Chapter 7

Right after breakfast, Randall and Carol went upstairs to start boxing up his stuff. It made me realize that if they are headed towards their own ‘relationship, ‘ someday in the future, him living fulltime 60 miles away may turn them into New Mexico’s version of a long-distance romance.

I felt guilty, so after a few minutes I knocked on his almost former bedroom, and said, “If you want us to, Nancy and I can help you.”

Coming out of his bathroom, looking like Catherine Bach from the movie DUKES of HAZARD, except flat chested, Carol said,

“Go ahead, we’re OK!”

Freud would be concerned if he had been there, I’m quite sure. I caught up with Susan, wearing a swimsuit, with a skirt. Yeah, no boys would approach her!

I gave mom a kiss goodbye, and she gave her daughter a kiss, without saying a word. Dad was gone already, with a hot lead on 12 acres of raw land to our east.

“Are we going back up to Santa Fe, Big Bro!” she asked after we drove off the property and she sidled up next to me, laying her hand too high on my right thigh.

She may be testing me, so I ignored it and got back on the road to Santa Fe Mall.

“Are you OK on gas, I brought my visa card this time?”

“We’re good for now,” I said speeding up, which dropped her hand to directly on my crotch.

She was nearing sleep or feigning it.

When I got to the Mall, I said, “Hey Susie Sleepyhead, time to wakey wakey!”

She pulled up, at least acting like she had fallen asleep. She moved my rearview mirror to fix her lips and hair.

“My, we got here quickly. You didn’t speed, did you?”

“Nah, I like to live on the edge, sweetheart!”

She just giggled, as I drove by and announced, “They have Boot Barn, for that Southwestern Look ... Dillard’s ... for that ‘I buy my shoes where my mother buys her shoes, ‘ or JC Penny, where our grandparents bought their shoes.”

“I suspect, from your deep sarcasm, that you think I should shop at Boot Barn?”

“I think, that with the outfits you picked out...”

“With your help...”

“With my help ... that the Boot Barn is the place. They don’t only have boots, although they do, but they do have all other kind of shoe wear.”

“Do they have those zipper-boots that go all the way up the leg?” she asked as she made the motion she was putting them on. I almost had an accident, with a loud horn in response.

“Sorry!” as I drove by, pulling into a tight parking space.

I helped her out using my side of the car. She took me by the arm, acting more mature this time as we walked into the Boot Barn. I stopped and asked about the knee-high zipper boots, and we found out they didn’t carry them, we would find them at Penny’s!