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Show All the Variables & Other Love Stories 25 A Southern Gentleman on Taos Plaza He came in the summer, when they all came. For months he seemed just another tourist, William Jefferson Hightower. A few of the locals noticed him down on the plazas Said he had an odd way about him, that he would only talk to the women. Even so, women were all that wanted to talk to him, but it was odd. A tall drink of water with some genteel twang between his lips. Modest type. Understated he was. Nobody noticed him at first, but for the women. Hightower came to this place out of the County of Marengo in the State of Alabama. He'd come into a small fortune by unqualified means, of his own labors or the labors of his ancestors, it went unknown. Dressed like a Texan tourist, it was duly noted. Denim pants, long shirtsleeves, suspenders, and sharp toed boots. New hat. Swabbed his brow where it baked to a dark cinnamon with a red bandana as he worked. Kept in his breast pocket one half dozen stud cigarettes of a generic brand by the soft pack. Bought a sizeable ranch on the highway toward Questa and set himself to its renovation and general management. What he planned to do with it could not be said, for no one knew and he would not tell. Tarried after no sheep, nor hogs, nor crop of the earth. But dug a trench for fences, pulled weeds, mended roofs. He toiled alone, and for no purpose divined by any man save himself. Weekends he held court in the plaza and the women came unto him with outrageous hunger. So heard Casabon Nogales, a Taoseiio all his life, who took no mind of this nor any other foreigner until his young wife, Esperanza, took up with Hightower and his odd ranch. All through the winter and spring Casabon had filled his days with looking for |
