Westlake, Donald E - Novel 43 by High Adventure (v1.1) Read Free Book Online

all be married by the time he got out.
                 A
kind of unofficial Cruz family welfare program started up among the other
farmers in the area, as well as some of the merchants from around Orange Walk
and some of the middlemen in the marijuana trade and even a few of the North
American pilots who fly the stuff out, including Kirby. At that time, Kirby had
been around the scene only about five months, and was still settling in. He had
an unsatisfactory relationship going with a legal secretary in Homestead , he was beginning to be interested in Belize as a place rather than merely a cargo stop,
and he saw a way he might both help the Cruz family and introduce a little
stability into his own life.
                 Estelle
Cruz, as short and skinny and brown and gnarled as a cigarillo, had at first
thought Kirby was suggesting a sexual relationship between them during the term
of her husband’s incarceration, and she was edging toward the machete before he
managed to make his proposition clear. What it came down to was, he wanted a
home.
                 There
was a pasture in front of the Cruz house that could serve as a landing strip
for Cynthia—better than some of the jungle strips he normally used—and a good
grove of trees at one end in which to park her. A mule shed on one side of the
house could be enclosed for a separate apartment for himself. Estelle could
cook and clean for him, the children already knew better than to tell their
business to strangers, and Kirby would have a real base of operations at the Belize end of his route.
                 What
he offered in exchange was, in effect, the twentieth century. The Cruz family
homestead was too far off the beaten track to tap into the public power lines,
and they’d never been able to afford their own gasoline-powered electric
generator. Kirby promised to supply electricity, and the appliances to be run
by it. No actual cash would change hands between himself and the Cruzes, but he
would provide them with things and
they would provide him with a home.
                 it
was a fine deal for everyone. While some Cruz and Vasquez (Estelle’s family)
relatives built the addition onto the house, complete with a concrete floor and
glass in the windows, Kirby brought in load after load of materiel. His
southern flights had always been cargoless— except for wads of greenbacks, with
which to pay for the northbound cargos—and money at that time seemed no problem
(he hadn’t yet met Innocent St. Michael), so down came two composting toilets,
an electricity-generating windmill, four solar panels, a gasoline-driven
generator for emergencies, a washing machine, a television set, a refrigerator,
three air conditioners, four blue-light bug zappers, assorted lamps, and a
Cuisinart. And from a dealer in Belize City came the used pickup, which Estelle could
use whenever Kirby didn’t need it, replacing the confiscated van.
                 Even
without the Cuisinart, Estelle had been a wonderful cook, and modem appliances
simply made her output more lavish. In Belize , Kirby ate better than ever before in his
life, and when he looked out his window he could see the spot where his food
had been growing until earlier that same day. The Cruz family was company
without being intmsive (he was gradually learning rudimentary Spanish and
Kekchi from the kids), his quarters and clothing were kept scrupulously clean,
and during those extended intervals when he was up north he knew his goods were
safe.
                 When,
in the middle of all this, the Belizean authorities released Manuel Cruz from
prison after less than nine months of his term—the DEA apparently at last
looking the other way—it changed nothing. Kirby and Manny hit it off very well,
Kirby teaching Manny cribbage while learning from Manny an Indian game
involving small stones and a number of cups, and Manny sometimes helped out in
small ways.