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I rode my horse across the mesa, dismounted and stood on the edge of the cliff where I could gaze down at the scene below. Three long, shiny, aluminum Airstream travel trailers still attached to two Lincoln Continentals and a Lincoln Premiere lined the circular drive in front of the usually peaceful, huge, three story house. A mob of children played on the lawn in the middle of the circle. Although I couldn't see them from the top of the mesa, I knew their parents and grandparents along with Gran were most likely on the veranda that ran the front of the house. They were all here to celebrate Gran's seventy-fifth birthday. My mom and stepdad would be playing host to her younger sisters and their families. The role of host should have been mine since I was the oldest male descendant of the family, but my stepdad has run the Stockton ranch for the last twenty four years, ever since he married my mother. Even though I was now twenty-six, I allowed him to usurp the role to keep peace in the family. I thought about the upcoming events and wondered what impressions they'd leave on our lives. * * * My mom was going to college in El Paso during the big war when she met my father. After a whirlwind courtship she married him. I guess she couldn't take his post war problems; they divorced right after the war was over. She met my stepfather when I was three. My three oldest aunts went off to college down in Austin where they met and married men who became successful in their endeavors after graduating. Aunt Mae married a big trial lawyer up in Dallas. Aunt Dotty married a fellow who has become a state representative, they live in Austin. Aunt Eva's husband is head of some big international business over in Houston. And then there's my youngest aunt. Karny's three years older than me and unmarried. She's a top executive with a big company headquartered over in San Angelo. God help the man she snares. I searched for Karny's big Chrysler Imperial but didn't see it. Karny's name is really Karin, but when I was learning to talk she became Karny and the name stuck. Living so close to Mexico her name has a grossness it wouldn't have elsewhere. (The Spanish word 'carne' means meat in English. Like carnivore - meat eater.) I once asked one of her boyfriends if he was a meat eater . . . I carried a big bruise on the side of my head for a week from her fist. She still hates me for giving her that name. Not looking forward to facing her, I sighed as I mounted my horse and headed across the mesa to the only road off the top. If I'd climbed on foot it would've taken me only a few minutes to get back down to the house, but on horseback I had an hour's ride across, down, and around the small flat top mountain. I'd still be back at the house long before dinner. * * * The plan for this first evening was to open the old ballroom on the upper floor and have a big buffet dinner. The ballroom was left over from the old days when my great-great grandparents would invite the surrounding ranch families over for a barbeque, an evening of dancing, and a big breakfast the next morning. They did it up grand back in those days, bringing in a traveling orchestra from Midland. There was a big dumbwaiter from the kitchen which would be abuzz with extra hired help for preparing and serving the evening's meal. There was also a full service bar at the back of the ballroom - a place for the men to feel comfortable. The women would come with their ball gowns and spend a couple of hours dressing while the men socialized in the bar. My great grandparents kept up the tradition until the Great Depression put an end to that era. The ballroom's seldom used now - only three times in my life time, and that was the wedding receptions for my married aunts. I've often wondered why it hasn't been converted to some other use. There were three long narrow buildings out to the side of the house. Each contained three bedrooms and a communal bathroom. These were originally built for the overnight guests. They're now bunk houses for the cowboys that work the ranch - the original old bunk house having been torn down. When I came home after graduating from the university, I took over one of the bedrooms in the far bunkhouse as my own residence when I was at the ranch. Even though it was unoccupied, my stepdad objected until Gran told him she'd given me permission. I swear he's always objected to everything and anything I do. * * * Standing at the edge of the milling crowd, I watched the members of my large family interacting with each other. This was the first evening of a three day family reunion weekend celebrating my maternal grandmother's 75th birthday - that's Gran. I'm the oldest grandchild, born in the middle of the big war. My father, a tank commander, fought in Europe and North Africa under Patton. He lived to return a hero to everyone but my mother. I guess the war had changed them both so much that they had nothing in common any more. They divorced a few months after his return. I'd been too young to remember him. But I have pictures of him and Mom. I have one of him holding me. His expression in that photo says he loved me. I've often wondered why I've never seen him since. Mom has always refused to talk about him. I know he lives down in Southeast Texas, and I've thought of looking him up, but… So anyway, I knew what my father looked like from the pictures my grandmother had given me. She called him a towheaded Texan, meaning that he had silver blonde hair and sky blue eyes. I always thought he looked kind of like Roy Rogers, except Mr. Roger's hair was darker and my dad was more handsome. I saw Karny enter the room. She stopped and turned back to motion for someone to 'come on.' I didn't get to see who she was motioning to; my cousin Bobbie Jean swept up to me at that moment and demanded my complete attention about some surprise she and my other cousins were working on. By the time she swirled away, my aunt and whoever she had in tow were lost in the crowd. My brother's little twin boys Jakey and Johnny were yanking on my pant legs to get my attention. "Unka Jack, we can't see what's happening… can we ride on your shoulders?" Like they needed an excuse, this was a favorite past time with their big uncle. I knelt and they climbed up, riding my shoulders like a horse, one leg on each side. I grasped a thigh on each boy to steady them and maintain their balance. "Do bucking horse, Unca Jack. Do bucking horse," one of them yelled. So to their delighted screaming and laughing, which attracted the attention of nearly all the kin folk who turned to watch the boys' antics, I twisted my shoulders back and forth and bounced a bit. Unfortunately, that caused them to hang on to my hair, nose or ears, and up the volume of their delight. While I was doing this, I saw him standing next to Karn with his back towards me. She was holding his hand. I'd heard she'd gotten herself engaged. Something - maybe his white blonde hair - tugged at the back of my mind as I offhandedly checked out his backside while continuing to entertain my twin nephews. I was impressed by his wide shoulders, long lean torso, narrow waist and slender hips which made me eager to see what he looked like. Josh, the twins' daddy, finally took mercy on me and coaxed the two boys off my shoulders. I collapsed in a chair by my grandmother and slumped down to be more at her level. She grabbed my neck and pulled me over to plant a kiss on my cheek. "It's a shame you don't have kids, Jack. You're so good with them." "Someday, Gran… when I find the one to settle down with." "It would be nice to see you settled during my lifetime, Jack." "Could happen. Look at Karny, 'pears like she's found someone." "Do you know anything about him, Jack?" "This's the first time I've seen him." Gran and I watched Karny putting on a show introducing the tall blonde fellow to each of her four sisters and their husbands. I could see the reactions as the man was introduced - Mom looked like she'd seen a ghost as she stared at the man while my stepdad frowned in consternation. My aunts looked surprised, then they glanced at Mom, but I hadn't yet seen his face. I muttered to Gran, "Karny's up to something. I don't know what, but the way she's looking and the reactions she's getting, it's not going to be good." At that moment Gran must've caught a look at him and gasped. "It's uncanny, Jack, he looks just like your dad." "You mean my real dad?" Gran nodded. Someone moved and I saw the guy… it was uncanny. "You're right," I said to Gran. "He could have stepped right out of one of the photos you gave me." "Has Karny introduced him to you?" She asked. "Nooo, I'd be the last one she'd introduce her beau to." Karny had always been her daddy's little girl. She never showed much love or attention to her mother unless she wanted something from her. As the oldest grandchild and a boy, I'd been the apple of my granddaddy's eye, but Karny had always been his 'baby girl'. Once when I was around fourteen, we were target practicing with a 22 rifle; three rounds each turn. She took her turn; I put up a new target and turned to take the rifle. She aimed it at me and told me to get out of the way; she was going to take another turn. When I refused to move, she grinned evilly and pulled the trigger. I felt the wind as the bullet whistled past my ear. I couldn't believe she missed - I was in arm's length of the end of the barrel. It was that day that I lost a lot of respect for my granddaddy. He saw her do it. He had seen her point the rifle at me and pull the trigger. I'd have gotten my butt blistered if I'd done it and probably been prohibited from ever using the rifle again, yet he only scolded her and then let her have another turn before I got mine. He chose his 'baby girl' over what was right - he chose her over me. Strange thing was that he never seemed to understand why I shied away from him after that. On his death bed - he died of liver cancer when I was nineteen - he gripped my hand and told me he loved me. I answered, "Yeah, but you love Karny a lot more." He stared at me like he wanted to say something, then squeezed my hand, closed his eyes, and let go. I turned away; bitter that he didn't deny it. At that time I was grateful that I was the oldest male grandchild, because that made me the heir to the two ranches and that topped Karny. I figured that she only got the same as her four sisters - shared profits from the oil pumped from wells on the two ranches. As the male heir, I would automatically inherit Gran's shares one day. * * * I was still talking to Gran when Karn made a production of suddenly seeing her mother and pulling her boyfriend our way. I sat up and studied him as she introduced him as Cass. "And this big lunk," she said with a grand gesture towards me, "is my niece, Jacky Pommel." I ignored my bitch of an aunt, who thought it so funny demeaning me this way as she gave me a smart-assed smirk. I stood to be polite while I shook Cass's hand. He was as tall as me at six-foot-two. If he'd slick his hair like they did back in the forties he could have been my dad's twin. "It's good to meet you, Cass. Please, ignore my aunt. She's never gotten the genders straight in her weak, little mind." He grinned and shrugged, then said, "Strange last name you have." "I suppose so," I answered. "Although, I understand that down in Southeast Texas where my dad's from it's a fairly common name. I apologize; I didn't catch your last name." I glanced at Karny who was looking like she should have a yellow feather sticking out of her mouth. He grinned. "It's Pommel. John Caswell Pommel. I was named after my uncle who was a tank commander in World War Two under Patton in the invasion of North Africa." Gran gasped, Karny grinned with satisfaction, and I just stared daggers at her, feeling again like a yellow bird that had just lost a few more feathers. She returned my stare with another self satisfied smart-assed smirk. He looked at me, at Gran and then at Karny before he asked. "What?" "Captain Pommel is my father. I'm Junior." "You knew this?" He asked Karny. "Of course, Love. First time I saw you I knew you were related to the good captain, even before I heard your last name." I had no idea what Karny's game was, but I wasn't sticking around to let her embarrass me more. I excused myself to Gran, nodded to Cass, and made a quick exit.
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