by Glover, Dan
"Yes, Billy... that and lots more... you're but a boy while Evalena's much older than she appears. She'll make you want her and then you'll give yourself to her."
"Well, I surely appreciate you looking out for me, Yani. I better be going now... it's late and father'll wonder where I am."
As he swung up to the saddle and nudged his horse into a slow canter she could sense that he took her admonition as a joke. And where in all of Texas did Billy get the idea that Evalena was her younger sister? The girl must be filling his head with nonsense... Yani remembered Evalena as a grown woman when she was just a girl.
Or did she? It'd been so long ago that she sometimes wondered if her memory played tricks on her. Perhaps the woman she thought was Evalena was actually someone else. She'd no way of verifying the facts one way or the other... father was gone, and Evalena wasn’t going to volunteer the information she needed to confirm or deny the woman's identity.
They were sleeping together.
A few months after trying to warn the boy about her sister Yani had noticed Billy exiting the chabola early one March morning just as the sky was turning a different shade of black with the far off coming of the dawn. He was tucking his flannel shirt into his trousers as like a wraith he quietly slipped out of the shack. She wouldn't have noticed at all if she hadn’t felt the need to urinate about that same time and made her way to the outhouse.
She hid in the shadows and watched. The boy spent a minute rummaging through the shed where they kept the gardening tools. When he emerged she noticed he had a spade in his hands as he walked to his horse. He stood there tying it onto the side of his saddle as she approached as stealthily as she might.
She wondered if she should say something to Rancher Ford about his son and Evalena but the boy was of the age now to make his own decisions and knowing his father's proclivities towards the women she imagined he might be proud of his son even if she was to inform on him.
Then again Rancher was probably already alert to the affair. Nothing much happened on the Triple Six without the man being aware of it. She noticed long ago how he made a point of hobnobbing with all the hired hands and catching up on all the latest gossip.
Evalena wanted something. Yani knew the girl too well to accept that she'd fallen in love with Billy Ford. She was grooming the boy like her own father had done to her for so many years. She decided boldness was needed, otherwise the boy would succumb to her sister's charms and never know what hit him.
"Billy... we have to talk... please wait a moment."
She could see it startled him to hear her words coming out of the darkness. He turned as if expecting someone else... did she sound that much like Evalena? Did he expect the girl to be running after him?
"Oh... hi Yani... I didn’t mean to wake you."
"You didn’t wake me, Billy. I never sleep well. We need to talk though... Evalena's broken many hearts and she'll break yours too, if you're lucky."
"What do you mean by that, Yani?"
"As I said before to you, Evalena isn't who she seems... she has an agenda which may include you in the beginning but the ending will be bad. There's magic at work in the world which few people recognize these days, and it's not always good."
"Speaking of magic I noticed that altar Evalena keeps in her room... I have to admit it's a little spooky."
"You've no idea of the powers Evalena worships, Billy Ford... should anyone cross her she has the ability to summon... oh... I've said too much... just know that the woman you love doesn't share your affections... she's manipulating you into doing her bidding."
"Well, ma'am... I sort of get the idea all women do that to the men they're with... I've noticed it with my father. I've seen how he kowtows to every pretty girl he comes across. Isn't that sort of the way of the world, Yani?"
"I guess it depends on which world you're talking about, Billy Ford. The world you know—the one where your father beds all the beauties—is a normal place even if one of great suffering too. The world which Evalena inhabits is a far different place full of omens and magic."
"You make her sound spooky, Yani. But I love Evalena and she loves me. We're going to make a life together."
"In that case I'll enlighten you to something now if you give me your word you'll never repeat it... especially to my sister. If she knew what I'm telling you she'd fly into a rage and there's no telling what she might do."
"I promise... though I don’t know what you could possibly tell me that'd change my mind about your sister."
"Swear to me, Billy Ford... swear to me on your mother's life... that she might be struck dead should you ever repeat what I'm about to tell you."
"I swear on my mother... may she be struck dead if I repeat your words to anyone."
"Evalena's a bruja... a witch. She's far older than she appears. She's not my sister or even my mother or grandmother though we're indeed related. Evalena comes from a time long ago when the magic she works was more pronounced in the world, more respected."
"Come on, Yani... you don't expect me to believe that, do you?"
"Listen, Billy... my father was her familiar."
"What's a familiar?"
"A demon from beyond this world, Billy... she enchanted him the same way she's doing to you. Should you fall under her sway you'll become hers to order as she will, if that hasn't already occurred."
"Your little sister's an enchantress, I'll give you that. But I'm no demon... except maybe in bed."
She ignored the dig at her. The boy was obviously already under Evalena's spell and nothing she could say would break it. Still, she had to try.
"You must go to her of your own free will, Billy. She cannot take you unless you surrender yourself to her."
"Well, ma'am... I'm afraid she's gone and charmed me."
"Listen to me, Billy... once she has a grip upon your heart, she'll never let you go. She'll make you do unspeakable things even to those you love the most and you'll be powerless to stop."
"Why are you telling me this now, Yani?"
"You're right, Billy. It's better that I should keep quiet but I also understand how much you mean to my son. He adores you and I trust you love him as well. Unless you break free of the spell Evalena has cast over you, that love will mean nothing in the end."
"I surely appreciate you telling me all this, Yani... I better be going though. I've a chore to do before the sun comes up."
She could see right off that the boy didn't believe her. Who would? Evalena might be a temptress but to accuse her of being a witch ran counter to everything in the world that Billy Ford knew so well. Even she had a hard time accepting it as fact.
"What are you going to dig up, Billy Ford?"
"How do you know what I'm doing?"
"I saw you come out of the shed and tie that shovel on your horse. Most times anyone takes a shovel with them it means they're planning on doing some digging."
"Yeah... well, I'm not sure, Yani... I think it might be something Evalena's been searching for... I had a dream about a tree and I know it's sort of stupid but I'm going to see what happens anyway. I mean, it can't hurt. The worst I can do is waste some time."
"She's been looking for the stone. That's what you're going to dig for."
"Yes... that's right."
The boy seemed surprise that she guessed his secret so easily. She wondered if Billy Ford could hear the song of the stone too or if he was telling the truth that he'd dreamed of it. Perhaps the piedra was ready to be found.
"Evalena is subject to hallucinations, Billy. She has a form of epilepsy that makes her think her delusions are real. This stone that she seeks is all in her mind."
"She seemed pretty sure that I've been around it though, Yani. Evalena told me she could read its effects in the palm of my hand."
"Come on, Billy... does that sound rational to you? What kind of stone could do that to anyone?"
"To tell the truth, I have no idea what sort of stone she means. She told me I'd know it when I saw it. I had the strangest
dream just now that I heard music coming from under the sycamore tree that grows inside that old church... you know, the one they call the Church of the Five Angels. I figured I might try my hand at digging under that tree and see what I can find."
"Stay here for a little while, Billy... let me make you some breakfast before you set out on your quest."
"I better not, Yani... thank you though. I best be getting on... I don’t want anyone to see me digging."
"Come, Billy... whatever's buried has been there a long while and it'll wait. And no one ever goes to that old church anyway. You've no worries about anyone seeing you. Fill your empty belly and the digging will be easier."
"Well, I am a might hungry now that I think about it. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to have a bite before I set out."
She wanted to drag the boy from his saddle, to take the shovel hanging from the side of his horse, and beat him to death with it. She saw it happening right before her eyes—his brains staining the yellow dirt red and his split skull pale and white under the moon—as if she was a silent witness to murder. It was the only way to stop what was about to happen... she knew it, and yet she couldn't bring herself to harm Billy Ford.
It was strange. The boy could well be her own son and despite the gulf of time and wealth that separated them she loved him as much as she loved Church. If she couldn't dissuade him from seeing Evalena, perhaps there was another way to solve the problem.
After tying off his horse to the fence Billy followed Yani back to the chabola where she cracked eggs to prepare a breakfast for him. Sprinkling the concoction liberally with ganthoda powder she added salt and pepper to cover the slightly bitter taste of the sedative... Billy was yawning already so all he needed was a slight push and he'd be asleep at the table.
She could not allow the piedra to fall into Evalena's hands. Yani had no idea how Billy knew where to look for it but she'd soon have the stone moved to a safe place where no one could ever find it again.
Chapter 17
He listened to tales of the valley all his life.
"If you ever have the chance, Church, travel to a village in Mexico called Angangueo. It's where all the butterflies go each winter."
He loved listening to his mother's stories of the places where she lived before coming to Texas. Though she seemed like a young girl the way she talked she had lived in Mexico for ages, and before that on an island in the Caribbean called Cuba.
She didn’t often speak of her former life. Every once in a great while, however, his mother seemed to grow pensive... at the turning of winter into spring and also when summer began to fade into autumn, those were the times she opened up to him.
Church couldn’t remember being more than five miles from the little chabola in his whole life. The Triple Six hacienda was grand and beautiful but it too seemed to pale into insignificance against the backdrop that was the world and all its magnificent treasures.
He was needed, though.
The ponies expected him to come to them each morning with little treats he purchased in the tiny village on the outskirts of the ranch. Church didn't exactly know how many ponies there were but he knew them all by name and delighted at their snickers of greeting each morning as he walked into the corral.
There was more that ponies holding him at the hacienda... he didn’t want to leave all the work for his brother and of course he worried about his father having to do too much in his absence too. Still, Church sometimes wished he could simply evaporate like the rain that fell so sparsely sometimes turning into nothing but mist hanging like curtains in the air even before it hit the ground.
"Do you ever wonder what would happen if you just disappeared one day, Billy Ford?"
They were saddling up to ride out to the western boundary where some fences were down. Sometimes it seemed to Church that all he did was go in circles around the ranch and no sooner had one broken fence line been set right a half dozen more needed mending.
Now he understood why Rancher had admonished him to think carefully before accepting a job at the Triple Six. That was ten years ago and in his excitement Church never considered the consequences.
"Oh, I expect the world would keep right on turning with or without me, Church. You sound preoccupied, little brother. Tell me what's on your mind."
"I heard you talking to father about going to the university next year. Is it true?"
"I want to stay here on the Triple Six, Church. I mean, look at me. Do I look like a college boy to you?"
"No, not really... but aren't you excited to see new things?"
"I've been back east with my mother. It's a different world out there, Church."
"How is it different, Billy? Do you mean the big cities as compared to open spaces?"
"Sure, there's that, but the people are different too. Here, if someone gives you their word on something and shakes your hand, the deal's done. Back east, people are always trying to get the better of everyone else. They draw up complex contracts and then hire an attorney to figure out how to get around it."
Church didn’t want to say so to Billy but he'd heard talk all his life about Rancher Ford taking advantage of people down on their luck. He checked the cinch on his saddle by leaning over to pass his fingers through it to make sure it wasn’t too tight and then straightened up to look at his brother.
"I don't know much... I've never been outside King county, Billy. But I expect people are the same everywhere. There's good ones and bad ones."
"Maybe you should be the one going off to college, Church. It might open your eyes to the world."
"I'm like you, Billy. I'll always be a cowpoke. But I wouldn’t mind seeing the world one day."
"Father keeps telling me how he thinks I should go away to the university. I know it's really my mother's idea and I love her but I don't want to go. I know I'd hate it. I'd end up spending four years there... years I can never get back... and come home poorer for the experience of it all."
"I expect father understands what you're going through, Billy. He never went to college. I'm sorry to say I never got to know your mother before she left."
"It's my mother who is insisting. Don’t get me wrong... she's a fine woman but she never liked Texas. Maybe in time father will see how much he needs me here and agree that I don't have to go away at all."
"I'd sell my soul for a chance like that, Billy. I mean, to see the world and meet new people and learn all sorts of things I never thought of before... it'd be like a dream come true for me. I'm not so sure about going to the university, though."
"Hush, Church... don't talk of selling the only thing that's really yours, especially around here."
"It's just a figure of speech, Billy. Who'd buy it anyway?"
"Your aunt might make you a bargain for it."
"What do you mean by that, Billy?"
"Just forget I said anything, Church. Come on... let's get to running those fences... they aren't going to mend themselves."
Was Billy beginning to understand that his infatuation with Evalena would lead him down dark paths better left untrodden? Perhaps it wasn’t too late for his brother to break free of the woman.
The sun was just coming up and the day promised to be another hot one. Church poured the stale water from his canteen to refill it at the water spigot before slinging it over his saddle horn, stepping into the stirrup, and pulling himself onto his horse.
Billy was already a good thirty paces ahead but Church didn’t hurry to catch up. He sensed his brother had things on his mind that doubtlessly pertained to Evalena.
In one way Church was secretly happy that Billy Ford wasn’t going away. Conversely, though, he wondered if that wasn’t exactly what Billy needed... to get away from the girl, to let his spirit settle and to give himself some breathing space. It seemed to Church that Billy's cinch was pulled way too tightly.
For years the talk had been that both boys would one day leave the ranch to attend universities meant to instruct them on the ways of the world. But
to Church, the ways of the world couldn't be taught inside any building.
Still, he yearned to see the world... to learn the secrets kept in those high towers of ivory and taught only to the select few deemed worthy. On the other hand, to be forced to sit inside a classroom day after day didn't appeal to him, not after the years he'd spent riding the open range and living under a wide Texas sky.
He'd rather be traveling light with only the clothes on his back, an old pickup truck, and a few dollars in his pockets. When he got tired he'd pull over somewhere and sleep. When he grew hungry he'd stop and fix himself some dinner. In the summertime when the weather was hot he'd travel north... in the winter he'd reverse course and head south.
Though he loved reading he didn’t cotton to the idea of being told what books to read. Rather, if he picked up a book off a shelf and liked the beginning he enjoyed reading it through. He didn’t need any professors forcing him into their curriculum.
Perhaps with Billy's lead he wouldn't be forced into attending college either. Church detested the thought of being indoors all the time and though he loved learning new things he had no desire to emulate the stuffed shirt teachers that spent their lives instructing others on how to live without ever learning themselves.
"Have you ever had a girlfriend, Church?"
Since his horse was more heavily laden it wasn’t long before Billy fell back with Church as they rode down the arroyo and into the hardpan.
"No, not really... remember Tree? I sort of liked her but I haven’t seen her since school ended. What do you and Evalena do when you're together, Billy? Is she your girlfriend?"
"No, nothing like that... we talk... that's about it."
Sometimes he thought how he might take Billy inside the chabola to reveal Evalena's alter. He remembered what an impression it'd made upon him when he first saw it so he imagined it might do the same for Billy. As ever, though, his aunt seemed to sense Church's intentions to show Billy Ford things before the time was ripe. She was always home when Billy came to visit like they made plans for it to be that way.
"I guess we better be getting started on those fences, Billy. It feels like it's gonna be another hot one. Will Evalena be around later? I have something I'd like to show you but only if she's gone."
