This Time Forever by KATHLEEN EAGLE

Author:KATHLEEN EAGLE
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BelleBooks, Inc.
Published: 2012-12-23T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

CLEVE BLOCKED OUT the noon sun with his hand. Above him a hawk wheeled and dipped, then caught a lift on a shaft of warm air and rode it high above the treetops without the slightest flutter of a wing. In that instant Cleve decided about the only thing he’d trade for eight seconds on horseback that afternoon was maybe eight seconds on that bird’s wings. From up there he could look down on the walls, the tower, the fence, and the warden, who was pacing up and down the row of portable bucking chutes like the cock of the walk.

It was a clear, calm day, but it was hot, and it was going to get hotter. Spectators were filling up the viewing stands behind the chain link fence. The prison rodeo was a popular event in Bismarck. People could count on seeing some wild rides, since inmates with little to lose tended to be eager risk takers. Few of them had ever done any rodeoing. Some had never been on a horse. This was a chance to show off to their families and maybe come away with a few bucks into the bargain.

Since it was an amateur rodeo, Cleve had declined to compete for money, even though nobody had barred him from it. He would ride exhibition in saddle bronc and bull riding, and the judges would score him, just for his own satisfaction. He’d asked Steiner not to use his name in any of the promotion and not to announce his PRCA experience. Some people would remember. He figured there would be some buzzing in the stands when his chute gate opened. But he wasn’t pro-rodeo anymore, not as long as he was a prisoner. His innocence made him feel no less unworthy of the Association right now. He couldn’t even bring himself to wear a cowboy hat behind bars, so he’d bought himself a pair of aviator glasses to shade his eyes instead. He adjusted them, then leaned against a steel corral panel and searched the stands while he turned up the cuffs on his new chambray shirt.

They weren’t up there yet, and the show was going to start pretty soon. Maybe the old lady backed out at the last minute. Maybe she got sick. The thought of coming to this place probably sickened her. He should have stuck to his original resolve to keep to himself. Seeing Susan, even occasionally, had only intensified his loneliness. Lately he’d been thinking a lot about the reservation, a place he’d gladly left behind years back. It was for damn sure he had no history of homesickness, but lately he’d imagined Susan being there, frequenting the places he remembered, seeing the faces, passing the time.

Sometimes he let himself think about it until it made him ache, and then he’d promise himself he’d tell her not to come anymore. Of course, he never followed through. Even the ache was almost sweet. He’d been half tempted to buy himself a radio and turn on the country music, hone a nice edge on those lonesome feelings.

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