THE WILL 6

tobey strolled into the lobby ofm the first american bank. he stood there a moment trying to decide who he needed to see. then a tall, thin woman walked over to him, " can i help you? she was pleasent enough. tobey explained what he need to do . the woman showed him to a chairm at her desk. tobey dug out the documents from the court and laid them out for her.after looking them over the woman opened a desk drawer and pulled some forms out" i think we can get this taken care of. its good to see the heir takeing over. i hope your better to the mexicans than yyour uncle was." tobey started to boil" thats the second time ive heard that. in the first place i think its pretty slimey to degragate a dead man who cant defend himself, second from what ive seen and the mexicans ive talked to, itsmall a lie. i dont want to hear that again. where did you hear it?" tobey leaned forwad across the desk. the thin woman looked like she wanted to run. " nick hadley told me" the woman was washed out white. when tobey sat back in his chair she attacked the forms. no one said a word until she pushed them over to tobey to sighn. he scribbled his name on them and pushed them back. she took the papers to a teller and explained what tobey needed, then went to a copy machine and made copys of everything. then returned everything to tobey." jean at the first window will take care of you" the thin woman was releaved when tobey got up and walked over to the window. he told her what he wanted and she counted it out with out a word. he sighned for it, then put the csh in the folder and told her thank you. they had given him a hand full of counter checks and deposit slips. back at the hay yard he got the invoice for the hay then made out a check for the load. as the truck pulled out a pickup and trailer rolled to a stop in front of the hay barn tobey heard the driver talking to roberto in spanish. when through he came around to where tobey was standing. he extended his hand " ime rod benson pleased to meet ya" tobey shook the hand and smiled looks like you had this timed. if you had been earlier we could have you loaded with the squeeze." "this is fine. roberto does a first class job loading and tie ing it down. he s a good man" rod bragged. " ime lucky to have him. did you ever see blake abuse him or the house keeper?"tobey came right out with the question. " oh no you heard that b s rumor didnt you? no he didnt abuse them, he treated them better than the slimey white man spreading those lies." rod was disturbed. " who is nick hadley?. i was told he was the one spreading the rumors." tobey asked. " he ranches over on the east side of the valley spends all his time in the coffee shop or the sale barn. he dont buy nothing but to hear him tell he is a big time order buyer."rod s dislike for nick was evedent." well he needs to stop that. blake is dead and gone he cant defend crap like that. since i been here the two mexicans who worked for him have nothing but good things to say about him." tobey was not happy. roberto finished loading rods trailer and gave the bale count to tobey and rod. rod wrote out a ranch check and handed it to tobey. " i didnt mean to get a fuss started but i dont agree with that crap either." tobey and roberto watched rod drive out the gate roberto looked over at tobey" he s a good man and friend nick hadly isnt." just then another hay customer drove in. tobey and went to the house while roberto loaded them. juana was dusting the things in the liveing room when he came in."do you drive juana?" he asked. " yes, but my car needs two tires."she said in a soft voice. " well i didnt get your things you asked for. take the new truck out there and go get what you need."tobey handed her a hundred dollers. she took the money and the list and picked up her purse" i wont be gone to long" was all she said as she went out the door. as she was going out roberto came in" i need change for a hundred," he said. tobey sorted through the cash he had and broke the hundred doller bill. as roberto went back out the door tobey decided they needed a cash box. he wouldnt always be around with enough cash to get the job done.

THE WILL 5

it was still dark the next morning when robertos head lights shone through the front windows of the house. tobey was eating breakfast. he got up and put his dirty dishes in the sink and set another cup of coffee on the tablea few seconds later roberto knocked on the door. " come in roberto" tobey yelled. when roberto came in he was followed by a pretty mexican woman. " this juana, she was blakes novia, girl friend. she cleans the house three times a week." tobey thought to him self now i know what is next. " ok. pour her a cup of coffee and sit down" when every one was seated tobey explained about the hay comming and he needed to go to town. he told juana to make a list of what she needed for the house and any grocerys she thought was needed." roberto finished his coffee and stood up " i better make room in the barn for the hay thats comming and maybe clean up the scrap. hay so the stack will sit square and solid. when juana gets done ill run her home unless you want her to stay and cook your supper." " how do i pay her? by the day, the week or month, how?"tobey asked. " how ever you want" roberto answered before juana had a chance to. tobey looked the woman in the face " what do you say?" she looked up at roberto then back to tobey" by the week if i keep comming every week.. its 35 a day. if you want me to cook its 45."she answered. "lets figure on keeping like it was with blake. if you stayed and cooked thats fine just tell me what you need"tobey told her. she ducked her head" with blake i didnt go home , i stayed here all the time."she answered. tobey sat back in his chair, " i didnt mean that, as long as roberto can bring you and take you home." the woman didnt look up " thats ok with me." the sun was comming up out side. it was shinning through the front windows. tobey stood and took his hat from the nail next to the door." ill feed the horses while you get the barn squared away. we will have to wait until the bank opens so i can get cash for the hay." when they went out the door juana was running water in the sink to wash the dishes. just as tobey finished feeding the horses the hay truck rolled in the gate he pulled past the barn and turned around then lined back up with the gate next to the barn with enough room for the hay squeeze to work un loading the hay. tobey went to the truck driver and exclaimed the bank didnt open for a couple hours they would have to wait until then. they assured him it wasnt a problem. roberto had the barn cleaned out when the hay squeeze arrived. a couple of times tobey could see juana looking out a window. " blake had a hell of a deal here," was all that tobey thought. he went in the house to his bed room and got the folder with all the documents he would need for the bank. juana handed him a list of what she needed . it was short.