EXCERPTS:
From Family of Strangers:
Brenham, Texas 1868
Ian and the general store owner stacked the food and supplies beside the pack mule. Chub made good use of his ability to lash and fasten with sailor’s knots as they worked to secure everything on the little animal. As the load grew heavier, the mule’s ears twitched and its feet shifted. Ian watched the mule’s ears go back as Chub walked behind the animal. He yelled at Chub, “Move away – Caracara’s going…!”
Chub jumped back a fraction of a second too late. The mule let fly and a hind hoof caught Chub on his upper thigh. His new hat flew off and he took a hard seat in the dusty street, he jumped up and, to the noisy delight of the knot of men who gathered to watch, planted a healthy kick to the mule’s rear end.
Surprised, Caracara’s ears shot forward and he turned his head to look at Chub. The kick seemed to establish this man as a higher order of animal. He submitted meekly to the rest of the loading.
From Grace
Sunrise Ranch, West of Ft. Worth, Texas, 1916
In the wee hours of Wednesday morning before the party, Madeline half woke to the noise of a wagon coming into the ranch house yard. No one called out. Maybe it was a dream.
She turned over and went back to sleep. Juana’s shouted curses in Spanish and her husband’s (Jesus)’ weak protests startled her awake an hour later. She threw on a robe and ran to the front door.
Jesus was backed up against the tall pecan tree shielding his face with his hands. With each invective she shouted, Juana hurled an egg from the basket at her feet at him. So far, she had scored a bull’s-eye every time. Raw eggs and shells oozed off him in slimy rivulets.
Madeline wrapped her arms around her rib cage and choked on her laughter. Funny as the sight was, it was also Juana’s tragedy.
“Juana! Stop! We need those eggs,” Madeline called.
From Black Cover
Rio Grande River, Texas, 1952
"Yee-haw!" yelled the man in prow of the raft. "Boys, you havin' fun yet?"
The two boys sitting in the middle of the raft could see only a slice of the deep blue Texas sky punctuated by a few puffy white clouds.
"Sure, Uncle Raymond," one of the ten year olds, Tommy, replied in a little voice that belied his words. This, their first rafting trip, was a rite of passage for them. No way would they admit fear but inside they were thankful to be wearing the orange life vests. The Rio Grande River seemed alive and hell bent on ditching them.
David, the other boy, hung on and stayed silent. He was seeing the canyon from a new perspective. The boy's other two uncles sitting in the back of the raft had taken the boys on camping trips to the Big Bend National Park so they was used to looking down from the cliff tops on this stretch of the river. Looking up from the riverbed was a different matter altogether. Sheer limestone canyon walls enclosed the river in a narrow channel. This two mile stretch of white water was busy cutting through the rocks; it took no time to form beaches along this stretch.
The water calmed as suddenly as it had roiled and the ride became smooth. As David saw his Uncle Raymond turn to face them with a wide grin, a loud crack echoed off the walls. A dark hole obliterated Raymond's left eye and he pitched backwards. He didn't fall out but his head and one shoulder hung over the side. David heard a second crack and Tommy fell heavily against him knocking him sideways and into the shallow water in the bottom of the raft. He was half under Tommy's body on his back looking up. Something sticky was oozing over his chest. The warm, metallic smell of blood filled his nostrils before he saw its color spreading.
He pushed himself up then leaned forward and vainly tried to pull his cousin upright. As he looked up, two puffs exploded from the canyon rim on the Mexico side. A third and fourth crack sounded in quick succession. His two uncles, Roland and Asa, were hit from behind. David saw Asa's head explode in blood and brain matter; some of it landed on the boy’s face and hair. He dropped forward over Tommy in a shocked stillness that probably saved his life. The snipers thought they had killed all of them.
The now unguided raft continued its journey.
