Read Online The Last Chance Ranch by Ruth Wind, Barbara Samuel - Free Book Online
Authors: Ruth Wind, Barbara Samuel
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nights, and the way home feels so cozy when you go back inside.
I used to read to you on those crisp nights. I hope Ramón reads to you all the time. It’s so important. But I think he knows that.
Be good, Antonito.
Love, Mom
T hey peeled and chopped chilies all afternoon, just Ramón and Tanya. As the hours passed, the day grew dark, and a storm threatened over the mountains. Lightning flashed and thunder rolled, but it was distant and untroublesome. Soon the yellow school bus would come down the road and stop at the narrow path that the boys’ feet had made through the fields, and a tumble of young blue-jeaned, flannel shirted bodies would pour out.
It made her feel very cozy to think of it.
“So,” Tanya said into a lull. “We started to talk about Peru, but all you said was that you got to go. Why did you want to go there?”
“I don’t know,” he said slowly. “I can’t really remember anymore. I think there was a film in school or something and I liked the way the mountains looked.” He gave her a rueful look. “I didn’t like Anglos very much and I liked the thought of going to a place where I’d be a part of the majority.”
Tanya looked at him. “And was it what you thought?”
“No. It was more and it was less, but no place is ever really what you think it is.”
“What was more?”
“The land. It’s almost impossible to tell you how beautiful it is there. The mountains and the people and the customs—I loved it. I loved hearing Spanish being spoken all the time, too. Like a lot of children around here at that time, I spoke Spanish before I spoke English.”
“And what was less?”
He smiled, and she liked the way small sun lines crinkled around the edges of his eyes. They were living lines, evidence of his maturity and his time on the planet. “I was still an outsider.”
Tanya nodded. “Odd man out. I know that feeling.” She paused, then found herself saying, “One of the things I liked about Victor was the way he made me belong to him. I wasn’t on the outside anymore. If he could have inhaled me, he would have. It sounds weird, in light of what happened later, but he really made me feel safe.”
“It doesn’t sound weird.” His hand moved on the table, as if he would touch her, then stilled. “It’s like me and Peru. Same thing. We just needed different kinds of safety.”
She gave him a sardonic little grin. “Some safety, huh?”
He acknowledged her irony with a quick lift of his brows. Beyond the kitchen, they could hear the sound of boys coming in from school, the uncertain tenors and altos mixing with the more certain bass of the older boys. Laughter and jests punctured the air as the boys shuffled toward the dining room to read the chores list and pick up the snacks waiting on the sideboard—cinnamon rolls and raisins this afternoon.
One of the counselors stuck his head into the kitchen. “Ramón, can I see you in here?”
“Be right there.” He stood up and washed his hands. “Are you all right for dinner? Shall I send some more help?”
“I’ll be fine,” she said. “You’ve been a big help already. Thanks.”
He winked. “My pleasure.”
At the door to the dining room, he paused. “Tomorrow, barring bad weather, we’re slated to harvest apples, so what about Monday for our trip to the library?”
“Fine.”
“Have you ever harvested apples?”
Tanya shook her head. “Can’t say that I have.”
“You might like it. Why don’t you plan to come with us down to the orchards?”
“Great.” Several boys had filtered into the room, dropping book bags in the usual corner before putting on aprons. Tanya lifted her chin to Ramón, and he left.
The boys who had drawn KP today ranged in age from ten to sixteen. Tonio was not with them, she noted with a little sense of disappointment. Sometimes he stayed in town to visit his girlfriend or go to debate practice. A van from the ranch would pick him up just before supper, along with
I used to read to you on those crisp nights. I hope Ramón reads to you all the time. It’s so important. But I think he knows that.
Be good, Antonito.
Love, Mom
T hey peeled and chopped chilies all afternoon, just Ramón and Tanya. As the hours passed, the day grew dark, and a storm threatened over the mountains. Lightning flashed and thunder rolled, but it was distant and untroublesome. Soon the yellow school bus would come down the road and stop at the narrow path that the boys’ feet had made through the fields, and a tumble of young blue-jeaned, flannel shirted bodies would pour out.
It made her feel very cozy to think of it.
“So,” Tanya said into a lull. “We started to talk about Peru, but all you said was that you got to go. Why did you want to go there?”
“I don’t know,” he said slowly. “I can’t really remember anymore. I think there was a film in school or something and I liked the way the mountains looked.” He gave her a rueful look. “I didn’t like Anglos very much and I liked the thought of going to a place where I’d be a part of the majority.”
Tanya looked at him. “And was it what you thought?”
“No. It was more and it was less, but no place is ever really what you think it is.”
“What was more?”
“The land. It’s almost impossible to tell you how beautiful it is there. The mountains and the people and the customs—I loved it. I loved hearing Spanish being spoken all the time, too. Like a lot of children around here at that time, I spoke Spanish before I spoke English.”
“And what was less?”
He smiled, and she liked the way small sun lines crinkled around the edges of his eyes. They were living lines, evidence of his maturity and his time on the planet. “I was still an outsider.”
Tanya nodded. “Odd man out. I know that feeling.” She paused, then found herself saying, “One of the things I liked about Victor was the way he made me belong to him. I wasn’t on the outside anymore. If he could have inhaled me, he would have. It sounds weird, in light of what happened later, but he really made me feel safe.”
“It doesn’t sound weird.” His hand moved on the table, as if he would touch her, then stilled. “It’s like me and Peru. Same thing. We just needed different kinds of safety.”
She gave him a sardonic little grin. “Some safety, huh?”
He acknowledged her irony with a quick lift of his brows. Beyond the kitchen, they could hear the sound of boys coming in from school, the uncertain tenors and altos mixing with the more certain bass of the older boys. Laughter and jests punctured the air as the boys shuffled toward the dining room to read the chores list and pick up the snacks waiting on the sideboard—cinnamon rolls and raisins this afternoon.
One of the counselors stuck his head into the kitchen. “Ramón, can I see you in here?”
“Be right there.” He stood up and washed his hands. “Are you all right for dinner? Shall I send some more help?”
“I’ll be fine,” she said. “You’ve been a big help already. Thanks.”
He winked. “My pleasure.”
At the door to the dining room, he paused. “Tomorrow, barring bad weather, we’re slated to harvest apples, so what about Monday for our trip to the library?”
“Fine.”
“Have you ever harvested apples?”
Tanya shook her head. “Can’t say that I have.”
“You might like it. Why don’t you plan to come with us down to the orchards?”
“Great.” Several boys had filtered into the room, dropping book bags in the usual corner before putting on aprons. Tanya lifted her chin to Ramón, and he left.
The boys who had drawn KP today ranged in age from ten to sixteen. Tonio was not with them, she noted with a little sense of disappointment. Sometimes he stayed in town to visit his girlfriend or go to debate practice. A van from the ranch would pick him up just before supper, along with
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