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109 Tamale Ridge by: Chuck Cusimano
such things. Juan, on the other hand, had been around and of course, I had not told him anything
about Molly’s suspicions.
“Claudia, Ju gon haf bebe!” He blurted one morning at breakfast. She looked at him,
smiling, not knowing what he had said. Then he said, in Spanish.
“Gilberto es esperando!” Claudia gave him a glaring look, while she was holding a cooking
utensil. She swatted playfuly at Juan but missed. Juan got a serious look and jumped back to
avoid the blow.
Gilberto hadn’t moved at all. He was still setting there with his mouth open, in disbelief.
“Es verdad Amor?” He asked, “Is it true?”
By this time there was no need to hide it any longer and she busted out in a big grin.
“Si PAPA! Es la verdad!”
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
Ramon woke up, yawned and stretched. He threw one blanket back and got up. The
cocinero was already getting breakfast going and offered a cup of coffee to the young vaquero.
Ramon had only recently developed a taste for the drink and then only because the other men
seemed to enjoy it. He did have to admit, it tasted better every morning.
They were out on another cattle drive. This time they were taking them closer to the home
place. They were one of the few ranchos that were fortunate enough to have enough grazing
land.
Had his father not been favored by the famous Pancho Villa, they might have very little.
Pancho was known to attack the hacendados and split their large land holdings up. He
sometimes then gave some of the land to the widows, or children of some of his dead friends
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