Chapter 23 Rathal #3
“A skillful deflection, but my childhood up until the Fall was very good and boring. Tell me about yours. What was being young like for Callisto Ramirez?"
Her narrowed eyes didn’t scare him and he winked at her. She rolled her eyes and then shrugged, a reluctant smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
“My childhood was good too. I wouldn’t call it boring though. My mom was heavily into rodeo and horse shows.” She squinted up at him. “Do you have horses in space? Animals that you ride?”
Rathal knew what horses were. He remembered the chariots.
“There was an animal native to Ara’Ama that I think was the closest in resemblance to Earth horses.
It was called Ka’Ne. Though it had six legs and a tough leathery hide the color of purple moss.
And if I remember correctly, it had very sharp teeth.
Its name means ‘fearsome mouth’. I’d have paid good money to see someone try to ride it.
Now I wish I'd known about horses in my youth.
Persuading a teenage Rijitera to jump on one would have been child's play.”
She grinned at him and nodded her head. “Good. Then rodeo will be a little easier to explain. It started out as a way to round up cattle. The word rodeo comes from Spain—that’s a country on Earth—and it literally means ‘to gather’.
It started with cattle ranches in the West, and a law was passed after some complaints from the Natives that all the herds of cows everywhere were ruining the land, that the cows had to be gathered and watched over by cow hands, or rancheros.
So Black cow hands, Native Vaqueros and Mexican rancheros were tasked with this job. With me so far?”
He could listen to this human woman talk for ages. He nodded his head for her to continue.
“Well some rodeo sports have been around for thousands of years. Bullfighting and bull wrestling go back as far as ancient Greece and it was all over Spain as well. A Black cowboy by the name of Bill Pickett popularized bulldogging, a type of bull wrestling, got famous and did tours all over the place with a Wild West show. But before that, these games really started as a ranch versus ranch thing—a ranch is a place that raises cattle and horses—but it was a man named Buffalo Bill who started the first major rodeo shows and took it on tour from there. There is a lot of money involved in rodeo if you win whatever event you're signed up for. It's a lot of traveling from state to state.” She paused and laughed. “Wow, this is hard to explain when the person you’re talking to doesn’t even know what a state is. Okay, my country—the United States of America—is broken up into parts. And those parts are called states and each state is different. Got it?”
He wondered if she’d lose her mind if she knew he had surveillance on Earth and that he absolutely knew what a state was. He even knew their laws and their way of life. Rodeo was new to him, but not the rest. He should probably keep that to himself.
“I understand. Do go on.”
“Alright, cool. Anyways my mom’s main event was cutting but she loved barrel racing too.
Cutting is sorting, where you and your horse are judged based on your ability to ‘cut’ a cow from the herd and you have to keep it from the others for two and a half minutes, called a run.
Barrels is a speed timed event. Three barrels are set up in a clover leaf pattern and the rider and horse race around the barrels to get the fastest time.
It's super competitive and we traveled all over to compete in as many events as we could.
My mother also roped, both break away and team roping, which is when a horse and rider chase a small cow called a steer out of the chute with a rope and try to get the loop or lasso around the horns.
With team roping, the Header goes for the horns, while the Heeler goes for the back legs.
Mom was a Header, though she could do both.
In breakaway roping the rope is thrown around the calf's neck, the horse comes to a slide stop and the rope that is tied by a string to the saddle horn ‘breaks away’ as the rope becomes tight. The fastest time wins in both events.”
Her eyes were shining as she talked, her cheeks flushed. Callie loved this rodeo. It brought her joy to speak of it. Her passion was intoxicating and he wanted to prod her to talk more about it just to keep that look on her face.
“Did you compete in these events?”
She nodded her head vigorously. “Oh yeah, especially when I was younger. The best way to keep your kids occupied during a rodeo is to put them in it. Nothing babysits better than a horse does.”
“What was your favorite event?”
Her grin widened and she splashed her feet harder.
“Reining. Though reining is its own separate show. My mother was a national champion and I wanted to beat her. Before I left for college, I toured all over with her. I homeschooled so I could compete. There is nothing quite like waking up before the sun to saddle horses. I missed it when I left for the Air Force Academy and didn’t have any time to ride anymore. ”
Rathal had moved closer to her while they talked, until they were thigh to thigh. She hadn’t noticed yet, too absorbed in her story.
“And what of your father?”
“Daddy was a nurse, a type of healer, and while he came with us often enough, he had to work a lot too. When he retired he traveled with my mom.”
Rathal wasn’t quite sure what all retirement meant to humans so he kept quiet. “Does your mother still compete in these rodeos?”
Callie's smile widened at first and then slowly died. Even her playful leg swings in the water fell still. “I don’t know. She was still competing when I was taken. I imagine she’d quit while she looked for me. She and my father would never give up trying to find me.”
No good parent would. Something dawned on him as he watched her sad face. Rathal could do something about that. The sad look in her brown eyes made his own heart hurt. He didn’t like it and everything in his body wanted her smiles back.
“What are their names?” he asked, watching her with one ear cocked in her direction, but the other was shifted backwards as he accessed the internal server with his implant.
There was a long range communication satellite that he had left hundreds of years ago.
He hadn’t checked it in fifty years or so and it would take him a few minutes to locate it.
“My mother is Maria Isabella Maldonado Ramirez from Guadalajara, Mexico.”
Ah, there it was. Hmmm… someone had made modifications to it. It was stronger. He pinged it and a message reverberated inside his skull.
Keep your trash off our lawn. Followed by growling laughter.
Damn Rijiterans always meddling in his things.
“My father’s name is George Abraham Johnson Ramirez.
He was born in Missouri but he moved to Los Angeles after he got his degree.
He and my mother met in the hospital when she came in for a broken arm.
He was her nurse. He took my mother’s last name when they married.
Said his last name wasn’t his family’s last name originally anyhow and he liked my mother’s better. ”
The ping relayed to a secondary origin planetside. He followed it, curious and smashed up against a firewall so sophisticated he stilled enough for Callie to notice.
“Rathal, are you even listening to me?” Her voice was offended and he blinked to look at her. Keeping his attention split was difficult, but he didn’t want to ruin this moment with her.
“I am, darling. I am also trying to do something for you, but there is an unexpected delay. Would you give me but a moment? I promise it will be worth your while.”
He felt more than saw her shrug. “Sure. Knock yourself out.”
Excellent. Now he just had to figure out if this second relay was going to cause a problem for him. He set up a communication network and ‘knocked’ on their proverbial door. Let’s see who was home.
Ah, so the pirate still lives.
The voice that echoed through his implant was deep, feminine, and irritating enough to set his hackles high.
Hella. How nice. Still eating screaming children?
Her laugh had him sitting up straight, his muscles locking tight.
“Rathal? What’s going on?”
He unclenched his teeth. “I’m sorry, Callie. The devil is speaking and it unsettles me.”
“What?”
Don’t be crass. They were adults. Just very short. What do you want, Pá?
Sprout.
He hated that nickname as a child and he found that he hated it now.
Let me through my damn relay. I wish to send a message to my wife’s family.
Your wife’s family? She’s human?
Yes.
He waited for her answer, trying not to squirm.
Interesting. No ships have come anywhere near our airspace so I know no new humans have been taken.
Oh dear.
Which one is it, Rathal?
He winced at the cold calm in her voice.
I really don’t see how that’s any concern of yours.
The pause was longer this time and he glanced at Callie’s expectant face.
“What’s going on?”
He shrugged. “I am trying to give you a gift.”
Callie’s lips dipped at the corners, her eyes narrowing to slits. “A gift huh?”
My daughter tells me only one of the humans has a family they still speak to. How did you convince Callie to marry you, Pá?
He sighed and wrapped a hand around his muzzle and closed his eyes. He was smarter than this, truly.
I asked. Now, may I have the use of my relay or not? Callie would like to send a message to her parents.
There was no answer for several long breaths and then the faintest vibration started under them. Callie looked down at the vibrating water, her fish friends scattering, and her brow furrowed. “What is that?”
The low lighting around Erral died.
A low cry came from beyond the wall and his stomach tried to sink into the floor. He sighed and dropped his head for a moment at the realization.
Oh no.
That infernal Rijiteran devil had hacked into his system!
A growl rumbled in his chest and he was suddenly reminded acutely of being young and angry at a much taller opponent.
Some things change, and yet, many don’t.
How lovely.
The lights came back on and with them a red sphere dropped from the artificial sky. It was one of his communication orbs.
He really did find her irritating.
She’d always stolen his toys.
The orb was about the size of his head and when it got eye level with them a holoscreen flashed into being.
Hella’s dark form frowned at him and his own lip raised in response. A big female with a fierce look stood at her shoulder, her hard face telegraphed violent thoughts. She had his death in her eyes.
Wonderful.
Callie sat up straight like something had electrified her.
“Jack?”