just a general tourist,” Andy explained.

  “Just do what the fuck I asked, Andy! Alright?” Jaime asked, exasperated.

  “I’ll try, but I ain’t making no guarantees.”

  Jaime threw a few dollars on the counter for the gas he needed and yanked the door opened to stalk back to his truck.

  “I don’t know what your problem is with her anyway. She’s nice! Why’s it bother you so much?” Andy called after him.

  Jaime held up his middle finger and flashed it behind his back without turning around.

  Andy snickered when he saw Jaime flip him off. “Grumpy bastard. Needs somebody nice like her. Maybe then he wouldn’t be so damned ornery.”

  Jaime cursed under his breath the entire time he pumped his gas. Now the damned thorn-in-his-side woman was out searching for bats in the dark. And he was going to have to intercept her. Because if he didn’t, others might. And if they found her first, she may never be heard from again.

  “Fuck!” he muttered, as he climbed back in his truck and fired it up. “It’s not my fucking problem!” he shouted at no one in particular, slapping the palm of his hand on his steering wheel. Jaime heaved a sigh and threw his truck in gear, heading out of town to find a woman that was not his problem, yet had more bearing on his future than he even cared to admit.

  He drove along until he knew he could get to the rocky outcropping in less than ten minutes at a jog. He didn’t want to drive right up on them — her or the rocks. Better if they didn’t know he was there, both the girl and the bats.

  Jaime slammed his truck door, tucked his keys deep into his pocket and took off at a steady jog toward the rocks and the caves hidden just behind them.

  Ruby finished her tamale and cracked open a bottle of iced coffee to sip on. She looked at the sack of tamales beside her and shrugged. Who cared if she had another? She loved to eat and didn’t really care who liked it and who didn’t. She reached for another one and peeled back the corn husk it was wrapped in, lifting it up to take a bite.

  She’d just put it down and reached for her coffee to take a sip when she got the feeling she was being watched. She fingered the pistol lying beside her, satisfied it was where it needed to be if she needed it. She brought her coffee to her lips and drank deeply from it.

  She leaned forward and dropped the empty vanilla frappe bottle into her little styrofoam ice-chest and took out another, leaning back on her windshield again.

  She lifted her binoculars and peered through them at the dark sky. Then she lifted her phone, adjusted the lighting on the camera app for nighttime photography and snapped a few pictures of the rock formations in the distance. She pulled up her sister’s message account and was surprised that her sister had answered her. “Who the fuck is that?” her sister’s message read.

  She smiled and forwarded the pictures of the rock formations. She typed out a quick message. “Local wild life. Calabasas, New Mexico, sexy man and bats. I’m in heaven!” and hit send.

  She set her phone down beside her and decided she may as well speak to whoever was out there with her. “I know you’re there. You may as well come out and share some food with me.”

  She got no answer.

  Ruby lifted her tamale and took another bite.

  “Or not, stay there in the shadows and stay hungry. I don’t care either way.”

  Jaime rolled his eyes and shook his head in the darkness. How the hell did this pain in his ass woman know he was there? And why’d she have to be so damned cocky.

  He threw his hands up and walked around her Jeep to the opposite side of the hood. He hopped up on it and laid back against her windshield just as she had.

  “Can’t have shadows without light,” he snarked, reaching for one of her tamales, unwrapping the end of it and taking a huge bite.

  “Sure you can. You never noticed that a dark room has darker places in it? Shadows. Even in the dark.”

  “If you say so.”

  “I do.”

  “Then it must be so,” he answered.

  “I’m glad you agree. And you’re welcome by the way,” Ruby snapped at him.

  “For what?” Jaime asked.

  “Dinner.”

  “You offered,” he said, reaching for her iced coffee and quickly guzzling down what was left of it.

  They sat in silence for some time before he finally spoke. “Why you out here all alone?”

  “Why do you care?” she shot back.

  “People go missing out here. You ever think of that?”

  “That’s why I have my little friend right here,” she patted her pistol.

  Jaime glanced down at her small hand gun and snickered. “All you gonna do with that is piss someone off.”

  “You underestimate me, dear boy.”

  “Boy? I am not a boy.”

  “Yeah, well. Defensive, full of attitude, piss and vinegar… boy. Haven’t found a mountain you couldn’t climb yet so in my book, still a boy.”

  “You have no idea who I am,” he started, then glanced over at her and realized she was smirking at him. He stopped speaking and glared at her.

  “No. I don’t. And you have no idea who I am either. So why the attitude? Either relax and drop it, or go away.”

  Jaime thought about it and couldn’t deny he’d been nothing but a dick since she’d arrived in town. “It’s not you. It’s me.”

  Chapter 4

  Ruby burst into laughter.

  “What is so funny?” Jaime asked, clearly confused.

  “Isn’t that speech supposed to come after the sex? After the quick fling and you’re trying to pry yourself loose before the girl can bury her hooks in you?”

  “Look. It’s simple. Strange things happen around here. You need to stay closer to town, do your research in the daytime. Don’t come out here alone at night. That’s all I’m trying to say.”

  “Bats don’t fly in the daytime.”

  “Then don’t come alone.”

  “I do my best work alone.”

  “Damn it, Ruby! I’m trying to help you here.”

  “Ohhh, the man-boy knows my name!”

  “Of course I know your damn name. Everybody in town knows your name. You’ve made it a point to befriend every single person you spoke to today.”

  Ruby watched him for a moment, not sure why he was so irritated. “I’m sorry if that bothers you. But it’s who I am. Every single person you come across every single day is somebody’s baby, somebody’s mama or brother or father or sister. Would you want them to treat your family members like they didn’t matter? No. You wouldn’t. Treat them with the same respect you want people to treat your family with, and you’ll get the same thing back. Maybe, just maybe, you’ll make a friend or two while you’re at it. Their lives matter as much as yours does.”

  “Phhtt, then you end up with everybody all in your business,” Jaime mumbled.

  “Only the business you let them know about. And kindness doesn’t cost a damn thing. You could benefit from a little yourself.” She caught movement in the sky behind him as she lectured him, and her mind snapped to attention. Her entire demeanor changing from one of irritation to one of wonder and amazement.

  “Go away now. My bats are starting to fly, and you’re ruining it for me,” she said on a whisper, not taking her eyes off the very few bats flying here and there as they flew directly over her Jeep on their way to hunt for insects for their ni
ght’s meal.

  Jaime was watching her face, flushed with a heavy blush as she lectured him about being nice to people. Damn she was gorgeous. And the more fired up she got, the prettier she got. He wanted to just grab her and kiss her. Make her shut the hell up and turn all that passion onto him in a different way than yelling at him. But then suddenly her entire demeanor changed. He knew the moment she saw the first bat take flight. He tilted his head to watch the first few of the colony fly by, then looked back at her when she told him to go away. He smiled at her, though she didn’t see him, her eyes were glued to the sky, looking for more bats.

  “I’ll be quiet. I promise,” he said softly. He leaned back against the windshield and watched. But he didn’t watch the bats; he watched Ruby. He watched the simple joy and happiness she couldn’t help but exude as she watched the bats flying overhead. He’d never seen anything more beautiful than this girl. Nothing more kind. Nothing more good and pure.

  “They’re so beautiful,” she said quietly. “So graceful!”

  He scooted closer to her and pointed toward the rocks. “You see that second highest spire? There, almost all the way to the right?”

  Ruby followed his directions, looking where his finger pointed. “Yes.”

  “Watch there. The largest section of the colony pours from that spire every night. It’s like watching liquid black silk flapping in the wind.”

  Ruby nodded, sitting up to better see, and Jaime sat up beside her, still holding his hand out and pointing toward the area. It was easy enough to see. The moon was off in the distance, and each time the clouds would part, the rock formations were framed in its light.