John spent the morning working on financial paperwork in his study, which, like the rest of the house, seemed to be frozen in time. There was a heavy mahogany desk and old-fashioned bookshelves lined with thick volumes. He was just straightening up his desk when he heard someone knocking on the wall. He looked up and saw Billy leaning against it. Billy was absolutely filthy, almost as though he'd been rolling around in the pigsty.
'Perhaps the hogs decided to bite the hand that feeds them,' John thought, amused.
"William, please move," said John. "You're getting dirt on the wallpaper."
"Sorry," Billy apologized, moving toward the center of the room.
John sighed to himself. Serena would not be happy about that smudge on the wall. What was only a little dirt to Billy was an hour of scrubbing to her.
"What can I do for you, William?" John asked.
"I know something you don't know," Billy said in a singsong voice.
"And what might that be?"
"It's about 'Rena and a certain male employee."
"You know how I feel about gossip." said John sternly.
"It ain't gossip." said Billy."It's God's honest truth, swear on my mother."
"William, I'm confident that Miss Riddle will fill me in on this matter when she feels ready."
Billy shook his head. "Not this time. She don't want nobody to know."
An alarming possibility flashed into John's mind. "Is the girl...with child?" he said, phrasing it as delicately as he could.
"Too soon to say," Billy said with a shrug.
"Are you suggesting to me that..." John's face fell. "William, this is a serious accusation that could damage this young lady's reputation. And I'll have you know that Miss Riddle is a fine lady who would never do such a thing. But if she were to, it would be her business and no one else's. She's legally an adult, you know."
--------------------------------
"What was you up to last night?" Steve asked Chavez. "I swear I won't tell nobody."
"Yeah right," Chavez mumbled. Steve swearing to keep his mouth shut was like a kleptomaniac promising never to steal.
"Well, look, it ain't a crime," Steve continued. "Just about any feller in New Mexico would love to ride that little filly."
The crude taunt ringing in his ears, Chavez pulled his knife out. "Callate, pendejo," he warned.
But Steve never knew when to shut up, so he kept right on going. He said things that would have made John force him to eat a bar of soap. Chavez finally tired of Steve's tedious mouth and pushed the tip of his knife into Steve's tongue. Not enough to really hurt him, but enough to break the skin. Steve came up with a new series of expletives to describe Chavez's family in between spitting out blood.
"Let that be a lesson to you," said Chavez, putting his knife away again.
Though he loved Serena with all his heart and soul, he was beginning to wish they hadn't slept together. It was just seeming to create a mess of trouble.
