Candy Kid Read Online Free Page A

was stymied. He unpacked his white linen suit. Not the sort of thing you carried to a ranch for the cattle, but he’d had El Paso in mind when they started out. And there were always parties in El Paso if you wanted them. The suit needed pressing, he’d send it out when lunch showed up. The others might guy him about being so fancy for dinner in Juarez, but he didn’t have to explain why. He couldn’t explain too well, it had something to do with a gorgeous gal seeing him at his worst and maybe he’d run into her again at his best.
    It was Jaime who brought the lunch. And with great pleasure, a message. “Pablo say it is Mister Tosteen.”
    Jose was gravely courteous. “ Mil gracias to Pablo and to you, Jaime.” Closing the door on the boy, he yelled into the bedroom, “Chow,” and sidestepped the stampede.
    Lou joined them around five. They hadn’t dressed yet, none of them. It was comfortable to be shirtless, sitting around gabbing about nothing. Nothing that was actually on your mind. They hadn’t been bothered by the remains of lunch and the empty bottles until they saw through her eyes.
    “P-uu.” She picked up the phone. “Send up a boy, Clark.”
    One big stride took Beach to the table. He began gathering the remains and hiding them under the white napery. “Honey,” he said in that sweet voice which got them whether they were seven or seventy, “we’re awful sorry we made such a mess.” He gave her the sweet smile which melted them like maple sugar. “And you so good to us.” He was six foot, yellow-haired and blue-eyed; he had the face of an angelic child and he was a brat. He was the only Aragon who resembled the old Spain side of the family, seven generations back. But he was wasting the charm on Lou. There was nobody for Lou but Adam, that’s the way it had been for twelve or fourteen years now. If Adam weren’t so damn in love with Mexico, maybe he’d see what he was missing. For a warm guy, he was a cold fish.
    Lou dismissed Beach. “Go put your pants on.” She surveyed his bright pink nylon shorts with distrust. “You too, Jose. Adam, you can open a beer for me if you pigs left any.”
    Jose’s shorts were candy-cane-striped. “I can’t. My suit isn’t back yet. Throw me a robe, Beach. The lady resents our peacock feathers. We’re going to dinner at Herrera’s. Join us, Lou?”
    “And a glass,” she instructed Adam. “I’m a lady. Broke a tooth on a bottle once. I can’t, Jose. There’s a banquet of the dear old Rose Club and I have to be around. You boys may each bring me a jug of rum, white. I have to give a party sometime this fall, a pay-back one, and I’m stocking up.”
    There was no delay on a boy when Miss Chenoweth requested. The discreet rap was Pablo this trip. He shouldered the tray but he delayed his return to the door. Jose realized the little fellow was trying to attract his attention. He sidled over to him.
    “That Jaime he tell you what I say?”
    Jose lowered his own voice to match Pablo’s. “He did.”
    “He is so dumb that Jaime, I do not know if he tell you right.”
    Jose said, “He did. Thanks.”
    Pablo continued to stand there, gazing into Jose’s face with his polished eyes. Waiting for another tip. And Jose still without his pants. Then he realized that wasn’t it; Pablo wanted to say something and the other three weren’t even making polite sounds to cover this private conversation. They were all peeling their ears. Jose stepped in closer.
    “That Mister Tosteen he want to know what is your name.”
    Jose kept his face without expression. “He asked you?”
    “He ask it of me and Jaime and Garcia, who runs the elevator.”
    “And you told him what?”
    “We do not know.” With the weight of the tray on his shoulders, he still managed to give the impression of a shrug. Somewhere behind the graven face lurked a smile. “Even that dumb Jaime, he understand he does not know.”
    “See you later, Pablo.” Their eyes understood what