Border Town Girl Read Online Free

in the river trying to cross to the estados unidos. Then there is no money. The sisters, they are gone. I do not know where. Mi madre, she dies of the trouble in the lungs, here.”
    There was nothing he could answer to that.
    At last his hunger was satisfied. He lay back. Sleep rolled toward him like a dark wave. Insects had found him but their tiny bites did not disturb him.
    “Lane?”
    “Yes, chica.”
    “I forgot to say. Today a man was killed in the Calle Onco de Mayo. Stabbed to the heart. It was one of the two men who talked with you in the alley and struck the great blow.”
    “Who is he?”
    “That is not known. It is said that a tall gringo, tall like you, did that thing.”
    “Yes?”
    “Also I heard in the market that the tall gringo is hiding somewhere in Piedras Chicas. It might be that those two thought you were he.”
    “That makes sense.”
    “What did they want of you?”
    “They thought I had a package of some kind.”
    “Then it would appear, Lane, that the other gringo has the package.”
    “You are smart.”
    “No, it is a part of living here. This is a town of much violence, much smuggling. One learns how these things happen. It gives me to think.”
    “How so?”
    “You came up from the south. It is said the other gringo did the same. So it is a matter of importance for him to get the package across the river, no? He hides. It is thought he has killed a man. Those who seek him and the package now know that they were mistaken in approaching you. Thus you could take the package across with perfect safety and much profit, no? They would not think you had it.”
    “Now wait a minute! I don’t want anything to do with the police any more than you do. I’m no smuggler.”
    “We do not know if it is a police matter, estupido! Sleep, Lane. Felicia must think.”
    He awakened again and the shack was dark. Moonlight came through the holes in the roof. He raised his head and looked around. Felicia lay on a serape on the dirty floor, naked and asleep, her body at right angles to his, her feet near his feet.
    His coat was folded under his head. He dug through the pockets and found a crumpled pack of cigarettes with one left in it. He looked at her again as he hunted for matches. Moonlight silvered her body in random patches where it shone through the holes overhead. It was a heavy, sensual body, reminding him of the island paintings of Gauguin. He put the cigarette between his lips and scratched the match. At the thin scrape of the match and the small golden flame she came awake like an animal, rolling instantly up onto her knees.
    “Ai!” she said. “You frightened me.”
    “Sorry, chica.”
    She remained on her knees, looking toward him through the moonshafts. “There is one for me?”
    “No. This is the last.”
    “I should have bought more.”
    The feeling of well-being that had been his during the evening after the sleep of the day was gone now. He felt dulled and aching. But the look of her moved him. “This can be shared,” he said huskily.
    She came to him and crouched beside him. He held the cigarette to her lips. As she inhaled the tip glowed brightly, casting a reddish glow across the broad planes of her face, the mounds of her deep breasts. He brought the cigarette to his own lips again, and then held it to hers. He put his hand on her waist tentatively, hesitantly. But his head hurt and he felt slightly nauseated. He took his hand away.
    She seemed to understand at once. “You are not yet well.”
    “Not yet.”
    “It does not matter, querido.”
    She moved the serape closer to his makeshift bed and stretched out on it. He stubbed the cigarette out against the dirt floor. Her hand found his and clasped it tightly. In the night streets of the city the mongrel dogs yapped and howled. Distant roosters crowed, their throats soft and rusty with sleep. Somewhere nearby a sick child wailed. There was no light but the moon.
     
    He awoke at dawn as Felicia came in with the