markwildyr.com,
Post #116
Complications,
complications, complications. Last week, Hawk found Ramon and whisked him into
hiding. Now what happens? Ramon is a fugitive now, so that places Hawk in
danger, as well. How can this possibly end?
Next
week, I’ll return to publishing every first and third Thursday.
*****
HAWK—OTRA VEZ
Part 3
The
next day was merely routine patrol. Hawk, never as talkative as his buddy, kept
his silence. Around midday, Grove glanced at Hawk and growled in exasperation.
“Shit, you went looking for the Mexican kid last night, didn’t you? You musta
looked all night because you’re asleep on your feet. Lean back and catch forty.
I’ll keep my eyes peeled.”
Hawk
did just that.
Hs
kept delaying a decision over what to do about Ramon. At first, because the boy
needed to recover from exposure and dehydration. Then he found other excuses to
delay a decision. Ramon had been cooped up in Hawk’s house for almost a month
when Grove pushed Hawk into a corner.
“Let’s
go across the border and visit the cat house.”
“Man,
I’m running short this month.”
“Yeah, me, too. Okay, tell you what. Let’s call Sheila and Berry
for a couple of rounds at the Mesa and then take them back to your pad.”
Fearing
a refusal would excite suspicion, Hawk agreed. They reported in and made ready
to leave.
“Pick
you up at your place in a few, bro!” Grove said on the way out the door.
Hawk
had his mouth open protest when the boss called him inside the office to ask his
opinion of two new applicants Amadeo had been interviewing. After Hawk put in
his two cents, he worried about Grove showing up at his place before he got
home. Using the phone on the desk he and Grove shared to dial his house, he let
it ring once, hung up and dialed again. Ramon answered.
“Gotta
talk fast. Got roped into going to the Blue Mesa with my partner this evening. Couldn’t
get out of it. And Grove wants bring the
girls back to the house later. I hate to ask this, but when we pull up can you
go to the barn and wait in that emergency hideaway we fixed up?”
“Sure.
Ramon hide in barn while Hawk fuck puta.” Hurt and distaste laced the
boy’s voice. “Sorry, Hawk. Ramon know you have to put up face for others. He
hide.”
“Thanks.
Grove is coming to the house to pick me up, but I oughta get there before he does,
okay?”
Hawk
hung up the phone and headed out the door to find the Dodge sitting at an odd
angle. He’d picked up a nail somewhere on the way to work this morning. It took
twenty minutes to change the tire. When Hawk pulled into his own driveway,
Grove’s pickup was sitting at the curb. He got out and explained about the flat.
Grove didn’t seem interested.
“You
got company?”
“No,
why?”
“Got
the impression somebody’s in there.”
“Look,
I’m a mess. I need to clean up. Why don’t you meet the girls, and I’ll be there
as quick as I can. We can’t all ride in your pickup anyway.”
“Berry
wants to show off her new Taurus. She’s picking us up here.”
Hawk
mentally cursed as he stomped across the porch and made a show of unlocking the
door. There was no sign of Ramon when he entered.
“Damn,
you keep a clean place,” Grove commented, looking around the spotless living room
and wandering the rest of the small house. No doubt he was checking the place
out. Hawk was pulling on a clean set of jeans when the women arrived in a
bright red Ford. He scrambled to get outside before they could come in.
Grove
was his usual lively self, and it proved infectious. Hawk tried calling the
house with his special ring a couple of times, but there was no answer. The
party accelerated. The four of them stopped just short of being blasted but
escaped the place without getting into a fight, although Grove almost managed
it a couple of times. Hawk breathed a silent prayer of thanks when Berry took
them to her apartment.
The
girls dropped them off at Hawk’s place well after midnight. Grove asked to come
inside and use the restroom, although normally he wouldn’t have been bashful
about watering the azaleas, if there had been any azaleas. Probably wanted to
see inside of the house again. Grove left the bathroom door open while he
pissed, sounding like a garden hose filling a galvanized bucket.
After
his friend left, Hawk found Ramon hiding in the barn, cold and unhappy.
“La Migra
come for Ramon now?” the boy asked.
Hawk
frowned. “No. INS isn’t coming. Why’d you ask that?”
“But
Ramon have to go now.” The boy’s voice broke.
“Sooner
or later you’ll have to, we both knew that,” Hawk said soothingly.
“Hawk
no understand. Hawk compadre, he see Ramon.”
“What!”
“Ramon
hear truck. He go to window, pull back cortinas, and look right at this
Grove. He look back at Ramon.”
“Shit!”
Hawk swore.
“Ramon
sorry.” He paused. “He muy handsome, that Grove. Pretty like Hawk, but
not so big. Hawk do things with him?”
“No.”
“But
Hawk like to do it with him, no?” Ramon blurted, striking uncomfortably close
to the truth.
“Ramon.
I have a little savings. We can get you a place across the border. I’ll come be
with you when I can.”
The
look in the boy’s eyes went straight to Hawk’s heart. “Ramon no be Hawk’s puta.”
“Be
reasonable, Ramon. Tomorrow Grove’s going to ask me about you. He thinks you’re
an old girlfriend’s little brother. He’ll understand me helping you, but not
living here indefinitely. It’s different now, kid. You’re a wanted fugitive. You
escaped from custody. When they catch you, you’ll be sent to a federal prison. But
if you’ll let me get you a place across the border—”
“No! Ramon
no sit home and wait for Hawk. Ramon love Hawk. If no be in Hawk life, is
better go back home to Durango.”
Hawk blinked
as he saw something precious slipping away. “Look, we don’t have to do anything
right away. Let’s think about it and do the rational thing.”
“Ramon
leave while Hawk work tomorrow. Best.”
“Promise
me you won’t do that. If you have to go back, I’ll take you myself. I don’t
want you on that desert.” He tried to lighten the mood. “Let’s go to bed and
talk again tomorrow.”
Grove
was waiting for him in the parking lot the next morning. “You get rid of the
Mexican kid?”
“Damn,
Grove, I can’t just throw him to the wolves.”
“What’s
the matter with you, Hawk? You’re jeopardizing your job, maybe even your
freedom. Why didn’t you ask for my help? Don’t you trust me?”
Hawk
stopped dead in his tracks. “That hurt, Grove. I didn’t to involve you because
it might jeopardize your career? Helping
Ramon is something I gotta do, but I can’t ask you to risk yourself.”
“That’s
what friends are for. Anyway, you know you’ve got to do something, don’t you?”
Hawk sighed
and accepted the reality of the situation. “I’ll take him back across tomorrow.”
“Better
drive to California and take him across at Tijuana. Busier there. Nogales is
too close. Word might get back to someone here.”
Hawk worked
the day in what was just short of despair. Grove seemed to understand, because
he kept talk to a minimum.
He was
half-afraid Ramon would be gone when he got home that evening. Instead, the boy
had cooked a good dinner, but Ramon’s eyes were puffy, and Hawk suspected he’d
been crying.
Now, the
kid tried to man-up. “When we go?”
“Early
tomorrow. I’ll drive you to San Diego and we’ll cross at Tijuana. Where will
you go, Ramon? What will you do?”
“Go
home. Get job. Ramon damn good man, he find job.”
After
dinner they cleaned the kitchen together and watched a little TV. Long before
Hawk’s customary bedtime, Ramon looked over at him and put together a complete
sentence in flawless English. “Will you make love to me?”
Without
a word, Hawk led the youth to bed and mounted him gently, face-to-face, and
with a smile his lips. Soon the joy of the occasion overtook the gravity of
Ramon’s mood, and the boy returned the smile. The orgasm, when it came, was no
less forceful because of the tender nature of their loving. Ramon stayed Hawk’s
hand, keeping him from drawing the boy’s seed from his body. Ramon clasped him
to his breast for a long time, neither speaking nor moving. At length, he
released Hawk to go clean up.
While
Hawk was in the shower, Ramon opened the curtain and stepped inside. Taking the
soap from Hawk, he lathered his lover from pate to sole. He shyly asked Hawk to
turn around and laved the deep cleft, soaping all the way to the sphincter. After
he took a rag and rinsed away the soap, he spoke.
“Ramon
never forget Hawk. He see bird high in air, he think of Hawk. He see falcon in
tree, he ache for Hawk.”
Hawk
leaned into the wall and parted his feet as Ramon hugged his back and thrust
his groin at Hawk’s buns without penetrating them. The boy’s breath in his ear
became ragged, his words unintelligible. Hawk understood his young lover was
seeking a moment he could savor forever. Without thinking about it, he relaxed
his muscles, parted his cheeks and endured the pain even as he savored the startled
expression of disbelief and wonder escaping Ramon’s throat. Hawk sensed the boy
becoming the man.
The
beauty of Ramon’s parting gift bled Hawk’s strength away. Without warning, the boy
exploded, shuddered, and withdrew. As Hawk turned to him, Ramon slid down the
side of the shower all the way to the floor, his legs splayed in front of him,
a look of utter joy on his face. Hawk joined him and held him close, allowing
the spray of clean water to shower them anew.
Without
understanding how, Hawk knew he’d made the future better for this beautiful
Mexican youth. His mind centered on the boy’s name. Aguila… Eagle. This night,
Ramon had become an Eagle for his Hawk.
*****
Heartbreaking
but tender ending, and one that is safer for Ramon… and incidentally, Hawk, as
well. They government really does put some return offenders in federal prisons
for stays of six months or longer. And often, young ones like Ramon are used
violently by their older and stronger fellow inmates.
But what
about Grove? What in the world’s going to happen there? And can you imagine the
impact when… and if… two strong men like Curtis Huntinghawk and Grover Whitedeer
get together? Maybe one of these days I’ll get around to posting that story.
Please consider
ordering Cut Hand and Johnny Two-Guns from Dreamspinner Press. I’d like to convince them to publish the rest
of the Cut Hand Series, including the unpublished manuscript Wastelakapi… Beloved, It’ll take some
help from readers to get Dreamspinner interested.
My contact
information is provided below in case anyone wants to drop me a line:
Website and blog: markwildyr.com
Email: markwildyr@aol.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mark.wildyr
Twitter: @markwildyr
The
following are buy links for CUT HAND:
And now my mantra: Keep
on reading. Keep on writing. You have something to say, so say it!
Until next time.
Mark
New posts at 6:00 a.m. on the first and
third Thursday of each month.
No comments:
Post a Comment