La Jabita
Copyright© 2025 by A Bad Attitude
Chapter 8
The next five days and nights were some of the happiest I had spent in a long time. Thomas wanted to know more about my family, his family. As I told him about his ancestors and our family history he would disappear into his room for a while then return with more questions. When I asked what he was doing I found out that he was recording a family history of each person I told him about. It was when I related the story about the calvary trooper on the Mexican Expedition marrying an Apache woman that his face lit up.
“An Indian! I’m part Indian! Momma did you hear that? I’m part Indian! Dad says Geronimo is in my family tree.”
He raced off to his room about the time there was a knock at the door. Lexie answered and signed for a big Styrofoam cooler from O’Shea Beef. Her and Donna opened it and screamed.
“Your Christmas present!” I said.
They both hugged me before starting to pack the meat in the freezer. It would not all fit, so they carried some upstairs and stored it in Donna’s freezer. They seemed to be gone a long time, but it did not matter, I was busy listening to Thomas tell me all about Geronimo.
When they finally returned, they said they wanted to talk to me. Thomas was sent to his room, and I again found myself sitting in the livingroom chair and the girls sitting on the couch holding hands.
Donna started, “Rowdy, when do you have to go home?”
“Sometime around the 15th of January. I need...”
“That’s perfect!” said Lexie.
“We want to go with you. We will both give our two weeks’ notice at work and be ready to leave with you on the 15th of January. Is that okay with you?”
“That is more than fine with me! I would love that!” I was so excited I wanted to jump up and hug them both. Suddenly, reality hit.
“Do all three of you have passports?”
“No, we’ve never even been out of Texas.” Lexie was looking disappointed.
“I’ve helped people get passports for overseas trips. I know how to do it. If we pay a little extra, we can get them expedited. We’ll have them in two or three weeks. Lexie will have to take Thomas to an office here in Houston for an in-person interview, but it can be done.”
“There’s something you girls need to think about before you quit your jobs. Living up at the ranch is not like living in the States. There are no quick trips to the mall. A shopping trip requires a plane ride to the capital and maybe an overnight stay. There are no fast-food restaurants, no McDonalds, no Taco Bells, no movie theaters. For fun I learned to ride a horse, swim and fish in the lake, hike in the mountains, things like that.”
“Could we have our own horses?” asked Lexie.
“Of course you can, there are plenty to choose from on the ranch.”
“How about the lake? Is it big enough to water ski on? I love to water ski!” questioned Donna.
“The lake covers about 100,000 acres, so yeah you can water ski on it.” “My God, a 100,000-acre lake! How big is the ranch?”
“About the size of the state of Connecticut, I think. I’m not sure. They keep buying land. Besides the cattle ranch there’s a mining operation, the capital’s garbage dump is on an old strip mine they bought. We own the dam that supplies electricity to the capital and the land down river from the dam where our dairy is located. The ‘O’Shea Wilderness Area, which borders the ranch, contains about 3,500 square miles or 2,250,000 acres. To tell you the truth I really don’t know how many acres we own.”
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