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108 Tamale Ridge by: Chuck Cusimano

Raton one time and we had fixed up a place to keep them. Claudia was true to her word. She

put up a lot of lard, bacon and cured ham from the one we butchered. Molly Simmons had a

bunch of chickens and sometimes she would come over to visit with Claudia and bring some

fresh eggs. It was really funny to watch the two women trying to communicate with each

other.

If myself, or Gilberto were not there to translate, they sure did a lot of pointing and using their

hands. Sometimes Juan would try to translate but he just confused them even more. Those two

women sure enjoyed the visits but I think they had to be exhausted when it was time for Molly

to go back to her place. We had promised to give a pig to the Simmons when the piglets were

ready. I had never been around very many pigs but they were kind of comical and you could

tell that they were smart. The bears were quite interested in them but so far they had not gotten

into the pen. Besides the bears, we would have to watch for mountain lions and coyotes. Even,

an occasional wolf. Most of the wolves had been shot out and poisoned but you would still hear

stories about someone seeing them.

One day when Molly got ready to leave to go home, she called me aside and said.

“I think that girl may be expecting. At least I think that is what she was trying to tell me.”

She continued.

“She doesn’t want to say anything to Gilberto about it until she is sure so, don’t spill the

beans.”

Poor Gilberto, he was going to be a daddy and I couldn’t even let on!

I was as happy for them as I could be. She wasn’t starting to show that I could tell but I was

sure Gilberto had seen her more and better than I had. He was still very young and naïve about

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