Sample chapter from the book  ~ Copyright Material ~

2. LEANDRO

      Even though his twin sister, Elena, was waiting lunch on him, Leandro pulled Danner to pause at the crest of the hill. He scanned the grassy plain stretched out before him. Cattle bunched among the willows along the stream that snaked beside the state highway, a string of graded dirt connecting the dozen or so ranches along the foothills. A neighbor’s pickup truck bumped over it, glinting in the sunlight like a bead of sweat on a dusty brow.
      Hundred-year-old cottonwoods surrounded each ranch house like fortress walls shielding them against the desert heat. Sun-bleached sky mirrored the playa far to the west. At the horizon, Leandro saw the edges of his known world disappear into the haze.
      Just below him, the stone house, barn and sheds of the Arriaga ranch radiated in a manner that placed the most important building in the center and the least important further out. A sheep camp trailer, where Leandro lived, moldered outside this tribal circle.
      A bitter taste swirled in his mouth. “Jesus,” he whispered to himself, “I must be hungrier than I thought.” He swallowed hard upon the acrid lump in his throat.
      When his oldest half-brother, Anton Arriaga, had brought him and Elena to this ranch ten years ago, Leandro had barely stepped into the bunkhouse when Mikel Arriaga grabbed him by his belt and hurled him back into the yard. “Get out of here, you little bastard. Get back to your mother’s bordello.”
      Picking up the humiliated boy, Anton took Leandro to the old trailer to sleep until he could think of a better place for him to stay. Seems Anton forgot, though, and the old trailer remained Leandro’s home whenever he wasn’t riding his circle around the range. He avoided the bunkhouse where he had not been admitted entirely into that domain of men.
      Today, as he watched his half-brothers and ranch hands amble toward the house for their noonday meal, Leandro felt a pang in his own stomach. He inhaled the pungent smell of sage in an effort to cleanse his mind of these memories. The undulating buzz of cicadas lifted his spirits above the dramas that brewed in that house. Over the years, he had discovered that being the family outcast had its advantages. He valued his solitude above their society.
      This wilderness was his paradise. He accepted its gifts and found wisdom in its lessons. He gained his rest in pinion duff and bathed in the soft, mineral baptism of hot springs. If ever he did need human contact, he always found a friendly welcome in his sister’s tiny house with plenty of hearty food.
      And there was his Lucygirl. She haunted his dreams with the sweet anticipation of her long, black hair sweeping across his face. Her hands knew how to coax his ecstasy and draw out his loneliness. She was his healer and the medicine for his weary outlook.
      With these thoughts distracting him, Leandro nudged his spurs against Danner’s flanks. The horse turned then froze, his foreleg suspended. Leandro rolled the rowels again, unaccustomed to Danner’s disobedience.
      In a surprising response, Danner reared and bolted, flinging Leandro through the air. When he slammed to the ground, his body tingled as if his organs had liquefied. Then fangs punctured his thigh. Venom seared as it surged toward his groin. Damn, Leandro thought, if only I’d worn my chinks. The thick leather chaps would have protected him.
      Soon, a dreadful weight pushed along the top of his leg, zigzagged over his belt and onto his chest. A tongue fluttered against his throat; the snout pressed his jugular. Then it slid between Leandro’s head and shoulder and pulled its six-foot body onto the hardpan, settling only a few feet away from Leandro’s face. The triangle head rested upon fat coils. Vacant, black eyes glistened in the sun’s glare.
      Checking for broken bones, Leandro wiggled his fingers and toes, flexed his knees and elbows, all the time watching the snake’s repose. He could hear Danner’s screams and tried to sit upright. As venom burned through his body, his right leg and hip swelled, leaden. Danner’s torment enraged him. He couldn’t help him. He couldn’t even help himself. Instead, all he could do was lie on the hot earth, paralyzed, while poison coursed through his body.
      In frustration, he hammered his fists in the dust until the rattles sang and the snake’s eyes blazed with malevolence. They stared at each other, holding an uneasy truce.
      His rifle, his first aid kit, even his canteen, all hung in their places near his saddle in the tack room. He and Danner now rode these hills for pleasure and Leandro loved the feel of Danner’s bare back against his legs. The contact allowed each signal to be subtler. And the old, blind horse seemed to know before Leandro did where he wanted to go. But today, Leandro failed him. He could hear Danner thrashing in pain and Leandro was helpless to do anything for him.
      His radio had snapped from his belt and lay just beyond the reach of his fingertips. Each time he inched toward it, the snake rose over its coil, its rattles ringing a sickening alarm.
      Leandro’s vision dimmed. Heat seared his face as the sun bore down upon him. Venom prickled up his leg. His back and hips ached where he had landed.
      Elena expected him to arrive soon. He prayed she would sense his trouble and hurry to find him before it was too late.

Sample chapter from the book  ~ Copyright Material ~