Page 46 - Tamale Ridge_113017

44 Tamale Ridge by: Chuck Cusimano

We boarded the train again, to keep warm and sat alone talking in Spanish mostly, with some

English words thrown in. I could tell he would be a fast learner and an attentive student.

Finally, the train started moving again.

We rode the train into Las Vegas and the weather turned very cold. The blizzard still raged

between Springer and Raton and again, they stopped the train. The weather hadn’t been too

good and I know that comes with January but sometimes January is the warmest and most open

month during the winter. They told us we’d be here until the tracks were cleared.

It seemed to me that October, November and December, could sometimes get pretty cold and we

could experience some deep snow and then again in February, March and April, It could get cold

and wet. I have even seen some deep, wet snows in May but they usually only last a

few days.

It is usually in the mountains, that we get our best moisture to set up the spring grass. This could

blow over soon or, it could be a long one.

We got our stuff off the train and went to the hotel to get us a room and ran head first into

trouble. The dirty, unshaven man working behind the counter didn’t act like he wanted to let

Gilberto stay in this hotel. I asked to speak to the owner.

“He ain’t here!” the little man snarled,

“He’s in Denver and he left me in charge and I say no dirty Mex is gunna spend a night under

this roof!”

I reached over the counter and grabbed his shirt front and drug him bodily from behind the

counter and out into the street. I don’t usually lose my temper that bad or that fast but he took

me to a place I don’t like to go and he wasn’t going to enjoy where I was taking him.

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