Stephen Bly's Horse Dreams Trilogy: Memories of a Dirt Road, the Mustang Breaker, Wish I'd Known You Tears Ago

by Stephen A. Bly

  “He doesn't look Hispanic,” Stewart said.

  “He's not,” Lily replied.

  “Is that your baby, Miss Dev?” Tiny called out from the back of the pickup.

  “Boys, meet Miss Naomi. But I don't get to keep her. She belongs to Ivan and Lovie.”

  “I thought I recognized Ivan's rig,” Cuban grinned. “Well, you look good with a baby, Miss Dev.”

  Holding the baby in one arm, she tipped her straw cowboy hat. “Thank you, Cuban. What happened to your hat?”

  He pulled off his black felt cowboy hat and jammed his fingers through two holes in the brim. “Tiny shot it. We was havin' a shootin' contest.”

  “Did you lose or win?”

  “I won,” he grinned.

  “I don't like losin',” Tiny mumbled from the back of the pickup.

  “We got the rest of the week off.”

  “Is Quint still in Texas?” Develyn asked.

  “Who's Quint?” Stewart asked.

  “Cowboy number one,” Lily explained.

  “Yep, he's still down in Austin. But he sent word for us to take the weekend off. We don't have to be back until Monday,” Tiny explained.

  “Well, good for you.”

  “He must have changed his mind,” Cuban added. “He gave us a list of chores a mile long before he and Lindsay flew off.”

  “Who's Lindsay?” Stewart pressed.

  “Quint's daughter,” Lily shushed.

  “It ain't like the ol' man to give us that much time off, but we ain't complainin',” Cuban said.

  “You want to go to a movie with us, Miss Dev?” Tiny asked.

  She stared into the crowded cab of the pickup. “I think Naomi and I will pass. Boys, meet my friends from Indiana. This is Lily and Stewart.”

  “Don't that beat all. We met someone else from Indiana this summer,” Tiny called out. “Who was that, Cuban?”

  “It was Miss Dev, Tiny.”

  “Nah, she's from over in Sheridan, right, Miss Dev?”

  “Cuban is right. I'm a Hoosier.”

  Tiny scratched his clean-shaven face. “You mean you wear those funny hats and drive buggies?”

  “Never mind, Tiny. Maybe I am from Sheridan. You boys have a nice vacation.”

  “Yes, ma'am,” Cuban said. “I've worked for the old man over fifteen years, and he ain't never let us off in August before.”

  “Are you sure you don't want to go to the movie with us? We'll buy your ticket and Junior Mints,” Pete called out.

  “Thank you, boys, for that generous offer. I need to go to the hospital to visit Mrs. Tagley. She had a heart attack yesterday.”

  “She did?” Cuban gulped. “No foolin'? Is she at St. Joseph's?”

  “Yes.”

  “She always treated us square when we came to town. Tell her she's in our prayers.”

  “I'll do that.”

  Lily walked over and stood beside Develyn and the baby as they drove off. “Does every cowboy in the state know Miss Dev?”

  “Of course not, it's just a coincidence.”

  Ivan and Buster sauntered out of the mini-mart, hand in hand.

  “Well, young man,” Lily beamed, “did you get your business done?”

  “No, I peed right in the john mounted on the wall,” he declared.

  “Oh, yes, well,” Lily stammered.

  Develyn tucked Naomi back in the car seat.

  “Hope she didn't trouble you,” Ivan said.

  “Oh, no, Naomi and I are pals.”

  “That's because you're both Wyomin' cowboy girls,” he said. “And that's a whole lot closer than any sorority sisters ever could be.”

  “Tell Lovie hi for me. Hope she did well with the horses.”

  “After we get some feed, we're goin' to eat supper at Earl's or Else,” Buster said.

  “Miss Dev, you and Renny come see us sometime. It's been months since he stopped by for supper.”

  The Dodge pickup pulled back out into the street.

  “You mean you just drive up unannounced at dinnertime?” Lily said.

  “If I drove up to Ivan and Lovie's at suppertime, they'd be thrilled to feed me and insulted if I didn't spend the night. It's a different world.”

  “Are you still coming back to Indiana?”

  “Yes, I am. I hear the new principal wants to move my classroom to the back of the building.”

  “That was one of several suggestions on the memo,” Lily reported.

  “I suppose I'll have to school him.”

  “He's from Idaho. You might be more persuasive if you wore that hat.”

  The lights were off in Mrs. Tagley's hospital room, but the setting sun filtered through the curtains and gave the room a soft glow like a dim fluorescent light.

  “Come in, Devy.”

  “I was afraid you were sleeping.”

  “That's about all they let me do.”

  “How are you feeling today?”

  “Tired, but they say that is normal.”

  “Can I get you anything?”

  “Did you bring my other cosmetics?”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “Well, turn on a light and help me with my makeup and hair.”

  Develyn pulled up a chair and dug into the black canvas bag.

  “How are things at the store?”

  “A number of tourists and the like. Oh, listen, honey, we noticed in your schedule you have some wholesale groceries to be delivered tomorrow. Do you want me to buy them?”

  “Yes, and pay cash.”

  “Do you have a safe?”

  “It's in the closet in my bedroom. Write down the combination.”

  Develyn grabbed a piece of paper. “If you'd rather I didn't get into your funds, I understand.”

  The elderly lady laughed. “Honey, what am I saving it for? If I have another heart attack tonight, I'm in the arms of Jesus. Why would I care what happens to it?”

  “I just want to do what's right. I won't show anyone the combination; but if you don't mind, I'd like to have someone witness and sign a receipt for what I take out. That would make me feel better.”

  “Sure, Devy. That's fine. Who's helping you with the store?”

  “Casey and Jackson Hill, mainly Jackson. He worked at a grocery store when he was in high school and college.”

  “Did I tell you his mother teaches up in Sheridan? I knew his grandmother. She was the only lady to catch more fish than me down in Wind River Canyon right after they opened the road through there. Those are good folks. Is Cree-Ryder going to marry him?”

  “I believe so.”

  “I'll be; that's good. That's the best news I heard since Misti went back to Harold.”

  “Did you get to watch your soap today?”

  “Yes, and it's a good thing. Do you know what that little tramp Tori did?”

  “Oh, dear, what?”

  “In my day we wouldn't talk like that at a doctor's convention, let alone standing in line at the bank.”

  Develyn brushed Mrs. Tagley's snow-white hair.

  “Who's staying at my house?”

  “We lock it up. Would you like someone on the grounds?”

  “I've got all that room, and you girls crowded in that cabin. Someone ought to use it.”

  “We're all settled in.”

  “How about the Hill boy? Where is he staying?”

  “At a friend's near Casper, I think.”

  “Have him stay at my house.”

  “That's nice of you. I'm sure he'll take care of things.”

  “Did I tell you I knew his grandmother?”

  Develyn held her hand. “Yes, Mrs. Tagley, you told me already.”

  “I think I'm forgetting things, Devy.”

  “It's OK. It will take a little time to recover.”

  Mrs. Tagley turned her head away.
“I don't want to lose my memory, Develyn. It's my life. It's me.”

  “Sweetie, you just enjoy today as well as the memories. Think of things in the future. Delight in things yet to be. I guess that sounds like a sermon.”

  She clutched Develyn's hand. “Devy-girl, are you going to marry him?”

  “Me? Marry whom?” Develyn stammered.

  “There's only one for you. You know that. All the rest was just stalling around until the timing was right.”

  “You think I should marry a man from Wyoming?”

  “It doesn't matter what I think. I'm just reading your heart, and it wants that cowboy.”

  “But which one are you talking about?”

  “You know in your heart which one, don't you?”

  “I think I do. But I also think I want to change the subject.”

  “Just like Chet did today, when Millie asked him about the duffel bag with the black negligee at the beach house.”

  Develyn rubbed Mrs. Tagley's hands with aloe cream. “Yes, well, I have a question for you. What do you know about Mrs. Morton's grandson, Leon?”

  “Besides the fact that he'll steal every Little Debbie he can get his hands on?”

  “Yes. Where are his parents? What's their story?”

  “It's sad, Devy. His daddy's in prison, and his mother's in a mental hospital. He's being raised in a state home in Cheyenne, but Mrs. Morton gets to have him every summer.”

  “What's the dad in jail for?”

  “Trying to kill his mother.”

  “That does explain a lot.”

  “They found Leon next to his mother in the garage. He won't talk about it. If the neighbors had been any later, she would have died. Leon's dad tried to hang her. And he whipped Leon with the rope.”

  Tears puddled up in Develyn's eyes. “How could anyone do that?”

  “Sin is ugly.”

  “And now Leon has to bear it all inside.”

  “He's out of control so much of the time. Poor Mrs. Morton doesn't know what to do. She says that someday he'll end up like his father. But I say the good Lord can redeem anyone. Even the likes of Leon Morton. They say at the state home all he does is hide in his room and play video games.”

  Develyn applied face cream, then foundation cream, then rouge and lipstick.

  “How long will you be here?”

  “If I don't die in a few days, they'll send me home.”

  “They said that?”

  “More or less.”

  “You'll need someone to look after you for a while at home. Will Medicaid help with a home nurse?”

  “Oh, Devy, when you are my age and have a business all these years with no family to dote on, there's no worry about money. But I don't know who would want to come live in Argenta, even for a few weeks. Besides, a nurse won't want to operate the store. I think I'd just be better off to die.”

  “Honey, don't say that. People out there need you. They count on you.”

  “Things change. Within a month I'll be part of their memory like the Argenta Dance Hall. I was quite a dancer in my day.”

  “I bet you were.” Develyn held up the mirror. “There, you look good enough to dance.”

  Mrs. Tagley studied her image. “Seventy years ago I could turn every cowboy's head in the room. Now I'm just a very tired, very old lady.”

  “Let me smooth down your gown and raise your bed up a bit.” Develyn fussed around the bed for a few moments. “Now you look like the queen ready to receive her subjects.”

  “Devy, sometimes I wish you lived in Argenta.”

  “Sometimes I wish it too.”

  A knock at the open doorway caused Develyn to spin around.

  “Cuban? Tiny? Pete? T. J.”

  “Can we come in, Miss Dev?”

  “Oh, yes.”

  One by one the four cowboys, hats in hand, filed into the room and next to the hospital bed.

  Develyn stepped back next to the window and watched Mrs. Tagley's eyes light up.

  “Boys!” Mrs. Tagley grinned. “It's nice to see you. You didn't have to come visit me.”

  “Yes, we did, Mrs. Tagley. You've been lookin' after us since we was in high school,” Tiny said.

  “I don't know how many times you bailed us out when we was busted,” Pete added.

  “I wouldn't have been able to buy my truck without you loanin' me that money,” Cuban said as he stepped back from the bed. “You know, Miss Dev, what this lady did? I was drivin' back from a rodeo in Santa Fe. It was two in the mornin', and some drunks ran a stop sign and plowed into the side of my rig and totaled it. By the time it was breakin' daylight, I was at the phone booth in front of the hospital with about ten bucks to my name. It had cost me over $200 in the emergency room. I didn't know what to do. Mr. Burdett was out of town, so I called Mrs. Tagley at 5:00 a.m. and asked if she could wire me enough for a bus ticket home.”

  “And she sent you the money for a ticket?”

  “I went to Western Union, and there was $25,000 and a note that I should buy myself a new truck, and she'd have some loan papers I could sign when I got home.”

  Mrs. Tagley waved it off. “Buses are so slow. I knew he'd want to get home sooner than that.”

  “She paid the doctor's bill when I ran into that baseball bat with my jaw,” Tiny said.

  “Baseball bat?”

  “Victor Slade was trying to empty the Drifter's Social Club.”

  “Oh.”

  “Mrs. Tagley, you get yourself well. Knowin' you are there for us helps us keep pluggin' away. We need you in Argenta,” Pete insisted.

  T. J. just stood against the wall, tears rolling down his cheeks.

  Mrs. Tagley glanced at Develyn.

  “Whether I recover or not is surely up to the good Lord. Thanks for coming to see me. It perks me up and makes me feel young.”

  “It does?” Tiny asked.

  “Yes, at the moment I don't feel a day over eighty-five.”

  Pete cleared his throat and stared at the top of his worn brown boots. “I don't think you look a day over eighty.”

  Mrs. Tagley grinned at Develyn. “You can't beat that cowboy charm, can you, Devy girl? And people wonder why I like living out in ranch country.”

  When Cuban shoved his cowboy hat on, the others did the same. “We'd better light a shuck, ma'am. You take care of yourself. We'll send some bunkhouse prayers your way.”

  “Thank you, boys.”

  One by one they filed by her bed. Each one held her hand, leaned over, and kissed her on the cheek before they left.

  Develyn stood by the bed, her arms folded across her chest. “Mrs. Tagley, oh sweetie, those boys need you.”

  The white-haired lady exposed a sly smile. “I never thought the day would come when looking eighty would be such a wonderful compliment.”

  “You really sent Cuban $25,000?”

  “He paid off that truck in three years. Why does the Lord give us money anyway?”

  Develyn's cell phone rang. She stepped out into the hallway.

  “Hi, Mom.”

  “Dee, what did the doctor say?”

  “I didn't see her.”

  Develyn felt her neck stiffen. “Sweetheart, this has to stop. You have…”

  “Mother, relax, take a big breath. It was not my fault this time. When we got there, we were told that she had an emergency. There was a difficult delivery–twins, and both turned wrong.”

  “Oh, dear, that does sound critical.”

  “They asked me to come back in a couple hours. So Casey and I hung out with a friend of hers who owns a pizza place.”

  “First Stop?”

  “Yes, isn't it great pizza?”

  “That's not what I want to talk about.”

  “When we went back, the nurse said the doctor needed to stay with the babies and had to cancel. I got another appoint
ment for the day after tomorrow. Mother, I didn't know what else to do. You can talk to Casey if you don't believe me.”

  “I believe you, Dee. Sorry I got so jumpy. That's all you could do. How are the babies?”

  “Fine, as far as I know.”

  “What did she have? Boys or girls?”

  “I don't know, Mom, a cow is a cow to me.”

  “Cow?”

  “Yeah, the doctor has some cattle and went home at noon to check on them.”

  “You were talking about cows?”

  “Mom, this is Wyoming.”

  “Yes, I, of all people, should know that. Lily and Stewart made it to Casper already. I'm staying in town and having supper with them here. You and Casey…and Jackson are welcome to join us.”

  “Mother, I told you I have a date with Hunt.”

  “Yes, well, I guess that slipped my mind.”

  “We have a bunch of pizza left. Casey says the four of us should just hang out at the cabin. Would that be alright?”

  Develyn bit her lower lip. “Dee, you are a smart girl. Do what is smart, OK?”

  “Thanks, Mom. We'll go back to the cabin now. Casey said she'd teach me how to throw a knife before the guys come over.”

  “She's going to teach you what?”

  “Mom, you are so fun. Casey told me to say that. She said you'd fall for it. Casey wants to talk to you.”

  “Hey, Dev.”

  “Bronze Bombshell, what are you teaching my daughter?”

  “Devy-girl, I'm just tryin' to take up the slack for the pathetic Indiana education.”

  “Thank you for that. Is that why you wanted to talk to me?”

  “No, I had an idea. Let's pitch a barbecue for your Lily and her fella. I mean, we all want to meet each other, so why not have a cookout? Kind of a Miss Dev goin' away barbecue.”

  “Where?”

  “At the cabin.”

  “You mean outside?”

  “We aren't going to get a hundred people in the cabin.”

  “A hundred?” Develyn gasped.

  “Oh, how I'd like to see that expression. OK, …a dozen or so. It was just a thought. I sort of think I'll have an announcement by then.”

  “Oh, that kind of barbecue!”

  “What do you think? Could we do it tomorrow night?”