Stars Always Shine Read Online Free PDF Page B

place, the owners told us that they wanted to let this guy stay on for another month until he found work someplace else. They said he was the best worker they had, even though he doesn’t speak any English. When this property was full of horses, it was a big thoroughbred ranch, and there were a lot of ranch hands who lived and worked here. I guess that was like a bunkhouse. You know, at one time, this ranch had almost two hundred horses on it!”
    Mitch had heard about the reputation of StarRidge Ranch when it was Thundering Thoroughbreds Ranch. She also knew that the world of racehorses could be a cruel and expensive business. Eventually the cost of running such a facility caught up to and passed the owners, who sold out and fled just before creditors could claim their due. Of course, it was a hot item of discussion in the local horse world, and the “do-tell” and “you-don’t-say” talk was usually pretty reliable information.
    Jacqueline continued, “They paid us for his rent, so we made a few dollars out of the deal. But we want him out of here as soon as his time’s up.”
    “So you’re not thinking of keeping another hand on?” Mitch asked. “If he was good enough for the previous owners to care about, and good enough to stay on at what was once a major thoroughbred facility, he would probably be valuable to keep around for awhile. He knows the ranch better than any of us. And he could certainly help with the irrigation.”
    “That’s a thought,” Mickey said. “We know we need to off twenty-five hundred gallons of water a day, but we really don’t know the irrigation pattern.”
    “No. I just can’t pay another worker,” Jacqueline countered. “Mickey and me can help out on weekends. The four of us can run this ranch. We’ll just have to wing it for awhile. Just tell him to leave in three weeks.”
    “Well, didn’t the previous owners tell him when he had to be gone?” Place asked.
    “Yes, they did,” Jacqueline answered impatiently. “But I want you to tell him just to remind him. We’re going to remodel that place and rent it out. We need the extra income. Like I said, the guy can stay until his rent’s up, but we’ve got to get moving on bringing this entire ranch up to working condition. I can’t have no dead weight around here. I’m sorry if that sounds cruel, but business is business.”
    Mitch and Place watched and relaxed as the flashy red pickup left them and StarRidge Ranch in quiet coexistence. They held each other’s waists as they turned and took in the panorama of their new home. At the end of Place’s circle of view, he was reminded of the message he had to deliver as the small, worn help house signaled to him.
    “Well, you better go talk to the guy, honey,” Mitch said. “I’m going in to finish up the last bit of work I have left before I’m cut loose from the office and make arrangements to have the condo rented.” She was happy that she no longer would have to interpret the law and argue for issues that often conflicted with her own ethos.
    “I hope he understands my Spanish,” Place said to himself as he walked to the house which he had always presumed was uninhabited and uninhabitable.
    Place approached the house slowly. He was running various phrases of Spanish through his head to tune up for the conversation. He did not speak Spanish as often as he would like to. When he did meet someone who spoke that other language, he would try to start a conversation as best he could. But usually Place’s words became a bilingual salt and pepper seasoning that only worked with those like himself, those whose own minds tried to negotiate the rhythms and verb tenses of Spanish with an English that was inherently mezclado, all mixed up. He regretted that one of the sacrifices in advanced education, and in all formal education, was giving up that other language, and with it that other culture that periodically returned to him in singing medleys and rhythmic movements