It’s a hundred and twelve degrees in the Land of Enchantment and not yet midnight.
A man of twenty-two floats timelessly in the arms of his new bride, serenaded by distant wind chimes. His belly perks up in a rumble and she giggles, “Forget to eat again?”
“Rode all day. Made my best time on the old water road through the hills.”
As Billy’s lips meet Paulita’s, the buzz running through his body makes him smile so wide that his jaw cracks, “You sail through my mind when I’m riding and I miss you so deep in my gut, I can’t breathe.”
“Let me sleep, Billy.” She fluffs her pillow, “Eat something.”
“Gonna get a slice of beef.”
“Good. Go.”
He pulls his filthy road shirt over his head, adjusts his silver and turquoise squash flower necklace and steps into his only pair of trousers of royal blue corduroy.
“You want some beef?”
“Please”, She throws the blanket off, “It’s too hot to be awake.”
He sits on the bed, lays his hand on her tummy, “Are you happy?”
She brushes her curls from her eyes and holds her new wedding band up to the moonlight, “Our baby is safe in my tummy and I love you.”
Paulita pulls him close and kisses him forever, then playfully pushes him away, “Let me sleep, love. Go, eat.”
As he stands, Billy takes in the faint scent of a cigar rolling in through the window and freezes.
He slowly lifts a sturdy knife with a heavy wooden handle from the bedside table.
Paulita lifts her head from the pillow, “Everything alright, Billy?”
He kisses her, “Stay inside. No matter what. Stay here, inside.”
Closing the door behind him, Billy lingers on the porch a moment.
Lifting his eyes to the layers and layers of stars in the New Mexican sea in the sky, Billy lets his mind flow as far as it’ll take him, envisioning a future only he can see.
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