guys always get the shaft,” Lee said, his face immobile. “That’s why I’se constantly worried about myself.”
“Yeah, I worry about that too,” Roper said dryly.
“What’ll he do?” Ruby ignored Lee, as she gingerly forked another patty.
“I suspect he’ll have to move, or find another way to make a living,” Roper answered, shaking his head. “Maybe I’ll teach him to cowboy.”
“Like I said, somebody ought’a shoot that sum-bitch.”
“Who—Angus?” Ruby asked.
“No, pay attention. The Pres.”
“I hope you’re kidding,” Roper said, standing, looking for something on which to wipe his greasy hands. Finding nothing he used rumpled newspaper stacked on the edge of the filthy Formica counter.
“I never joke about my’s good ideas.”
“Guess that means you never joke,” Roper said grinning.
“You’d never get within a hundred miles of him,” Ruby asserted. “Maybe you could kill him with voodoo or telepathy. Or your stupid parables.”
“Killin’ his representatives would be like killin’ him—”
“—Jeez,” Roper cut in. “Let’s change the subject. You’re starting to spook me.”
Ruby stood up and tossed her empty plate into the already full wastebasket. They all watched as it bounced off the heap, then glided to the floor.
“Bucky,” Ruby groaned. “Why don’t you clean up this dump?”
“Why?” Lee shrugged as he dumped the grease from the frying pan into an empty Pork-and-Beans can, then he tossed the frying pan back into the cluttered sink. “You want to take some home? Custom sausage is hard to find. ‘Specially this good stuff—five bucks a pound.”
“Processing fee?” Roper asked sarcastically.
“I’ll take a couple pounds,” Ruby said, a hint of embarrassment in her voice. She glanced over at Roper and shrugged. “Well, I’m getting damn tired of hamburger with my eggs.”
“Oh, what the heck,” Roper sighed. “Give me a couple of pounds too.”
Dividing the sausage into roughly two portions, Bucky Lee wrapped each with wax paper then he snatched the faded newspaper from the counter and double-wrapped, taping both bundles securely with duct-tape.
While watching Bucky, Ruby struggled to retie her hair. Giving up, she stuffed the red bandana into her Levi’s pocket and replaced the black Stetson over her tousled head. Mesmerized, Roper watched these antics out of the corner of his eye.
“Doug, you still planning on helping me with my brandin’ day after tomorrow?” she asked, heading for the door.
“If’n they’se not branded by the time they’se six months, they becomes property of the county,” Bucky said.
“Really?” Roper said sarcastically.
“Anyway, they’re not six months yet,” Ruby said. “And nobody enforces that law. How can they, it’s Fifty Mile Mountain.”
“Like I said, I’ve got to move my cows to my Tank pasture that morning. Can we get yours done in the afternoon?”
“Only got about twenty head, but at four to five months, it’ll be a rodeo,” Ruby smiled. “Tell you what, I’ll give you a hand moving your cows, if you’ll help me in the afternoon.”
“Deal.” Roper grinned.
As they stepped for the door, Bucky gave Ruby and Roper their packages.
“How’d you know this is two pounds?” Roper asked skeptically, “you weigh it?”
“Nah, I can just tell,” Bucky muttered. “Bin in this business too long.”
“Well, we’ll be seein’ you.” Roper nodded to Bucky as he ducked through the door.
“I mean it, we really shouldn’t let him git away with this horse shit,” Bucky mumbled at Roper’s back.
“What?” Ruby asked, looking sharply at Bucky as she took her parcel.
“We should do somethin’ to stop him.”
Roper stopped in mid-stride and turned around again.
“For hell’s sake, stop who?” Ruby pushed on by.
“Whose the hell we bin talkin’ bout?” Lee demanded, a drop of spittle stuck in the gutter of his chin.
“Stoppin’ it now is like stopping a train after the caboose has already passed,” Ruby declared backing down the walkway. “But if you figure out a way, let me know.”
“There’s nothing we can do,” Roper insisted, his brow furrowed. “It was done perfectly legal. He invoked the Antiquities Act.”
“Antiquities Act, my ass! This is about as legal as my marriage, or my divorce for that matter,” Lee hissed through the cleft of his clenched teeth. “An it’s immoral. Only in the west does the federal government own this much land. It wasn’t supposed to be that way. When territories become states the federal government is supposed to give back all federal lands to the state. That’s the way it was in Texas and back east. That’s the way it was everywhere exceptin’ here in the west. Did ya know the federal government owns more’n sixty percent of this goddamn state?” Lee paused for a breath. “Youse gotta figure somethin’ out college-boy, or we’ll all be gatherin’ our belongin’s, like dust bowl refugees of the Great Depression, and jumpin’ trains or road-hitchin’. Either way, we’ll be out of heer a beggin’ for jobs.”
“John Steinbeck revisited, huh?” Roper said.
“Who?” Bucky glared back.
“Forget it. There’s nothing we can do, not now—not now in nineteen ninety-six,” Roper said firmly. “Like I said, the Antiquities Act makes it all legal.”
“We’re startin’ to get a group together,” Bucky said confidentially, pausing to fire a wad at the bucket, again hitting high on the sidewall. The yellow slime stuck momentarily then slowly slid to the floor. “Informally, of course. Either one of you interested?”
“Nah, I don’t think so,” Roper said, shaking his head and scowling.
“Youse think about it, Roper. How bout youse, Rube?”
“When you get things organized and decide what you’re all about,” Ruby said hesitantly, “let me know. Then I’ll decide if I’m interested.”
“I’ll tell youse two right now, might don’t make right and legal don’t mean eagle, “ Bucky Lee snarled.
“Christ
