As the Eagle Flies. J. D. Oliver

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      Alita slept all night, it must have been just after daylight when I heard her whimper, I got up and got her, I changed her diaper before I woke Faith and put Alita in her arms. Then I went and got in the shower. As soon as I was dried off, Faith handed me the baby. And she stepped in the shower. I laid Alita in the middle of our bed, she just giggled and smiled at me; I think she liked me.

      I got my bag out and was looking through it for clean underwear; I couldn’t find any. I was still rummaging when Faith came out, drying herself, she said, “What are you looking for?”

      “It seems I don’t have any clean underwear.” I said, standing there in my all-together.

      “No problem, on the right side of the dresser, top drawer, it’s full of men’s underwear. You don’t mind do you?”

      “Huh? You mean they were his?”

      “Yeah, but I threw away all of the used ones; these are brand new, they have never been washed. I don’t know why I kept them, sort of a hope chest I guess. Anyway, were my hopes realized?”

      “Well, I would say so, that is if I fit the bill?” I said, walking toward her, she met me half way, jumping up, she put her legs around me and one thing led to another; as I backed her toward the wall. Alita wasn’t paying any attention to us, she was busy playing with her toes.

      We had a late breakfast with Dad and Felicia. It was just the four of us; everyone else was already about their chores, including Jake and Alona. Gail showed up before the noon hour, she had all of the needed paperwork.

      We had the wedding at two PM, in the yard under the big cottonwood tree. There were about forty people there, some from town, Gail had told them about the wedding. And of course all of the people from the Ranchos de Chama.

      The rest of the day turned out to be a big fiesta. Everyone had brought some kind of food dish; plus of course the Ranch had supplied enough to feed an army. Some of the ranch hands played on their guitars and whatever. It was the best wedding that I had ever been to; of course I guess because it was mine.

      The next day Dad and Felicia left for a short honeymoon. They said they were going to Mazatlan. Miguel drove them to the airport in Santa Fe. Faith and I decided to stay right at the Ranch, what could be more romantic than here?

      The Rodeo in Santa Fe was a week long affair. There was four days left, Jake had called and he could still compete. Alona was entered in the barrel racing anyway. So we went to the Rodeo. I didn’t have a roping partner, but I did sign up for saddle bronc.

      We took the quad cab with a horse trailer behind for Alona’s horse. It sure was nice that Faith was nursing; we didn’t have to take bottles along, but of course the diaper bag was a necessity. We got rooms at the Holiday Inn. Yeah, Jake and Alona had separate rooms.

      That horse of Alona’s was a good one, she took second place money the first day. Jake was in top form, he placed third in the bull riding, second in bareback. I got bucked off, I don’t think my mind was on my riding. Besides it sure was nice having Faith to assuage my wounds.

      The second day though, I did better, I took second place money. I had to show my wife that I wasn’t a complete duffer. Of course she knew that I wasn’t. She liked my riding capability.

      I don’t know why we got rooms for Jake and Alona; cause they slept in the stables with her horse. Turns out someone was messing with the horses. I guess it was the sign of the times when a horse wasn’t safe anymore. But they did come back to their rooms to take showers; so I guess the cost wasn’t a complete waste.

      The second night there, we were laying in bed talking, right after we put Alita down for the night. Faith said, “You know, you haven’t told me much about yourself?”

      “I haven’t? What do you want to know? You know my Dad and Brother, you know my mother died from a drunk driver. You know we have a ranch in the Big Horn Basin. I told you I was in the Navy, so what else is there?”

      “You personally, what makes you tick? Oh, I know what turns you on. And that you’re a caring and gentle person. You said that you were in Iraq, tell me about that?”

      “Are you sure you want to hear about that? I guess you are or you wouldn’t of asked. Okay, here goes. Like I said, I was a Navy Combat Pilot, our Carrier was in the Persian Gulf. I flew both daylight and night missions, pretty routine stuff, they gave you a target, you went in and dumped your load and headed back. That was all except this one time, I was on a night mission, but before I could unload I was hit with a SAM missile; you know a Surface to Air Missile. It took off one wing, I ejected. Have you ever parachuted to earth at night? No, I suppose you haven’t. Anyway it sure is different at night, sort of pretty though.

      I came down on the outskirts of this little town. The first thing I did was bury my chute. I made sure my locater beacon was on. You know so they could find me. Are you bored yet?” I said, as I did a few navel maneuvers around her navel…

      “Stop that, I’m not bored, I want to hear all of it.”

      “Alright, well this town was controlled by Al Qaeda, I went toward some buildings, just on the edge of town, like I said it was night and I was always pretty good at playing hide and seek at night; I enjoyed flitting from shadow to shadow. I heard and seen a bunch of guys talking in Arabic in the courtyard of this one house. Now I could understand Arabic, but can’t speak it too good.

      Now these guys weren’t locals, they were Al СКАЧАТЬ