Once a Cowboy

Linda Warren
37
“Ethel’s seventy-six and she doesn’t drive too bad,
except she has trouble staying awake.”
“Okay. Okay.” Alex threw up her hands, knowing
her grandmother was working her. “I’ll pay for your
plane ticket.”
“What about Ethel? I don’t want to go alone.”
Alex gritted her teeth. “Okay. I’ll pay for Ethel, too.”
“You’re such a sucker.” Naddy laughed.
“I knew you were playing me from the start. You
wouldn’t do laundry unless you were after something.
And you’d better not crow too much or I’ll rescind the
offer.” She paused. “Does Buck know you’re going?”
“No. You can tell him after I’m gone.”
Alex shook her head. “Oh, no. You tell him before
you leave.”
“Honeychild.” Naddy put an arm around her shoulder
and Alex caught a whiff of Ben-Gay. “Why do you
always want that family connection to be there? It isn’t.
I was a bad mother, a terrible mother. I admit that.
Bucky has a right to hate me. I was young, stupid and
had no idea how to raise a kid. He grew up the hard way,
by himself with a string of step-daddies.”
Alex had heard this a million times and Naddy wasn’t
getting around her by using that bad-mother routine.
“All the same, you’ll tell him.”
“Did I say you were a sucker? Crafty is more like it.”
“I’ll be upstairs,” she said, walking away.
“Want to help with my laundry?”
“No, thanks,” Alex called, running up the stairs.
She laid the plastic bag with the comb on her dresser.
In the morning she’d call a lab they used to run the test.