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103 Tamale Ridge by: Chuck Cusimano

Claudia was really a fine addition to the place. She was a great cook and she was glad to

mend any clothes that needed it. She was good help outside too and didn’t mind milking the

cow. She would saddle Gils’ big gelding and drag up some big dead trees for firewood. We’d

cut it and split it and she made sure the woodbox was always full. She kept the fires going and

kept the main house clean. We really watched our language in English and Spanish and we

took a bath more often. Yessir! She was a fine addition.

She liked a practical joke too. One morning she handed Juan an egg and told him since he didn’t

think she had cooked his egg the morning before good enough, he could just fry his own today.

What none of us knew was that the egg she handed Juan was a hardboiled egg! It sure was

comical when Juan tried to break it. We all laughed about that for several days. Juan said, “Oh

Señora, yesterday ju no kook the juevo enoff and today ju kook it too many”.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

Ramon never felt so tired in his life. Raul was keeping him on the go.

“You will make a good horseman Ramon.” He was told by the Segundo.

“All you have to do is take care of the remuda. See that each man has a fresh horse each day

and keep them near water and always hold them where there is abundant grass.”

The first day or two, Ramon resented being made to work like a common peon. After the third

day, the other men on the gather started treating him like he was one of them and as bad as he

hated to admit it, he felt even more important. All these years, he had tried to act above these

same men and secretly always felt beneath them. This was something he had just learned about

himself in the last couple of days.

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