West Kids - Frank and Chief Part Four

It took two hours to get the Titus’ wheels into anything close to working order. After thoroughly investigating the area around an old gas station, they sat down to work at the task of cleaning chips of glass out of the Chief’s tires. They sliced their finger tips, and blurred their vision finding every last tiny shard. They used thorns to push the larger, embedded pieces through and out of the rubber. They switched tires to inspect each other’s work, found more glass, then switched again.

Into the rear wheel went the last spare tube, and then Chief started marking up the better inner tube with chalk. He was marking punctures with small circles, adding them up in his head. When he was done, Frank pumped up the tube again and did his own search for holes. He held the tube close to his upper lip, and moved it slowly along, feeling for the delicate streams of air that sprayed out of tiny invisible holes. The small hairs on his upper lip were like sensitive whiskers, picking up the smallest disturbances in the air. While he did that, Chief counted patches.

The ample supply would be almost entirely spent on this job. He counted again, and confirmed that only one patch would remain. Though the time they took now was cutting a huge chunk out of the remaining daylight, the importance of the job kept him from rushing through any of it. Every patch had to hold, and no glass could go unnoticed. They cowboys had wandered a long ways from the Pond, and the need for fully functioning mounts was crucial, especially now that they would be forced to do some of the riding in the dark.

Frank scanned the road running by the gas station for company. The terrain was open here, away from the tall buildings and shadows by the deposit, and Frank felt more secure now that he could see farther in each direction. But his nerves were beginning to feel fried. He was exhausted. The day had been a rough one, probably his worst in the Desert, and though having Chief there gave him some confidence and courage, he still felt along way from home and that made him scared in a way he couldn’t ignore.

Something moved in the corner of Franks eye, and he snapped his attention around to find it. He looked at the dumpsters up against the side of the gas station convenience store, but nothing was there. His breathing started to speed up again, and Frank almost Signaled to Chief, but just then a skinny cat emerged from beneath the metal bins with a lizard in it’s mouth. The tail hung out and wriggled. Frank heard a crunch as the cat began to chew.

Tired though he was, Frank was eager to get going. Chief was blowing on the tube, drying the last smears of rubber cement. Frank took a deep breath and tried without success to stop shaking. He had been ever since the encounter in the alley.