Chapter 5: Jane, Sophia, Elena and Vaquero

Ana---It was not long after Travis started buying the cow herd that we realized we needed help. Cowboys to be exact. I ran an advertisement in the help wanted section of the only newspaper in the country. I got a lot of inquiries but no takers. Most people were married and had families. They asked about school for the kids. No schools. They asked about housing. They would have to live in Quonset huts. The pay was sufficient, but I was not able to hire any ‘cowboys’. Cowgirls were a different story.

First there was an American girl from south Texas. She said her name was Jane Doe. (Read ‘Jane and Cholo) I doubted it and she claimed to have lost her passport. But she said she grew up on a ranch and could work cattle. I was desperate at that point, so I hired her with no more questions.

Later that same day two women showed up. They were Sophia and Elena. (Read ‘Vaquero Lopez). Those girls looked the part. They are pure ‘Indios’. Raised in the mountains without any education. For some unknown reason they came to the city but cannot find work. When I told them about the ranch and the remoteness of it, they were not bothered. They met me at the airport the next day along with Jane and we flew to the ranch.

All three were good help. They could ride and work cattle better than either Travis or I expected. They lived in the Hut for a few months while two cabins were built up north. Jane moved into one cabin and the two Indios moved into the other one. Every now and then Will and his computer ‘Dove’ would pick out what heifers it was time to breed and they would drive them down to the lab. They would spend a week or so here then they moved these now bred heifers back up north. That worked for about nine months.

Travis told me I was going to have to find more cowboys. The herd was growing, and he could not manage the lower pastures by himself.

I tried the ad again and got no response. I was sitting in Camilla’s office at the hotel when our father walked in with the local Catholic Bishop. This priest ran an orphanage, literally the only orphanage in the country. We always tried to help him out with monetary donations and giving the kids summer jobs. This time he had an idea.

“Ana, I have seen your ad for cowboys up at your ranch. Your dad says you are not having much luck.”

“No schools nearby and the isolation are the main reasons your Excellency.”

“Maybe I can help. As you know we take kids of all ages, creeds and colors. We give them a clean place to sleep and three hot meals a day along with as much education as possible. But when they turn 18 they are on their own. Some, too many really, turn to a life of crime when they cannot find work. How about I send them to you. You train them as cowboys or whatever you need. Give them room and board to start and if they do well and want to stay and you want them you start paying them.”

I loved that idea! Travis not so much.

“I am not babysitting a bunch of smart assed kids. My day is full as it is. Find someone else to train them.”

I was talking to Red up in Texas one night and happened to mention my problem. She had the answer. It was Vaquero Lopez.

Vaquero---My first days here on the ranch were spent with me just wandering around getting a feel for the place. It is truly amazing what they have built up here. It was the afternoon on my second day that Travis told me we would ride out in the morning and help bring in a herd of heifers to be bred. Finally I was going to work!

Early the next morning Travis and I mounted up and rode out to meet the herd. We watched from afar as the three cowgirls moved the herd along at a slow but steady pace. I figured that this group of 250 head of heifers had been on the trail for 3 or 4 days and it looked like the girls pushing them did not need much help. We rode up and after introductions, we helped move the cattle along. There was very little talk between us. Just the cattle, the horses and the dogs. I love this life.

We got to the corrals in the early afternoon and after the cattle were settled in for the night, I led Travis’s horse and mine to the barn with the three girls following. We un-saddled and brushed the horses then put them in their stalls with a little feed and water.

We walked over to the hut and entered. The two girls, Sophia and Elena, opened the first door. It was their room and I noticed there was only one bed. No problem, I understand that. The other girl, Jane Doe, walked to the next door, produced a key and entered without saying anything to us.

“What’s up with her?”

“Don’t mind her. That girl is damaged. By what or who I don’t know, she never talks about her past. We think Doe is not her name. In English it means a female deer I think.”

“Jane Doe is the name the police give to a female body they can’t identify. Maybe that’s says a lot about her.”

We dropped the subject and I walked to the end of the hall. My room was the last, next to the showers. I stripped down and decided to shower.

I wrapped a towel around my waist and was about to enter the private shower when the three girls walked in with towels wrapped around them. This ‘Jane Doe’ opened a door and entered. I noticed the scars on her back! My face must have shown surprise, but Sophia shook her head. I was about to enter my shower when I saw her and Elena open a door and enter the same shower together! Now there is no doubt. I finished my shower before the girls and walked back to my room. I changed into clean clothes and decided I had time for a smoke before supper.

I was sitting on a bench outside the Hut when Sophia and Elena walked out and sat across from me.

“What brand is that?”

“A Te Amo. This is a Toro.”

“Can I bum one? I ordered a box of Cohibas before I left but they are over at the hotel. I have never heard of Te Amo.”

“They are a Mexican puro, all Mexican tobacco. I grew up in Mexico and my dad smoked these so I guess you could say it is a family tradition.” I handed her one from my travel pack. She bit the end off and spit it on the ground. I handed her a match and she scraped it across her butt and it lit. She sucked the heavy leather/wood flavored smoke into her mouth and exhaled.

“I like this” she exclaimed!

I noticed that Elena did not ask for a puro. I did not say anything, I guessed she does not smoke. We were about half finished when Jane came out. She said ‘Hello’ but that was about it. When she walked off towards the corrals, I asked Sofia about the scars.

“She has them all over her back and her butt as well. Somebody whipped her, that’s for sure. I asked her about it one day and she just walked away without answering. I never asked again.”

The talk then turned to where they lived up north. There was plenty of water piped in from a spring in the mountains, but electricity was another thing. Lights were provided by solar panels which also kept the computer and the cell phones charged.

“That is not a problem. We go to bed just after dark and get up before daylight, so we do not use much of the batteries. Every month we get a re-supply of groceries by air.”

“Air?”

“We have a pasture clipper that we pull behind the horses to cut a grass runway for the plane. They fly up and check on everything once or twice a month. If we ever had an emergency, they could be there in less than an hour. Even though we are in a remote area, we feel safe.”

“You two live in one cabin and Jane in the other?” It was a question.

“Yes, we offered her a bed in our cabin, but she declined. Says she likes living alone.”

“That seems strange for a girl so young.”

A truck drove up and out jumped an employee from the hotel. He had four dinners for us. He unpacked the meals and sat them on the picnic table. He told us that my cowboy trainees would be arriving in two weeks but until then the kitchen at the hotel would be supplying us with our meals. When the boys arrive, a cook would be assigned here and would cook for us.

He drove off and I opened my supper. FRIED FISH! Apache’s rarely eat fish.

Jane returned for supper, and we ate together. I watched as Sofia and Elena picked up the whole fried fish and bit off their tails first. I did the same but noticed Jane used her knife and fork. White people! Don’t they know food tastes better when eaten with your fingers?

We finished up with our dinners and licked our fingers and wiped them on our jeans. Jane excused herself and went into the hut. That left us “Indians” sitting watching the stars come out. I noticed the two girls. It is not hard to tell who the ‘man’ in that relationship is. Sofia talks and has opinions. Elena hardly said a word the entire night. She nodded and agreed with Sofia. Looking at Sofia reminded me of my wife of years ago. Black hair down her back, a wide strong face sitting atop her broad shoulders. Her hands reflected a lifetime of hard work, I doubt her nails had ever had nail polish on them. She was shorter than me but not by much. She was not fat, but she was stout. The shirt and jacket she wore hid her breasts if she had any at all. Elena on the other hand was skinny, with long black hair down her back. I could not tell about her breasts but her face was more angular than Sofia’s. She was not beautiful but pretty, if you like skinny girls. Not my type really.

After we finished another of my Te Amo’s we went to our rooms. It was about an hour later that I heard a knock at my door.

I grinned to myself. This is going to be Jane, I am sure. The two Indias are probably in bed together and Jane is lonely. Know what I mean?

I open the door and I am surprised! There stands Sofia, alone.

“You up for a little fun? It’s been months since I fucked a man.”

“Sure!”

She drops her robe and she is naked under it. I do not turn on the lights in the room and she walks over to the bed and gets on her hands and knees in the middle of it. She spreads her knees, and I can see that she is ready. I waste no time in shedding my shorts and getting up behind her. I mount her like a stallion, and it is not long before she is moaning and urging me on! I slam into her with all my strength. Her head goes to the bed and I grab one of her tits under her. She screams and cums. I follow her with my orgasm. We lay connected for a few minutes then I rolled off her. She pulls the covers over her to fight off the night chill. She looks worried about something.

“What’s wrong Sofia?”

“Vaquero, I need to talk to you about something and I need it to be kept a secret. No one here on the ranch knows but me. Can you promise not to tell anyone?”

“I promise.”

“Elena is a man. In his mind he is a woman but physically he is a man. He realized this when he was very young. His family tried to force him to do man ‘things’ so he learned to ride and work cattle at a young age. There were no schools where we lived. He never learned to read or write. He always played with the girls. He wore dresses when he could. His family was very embarrassed by his behavior, but I felt sorry for him. Two years ago things became unbearable for him. Everyone made fun of him, even his brothers and sisters. His father was the worst. He took to trying to beat ‘it’ out of him. One night I found him crying behind the village. I suggested we run off together and live as a lesbian couple. That would work for me. I am what our people call a ‘Mary Macho’, a woman who likes to live as a man. We left one night and went to the capital. We had very little money but soon found Ana O’Shea’s ad for cowboys. It was what we needed. She hired us and here we are. The problem is Elena’s equipment does not work exactly right. Know what I mean? Ok, her little dick does not stay hard long enough to do me any good. Understand? I have to do with her eating me to orgasm. Which is great! I love it and I have grown to love her/him. But there are times I need a man. A real man. Like yourself!”