The Hard-To-Tame Texan

Educating and adjusting newcomers was the same with everybody who was on the Keeper place. It included everyone who was around, involved in crooking, housecleaning, barns, animals, plowing, flying, whatever.

So the tea was perfect. The servers had hesitated on the other side of the door and watched. Mrs. Keeper sipped the tea and looked at it and she smiled. That was like a pat on the head for the watchers and they went back to the kitchen.

Mrs. Keeper inquired, “Are those in your family all well?”

“Fine. This tea is perfect.”

“We have a wonderful crew.”

See? Mrs. Keeper was kind. So she then said, “What are we to do about this Andrew Parsons?”

“Don’t worry. I’m here. I’ll get rid of him for you.”

“Well,” hesitated Mrs. Keeper, “I really think he needs to be...uh...restructured. It would be unkind for us to just pitch him onto a sand dune. Isolated again. He needs to fit into some portion of society better.”

JoAnn was thoughtful. “I don’t believe I’ve ever done anything like that. I believe you’ve contacted the wrong person for this. I’m a rejecter.” JoAnn then smiled kindly to soften the blow for Mrs. Keeper. People tended to be thataway with Mrs. Keeper. She appeared to be quite fragile.

Mrs. Keeper tasted the word, “Re-ject-er. Push away. Discard.”

“Yep.”

“I shall have to find someone else.” She sighed in a fragile manner. “But in the time that will take, could you begin by teaching Mr. Parsons that he will very soon be in the twenty-first century? He needs to realize that he is at the very end of the twentieth?”

“Well...”

Mrs. Keeper elaborated to explain herself. “Andrew needs to look forward to stepping over into the next century. He hasn’t even been in this one. He’s of another time.”

She sighed gently before she went on: “He believes that his adventures are all a surprise for the rest of us. Either actually telling of where he’s been, or being on TV, that time, or writing of it in books. He does not realize that we have mostly already looked all around this planet, the moon, and now Mars. There is no new place for Andrew on this entire earth. On horseback, he is a throwback.”

Mrs. Keeper paused and considered JoAnn. “While I search for someone to upgrade him, do you think you could endure at least allowing him to talk to you? He is quite isolated here.”

JoAnn shrugged. “I haven’t anything at all on my calendar. It would give me something to do.”

“I really appreciate your help. I shall try to be quick in finding someone else to help him. Do what you can.”

JoAnn sighed. “Okay. I’ll get my luggage.”

“Let Tom. He has nothing to do, and it would please him to help you.”

Nothing to do? Tom’s own mother assumed Tom had nothing to do? He had no time, at all!

At that moment, Tom was at Rip’s plane getting ready to board when his cellular phone burped. He was surprised. People very rarely called him! He looked at Rip and said, “My phone!”

Rip observed Tom with curiosity and said, “Yeah.” A beep was a beep. So—

So Tom pulled the phone into reality and lifted it as he said, “Tom.”

And his mother said, “Darling, I need you here.”

“Yes.” Then Tom refolded his phone and put it back into his pocket as he said, “Mother needs me. Let me go with you later?”

“Yeah. Meanwhile, I’ll go on out...looking.”

“You need someone else with you. Ask Ben or Wilkie?”

“Okay.”

“Thanks. Be careful.”

“Yeah.”

So Tom’s Jeep pulled up to the door of the Keeper place. And there was his mother and... Why, it was JoAnn! His mother looked okay. She wasn’t stressed. JoAnn grinned.

His mother said to Tom, “We need your muscles to get JoAnn’s luggage into the house. She’s going to have the room just down the hall from us. There on the left. That guest room.”

Tom blinked. He’d been called back...to move...luggage? There was a whole, entire house crew for such. His mother was going into the winky-dink time?

Tom said, “Okay.” And he went the ten steps to JoAnn’s car and effortlessly lifted out her two bags. He carried them to the door and found his mother waiting for him to open the door for them.

Okay.

He put down the suitcases and escorted the ladies back inside. Then he retrieved JoAnn’s luggage.

As he reentered the house, he asked JoAnn, “You been visiting?”

“I got here just a while ago. We’ve been talking and drinking—tea.”

His eyes twinkled and he moved his lips so his grin was interrupted.

JoAnn said, “So you’re out here and working on the place?”

“Just another ranch hand.” He exchanged an amused glance. He hadn’t seen JoAnn for some time. She looked pretty good to his eyes. How about her showing up with luggage! How come?

“You on the circuit?” Then he bit his lip. She was about thirty. She might be embarrassed by her visiting... with him there. Was his momma waving her under his nose? He looked at her again and thought, okay.

But his mother was saying rather sternly, “I asked JoAnn to come in order to bring Andrew up to time. He believes he’s the only one who has even been on the tableland.”

Tom scoffed, “He’s a pilgrim.”

“Yes.” His mother sighed and walked farther down the cool hallway.

JoAnn followed. She had stiffened a bit with Tom’s impulsive inquire if she was back on the circuit. She had never been on the circuit! She was a current, independent woman and she didn’t need the circuit to find a willing man! With her daddy’s money, she didn’t need to go looking for any man!

She became somewhat aloof.

Redheads can get hostile real quick like. Tom sighed inside his body and began to verbally tape over his stupidity. He said, “That’s some automobile you got out there.”

“It’s a dream.”