GRINGA (69 page)

             
I scramble to sit
up
and slowly back out of Diago’s reach.

             
Diago glares at me.
‘What
the fark were you thinkin
g
Payton? Tha
t was our mo
ther
.
Th
e
men
,
they mus
t
take revenge Payton. I can’t save you.’

             
L
oud banging on the door
.
I press my knuckles against my mouth. Diago goes to the door, opens it and argues with the gang of men behind Digger and Rocky.

             
‘No!’ Digger shouts. ‘You Diablo, you give her to us. Is right. Or we take her.’

             
Diago suddenly draws his gun and the men immediately back away. We’re
dismally
outnumbered
,
three
to about a dozen now.
Diago shuts the door and looks at me. Again, I see the look of helplessness on his face.
He raises both palms to me in a surrendering motion.
 

             
‘Diago ... listen ... Tongue
…he
like,
blocked my way. Christa, she ... she asked Maria to call me and I was
like,
so scared, Diago. Tongue
,
he always wants to hurt me!’ I
point to
Troy
. ‘Ask him
.
 

             
Troy
looks at me, an inscrutable look on his face.

             
‘Payton!’ Rocky’s calling my name.

             
Then
Troy
stands up, walks over to Diago.
‘It was me,’ he says. ‘I kill them
.’

             
Diago looks at him in surprise. ‘Y
ou? No!
’

             
Troy
nods
several times,
while I stare in disbelief. Why was
Troy
lying? He and Diago argue in Spanish.
Diago grabs him by the collar and shakes him.
Troy
does not react. Diago curses and throws him aside.

             
Troy
walks to the door, opens it and talks to the men outside. Diago
stands next to
Troy
, his gun drawn. I hear shouting and more threats. Eventually, Diago shuts the door behind him, leaving me alone in my room.
 

             
What if
Troy
and Diago don’t return? I’ll be at the mercy of the angry men.
I chew on my fingernails. Maybe I should
jump out of my room window and bolt into the dark
, jump off the cliff before
they
throw me off it.

             
Troy
is
saving my hide again by insisting he killed them.
He’s creating reasonable doubt. Wonder if that works here? 

             
I put my ear to the door and listen
. T
hey’re
still
arguing.
Well, t
he men are
. I don’t hear
Diago
’s voice.
I guess he’s letting them vent. This goes on for about half and hour
then the men leave.
Diago and
Troy
leave with them. 

             
Maria and Rosa
sneak in
and
fill
me in
.

             
‘
Troy
, he say, he and Tongue fight and they shoot and Christa, she get in the way.’

             
‘Really? Wow! Think they bought it?’

             
‘Bought what, Senorita?’
Rosa
asks.

             
Well, maybe they will accept his story and that’s buying me some time. I
breathe a sigh of relief
and make a mental note to be forever indebted to
Troy
for saving my ass
once again
.

About three hours later,
Paris and Elaine barge into my room
, heaving their suitcases, l
ooking frightened.

             
Behind them are Maria, Rosa and Santana.

             
Santana
is tapping
a riding crop
in her palm
and
snarling
at
Paris
.

             
‘She hit me!’
Paris
screams, pointing to Santana and
ducking
behind me.

             
‘Yes, she did,
Payton.
’ Elaine says, glancing at Santana and quickly
looking
away.

             
I frown at Santana.
‘Did you hit her?’

             
‘
Si
,
and I hit her again!’ Santana says in a defiant voice.

             
‘Hey, hold on there,
Santana
,’ I warn. ‘W
hy did
you hit
Paris
?’

             
Santana explains.
‘
See,
Diablo
, he
say they mus
t
go now
. B
ut they say “No”
.
’

             
‘
Si
, Senorita,’ Rosa says.
‘Diablo says they mus
t
leave Tana-Mera because ... um ...
is too dangerous.’

             
‘But they don’
t
wan
t to
leave, Senorita,’ Maria says, ‘so we kick their ashes.’

             
‘Asses,’ I correct. 

             
‘
Si
, “Asses”
.’ S
he turns to my family again. ‘Move your
asses
then. Diablo
, he
don
’t
wan
t
you here,
we
don’
t
wan
t
you here.
You treat us very bad so we don’t like you.
’

             
‘
Si
,’ Santana says, ‘you don’t treat
me
bad but I just don’t like you.’

             
At a loss for words, I turn to Elaine and Paris.
‘I guess it’s time to go
then.’

             
‘But I like it here,’
Paris
whines. ‘It’s so much better than the stupid, backward
hole
we live in. I wanna stay.’

             
‘No!’ Maria grabs
Paris
’s shoulders and t
wirls
her towards the door. ‘Move!’ she yells. ‘You laugh at my English one day, eh? My English is good,
Puta
!’

             
Rosa
grabs Elaine and pushes her all the way to the door. ‘You call me “Rudolph” because my
nose
get
a
red
, eh
?’  

             
Santana
stiffens at what she is hearing then increases the intensity of her palm slapping with her
riding cro
p.
‘She
say that, eh?’

             
Rosa
nods
, a wounded look on her face.

             
I stand and
silently
watch Elaine and Paris being evicted. It’s payback all round
, I guess
. They’ve been absolutely no support for
me so I won’t be missing them for
sure.
Besides I’ve got more important things to worry about like saving my own “ashes”.
             

The
ranch is quiet, sombre and D
iago stays away from me.
He
spends
most of his
time with the men,
I guess,
pacify
ing
them
. Maybe, he’s simply
preventing a lynching. The men glare at me every time they see me so I suspect they aren’t buying
Troy
’s
bullet hole-filled
story.

             
The ranch
soon
buzzes with funeral arrangements for Christa and Tongue. As for me – the adrenalin
’
s wearing off and I feel myself spiralling into depression. I
’m
weepy and jumpy and I cry a lot. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.
I’m
not a killer.
I’m
a compassionate person by nature.