C4 antho - Chamber Four

~200~ The Chamber Four Fiction Anthology
Billy hit the brakes and looked up. He had been veering
off into a cut in the timber toward the creek. James Carl
must have seen him and figured he had gone to sleep.
“I’m awake.”
“The Mexicans are here. Park the tractor and come on.”
* * * *
James Carl did the introductions. “Billy, these are the
Mexicans. Mexicans, this is Billy. Tell them how many head
we got and ask them how long’s it going to take. Not that I
care. I just like to know. I’ll go get some ice for the water
cooler.” James Carl carried the water can to the house.
Billy wiped his nose on his shirt sleeve. Words passed
back and forth through his head, but he was afraid to say
them. He knew that once spoken, he’d be expected to make
sense of the words that would come back at him. He pretended
to spot something important on the ground, bent to
pick up a rock, and stuffed it in his pocket. He wiped his nose
again. A square-faced man stepped forward and handed Billy
a red bandana. Billy took it but didn’t know what to do with
it. The man motioned to his face like wiping his nose and
Billy got it. Even though Billy already had a bandana, he nodded
a “thank you” to the man and blew his nose into it. It
smelled of lemons. The Mexican pulled a blue bandana from
his pocket to show him he had another and motioned for
Billy to keep the one he’d handed him. Billy nodded again
but said nothing.
A boy about fifteen, Billy guessed, stepped out from behind
the others. The boy looked toward the sheep gathered
out in the pasture.
“Looks like two thousand. He thinks you speak Spanish,
huh?” the boy said.