Borderland by S. K. Epperson Read Free Book Online Page B

name?"
    " Cal . Who owns the
convertible? Your dad or that other guy?"
    "It's
Uncle Nolan's car. Me and Christa are going to wash it for him when Daddy comes
back. You wanna help?"
    "Not
likely," Cal said with a snort.
    Andy
kicked at the gravel and looked aimlessly around. "Are there any kitties
here, Cal ?"
    He
shrugged. "In the barn. But they're wild."
    "What
does that mean?"
    "It
means they won't let you come near them. None of them are tame."
    "Oh,"
Andy said, and her obvious disappointment made Cal smile. She was kind of cute.
    "We
can try to tame them if you want to. Mom doesn't like it when I give them milk,
but if your Dad says it’s okay then I'll show you what to do."
    Andy
clapped her hands. "Okay! When can we—"
    "Andy!"
    Cal looked up to see the blond man coming down the steps of
the porch.
    "Can't
leave you alone for five minutes without you wandering off. Get back in the
house and help Christa put your stuff up like your dad said."
    "I
was just talking to Cal ," Andy said defiantly.
    "Well
just stop," Nolan said. "Go on or I'll back out on the candy bar deal
we had."
    "That's
not fair," Andy complained.
    "Tough,"
Nolan said. "Go!'
    Andy
went, deliberately dragging her feet in the gravel. Cal started to go back
in the trailer when the man called Nolan stopped him. "Hold on a second. I
want to talk to you."
    "I
don't want to talk to you," Cal said. "I don't like what you said to my mother."
    "And
I don't like kids pointing shotguns at me," came the reply. "I've had
my share of bad experiences in that particular—" There was more coming,
but he suddenly broke off and stooped to look at something in the drive.
    "Goddammit.
That better not be from my car."
    Cal couldn't help himself. "What?"
    "Oil,
or whatever the hell that is."
    "It's
a good-looking car," Cal said. "V-8 engine?"
    "Yeah.
And clean as a whistle before this happy little martyr-making excursion."
    "How
much is it worth?" Cal asked.
    Nolan
straightened and looked at him again. "About three of you and six of your
mother. Did she have the landline in the house disconnected?"
    "No," Cal said.
"The lines were cut. Ours were cut, too. Twice. We had it fixed and they
cut 'em again."
    Nolan's
raised eyebrows were two shades darker than his hair. "Who is they?"
    Cal shrugged. "We don't know. Probably the same people
who stole the horses. They got Mom's Mustang, too. They smashed a hole in the
radiator."
    The
eyebrows were meeting now, making Nolan's nose look longer than it was. "A
hole? What about the old man's car? Didn't he have a car?"
    Cal gestured toward the small garage on the south side of the
house. "The Lincoln 's in there. Got a ruptured gas tank. It's been there
almost a year."
    The way
the man was looking at him told Cal that he was deciding whether or not to believe him.
"Come on," Cal said. "I'll show you."
    "Wait
a minute," Nolan said. "Was the radiator punched before or after the
phone lines were cut?"
    "What
difference does that make?" Cal said. "They did it three days after Darwin 's funeral. Me and
Mom have been stranded since then. And then last night they came and—"
    "Why
didn't you walk to town?" Nolan interrupted.
    Cal 's mouth tightened. "Because we were afraid of what
would happen if we left. We've done all right, mister. We have a garden and
two—well, one goat now. Mom was anxious for Mr. Kimmler to get here so he could
help her straighten things out. She called Ed Kisner, and then she called the
sheriff, but he—"
    "You
mean you've been eating radishes and drinking goat's milk for the last ten
days? What the hell kind of mother have you got, kid?"
    Cal shook a trickle of perspiration from his temple and
stepped toward the blond man. "We didn't have any choice. It isn't her
fault. They came again last night and tried to run her down in the drive. We
surprised them with the guns I got from the house, but while we were out here
they were in our trailer killing our other goat and slopping blood everywhere.
I can show you that too