Read Mistletoe Man - China Bayles 09 for Free Online Page A

to a spring on the other side of the ridge, closer to
their house. They used that spring for their main water supply, and Carl uses
it to water his goats."
    "Goats,"
Aunt Velda remarked disgustedly. "Filthy, smelly critters. Look at all the
damage they caused. Ask me, ain't good for nothin' but cabrito."
    "Damage?"
I asked.
    "Swenson's goats have been
getting through the fence and onto our property lately," Donna said.
"And you know how goats are—they'll eat anything. Fruit trees, flowers,
even the laundry on the line."
    Aunt Velda
brightened. "Hey, I'll bet they ain't never tasted cabrito up there on the
ship. I could show 'em how my husband Louie used ta fix it. He'd git him a
young white kid—the white ones wuz best, he alius said—and take it out under
the tree and cut its throat, and when the blood all drained out, he'd take his
knife and—"
    "Thank you, Aunt Velda,"
Donna said firmly. "We can imagine the rest." To me, she said,
"Anyway, somebody had dumped a big load of rocks and dirt down the spring
to choke off the flow, then piled on a ton of junk—an old air conditioner, a
washing machine, a mile of broken plastic pipe, some wooden pallets, stuff like
that. Terry and I pulled it all out and hauled the debris to a gully we've been
wanting to fill in."
    "I drove,"
Aunt Velda said proudly. "Drove my old Ford truck and left the totin' and
haulin' to the young ones." She picked up her cup and sipped her coffee
reminiscently. "I like to drive. Don't git the chance much lately, though,
since I got back from the ship." She frowned at Donna. "The girls
don't let me out much. They don't keep up the license on my truck,
neither."
    Donna went on with her story. "When we got
the spring cleaned out, a lot more water started flowing into Mistletoe Creek.
In fact, there's so much water that we're using the creek to irrigate. Which
means we can put another five acres under cultivation next spring, maybe
more." She paused. "Oh, and there are the arrowheads, too."
    "Arrowheads?"
    "When we were
cleaning out the spring, we found a cache of over a hundred Indian
arrowheads."
    "/ found
it," Aunt Velda said. "Tell it like it is, girl. What's more, I aim
to git back up there and find me some more, quick as I can. I aim to find that
cave again, too. There wuz lots more arrowheads in the cave."
    Donna nodded.
"Aunt Velda's the one who found the arrowheads. Terry says they might be
really valuable."
    Terry was right.
Collectors pay hundreds of dollars for certain well-made arrowheads. And the
find signaled the possibility that Misdetoe Spring was an archeological site,
which could make it a treasure trove of ancient artifacts. The Fletcher
property could prove very valuable—another reason for Swenson to lose his
temper.
    But something else had occurred to me. "What happened
to the spring on the other side of the ridge when you unplugged Mistletoe
Spring?" I asked.
    Donna sighed. "I'm afraid that's the real
problem. The other spring more or less stopped flowing. There's enough for the
house, but—"
    "But Bozo's
goats ain't got no water," the old woman said cheerily. She took a small
wooden box from the pocket of her jacket and put it on the table. "D'ja
ever meet Louie?" Louie had been Velda's brother.
    "Not now, Aunt
Velda," Donna said hastily, but it was too late. The old lady lifted the
lid and the box began to play the first few bars of "The Eyes of Texas Are
Upon You."
    Aunt Velda gazed
fondly into the box. "There he is," she said. "Ain't he
fine?" She sifted the gray grit through her fingers. "O' course,
there wuz more of him once, but I left some here and there. On Mars and
Jupiter. Venus too. He alius liked Venus."
    "I'm sure,"
I said, smiling. "Thank you for letting me have a look."
    Satisfied, Aunt Velda put the lid back
on Louie's box and the tune stopped abruptly.
    "If Swenson
needs the water for his livestock," I said to Donna, "you could sell
him some."
    "We told him we'd be glad to let
him run a pipe from Mistletoe Spring