THE BORDER SEARCH 1

THE BENT FORK CAFE SAT ON A SIDE STREET IN TURN OF THE CENTURY TUCSON AIZONA. folks who had never eaten there would turn their noses up at the place it was a long narrow building along one wall was a lunch counter with stools. the rest of the room was taken up with four tables with three chairs per table. the kitchen was through a door at the end of the room. each table was covered with a red and white checkered table cloth. the front had two ceiling to ground windows, one on each side of the door. the owner did the cooking and waited on the customers. and if you ever ate there once you always came back. sitting at the last table , his head bowed over his plate, his greasy hat brim almost touching the food in his plate was a man with a hangover of monstreous proportions. his calloused hands were clapsed around the plate of food but he didnt dare eat a bite for fear of it comming right back up. his brown hair was coller length. his clothes were well worn and patched. through the front door came a young woman. her heels clicking on the hard wood floor as she marched to the back of the room. she stopped in front of the man and stood there with her head held high. he slowley raised his head, his blood shot eyes trying to focus on the properly dressed young woman.her dress was just at ankle length, a full skirt . it was cinched snug at her waist which pushed her breastes to a elevated position. the coller on the dress was buttoned snug under her chin as were the long sleeves buttoned at her wrists. the man groaned and looked down at his plate again. " are you del masters?" the woman asked. a groan escaped the man as he nodded his head" what can i do for you lady?"he almost whispered. " i want to hire you. are you available?" the woman asked. " ime available and i can be hired depending on the job." del looked up again. " well when your sober and freshly scrubbed i want you to take me to the ruby country in search of my brother."she explained. "well, sober i can do, freshly scrubbed i can do, going to ruby i wont do. if your brother is there he should have left. if he didnt leave its probably because the mexican revolutionarys got him."del told her. " i want to know for sure.i need to know. ill pay well for your services" the woman was opening her cloth purse as she spoke. " i told you i wont go, no matter what you ......." the woman was pulling a wad of money that would choke a mule from the purse, del almost choked at just the sight of it. " the only way to go is horse back. it will take two days to just get there from here. i will need a pack horse and supplys." del explained. "understand , ime going along . ive ridden my whole life and ill fund what ever is needed to get us to my brothers ranch." del looked at her like she had two heads." when can we leave?"the woman asked. " first , who am i talking to here? you got a name?"del asked. " maxine collier. and my brothers name is harry. he has a ranch established in ruby. i have letters from him postmarked ruby."maxine explained. " miss collier, ruby is a ghost town, has been for some time. it sits right on the border and the mexican bandits pay little attention to the border. its bad enough a man going down there, but a pretty young woman would just entice them to do some bad things. i cant guarantee your safty let alone my own." del was trying to explain the situation as simply as possible. he knew harry collier was in all probability dead. maxine laid about half of the bills on the table in front of del."get cleaned up, outfittd and ready to go first thing day after tomorrow. ime at the congress house. call for me there." del watched her march back out the door . the cook had come from the kitchen and over heard the whole conversation"hows your mex lingo del? i think you may need it." was all he said.