Eze turned around and winked at me as we walked back inside and sat down. He reloaded the pistol and looked up with a sorrowful grin, “I feel bad about making that deputy piss his pants. He ought not to be banging on people’s doors like that without announcing who he is. I hope that he’ll be alright, but he’s not going to make it with his career choice.”
“You weren’t going to shoot him, were you Eze?” asked Pam.
“I will just say this, I was prepared to do what needed to be done. He didn’t need to be shot, that was obvious when his hands went up and the piss ran down. If you pull a gun you better pull it with the intention of pulling the trigger, otherwise you might end up dead!”
There was a lot of tension in the air between me and Pam, and now with the deputy thing, so I tried to lighten things up when I asked, “What did you do with the truck and the dog?”
Gisela giggled, “We hid them in the woods. That dog has the most amazing blue eyes. They almost look like glass.”
“I guess that Cat is going with us. He’s still on the truck!”
“Who’s Cat?” asked Pam.
“Oh, that’s the dog! Eze named him Cat!” answered Gisela.
“Why would you name a dog Cat?” I asked.
“It’s short for Catahoula. Besides, I like the irony in it.”
“Cat-a-what?” I said.
“Catahoula, it’s a Parish in Louisiana. Tell me that you know the Catahoula is the State Dog of Louisiana? If you don’t know that, you should at least know you’re Texas History. Jim Bowie had a pair of them with him in a little skirmish with the Mexican’s called The Alamo!”
“When you say Parish, you mean a church, right?” asked Pam.
“Nope. A Parish is like a county in Texas. These dogs are said to be one of the smartest breeds around. They are a cross between the Spanish Mastiff war-dogs brought here by the early explorers, and bred with the Indian Cur. The breed is a survival of the fittest breed, ‘cause the weak or dumb ones end up dead. They chase wild boars, herd cattle, and take down deer. They’re not real big, but with that hiked up rear-end and lean body, they’re fast and agile, and that goes a long way with their smarts.”
“Should we take him some water, or food?” Pam asked.
Eze looked at both of us while he ate his bacon with a biscuit, “Nope. He’s a free spirit, and I respect that. He was chained up, and didn’t like it so he bailed. Now, he can do whatever he wants, and just be a dog. I’m sure that he can fend for himself.”
Pam looked at me, “Can we go look at him?”
“We can, if you promise to put some clothes on, because there are a few things that I need to clear up with you.” I said, as I got up and walked out the door.
“Go left past the bonfire, about a hundred yards further you’ll see tire tracks going into the woods. You’ll find Ol’ Green just out of sight.”
“Okay, thanks Eze!”
Pam came running up to me fully dressed before I even got to the fire. “Hey Pooh, wait up. I feel terrible about this morning.”
“It’s alright, I guess. Oh, I don’t know. I guess these past few days I don’t know what to do. Everything is happening so fast. I’m not used to any of this. Eze is not happy unless there is some kind of chaos happening at ninety miles an hour. I just can’t think that fast, and I’m too scared that I’ll do, or say the wrong thing, but everything has already ended before I even realize that there could be a situation.” I whined.
“Pooh, it’s okay. I just like you for being you. Eze is Eze. Don’t try to be something that you’re not. Just be who you are! About this morning, I really am sorry. I don’t normally act like that, and I just kind of had the feeling that you might be the one.”
I stopped and looked her in the eye, “The one, what?”
She wrapped her arm around my waist and looked back at me, “You know Pooh, the one! Can’t you see that I’m smitten with you? I want to be your girl!”
What? Why would she want to do that? Now, I really was confused. “I’m leaving in a few hours, you know that right?”
“Of course I do, silly!” I want to be your girl when you come back. I don’t expect you two to be Saints while you’re gone, but I’ll be here waiting for you when you come home.” She said, as she reached up and lightly kissed my cheek.
I didn’t know what to say, or do, as usual and I just blurted out, “Well, I’ll have to give it some thought when I’m gone. I’m not sure how long I will be gone, or if I will even come back, but if I do, I will look you up and let you know, one way or the other.”
“Oh Pooh, that’s all that I ask, just for the chance.”
“Here are the tracks. Let’s go over there.” I said, as I grabbed her hand and walked into the woods. There the truck was, and Cat was nowhere to be found.
“I guess that he didn’t like it up there after all.” I said as I climbed onto the bed of the truck and sat down. Pam climbed up and sat next to me. We were staring off into a faraway pasture. I felt a light breeze behind me.
“Did you feel that?” I asked.
“Feel what…Oh my God, Pooh! Cat is sitting right behind us.”
I turned to look behind me, “Holy crap! How did he do that? I didn’t even hear him. I thought that I felt something, but I wasn’t sure.”
Cat took a cautious step sniffing the air around me and watching Pam cautiously the whole time. He sniffed a little closer touching his tongue to my nose. He licked my face twice, jumped off the truck and disappeared.
“Pooh, where did he go?”
“I don’t know but that was pretty intense. I don’t think he trusts you.” I said as I scanned the woods hoping to catch a glimpse of him.
“That was amazing, how quiet he is. Almost like a ghost. Those eyes are haunting. I wasn’t sure if he was going to bite your head off, or lay in your lap.”
“Well, that makes two of us. I think that is the coolest dog that I’ve ever seen. Let’s drive the truck back up to the trailer and start loading it. I’m ready to get on the road.”
“What about the keys?” asked Pam.
“It’s okay. Eze leaves them in the front pocket of the seat right next to the Bowie knife.” I started the truck and maneuvered it back to the trailer. When I shut it off and got out something touched the back of my neck. I jumped back three feet and there was Cat, standing on the bed of the truck looking right at me.
“What the heck? How did you get up there? You need to stop doing that to me!”
“Oh Pooh, look. Cat is on the back of the truck. When did he do that?”
“I don’t know, but he almost scared me out of my shoes.”
“I see that you found the truck.” Eze said as he walked out onto the porch eating another biscuit with Gisela hugging his waist. “Let’s load up and get outta here. We’re leaving in an hour.”
I looked at Pam, and then back to Eze, “That sounds great. I’m ready to go.”
“Being that we’re the same size you can borrow my clothes until we get your own, so don’t pack more than you can carry. Don’t worry about food. We can kill what we need to eat, or we just won’t eat.”
Eze had everything ready to go, and we loaded it all into the truck in about thirty minutes. He had a specific place for everything, and he wanted to make sure that he was the one to put it there.
He didn’t have a checklist, he visualized where things needed to be when we would need them the most, and that’s where he put them. It was impressive how well the girls helped us get everything into the truck so quickly.
All that was left was a golf course flag pole. I picked it up and looked at Eze, “Are we taking this?”
Both of the girls giggled when Eze said’ “Hell Yes! I picked that up this morning as a souvenir from the wild sex that Gisela and I had at the golf course this morning while you were down at the river with your fishing buddy!”
“Oh, wait, what?” I looked over at Pam, with an inquisitive look.
“I had to tell someone,” she said, “C’mon, you have to admit, that was funny, right?”
“I can’t believe that you told them. I guess that it was, now that you put it that way.” I looked at Eze who was smiling even bigger now that I knew that they knew about the river incident, “Is nothing sacred? So, what are we going to do with a flag pole?”
“Nope,” he winked at the girls, “We will fly our Texas colors whenever we make camp. You’ve heard the ‘Don’t Mess with Texas’ slogan, and this will be our way of saying ‘Don’t Mess with Us’ or else!”
I didn’t think that we would be having any problems, besides, I was certain that we wouldn’t be camping around too many people. Everything was packed, and it was finally time to go. I was anxious and ready to do this.
I walked over to Pam and gave her a hug. She squeezed really hard, then put her hands on my face and kissed me deep. She really did kiss well. I was just getting used to her kisses, and now I wouldn’t have any for awhile.
She stopped kissing me and looked into my eyes with tears in hers, “Pooh, you go and do whatever it is that you need to do. You find whatever it is that you’re looking for, and when you do, come back to me, and I will go wherever you go, because I’m your woman now. I was the first, and I want to be the last. I want to make you happy for a long time.”
“Okay, I had better go now.” I walked to the truck, “Where’s Cat?”
Eze was long-kissing Gisela. He smacked her on the bottom, and she giggled and cried at the same time. “Bye ladies, don’t wait up for us.”
He walked toward me and said “Get in, let’s hit the road. Don’t worry about Cat, Pooh. If he wants to go, he’ll be along.
We got in the truck and started to drive away. I looked back out the window to wave goodbye to Pam, and Cat was standing on the bed of the truck looking at me. “How does he do that?”
“I don’t know Pooh, but it’s bad-ass, ain’t it?”
“It’s amazing!”