Kelly said, “I heard you and the other lady, Kit. When you were talking I was catching a breeze by the door.”
That seemed to satisfy her and she continued to her seat, pulling the paperback out of her rear pocket as she walked.
Kelly and Consuela returned to the corner and sat down on some old hay bales. Across the barn, the tall girl and her friends glowered at them.
All the other girls seemed apathetic, almost in a stupor, but Kelly rose to check out the tractor in the barn. She didn’t know how to drive one, much less start it, but she looked it over anyway.
The girls sat in the stifling barn, panting in the heat as no wind could stir in the barn. They occasionally saw the leaves of the mesquites outside moving in the breeze, tantalizing them with its promise.
Fifteen minutes later, Kelly rose and walked out of the barn towards Nadine. Sweat ran in rivulets down her face.
Nadine looked up, shook her head in disbelief, and said, “Damn, girl, you are a pest!”
“Could we please sit out here where there’s wind? Please?”
“Too many of you. No.”
Kelly looked at the girls in the furnace-like shed. “Could we come out in bunches, then trade places like that?”
Nadine showed a hint of a smile at Kelly’s persistence. “Two at a time, no more.”
“Thank you.” Kelly hurried into the barn and waved the other girls to her, even the tall one. She came with balled fists and a frown.
Kelly told her, “Pick one of your friends and you can go out to sit under the trees where there’s a breeze. We’ll take turns like that.”
The tall girl’s face showed distrust, “Why me, why us?”
“I thought you’d like to go first.”
She looked at Kelly, “No tricks?”
“No. I asked Nadine and she said yes, two at a time.”
The tall girl nodded and called over one of her friends. “Let’s go.”
The others watched them go out and find the deepest shade they could under the mesquites, then sit down and let the breeze flow over them.
It was evident to the other girls that it was far cooler out there than inside the barn.
Consuela said, “how long you gonna let them stay before we trade?”
“Half hour.”
“You have a watch?”
Kelly pulled out a small watch with a broken wristband, “It’s my mom’s. She gave it to me the other day. She thought maybe I could fix the band.”
Thirty minutes seemed to take forever. The other girls began whining and grumbling, except for Consuela. When thirty minutes passed, Kelly walked out of the barn door and waved to the tall girl and hoped she would come without any trouble.
The tall girl and her friend rose and walked to the barn. The tall girl stopped by Kelly, “I’m Bobbi.” She put out her hand.
Kelly shook it, feeling relieved, “I’m Kelly.”
Two more girls went into the breeze, then two more, until Kelly and Consuela were the last two. As they walked out, Kelly made it a point to go slow and look beyond the barn in all directions. She was surprised to see a large, open fronted pole barn attached to the barn’s west side.
The entire barn rested in a shallow, slope-walled canyon, with hills on two sides, with the barn door facing out of the canyon’s mouth. From inside, Kelly couldn’t see the hills, so this is good to know, she thought, in case she decided to escape. And that was on her mind.
Consuela said, “I don’t know this place.”